In the recent history of the Fatherland under Stalinist repressions understand the mass persecution for political and other reasons of citizens of the USSR from 1927 to 1953 (the period of leadership of the Soviet Union by I. V. Stalin). Then the repressive policy was considered in the context of the necessary measures for the implementation of socialist construction in the USSR, in the interests of the broad working masses.

In the general sense of the concept repression(from Latin repressio - constraint, suppression) is a system of punitive sanctions applied by the authorities to reduce or eliminate the threat to the existing state system and public order. The threat can be expressed both in open actions and speeches, and in the hidden opposition of the opponents of the regime.

Repression in the fundamental theory of Marxism-Leninism was not envisaged as an element in the construction of a new society. Therefore, the goals of Stalinist repressions are visible only after the fact:

Isolation and liquidation of opponents of Soviet power and their henchmen.

The desire to shift responsibility to political opponents for failed projects and other clear failures of industrialization, collectivization and the cultural revolution.

The need to replace the old party-Soviet elite, which has shown its inconsistency in solving the problems of industrialization and socialist construction.

Concentrate all power in the hands of one party leader.

Use forced labor of prisoners in the construction of industrial facilities in places with an acute shortage of labor resources.

Prerequisites for repression

With the establishment of Soviet power in November 1917, the political struggle in Russia did not end, but moved into the plane of the struggle of the Bolsheviks with any opposition. There were clear prerequisites for future mass repressions:

In early January 1918, the Constituent Assembly was dispersed, and active supporters of the All-Russian Forum were repressed.

In July 1918, the bloc with the Left SRs collapsed, and a one-party dictatorship of the CPSU (b) was established.

Since September 1918, the policy of "war communism" began to tighten the regime of Soviet power, accompanied by the "Red Terror".

In 1921 were created revolutionary tribunals both directly in the Cheka (then the NKVD), and the Supreme (general jurisdiction).

In 1922, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission was reorganized into the State Political Administration (GPU, from 1923 - OGPU), chaired by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky.

The XII Party Conference of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, held in August 1922, recognized all parties and political organizations that opposed the Bolsheviks. anti-Soviet(anti-state). On this basis, they were subject to defeat.

In 1922, by a decree of the GPU, they were expelled to " philosophical steamer» from the RSFSR to the West, a number of prominent scientists, specialists and artists.

The struggle for power in the 20-30s, in the conditions of forced industrialization and collectivization, was carried out with the use of political repression.

Political repression- these are measures of state coercion, including various types of restrictions and punishments. In the Soviet Union, political repression was used against individuals and even social groups.

Reasons for repression

In modern historiography, political repressions are associated with the period when the supreme power was associated with the name of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (1926-1953). The event line predetermined the causal series of repressions, conventionally designated as Stalinist:

First, to create conditions for the concentration of power in one hand, eliminating all those who claimed the first role in the party and state administration.

Secondly, it was necessary to remove the obstacles on the path of colossal transformations, posed by the opposition and outright enemies.

Thirdly, to isolate and liquidate the "fifth column" on the eve of formidable military upheavals and aggravation of hostility with the Western world.

Fourth, to demonstrate to the people the will and determination in tackling grandiose tasks.

Thus, repression objectively becomes the most important instrument of the policy of the Soviet state, regardless of the desires and personal aspirations of specific figures.

Political competitors of I. V. Stalin

After the death of V. I. Lenin, a situation arose in the Soviet establishment of a competitive struggle for the first role in government. At the very top of power, a stable group of political competitors, members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, has formed:

1. General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks I. V. Stalin.
2. Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council and People's Commissar of the Navy L. D. Trotsky.
3. Chairman of the Comintern and head of the Leningrad party organization GE Zinoviev.
4. L. B. Kamenev, who headed the Moscow Party organization.
5. Chief ideologist and editor of the party newspaper Pravda N. I. Bukharin.

All of them took an active part in the intrigues of the second half of the 20s and early 30s of the XX century, which eventually led Stalin to absolute power in the USSR. This struggle was "not for life, but for death", so all sentimentality was excluded.

The course of the main events of the Stalinist repressions

First stage

The 1920s is the path to the sole power of I.V. Stalin.

	Political moments	Main events, participants and result
	Liquidation of open Trotskyist opposition	JV Stalin, in alliance with G. E. Zinoviev and L. B. Kamenev, sought to remove L. D. Trotsky from all posts and began political persecution against his prominent followers.
	The confrontation with the "new opposition" (1925) and the defeat of the "united opposition" (1926-1927)	JV Stalin, in alliance with N. I. Bukharin and A. I. Rykov, sought to expel G. E. Zinoviev and L. B. Kamenev from the party and deprive him of all posts. L. D. Trotsky completely lost political influence (exiled in 1928 to Kazakhstan, and in 1929 expelled from the USSR).
	Removal of the "right opposition" from political power	N. I. Bukharin and A. I. Rykov lost their posts and were expelled from the CPSU(b) for speaking out against forced industrialization and for maintaining the NEP. It was decided to expel from the party all those who had ever supported the opposition.

At this stage, I.V. Stalin skillfully used the differences and political ambitions of his competitors, and his post as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to seize absolute power.

Second phase

Strengthening the unlimited regime of Stalin's personal power.

	Political processes
	The case of the economic counter-revolution in the Donbass (Shakhty case).	The accusation of a group of leaders and engineers of the coal industry of Donbass in sabotage and sabotage.
	Process of the "Industrial Party"	The case of sabotage and sabotage in industry.
	Chayanov-Kondratiev case	Trial on counter-revolutionary activities of kulaks and socialist-revolutionaries in agriculture
	The case of the Union Bureau of the Mensheviks	Repressions against a group of old members of the RSDLP.
	Assassination of Sergei Kirov	The reason for the deployment of repression against Stalin's opponents.
"Great Terror"(the term was put into use by R. Conquest) - this is a period of large-scale repression and persecution against Soviet and party cadres, the military, industry experts, intellectuals and other persons disloyal to the existing government from 1936 to 1938.
August 1936	The process of ""united Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition"	G. E. Zinoviev and L. B. Kamenev and L. D. Trotsky were sentenced to VMN (in absentia).
January 1937	The trial of members of the "united Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition"	G. L. Pyatakov, K. B. Radek and others were convicted.
	The first trial of the "anti-Soviet Trotskyist military organization"	M. N. Tukhachevsky, I. P. Uborevich, I. E. Yakir and others were convicted.
	Trials of the Right Opposition	N. I. Bukharin, A. I. Rykov and others were repressed.
	The second cycle of trials on the "military conspiracy"	A. I. Egorov, V. K. Blyukher and others were subjected to repressions. In total, over 19 thousand people were dismissed from the Red Army in cases related to the “military conspiracy”. (more than 9 thousand people were restored), 9.5 thousand people were arrested. (almost 1.5 thousand people were later restored).

As a result, by 1940 a regime of unlimited power and a personality cult of I. V. Stalin were established.

Third stage

Repressions in the post-war years.

	Political processes
August 1946	Decree of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad"	Persecution of figures of culture and art.
		Soviet and statesmen, former and current leaders of the Leningrad organizations of the CPSU (b) and the Soviet government were repressed.
	The Case of the "Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee"	The fight against "cosmopolitanism"
	Doctors' case process	The accusation of prominent doctors of involvement in the deaths of Soviet and party leaders.

The above list of the processes of the period of Stalinist repressions does not fully reflect the picture of the tragic time, only key cases are recorded. On the other hand, there is a tendency to exaggerate the number of victims, and this makes the attitude towards the times of Stalinism far ambiguous.

The results of Stalin's repressions

1. There was an establishment of the sole power of I. V. Stalin.
2. A rigid totalitarian regime was established.
3. Over 2 million people, opponents of Soviet power, overt, covert, and often innocent were subjected to mass repression.
4. A state system of forced labor camps, the Gulag, was created.
5. Labor relations have tightened. The forced and low-paid labor of Gulag prisoners was widely used.
6. There was a radical replacement of the old party-Soviet elite with young technocrats.
7. The fear of openly expressing one's own opinion was entrenched in Soviet society.
8. The declared rights and freedoms of citizens of the USSR were not implemented in practice.

The period of Stalin's repressions remained in the national history of one of the darkest and most controversial pages.

"Thaw". Rethinking the Stalin period. Rehabilitation

The situation that developed in the USSR after the death of Stalin with the "light hand" of I. Ehrenburg was called " thaw". In addition to the revitalization of public life, the thaw led to rethinking achievements and shortcomings Stalin period Soviet history:

1. Achievements were called into question.
2. The shortcomings bulged out and multiplied.

A large-scale process of rehabilitation of victims of political repressions has been launched.

Rehabilitation is the removal of false accusations, release from punishment and the return of an honest name.

Partial rehabilitation was carried out on the initiative of L.P. Beria in the late 30s. He repeated the infamous amnesty in 1953. A year later, N. S. Khrushchev granted amnesty to collaborators and war criminals. Companies for the rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions took place from 1954 to 1961. and in 1962-1982. In the late 1980s, the rehabilitation process resumed.

Since 1991, the Law " On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression».

Since 1990, the Russian Federation has celebrated Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repressions.

Introduced in 2009 school curriculum based on the literature of A. Solzhenitsyn's novel " Gulag Archipelago' is still perceived ambiguously.

IN USSR. I have tried to answer the nine most common questions about political repression.

1. What is political repression?

In the history of different countries, there have been periods when the state authorities, for some reason - pragmatic or ideological - began to perceive part of their population either as direct enemies, or as superfluous, "unnecessary" people. The principle of selection could be different - according to ethnic origin, according to religious views, according to material condition, according to political views, according to the level of education - but the result was the same: these "unnecessary" people were either physically destroyed without trial or investigation, or were subjected to criminal prosecution, or became victims of administrative restrictions (expelled from the country, sent to exile within the country, deprived of civil rights, and so on). That is, people suffered not for some personal fault, but simply because they were unlucky, simply because they ended up in a certain place at some time.

Political repressions were not only in Russia, but in Russia - not only under Soviet power. However, remembering the victims of political repressions, we first of all think about those who suffered in 1917-1953, because they make up the majority among the total number of Russian repressed.

2. Why, speaking of political repressions, are they limited to the period of 1917-1953? There were no repressions after 1953?

The demonstration of August 25, 1968, also called the "demonstration of the seven", was held by a group of seven Soviet dissidents on Red Square and protested against the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia. Two of the participants were declared insane and subjected to compulsory treatment.

This period, 1917-1953, is singled out because it accounted for the vast majority of repressions. After 1953, repressions also took place, but on a much smaller scale, and most importantly, they mainly concerned people who, to one degree or another, opposed the Soviet political system. We are talking about dissidents who received prison terms or suffered from punitive psychiatry. They knew what they were getting into, they were not random victims - which, of course, does not justify what the authorities did to them.

3. Victims of Soviet political repression - who are they?

They were very different people, different in social origin, beliefs, worldview.

Sergei Korolev, scientist

Some of them are the so-called former”, that is, nobles, army or police officers, university professors, judges, merchants and industrialists, clergy. That is, those whom the communists who came to power in 1917 considered interested in the restoration of the former order and therefore suspected them of subversive activities.

Also, a huge proportion among the victims of political repression were " dispossessed“peasants, for the most part, strong owners who did not want to go to the collective farms (some, however, were not saved by joining the collective farm).

Many victims of repression were classified as " pests". This was the name given to specialists in production - engineers, technicians, workers, who were credited with the intent to inflict logistical or economic damage on the country. Sometimes this happened after some real production failures, accidents (in which it was necessary to find the perpetrators), and sometimes it was only about hypothetical troubles that, according to prosecutors, could have happened if the enemies had not been exposed in time.

The other part is communists and members of other revolutionary parties who joined the Communists after October 1917: Social Democrats, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Anarchists, Bundists, and so on. These people, who actively fit into the new reality and participate in the construction of Soviet power, at a certain stage turned out to be superfluous due to the intra-party struggle, which in the CPSU (b), and later in the CPSU, never stopped - at first openly, later - hidden. They are also communists who were hit because of their personal qualities: excessive ideology, insufficient servility ...

Sergeev Ivan Ivanovich Before his arrest, he worked as a watchman at the Chernivtsi collective farm "Iskra"

In the late 1930s, many were repressed military, starting with the highest command staff and ending with junior officers. They were suspected of potential participants in conspiracies against Stalin.

It is worth mentioning separately employees of the GPU-NKVD-NKGB, some of which were also repressed in the 30s during the "fight against excesses." "Excesses on the ground" - a concept that Stalin introduced into circulation, implying the excessive enthusiasm of the employees of the punitive bodies. It is clear that these "excesses" naturally followed from the general state policy, and therefore, in the mouth of Stalin, the words about excesses sound very cynical. By the way, almost the entire top of the NKVD, which carried out repressions in 1937-1938, was soon repressed and shot.

Naturally, there were many repressed for their faith(and not only Orthodox). This is the clergy, and monasticism, and active laity in the parishes, and just people who do not hide their faith. Although formally the Soviet authorities did not prohibit religion and the Soviet constitution of 1936 guaranteed freedom of conscience to citizens, in fact the open confession of faith could end sadly for a person.

Rozhkova Vera. Before her arrest, she worked at the Institute. Bauman. Was a secret nun

Not only certain people and certain classes were subjected to repressions, but also individual peoples- Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens and Ingush, Germans. It happened during the Great Patriotic War. There were two reasons. Firstly, they were seen as potential traitors who could go over to the side of the Germans during the retreat of our troops. Secondly, when the German troops occupied the Crimea, the Caucasus and a number of other territories, some of the peoples living there really cooperated with them. Naturally, not all representatives of these peoples collaborated with the Germans, not to mention those who fought in the ranks of the Red Army - however, subsequently all of them, including women, children and the elderly, were declared traitors and sent into exile (where, by virtue of inhuman conditions, many died either on the way or on the spot).

Olga Berggolts, poetess, future “muse of besieged Leningrad”

And among the repressed there were many townsfolk, who seemed to have a completely safe social origin, but were arrested either because of a denunciation, or simply because of the distribution order (there were also plans to identify "enemies of the people" from above). If some major party functionary was arrested, then quite often his subordinates were also taken, right down to the lowest positions, such as a personal driver or a housekeeper.

4. Who cannot be considered a victim of political repression?

General Vlasov inspects ROA soldiers

Not all those who suffered in 1917-1953 (and later, until the end of Soviet power) can be called victims of political repression.

In addition to the “political”, people were also imprisoned in prisons and camps under ordinary criminal articles (theft, fraud, robbery, murder, and so on).

Also, one cannot consider as victims of political repression those who committed obvious treason - for example, "Vlasovites" and "policemen", that is, those who went to the service of the German invaders during the Great Patriotic War. Regardless of the moral side of the matter, it was their conscious choice, they entered into a struggle with the state, and the state, accordingly, fought with them.

The same applies to various kinds of rebel movements - Basmachi, Bandera, "forest brothers", Caucasian abreks, and so on. One can discuss their rightness and wrongness, but the victims of political repressions are only those who did not take the path of war with the USSR, who simply lived an ordinary life and suffered regardless of their actions.

5. How were the repressions legally formalized?

Information about the execution of the death sentence of the NKVD troika against the Russian scientist and theologian Pavel Florensky. Reproduction ITAR-TASS

There were several options. Firstly, some of the repressed were shot or imprisoned after the institution of a criminal case, investigation and trial. Basically, they were charged under article 58 of the Criminal Code of the USSR (this article included many points, from treason to the motherland to anti-Soviet agitation). At the same time, in the 1920s and even in the early 1930s, all legal formalities were often observed - an investigation was conducted, then there was a trial with debates by the defense and the prosecution - just the verdict was a foregone conclusion. In the 1930s, especially since 1937, the judicial procedure turned into a fiction, since torture and other illegal methods of pressure were used during the investigation. That is why at the trial the accused massively admitted their guilt.

Secondly, starting from 1937, along with the usual court proceedings, a simplified procedure began to operate, when there were no judicial debates at all, the presence of the accused was not required, and sentences were passed by the so-called Special Conference, in other words, the “troika”, literally for 10-15 minutes.

Thirdly, some of the victims were repressed administratively, without investigation or trial at all - the same “dispossessed”, the same exiled peoples. The same often applied to family members of those convicted under Article 58. The official abbreviation CHSIR (a member of the family of a traitor to the motherland) was in use. At the same time, no personal charges were brought against specific people, and their exile was motivated by political expediency.

But besides, sometimes the repressions did not have any legal formalization at all, in fact they were lynchings - starting from the shooting in 1917 of a demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly and ending with the events of 1962 in Novocherkassk, where a workers’ demonstration protesting against the increase in prices for food.

6. How many people were repressed?

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin

This is a difficult question to which historians still do not have an exact answer. The numbers are very different - from 1 to 60 million. There are two problems here - firstly, the inaccessibility of many archives, and secondly, the discrepancy in the methods of calculation. After all, even based on open archival data, one can draw different conclusions. Archival data is not only folders with criminal cases against specific people, but also, for example, departmental reporting on food supplies for camps and prisons, statistics on births and deaths, records in cemetery offices about burials, and so on and so forth. Historians try to take into account as many different sources as possible, but the data sometimes diverge from each other. The reasons are different - and accounting errors, and deliberate juggling, and the loss of many important documents.

It is also a very controversial question - how many people were not just repressed, but exactly what was physically destroyed, did not return home? How to count? Only sentenced to death? Or plus those who died in custody? If we count the dead, then we need to deal with the causes of death: they could be caused by unbearable conditions (hunger, cold, beatings, overwork), or they could be natural (death from old age, death from chronic diseases that began long before the arrest). In certificates of death (which were not even always kept in a criminal case), “acute heart failure” most often appeared, but in fact it could be anything.

In addition, although any historian should be impartial, as a scientist should be, in reality, each researcher has his own worldview and political preferences, and therefore the historian may consider some data more reliable, and some less. Complete objectivity is an ideal to be strived for, but which has not yet been achieved by any historian. Therefore, when faced with any specific estimates, one should be careful. What if the author voluntarily or involuntarily overestimates or underestimates the figures?

But in order to understand the scale of repression, it is enough to give an example of the discrepancy in numbers. According to church historians, in 1937-38 more than 130 thousand clergy. According to historians committed to the communist ideology, in 1937-38 the number of arrested clergymen is much less - only about 47 thousand. Let's not argue about who is more right. Let's do a thought experiment: imagine that now, in our time, 47,000 railway workers are arrested in Russia during the year. What will happen to our transport system? And if 47,000 doctors are arrested in a year, will domestic medicine survive at all? What if 47,000 priests are arrested? However, we don't even have that many now. In general, even if we focus on the minimum estimates, it is easy to see that the repressions have become a social catastrophe.

And for their moral assessment, the specific numbers of victims are completely unimportant. Whether it's a million or a hundred million or a hundred thousand, it's still a tragedy, it's still a crime.

7. What is rehabilitation?

The vast majority of victims of political repression were subsequently rehabilitated.

Rehabilitation is an official recognition by the state that this person was convicted unjustly, that he is innocent of the charges against him and therefore is not considered convicted and gets rid of the restrictions that people who have been released from prison may be subject to (for example, the right to be elected a deputy, the right to work in law enforcement organs, etc.).

Many believe that the rehabilitation of the victims of political repression began only in 1956, after the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev, at the 20th Party Congress, exposed Stalin's personality cult. In fact, this is not so - the first wave of rehabilitation took place in 1939, after the country's leadership condemned the rampant repressions of 1937-38 (which were called "excesses on the ground"). This, by the way, is an important point, because in this way the existence of political repressions in the country was recognized in general. Recognized even by those who launched these repressions. Therefore, the assertion of modern Stalinists that repression is a myth looks simply ridiculous. What about the myth, even if your idol Stalin recognized them?

However, few people were rehabilitated in 1939-41. And mass rehabilitation began in 1953 after the death of Stalin, its peak was in 1955-1962. Then, until the second half of the 1980s, there were few rehabilitations, but after the perestroika announced in 1985, their number increased dramatically. Separate acts of rehabilitation took place already in the post-Soviet era, in the 1990s (since the Russian Federation is legally the successor of the USSR, it has the right to rehabilitate those who were unjustly convicted before 1991).

But, shot in Yekaterinburg in 1918, she was officially rehabilitated only in 2008. Prior to that, the Prosecutor General's Office resisted rehabilitation on the grounds that the murder of the royal family had no legal formalization and became the arbitrariness of local authorities. But the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2008 considered that even though there was no court decision, the royal family was shot by decision of the local authorities, which have administrative powers and therefore are part of the state machine - and repression is a measure of coercion by the state.

By the way, there are people who undoubtedly became victims of political repression, who did not commit what they were formally accused of - but there is no decision on the rehabilitation of which and, apparently, never will be. We are talking about those who, before falling under the rink of repression, were themselves the drivers of this rink. For example, the "iron Commissar" Nikolai Yezhov. Well, what kind of innocent victim is he? Or the same Lavrenty Beria. Of course, his execution was unjust, of course, he was not any English and French spy, as he was hastily attributed - but his rehabilitation would be a demonstrative justification for political terror.

The rehabilitation of victims of political repression did not always happen “automatically”, sometimes these people or their relatives had to be persistent, write letters to state bodies for years.

8. What is being said about political repressions now?

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin

In modern Russia there is no consensus on this topic. Moreover, in relation to it, the polarization of society is manifested. The memory of the repressions is used by various political and ideological forces for their own political interests, but ordinary people, not politicians, can perceive it in very different ways.

Some people are convinced that political repression is a shameful page in our national history, that it is a monstrous crime against humanity, and therefore one must always remember the repressed. Sometimes this position is primitivized, all victims of repression are declared equally sinless righteous, and the blame for them is laid not only on the Soviet government, but also on the modern Russian one as the legal successor of the Soviet one. Any attempts to figure out how many were actually repressed are a priori declared to justify Stalinism and are condemned from a moral standpoint.

Others question the very fact of the repressions, claim that all these “so-called victims” are really guilty of the crimes attributed to them, they really harmed, blew up, plotted terrorist attacks, and so on. This extremely naive position is refuted, if only by the fact that the fact of the existence of repressions was recognized even under Stalin - then it was called "excesses" and at the end of the 30s, almost the entire leadership of the NKVD was condemned for these "excesses". The moral inferiority of such views is just as obvious: people are so eager to wishful thinking that they are ready, without any evidence in their hands, to slander millions of victims.

Still others admit that there were repressions, they agree that the victims of them were innocent, but they perceive all this quite calmly: they say, it was impossible otherwise. Repression, it seems to them, was necessary for the industrialization of the country, for the creation of a combat-ready army. Without repression, it would not have been possible to win the Great Patriotic War. Such a pragmatic position, regardless of how it corresponds to historical facts, is also flawed in moral attitude: the state is declared the highest value, in comparison with which the life of each individual person is worth nothing, and anyone can and should be destroyed for the sake of the highest state interests. Here, by the way, one can draw a parallel with the ancient pagans, who brought human sacrifices to their gods, being one hundred percent sure that this would serve the good of the tribe, people, city. Now this seems fanatical to us, but the motivation was exactly the same as that of modern pragmatists.

One can, of course, understand where such motivation comes from. The USSR positioned itself as a society of social justice - and indeed, in many respects, especially in the late Soviet period, there was social justice. Our society is socially much less fair - plus now any injustice instantly becomes known to everyone. Therefore, in search of justice, people turn their eyes to the past - naturally, idealizing that era. This means that they are psychologically trying to justify the dark things that happened then, including repressions. Recognition and condemnation of repressions (especially declared from above) goes with such people in conjunction with the approval of the current injustices. One can show the naivete of such a position in every possible way, but until social justice is restored, this position will be reproduced again and again.

9. How should Christians perceive political repression?

Icon of the New Martyrs of Russia

Among Orthodox Christians, unfortunately, there is also no unity on this issue. There are believers (including those who are churched, sometimes even in holy orders) who either consider all the repressed guilty and unworthy of pity, or justify their suffering with the benefit of the state. Moreover, sometimes - thank God, not very often! - You can also hear such an opinion that the repressions were a boon for the repressed themselves. After all, what happened to them happened according to God's Providence, and God will not do bad things to a person. This means, such Christians say, that these people had to suffer in order to be cleansed of heavy sins, to be spiritually reborn. Indeed, there are many examples of such a spiritual revival. As the poet Alexander Solodovnikov, who passed the camp, wrote, “The grate is rusty, thank you! // Thank you, bayonet blade! // Such a will could be given // Only for long centuries to me.

In fact, this is a dangerous spiritual substitution. Yes, suffering can sometimes save a human soul, but it does not at all follow from this that suffering in itself is good. And even more so, it does not follow that the executioners are righteous. As we know from the Gospel, King Herod, wishing to find and destroy the baby Jesus, ordered to preemptively kill all the babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. These babies are canonized by the Church as saints, but their murderer Herod is not at all. Sin remains sin, evil remains evil, the criminal remains a criminal even if the long-term consequences of his crime are beautiful. In addition, it is one thing to talk about the benefits of suffering from personal experience, and quite another to talk about other people. Only God knows whether this or that trial will turn out for good or for worse for a particular person, and we have no right to judge this. But here is what we can and what we must do - if we consider ourselves Christians! is to keep God's commandments. Where there is not a word about the fact that for the sake of the public good it is possible to kill innocent people.

What are the conclusions?

First and the obvious - we must understand that repression is evil, evil, and social, and personal evil of those who arranged them. There is no justification for this evil - neither pragmatic nor theological.

Second- this is the right attitude towards the victims of repression. They should not be considered ideal in a crowd. They were very different people, both socially, culturally and morally. But their tragedy must be perceived without regard to their individual characteristics and circumstances. All of them were not guilty before the authorities that subjected them to suffering. We do not know which of them is a righteous man, who is a sinner, who is now in heaven, who is in hell. But we must pity them and pray for them. But what exactly should not be done is that it is not necessary to speculate on their memory, defending our own political views in polemics. The repressed should not become for us means.

Third- It is necessary to clearly understand why these repressions became possible in our country. The reason for them is not only the personal sins of those who were at the helm in those years. The main reason is the worldview of the Bolsheviks, based on godlessness and on the denial of all previous traditions - spiritual, cultural, family, and so on. The Bolsheviks wanted to build a paradise on earth, while allowing themselves any means. Only that which serves the cause of the proletariat is moral, they argued. It is not surprising that they were internally ready to kill by the millions. Yes, there were repressions in different countries (including ours) even before the Bolsheviks - but still there were some brakes that limited their scope. Now there are no more brakes - and what happened happened.

Looking at the various horrors of the past, we often say the phrase "this must not happen again." But this maybe repeat, if we discard moral and spiritual barriers, if we proceed solely from pragmatics and ideology. And it does not matter what color this ideology will be - red, green, black, brown ... It will still end in a lot of blood.

The history of Russia, as well as other former post-Soviet republics in the period from 1928 to 1953, is called the “Stalin era”. He is positioned as a wise ruler, a brilliant statesman, acting on the basis of "expediency." In fact, they were driven by completely different motives.

Talking about the beginning of the political career of the leader who became a tyrant, such authors shyly hush up one indisputable fact: Stalin was a recidivist convict with seven “walkers”. Robbery and violence were the main form of his social activity in his youth. Repression became an integral part of the state course pursued by him.

Lenin received in him a worthy successor. “Creatively developing his teachings,” Iosif Vissarionovich came to the conclusion that he should rule the country by methods of terror, constantly instilling fear in his fellow citizens.

The generation of people whose mouths can speak the truth about Stalin's repressions is leaving... Are the newfangled articles that whitewash the dictator a spit on their suffering, on their broken life...

Leader who sanctioned torture

As you know, Iosif Vissarionovich personally signed the death lists for 400,000 people. In addition, Stalin toughened repression as much as possible, authorizing the use of torture during interrogations. It was they who were given the green light to complete lawlessness in the dungeons. It was directly related to the notorious telegram of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated January 10, 1939, which literally unleashed the hands of the punitive authorities.

Creativity in introducing torture

Let us recall excerpts from the letter of commander Lisovsky, who is being abused by the satraps of the leader ...

"... A ten-day conveyor interrogation with a cruel, vicious beating and no way to sleep. Then - a twenty-day punishment cell. Then - forcing to sit with arms raised up, and also to stand bent over, with his head hidden under the table, for 7-8 hours ..."

The desire of the detainees to prove their innocence and their failure to sign fabricated charges caused an increase in torture and beatings. The social status of the detainees did not play a role. Recall that Robert Eikhe, a candidate member of the Central Committee, had his spine broken during interrogation, and Marshal Blucher died from beatings during interrogations in Lefortovo prison.

Leader's motivation

The number of victims of Stalin's repressions was not tens, not hundreds of thousands, but seven million starved to death and four million arrested (general statistics will be presented below). Only the number of those shot was about 800 thousand people ...

How did Stalin motivate his actions, boundlessly striving for the Olympus of power?

What does Anatoly Rybakov write about this in Children of the Arbat? Analyzing the personality of Stalin, he shares with us his judgments. “A ruler who is loved by the people is weak because his power is based on the emotions of other people. Another thing is when people are afraid of him! Then the power of the ruler depends on him. This is a strong ruler!” Hence the leader's credo - to inspire love through fear!

Steps adequate to this idea were taken by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Repression became his main competitive tool in his political career.

Beginning of revolutionary activity

Iosif Vissarionovich became interested in revolutionary ideas at the age of 26 after meeting V. I. Lenin. He was engaged in robbery of funds for the party treasury. Fate took him 7 links to Siberia. Stalin was distinguished by pragmatism, prudence, promiscuity in means, rigidity towards people, egocentrism from a young age. Repressions against financial institutions - robberies and violence - were his. Then the future leader of the party participated in the Civil War.

Stalin in the Central Committee

In 1922, Joseph Vissarionovich received a long-awaited career opportunity. Sick and weakening, Vladimir Ilyich introduces him, along with Kamenev and Zinoviev, to the Central Committee of the party. Thus, Lenin creates a political counterbalance to Leon Trotsky, who really claims to be the leader.

Stalin simultaneously heads two party structures: the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee and the Secretariat. In this post, he brilliantly studied the art of party undercover intrigues, which was useful to him later in the fight against competitors.

Stalin's position in the system of red terror

The red terror machine was launched even before Stalin came to the Central Committee.

09/05/1918 The Council of People's Commissars issues a Decree "On the Red Terror". The body for its implementation, called the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), operated under the Council of People's Commissars from 12/07/1917.

The reason for this radicalization domestic policy was the murder of M. Uritsky, chairman of the St. Petersburg Cheka, and the attempt on the life of V. Lenin, Fanny Kaplan, acting from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Both events took place on August 30, 1918. Already this year, the Cheka unleashed a wave of repression.

According to statistics, 21,988 people were arrested and imprisoned; 3061 hostages taken; 5544 shot, imprisoned in concentration camps 1791.

By the time Stalin came to the Central Committee, gendarmes, policemen, tsarist officials, entrepreneurs, and landlords had already been repressed. First of all, a blow was dealt to the classes that are the backbone of the monarchical structure of society. However, "creatively developing the teachings of Lenin", Iosif Vissarionovich outlined new main directions of terror. In particular, a course was taken to destroy the social base of the village - agricultural entrepreneurs.

Stalin since 1928 - the ideologist of violence

It was Stalin who turned repression into the main instrument of domestic policy, which he substantiated theoretically.

His concept of the intensification of the class struggle formally becomes the theoretical basis for the constant escalation of violence by state authorities. The country shuddered when it was first voiced by Iosif Vissarionovich at the July Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1928. Since that time, he actually becomes the leader of the Party, the inspirer and ideologist of violence. The tyrant declared war on his own people.

Hidden by slogans, the real meaning of Stalinism is manifested in the unrestrained pursuit of power. Its essence is shown by the classic - George Orwell. The Englishman showed very clearly that power for this ruler was not a means, but an end. Dictatorship was no longer perceived by him as a defense of the revolution. The revolution became a means to establish a personal unlimited dictatorship.

Iosif Vissarionovich in 1928-1930 began by initiating the fabrication by the OGPU of a number of public trials that plunged the country into an atmosphere of shock and fear. Thus, Stalin's cult of personality began its formation with trials and instilling horror in the whole society ... Mass repressions were accompanied by public recognition of those who committed non-existent crimes as "enemies of the people." People cruel torture forced to sign accusations fabricated by the investigation. The cruel dictatorship imitated the class struggle, cynically violating the Constitution and all norms of universal morality...

Three global lawsuits were rigged: the “Union Bureau Affair” (putting managers at risk); "The Case of the Industrial Party" (the sabotage of the Western powers against the economy of the USSR was imitated); "The Case of the Labor Peasant Party" (obvious falsification of damage to the seed fund and delays with mechanization). Moreover, they all united in a single cause in order to create the appearance of a single conspiracy against the Soviet government and provide scope for further falsifications of the OGPU - NKVD.

As a result, the entire economic management of the national economy was replaced from the old "specialists" to "new cadres" ready to work on the instructions of the "leader".

Through the mouths of Stalin, who provided the state apparatus loyal to repressions with the courts, the adamant determination of the Party was further expressed: to oust and ruin thousands of entrepreneurs - industrialists, merchants, small and medium; destroy the basis of agricultural production - the prosperous peasantry (indiscriminately calling it "kulaks"). At the same time, the new voluntarist party position was masked by "the will of the poorest strata of workers and peasants."

Behind the scenes, in parallel with this "general line", the "father of the peoples" consistently, with the help of provocations and false evidence, began to implement the line of liquidating their party competitors for the highest state power (Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev).

Forced collectivization

The truth about Stalin's repressions of the period 1928-1932. testifies that the main social base of the village - an efficient agricultural producer - became the main object of repression. The goal is clear: the entire peasant country (which in fact at that time were Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic and Transcaucasian republics) was to turn under the pressure of repression from a self-sufficient economic complex into an obedient donor for the implementation of Stalin's industrialization plans and the maintenance of hypertrophied power structures.

In order to clearly indicate the object of his repressions, Stalin went on an obvious ideological forgery. Economically and socially unjustified, he managed to ensure that party ideologists obedient to him singled out a normal self-supporting (profitable) producer into a separate "class of kulaks" - the target of a new blow. Under the ideological leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich, a plan was developed for the destruction of the social foundations of the village that had developed over the centuries, the destruction of the rural community - the Decree "On the liquidation of ... kulak farms" of 01/30/1930

The Red Terror came to the village. Peasants who fundamentally disagreed with collectivization were subjected to Stalinist trials - "troikas", in most cases ending in executions. Less active “kulaks”, as well as “kulak families” (any persons subjectively defined as “rural activists” could fall into the category) were subjected to forcible confiscation of property and eviction. A body of permanent operational management of the eviction was created - a secret operational management under the leadership of Efim Evdokimov.

Settlers in the extreme regions of the North, victims of Stalin's repressions, were previously identified on a list basis in the Volga region, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals.

In 1930-1931. 1.8 million were evicted, and in 1932-1940. - 0.49 million people.

Organization of hunger

However, executions, ruin and eviction in the 30s of the last century are not all Stalin's repressions. Their brief enumeration should be supplemented by the organization of famine. The real reason for it was the inadequate approach of Joseph Vissarionovich personally to insufficient grain procurements in 1932. Why was the plan fulfilled by only 15-20%? The main reason was crop failure.

His subjective plan for industrialization was under threat. It would be reasonable to reduce plans by 30%, postpone them, and first stimulate the agricultural producer and wait for the harvest year ... Stalin did not want to wait, he demanded immediate provision of food for the bloated power structures and new gigantic construction projects - Donbass, Kuzbass. The leader made a decision - to withdraw from the peasants the grain intended for sowing and for consumption.

On October 22, 1932, two emergency commissions led by the odious personalities Lazar Kaganovich and Vyacheslav Molotov launched a misanthropic campaign of "fighting the kulaks" to seize bread, which was accompanied by violence, quick to punish by troika courts and the deportation of wealthy agricultural producers to the regions of the Far North. It was genocide...

It is noteworthy that the cruelty of the satraps was actually initiated and not stopped by Joseph Vissarionovich himself.

Known fact: correspondence between Sholokhov and Stalin

Mass repressions of Stalin in 1932-1933. are documented. M. A. Sholokhov, the author of The Quiet Flows the Don, addressed the leader, defending his countrymen, with letters, exposing lawlessness during the confiscation of grain. In detail, with an indication of the villages, the names of the victims and their tormentors, the famous resident of the village of Veshenskaya stated the facts. Bullying and violence against the peasants are horrifying: brutal beatings, breaking out of joints, partial strangulation, staging execution, eviction from houses ... In a response letter, Joseph Vissarionovich only partially agreed with Sholokhov. The real position of the leader can be seen in the lines where he calls the peasants saboteurs, "quietly" trying to disrupt the provision of food...

Such a voluntaristic approach caused famine in the Volga region, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals. A special Statement of the State Duma of Russia, published in April 2008, disclosed to the public previously classified statistics (previously, propaganda concealed these repressions of Stalin in every possible way.)

How many people died of starvation in the above regions? The figure set by the State Duma commission is appalling: more than 7 million.

Other areas of pre-war Stalinist terror

We will also consider three more directions of Stalinist terror, and in the following table we will present each of them in more detail.

With the sanctions of Joseph Vissarionovich, a policy was also pursued to oppress freedom of conscience. A citizen of the Land of Soviets had to read the Pravda newspaper, and not go to church ...

Hundreds of thousands of families of formerly productive peasants, fearful of dispossession and exile to the North, became an army supporting the country's gigantic construction projects. In order to limit their rights, to make them manipulated, it was at that time that passportization of the population in cities was carried out. Only 27 million people received passports. Peasants (still the majority of the population) remained without passports, did not enjoy the full range of civil rights (freedom to choose their place of residence, freedom to choose work) and were “tied” to the collective farm at their place of residence with the obligatory condition that they fulfill workday norms.

Antisocial policy was accompanied by the destruction of families, an increase in the number of homeless children. This phenomenon has acquired such a scale that the state was forced to respond to it. With the sanction of Stalin, the Politburo of the Land of Soviets issued one of the most inhuman decrees - punitive in relation to children.

The anti-religious offensive as of 04/01/1936 led to a reduction in Orthodox churches to 28%, mosques - to 32% of their pre-revolutionary number. The number of clergy decreased from 112.6 thousand to 17.8 thousand.

Passportization of the urban population was carried out for repressive purposes. More than 385 thousand people did not receive passports and were forced to leave the cities. 22.7 thousand people were arrested.

One of the most cynical crimes of Stalin is his sanctioning of the secret resolution of the Politburo of 04/07/1935, which allows bringing teenagers from 12 years old to trial and determining their punishment up to the death penalty. In 1936 alone, 125,000 children were placed in NKVD colonies. As of April 1, 1939, 10,000 children were exiled to the Gulag system.

Great terror

The state flywheel of terror was gaining momentum ... The power of Joseph Vissarionovich, starting in 1937, as a result of repressions over the whole society, became comprehensive. However, their biggest leap was just ahead. In addition to the final and already physical reprisal against former party colleagues - Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev - mass "purges of the state apparatus" were carried out.

Terror has gained unprecedented proportions. The OGPU (since 1938 - the NKVD) responded to all complaints and anonymous letters. A person's life was broken for one carelessly dropped word ... Even the Stalinist elite was repressed - statesmen: Kosior, Eikhe, Postyshev, Goloshchekin, Vareikis; military leaders Blucher, Tukhachevsky; Chekists Yagoda, Yezhov.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, leading military personnel were shot on fabricated cases “under an anti-Soviet conspiracy”: 19 qualified commanders at the corps level - divisions with combat experience. The cadres who replaced them did not possess the proper operational and tactical art.

Stalin's cult of personality was characterized not only by the showcase facades of Soviet cities. The repressions of the “leader of the peoples” gave rise to a monstrous system of Gulag camps, providing the Land of Soviets with free labor, a mercilessly exploited labor resource for extracting wealth from the underdeveloped regions of the Far North and Central Asia.

The dynamics of the increase in those held in camps and labor colonies is impressive: in 1932 it was about 140 thousand prisoners, and in 1941 - about 1.9 million.

In particular, ironically, the convicts of Kolyma mined 35% of the allied gold, being in terrible conditions of detention. We list the main camps that are part of the GULAG system: Solovetsky (45 thousand prisoners), logging camps - Svirlag and Temnikovo (respectively 43 and 35 thousand); oil and coal production - Ukhtapechlag (51 thousand); chemical industry - Bereznyakov and Solikamsk (63 thousand); development of the steppes - Karaganda camp (30 thousand); construction of the Volga-Moscow canal (196 thousand); construction of BAM (260 thousand); gold mining in Kolyma (138 thousand); Nickel mining in Norilsk (70 thousand).

For the most part, people stayed in the Gulag system in a typical way: after a night of arrest and an ill-judged prejudiced trial. And although this system was created under Lenin, it was under Stalin that political prisoners began to enter it en masse after mass trials: “enemies of the people” - kulaks (in fact, an effective agricultural producer), or even entire deported nationalities. Most served a sentence of 10 to 25 years under Article 58. The process of investigation on it involved torture and a break in the will of the convict.

In the case of the resettlement of kulaks and small peoples, the train with prisoners stopped right in the taiga or in the steppe, and the convicts themselves built a camp and a special prison (TON). From the 1930s, the labor of prisoners was mercilessly exploited to fulfill five-year plans - 12-14 hours a day. Tens of thousands of people died from overwork, poor nutrition, poor medical care.

Instead of a conclusion

The years of Stalin's repressions - from 1928 to 1953. - changed the atmosphere in a society that has ceased to believe in justice, which is under the pressure of constant fear. Since 1918, people were accused and shot by the revolutionary military tribunals. An inhuman system developed... The Tribunal became the Cheka, then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, then the OGPU, then the NKVD. The executions as part of the 58th article were valid until 1947, and then Stalin replaced them with 25 years of serving in camps.

In total, about 800 thousand people were shot.

Moral and physical torture of the entire population of the country, in fact, lawlessness and arbitrariness, was carried out on behalf of the workers' and peasants' power, the revolution.

The disenfranchised people were terrorized by the Stalinist system constantly and methodically. The beginning of the process of restoring justice was laid by the 20th Congress of the CPSU.

In the history of Russia in the 20th century, the repressions of the 1930s occupy a special place. Criticism of the Soviet regime is often based on the condemnation of this particular period, as evidence of the cruelty and unprincipled actions of the leaders at that time. The chronological order of events that occurred at this time, we can find in any history textbook. Many historians discussed this topic, but expressing their personal point of view about certain events, they invariably relied on the goals that were pursued by the authorities in this period, and also analyzed the results of this bloody time in the history of Russia and the USSR.

It is believed that the era of violence and repression began with the very seizure of power in 1917. However, it was in the 30s. account for the peak, at this time was put in camps and shot the largest number of people. History shows that at that time every third person was either repressed or a relative of the repressed.

The first thing that was done during this period was the holding of show trials, the purpose of which appears in the name itself, this is a demonstration of the punitive power of power, and the fact that anyone can be punished for opposition. It is noteworthy that the cases for these trials were fabricated, and for greater clarity, it was stated that all the accused themselves confessed to their crime.

On the one hand, the desire of power to gain a foothold in its dominant position is understandable and natural, on the other hand, it was chosen too immoral, from a human point of view, and cruel way.

Now we understand that the ruling power always needs some kind of counterweight, which allows you to achieve a balance in the opinions and views of statesmen who are responsible for the contagious aspects of the life of a citizen of the state. The Soviet government desperately tried to completely destroy and remove this counterweight.

Stalinist political repressions of the 30s

Stalin refers to the political repressions carried out in the Soviet Union during the period when the country's government was headed by I.V. Stalin.

Political persecution acquired a massive character with the beginning of collectivization and forced industrialization, and reached its peak in the period dating from 1937-1938. - The Great Terror.

During the Great Terror, the NKVD arrested about 1.58 million people, of which 682 thousand were sentenced to death.

Until now, historians have not come to a consensus regarding the historical background of the Stalinist political repressions of the 1930s and their institutional basis.

But for most researchers, it is an indisputable fact that it was the political figure of Stalin that played a decisive role in the punitive department of the state.

According to declassified archival materials, mass repressions on the ground were carried out in accordance with the planned tasks lowered from above to identify and punish the enemies of the people. Moreover, on many documents the demand to shoot or beat everyone was still written by the hand of the Soviet leader.

It is believed that the ideological basis for the Great Terror was the Stalinist doctrine of intensifying the class struggle. The very mechanisms of terror were borrowed from the time of the civil war, during which non-judicial executions were widely used by the Bolsheviks.

A number of researchers evaluate the Stalinist repressions as a perversion of the policy of Bolshevism, emphasizing that among the repressed there were many members of the Communist Party, leaders and the military.

For example, in the period 1936-1939. more than 1.2 million communists were repressed - half of the total number of the party. Moreover, according to existing data, only 50 thousand people were released, the rest died in the camps or were shot.

In addition, according to Russian historians, Stalin's repressive policy, based on the creation of extrajudicial bodies, was a gross violation of the laws of the Soviet Constitution that were in force at that time.

Researchers identify several main causes of the Great Terror. The main one is the Bolshevik ideology itself, which tends to divide people into friends and enemies.

It should be noted that it was beneficial for the current government to explain the difficult economic situation that prevailed in the country during the period under review as the result of the wrecking activities of the enemies of the Soviet people.

In addition, the presence of millions of prisoners made it possible to solve serious economic problems, for example, providing cheap labor for large-scale construction projects in the country.

Finally, many tend to consider the mental illness of Stalin, who suffered from paranoia, to be one of the reasons for political repressions. The fear sown among the masses became a reliable foundation for complete submission to the central government. Thus, thanks to the total terror in the 30s, Stalin managed to get rid of possible political opponents and turn the remaining workers of the apparatus into thoughtless performers.

The policy of the Great Terror caused enormous damage to the economy and military power of the Soviet state.

Sources: prezentacii.com, www.skachatreferat.ru, revolution.allbest.ru, rhistory.ucoz.ru, otherreferats.allbest.ru

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Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

Federal State Educational Institution

Higher professional education

"SAINT PETERSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE AND ARTS"

Library and Information Faculty

Department of Contemporary History of the Fatherland

Course: Modern history of the Fatherland

Mass political repressions in the 30s. Attempts to resist the Stalinist regime.

Artist: Meerovich V.I.

BIF correspondence student

262 groups

Lecturer: Sherstnev V.P.

The fight against "sabotage"

Introduction

Political repressions of the 20-50s. The twentieth century left a big imprint on Russian history. These were years of arbitrariness, lawless violence. Historians evaluate this period of Stalin's rule in different ways. Some of them call it a "black spot in history", others - a necessary measure to strengthen and increase the power of the Soviet state.

The very concept of "repression" in Latin means "suppression, punitive measure, punishment." In other words, suppression through punishment.

At the moment, political repression is one of the hot topics, as they have affected almost many residents of our country. Recently, terrible secrets of that time have very often surfaced, thereby increasing the importance of this problem.

Versions about the causes of mass repressions

When analyzing the formation of the mechanism of mass repression in the 1930s, the following factors should be taken into account.

The transition to the policy of collectivization of agriculture, industrialization and the cultural revolution, which required significant material investments or the attraction of free labor (it is indicated, for example, that grandiose plans for the development and creation of an industrial base in the regions of the north of the European part of Russia, Siberia and Far East required the movement of huge masses of people.

Preparations for war with Germany, where the Nazis who came to power proclaimed their goal the destruction of communist ideology.

To solve these problems, it was necessary to mobilize the efforts of the entire population of the country and ensure absolute support for state policy, and for this - to neutralize the potential political opposition on which the enemy could rely.

At the same time, at the legislative level, the supremacy of the interests of society and the proletarian state in relation to the interests of the individual was proclaimed and more severe punishment for any damage caused to the state, compared to similar crimes against the individual.

The policy of collectivization and accelerated industrialization led to a sharp drop in the standard of living of the population and to mass starvation. Stalin and his entourage understood that this increased the number of those dissatisfied with the regime and tried to portray "saboteurs" and "enemies of the people" responsible for all economic difficulties, as well as accidents in industry and transport, mismanagement, etc. According to Russian researchers, demonstrative repressions made it possible to explain the hardships of life by the presence of an internal enemy.

Stalinist repression dispossession collectivization

As the researchers point out, the period of mass repression was also predetermined by the "restoration and active use of the political investigation system" and the strengthening of the authoritarian power of I. Stalin, who moved from discussions with political opponents on the choice of the country's development path to declaring them "enemies of the people, a gang of professional wreckers, spies, saboteurs, murderers", which was perceived by the state security agencies, the prosecutor's office and the court as a prerequisite for action.

The ideological basis of repression

The ideological basis of Stalin's repressions was formed during the years of the civil war. Stalin himself formulated a new approach at the plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in July 1928.

It cannot be imagined that socialist forms will develop, ousting the enemies of the working class, and the enemies will retreat silently, making way for our advance, that then we will again advance, and they will retreat again, and then "suddenly" all without exception social groups, both kulaks and the poor, both workers and capitalists, will find themselves "suddenly", "imperceptibly", without struggle or unrest, in socialist society.

It has not happened and will not happen that the moribund classes voluntarily give up their positions without trying to organize resistance. It has not happened and will not happen that the advance of the working class towards socialism in a class society can do without struggle and unrest. On the contrary, the advance towards socialism cannot but lead to the resistance of the exploiting elements to this advance, and the resistance of the exploiters cannot but lead to the inevitable intensification of the class struggle.

dispossession

In the course of the forced collectivization of agriculture carried out in the USSR in 1928-1932, one of the directions of state policy was the suppression of anti-Soviet actions of the peasants and the associated "liquidation of the kulaks as a class" - "dispossession", which implied the forcible and extrajudicial deprivation of wealthy peasants, using wage labor, all means of production, land and civil rights, and eviction to remote areas of the country. Thus, the state destroyed the main social group of the rural population, capable of organizing and financially supporting the resistance to the measures taken.

Almost any peasant could get on the lists of kulaks compiled locally. The scale of the resistance to collectivization was such that it captured not only the kulaks, but also many middle peasants who opposed collectivization. The ideological feature of this period was the widespread use of the term "podkulaknik", which made it possible to repress any peasant population in general, up to farm laborers.

The protests of the peasants against collectivization, against high taxes and the forced seizure of "surplus" grain were expressed in its harboring, arson and even the murder of rural party and Soviet activists, which was regarded by the state as a manifestation of the "kulak counter-revolution".

On January 30, 1930, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization." According to this decree, kulaks were divided into three categories:

The heads of kulak families of the 1st category were arrested, and cases of their actions were referred to special construction units consisting of representatives of the OGPU, regional committees (krai committees) of the CPSU (b) and the prosecutor's office. Family members of kulaks of the 1st category and kulaks of the 2nd category were subject to eviction to remote areas of the USSR or remote areas of a given region (krai, republic) to a special settlement. The kulaks, assigned to the 3rd category, settled within the district on new lands specially allocated for them outside the collective farms.

On February 2, 1930, the order of the OGPU of the USSR No. 44/21 was issued, which provided for the immediate liquidation of "counter-revolutionary kulak activists", especially "cadres of active counter-revolutionary and insurgent organizations and groups" and "the most malicious, terry loners."

The families of those arrested, imprisoned in concentration camps or sentenced to death were subject to deportation to the remote northern regions of the USSR.

The order also provided for the mass eviction of the richest kulaks, i.e. former landlords, semi-landlords, "local kulak authorities" and "the entire kulak cadre, from which the counter-revolutionary activist is formed", "kulak anti-Soviet activist", "churchmen and sectarians", as well as their families to the remote northern regions of the USSR. As well as the priority conduct of campaigns for the eviction of kulaks and their families in the following regions of the USSR.

In this regard, the OGPU bodies were entrusted with the task of organizing the resettlement of the dispossessed and their labor use at the place of new residence, suppressing unrest of the dispossessed in special settlements, and searching for those who had fled from places of exile. The direct management of the mass resettlement was carried out by a special task force under the leadership of the head of the Secret Operational Directorate E.G. Evdokimov. The spontaneous unrest of the peasants in the field was suppressed instantly. Only in the summer of 1931 did it take the involvement of army units to reinforce the OGPU troops in suppressing major unrest of special settlers in the Urals and Western Siberia.

In total, in 1930-1931, as indicated in the certificate of the Department for Special Settlers of the Gulag of the OGPU, 381,026 families with a total number of 1,803,392 people were sent to a special settlement. For 1932-1940. 489,822 dispossessed people arrived in special settlements.

The fight against "sabotage"

The solution of the problem of accelerated industrialization required not only the investment of huge funds, but also the creation of numerous technical personnel. The bulk of the workers, however, were yesterday's illiterate peasants who did not have sufficient qualifications to work with complex equipment. The Soviet state was also heavily dependent on the technical intelligentsia, inherited from tsarist times. These specialists were often rather skeptical of communist slogans.

The Communist Party, which grew up under conditions of civil war, perceived all the failures that arose during industrialization as deliberate sabotage, which resulted in a campaign against the so-called "sabotage". In a number of sabotage and sabotage trials, for example, the following accusations were made:

Sabotage of the observation of solar eclipses (Pulkovo case);

Preparation of incorrect reports on the financial situation of the USSR, which led to the undermining of its international authority (the case of the Labor Peasant Party);

Sabotage on the instructions of foreign intelligence services through the insufficient development of textile factories, the creation of disproportions in semi-finished products, which should have led to the undermining of the USSR economy and general discontent (the case of the Industrial Party);

Damage to seed material through its contamination, deliberate sabotage in the field of mechanization of agriculture by insufficient supply of spare parts (case of the Labor Peasant Party);

Uneven distribution of goods by region on assignment from foreign intelligence agencies, which led to the formation of surpluses in some places and shortages in others (the case of the Menshevik "Union Bureau").

Also, the clergy, freelancers, small businessmen, merchants and artisans were victims of the "anti-capitalist revolution" that began in the 1930s. From now on, the population of cities was included in the category of "working class, builder of socialism", however, the working class was subjected to repressions, which, in accordance with the dominant ideology, turned into an end in itself, hindering the active movement of society towards progress.

In four years, from 1928 to 1931, 138,000 industrial and administrative specialists were excluded from the life of society, 23,000 of them were written off in the first category ("enemies of the Soviet regime") and deprived of their civil rights. The persecution of specialists took on enormous proportions at enterprises, where they were forced to unreasonably increase output, which led to an increase in the number of accidents, defects, and machine breakdowns. From January 1930 to June 1931, 48% of Donbass engineers were fired or arrested: 4,500 "specialist saboteurs" were "exposed" in the first quarter of 1931 in the transport sector alone. Setting goals that obviously cannot be achieved, which led to the failure to fulfill plans, a strong drop in labor productivity and work discipline, to a complete disregard for economic laws, ended up upsetting the work of enterprises for a long time.

The crisis emerged on a grandiose scale, and the leadership of the party was forced to take some "corrective measures." On July 10, 1931, the Politburo decided to limit the persecution of specialists who became victims of the hunt declared on them in 1928. The necessary measures were taken: several thousand engineers and technicians were immediately released, mainly in the metallurgical and coal industries, discrimination in access to higher education for children of the intelligentsia, the OPTU was forbidden to arrest specialists without the consent of the relevant people's commissariat.

From the end of 1928 to the end of 1932, the Soviet cities were flooded with peasants, whose number was close to 12 million - these were those who fled from collectivization and dispossession. Three and a half million migrants appeared in Moscow and Leningrad alone. Among them were many enterprising peasants who preferred to flee the countryside to self-dispossession or join collective farms. In 1930-1931, countless construction projects swallowed up this very unpretentious workforce. But beginning in 1932, the authorities began to fear a continuous and uncontrolled flow of population, which turned cities into villages, when the authorities needed to make them the showcase of a new socialist society; population migration jeopardized this entire elaborate ration card system, beginning in 1929, in which the number of "entitled" to the ration card increased from 26 million at the beginning of 1930 to almost 40 by the end of 1932. Migration turned factories into huge camps of nomads. According to the authorities, "new arrivals from the village can cause negative phenomena and ruin production by an abundance of truants, a decline in work discipline, hooliganism, an increase in marriage, the development of crime and alcoholism."

In the spring of 1934, the government took repressive measures against juvenile homeless children and hooligans, whose number in the cities increased significantly during the period of famine, dispossession and exacerbation of social relations. under the law, sanctions against minors who have reached the age of 12, convicted of robbery, violence, bodily harm, self-mutilation and murder. A few days later, the government sent a secret instruction to the prosecutor's office, which specified the criminal measures that should be applied to adolescents, in particular, it was said that any measures should be applied, "including the highest measure of social protection", in other words, the death penalty. Thus, the previous paragraphs of the Criminal Code, which prohibited the death penalty for minors, were repealed.

Mass terror

On July 30, 1937, the NKVD Order No. 00447 "On the operation to repress former kulaks, criminals and other anti-Soviet elements" was adopted.

According to this order, the categories of persons subject to repression were determined:

A) Former kulaks (previously repressed, hiding from repression, escaping from camps, exile and labor settlements, as well as those who fled from dispossession to cities);

B) Former repressed "churchmen and sectarians";

C) Former active participants in anti-Soviet armed uprisings;

D) Former members of anti-Soviet political parties (Socialist-Revolutionaries, Georgian Mensheviks, Armenian Dashnaks, Azerbaijani Musavatists, Ittihadists, etc.);

E) Former active "participants in bandit uprisings";

E) Former White Guards, "punishers", "repatriates" ("re-emigrants"), etc.;

g) criminals.

All the repressed were divided into two categories:

1) "the most hostile elements" were subject to immediate arrest and, after considering their cases in troikas, to execution;

2) "less active, but still hostile elements" were subject to arrest and imprisonment in camps or prisons for a period of 8 to 10 years.

By order of the NKVD, for the accelerated consideration of thousands of cases, "operational troikas" were formed at the level of republics and regions. The troika usually included: the chairman - the local head of the NKVD, the members - the local prosecutor and the first secretary of the regional, regional or republican committee of the CPSU (b).

For each region of the Soviet Union, limits were set for both categories.

Part of the repression was carried out against people who had already been convicted and were in the camps. Limits of the "first category" (10 thousand people) were allocated for them, and triples were also formed.

The order established repressions against family members of the sentenced:

Families "whose members are capable of active anti-Soviet actions" were subject to deportation to camps or work settlements.

The families of the executed, living in the border zone, were subject to resettlement outside the border strip within the republics, territories and regions.

The families of the executed, living in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tbilisi, Baku, Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog and in the areas of Sochi, Gagra and Sukhumi, were subject to eviction to other areas of their choice, with the exception of border areas.

All families of the repressed were subject to registration and systematic observation.

The duration of the "kulak operation" (as it was sometimes called in the documents of the NKVD, since the former kulaks made up the majority of those repressed) was extended several times, and the limits were revised. So, on January 31, 1938, by a resolution of the Politburo, additional limits of 57,200 people were allocated for 22 regions, including 48,000 for the "first category". On February 1, the Politburo approves an additional limit for camps in the Far East of 12,000 people. "first category", February 17 - an additional limit for Ukraine of 30 thousand for both categories, July 31 - for the Far East (15 thousand for the "first category", 5 thousand for the second), August 29 - 3 thousand for Chita region.

In total, during the operation, 818 thousand people were convicted by troikas, of which 436 thousand were sentenced to death.

Former employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway accused of spying for Japan were also repressed.

On May 21, 1938, by order of the NKVD, "militia troikas" were formed, which had the right to sentence "socially dangerous elements" to exile or terms of imprisonment for 3-5 years without trial. These troikas delivered various sentences to 400,000 people. The category of persons under consideration included, among other things, criminals - recidivists and buyers of stolen goods.

Repression against foreigners and ethnic minorities

On March 9, 1936, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a resolution "On measures protecting the USSR from the penetration of espionage, terrorist and sabotage elements." In accordance with it, the entry of political emigrants into the country was complicated and a commission was created to "purge" international organizations on the territory of the USSR.

On July 25, 1937, Yezhov signed and put into effect order No. 00439, which ordered the local NKVD bodies to arrest all German subjects, including political emigrants, working or previously working in military factories and factories with defense workshops, within 5 days, as well as in railway transport, and in the process of investigating their cases, "to seek an exhaustive opening of the German intelligence agents that have not been exposed so far." On August 11, 1937, Yezhov signed order No. local organizations of the "Polish Military Organization" and complete it within 3 months. In these cases, 103,489 people were convicted, including 84,471 people sentenced to death.

August 17, 1937 - an order to conduct a "Romanian operation" against emigrants and defectors from Romania to Moldova and Ukraine. 8292 people were convicted, including 5439 people sentenced to death.

November 30, 1937 - Directive of the NKVD to conduct an operation against defectors from Latvia, activists of Latvian clubs and societies. 21,300 people were convicted, of which 16,575 shot.

December 11, 1937 - Directive of the NKVD on the operation against the Greeks. 12,557 people were convicted, of which 10,545 people. sentenced to be shot.

December 14, 1937 - Directive of the NKVD on the spread of repression along the "Latvian line" to Estonians, Lithuanians, Finns, and Bulgarians. 9,735 people were convicted on the "Estonian line", including 7,998 people sentenced to death, 11,066 people were convicted on the "Finnish line", of which 9,078 people were sentenced to death;

January 29, 1938 - Directive of the NKVD on the "Iranian operation". 13,297 people were convicted, of which 2,046 were sentenced to death. February 1, 1938 - NKVD directive on " national operation"in relation to the Bulgarians and Macedonians. February 16, 1938 - NKVD directive on arrests along the "Afghan line". 1,557 people were convicted, of which 366 were sentenced to death. March 23, 1938 - Politburo resolution on the cleansing of the defense industry from persons belonging to nationalities June 24, 1938 - directive of the People's Commissariat of Defense on the dismissal from the Red Army of military nationalities not represented on the territory of the USSR.

On November 17, 1938, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the activities of all emergency bodies were terminated, arrests were allowed only with the permission of a court or prosecutor. By the directive of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of Beria of December 22, 1938, all sentences of the emergency authorities were declared null and void if they were not carried out or declared convicted before November 17.

Stalinist repressions had several goals: they destroyed possible opposition, created an atmosphere of general fear and unquestioning obedience to the will of the leader, ensured the rotation of personnel through the promotion of young people, weakened social tensions, blaming "enemies of the people" for the difficulties of life, provided the Main Directorate of Camps (GULAG) with labor force .

By September 1938, the main task of repression was completed. The repressions have already begun to threaten the new generation of party and Chekist leaders who came to the fore during the repressions. In July-September, a mass shooting of previously arrested party functionaries, communists, military leaders, NKVD officers, intellectuals and other citizens was carried out, this was the beginning of the end of terror. In October 1938, all extrajudicial sentencing bodies were dissolved (with the exception of the Special Meeting at the NKVD, as it received after Beria joined the NKVD).

Conclusion

Massive repressions, arbitrariness and lawlessness, which were committed by the Stalinist leadership on behalf of the revolution, the party, and the people, were a heavy legacy of the past.

The desecration of the honor and life of compatriots, begun in the mid-1920s, continued with the most severe consistency for several decades. Thousands of people were subjected to moral and physical torture, many of them were exterminated. The life of their families and loved ones was turned into a hopeless period of humiliation and suffering. Stalin and his entourage appropriated practically unlimited power, depriving the Soviet people of the freedoms that were granted to them during the years of the revolution. Mass repressions were carried out for the most part by extrajudicial reprisals through the so-called special meetings, boards, "troikas" and "twos". However, the elementary norms of legal proceedings were also violated in the courts.

The restoration of justice, begun by the XX Congress of the CPSU, was carried out inconsistently and, in essence, ceased in the second half of the 60s.

Today, thousands of lawsuits have not been raised yet. The stain of injustice has not yet been removed from the Soviet people, who suffered innocently during the forced collectivization, were imprisoned, evicted with their families to remote areas without a livelihood, without the right to vote, even without an announcement of a term of imprisonment.

List of used literature

2) Aralovets N.A. Losses of the population of the Soviet society in the 1930s: problems, sources, methods of study in Russian historiography // Otechestvennaya istoriya. 1995. No. 1. P.135-146

3) www.wikipedia.org - free encyclopedia

4) Lyskov D.Yu. "Stalin's repressions". Great lie of the XX century, 2009. - 288 p.