BY: ASHLEY, ANTHONY & SHARIKAH

How an the Great Purge and Great Terror be

explained?

What is the Great Purge?

The Great Purge became known as a time where many communist were accused of plotting against Stalin and The Soviet Union. Various integration methods were used such as sleep deprivation, continued questioning, and beatings in order to gain the information that was needed.

Revisionist Theories

The Revisionist were the people who were generally on the opposing side of Stalin’s beliefs. They were strong believers of Marxism and felt as if the principles of Marxism should not in any form be revised.

Led by Trotsky, many of the revisionist began accused Stalin and the Soviet Union of revising the Marxism and Leninism principles in order to favor the elite. This in all hindered Trotskyist plan of a socialist revolution.

Totalitarian Theory

Stalin used Totalitarianism as a way to keep his place as ruler of the Soviet Union. In order to control all of political aspects of the Soviet Union, He order the killing of millions of his own citizens and was able to effectively remove many of his own political party. Many were arrested for “committing” political crimes that resulted in the killing, exile, and imprisonment of many in his political party.

Stalin/Lenin

In the great purge Stalin mainly targeted people of party members who needed to “cleansed.” However it soon began to expand into the Great Terror which became known as The Purge had transformed into the Great �Terror. He targeted members of his cabinet �and government, soldiers, clergy, intellectuals, or anyone else he deemed suspect.

The Great Terror eliminated many key figures �in government.

Stalin/Lenin (Continued)

Lenin had a very strong legacy within the Soviet Union. He contributed to many of the ideologies within the Soviet Union, which why many of the citizens were fairly satisfied with him a leader. However before his death Lenin wrote about the uncertainties that he had with Stalin’s rule of power. Lenin stated that Stalin was unpredictable when to come to power and as result he didn’t really know how to “take care” of his power. All of Lenin’s warnings can be seen with the Great Purge and Terror.

The Great Terror

Following the Great Purge, it soon transformed into the Great Terror. Instead of targeting people who were considered a treat to the Soviet Union, Stalin now turned to soldiers, people of his cabinet and government, clergy, and anyone else who was suspected to be a threat.

Many prominent leaders in Soviet government were soon killed of due to Stalin’s paranoia

How Can the Great Purge and the Great Terror be explained?

The Great Purge can be defined as the beginning stages of Stalin’s Paranoia. The Great Purge and The Great Terror were just used in order to reaffirm Stalin’s place as ruler of the Soviet Union. Many citizens were unhappy with Stalin’s rule, even some of Stalin’s elect cabinet members were unhappy. This prompted many speculations from Stalin and talks about removing Stalin from his power. In defense Stalin used the Great Terror and Purge in order to protect his place and remove any threats that he suspected.

Bibliography

http://marxisttheory.org/revisionist-controversy-in-germany/

http://inconvenienthistory.com/archive/2009/volume_1/number_1/the_challenge_to_revisionism.php

http://slavicrelations.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-purges-of-stalin.html