What was the short term significance of the purges on Russian government and society?
The Great terror of the USSR impacted its people greatly. For some, although very few, this impact was good. However, for the majority it was a time of despair, poverty and constantly looking over your shoulder. Primary Material has been used to access the short term impact of the purges on society, the government/communist party as well as the military. However, it is potentially limited in it uses as much of the primary data is written with obvious political attitudes and hidden agendas.
Stalin caused political annihilation of the Bolshevik party. After Lenin’s death in 1924, the original party started to disappear. By 1938 Stalin himself was the only original who hadn’t been killed, exiled or disappeared. The montage of the 1917 Central Committee entitled “STALIN, THE EXECUTIONER, ALONE REMAINS” shows the only remaining member is Stalin the rest have been exiled, shot or abducted. It shows us Stalin was a manipulative, paranoid man who felt he had to kill to enhance his grip of the part and his nation of Nikita Khrushchev, who was leader of the Soviet party from 1953 to 1964, claimed that “70 percent of the party Central Committee were arrested and shot”1 This meant that Stalin could control his party even more than he would have been able to because he appointed the successor. For example, one historian writes “The party was devastated by the purges. Of the 139 members of the party Central Committee elected at 17th party congress in 1934, 110 were arrested before the 18TH Congress in March 1939.” This meant that the leading members of the communist party had been cut down in order for Stalin to keep control over the remaining members, they did as he wished without any arguments. It is said to have introduced the second generation of Stalinists. By increasing his control in the USSR, he dominated the lives of everyone. He controlled all aspects of people’s lives;...