On March 14, 1937, a screaming headline graced the front page of a leading Soviet Union newspaper:
“Enemies of the People Confess Their Crimes — Trotskyite Traitors Serve Fascism!“ the headline read.
Semi-literate peasant workers gathered in various public locations to digest what became the news of the year. Another horrific session of the Stalin show trials was in progress.
Throughout most of the 1930s, the ruthless leader presided over some of the most unjust court sessions. These public spectacles paraded anyone accused of trying to overthrow him.
Most of the allegations were baseless and aimed at spreading fear throughout the nation. Loyalty was no longer enough. If Stalin suspected you, it was over. You automatically became a traitor.
Punishment ranged from imprisonment and forced labor to death.
By the late 1920s, after eliminating all his potential rivals, Joseph Stalin had become the unopposed leader of Soviet politics.
The whole country lived in terror. Even the highest-ranking government officials weren’t spared. No matter how close one was to Stalin, they could be sacrificed to Stalin’s USSR repression program.
In a few years, the dictator’s promise of building a workers’ paradise was gone with the wind. The Soviet Union that emerged was one of perpetual horror and repression.
Life under Stalin’s USSR would go on to adjust the very foundation of the country. It has remained a significant influence in today’s Moscow.
Here, we would examine how Stalin used the show trials and the Gulag system to tighten his grip on power. In the end, you will be enlightened enough to decide if Stalin was a necessary nation builder or just a ruthless tyrant.
The Cult of Stalin and the Atmosphere of Fear
Joseph Stalin rode into prominence on the back of Vladimir Lenin’s revolution. After Lenin formed the Bolshevik Group and overthrew the regional government, he brought Stalin on board.
Lenin appointed Stalin as General Secretary of the Communist Party. However, while many viewed the position as a mundane administrative role, Stalin saw it as a means to further his ambitions.
Stalin’s new role allowed him to appoint people to key party positions. He made sure to select his loyalists. The fruit of his investments ripened after Lenin died from a stroke in 1924.
At the time, the revolutionary leader had discerned Stalin. In a Testament he wrote before his death, Lenin warned against Stalin. He referred to him as rude and dangerous.
Lenin suggested his removal from the party. The revolutionary warrior also stated that the Soviet Union would be in trouble if Stalin were to take power.
But the party leaders ignored his warnings. They hid the testament from the other party members, believing that Stalin wasn’t as bad as he was portrayed to be.
But they were about to experience a huge shock.
Stalin’s Political Chess Game
First, Stalin implemented a complex web of political outmaneuvering. He allied with two top Bolshevik officials, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev.
Both were also top candidates to succeed Lenin, but chose for some reasons to partner with Stalin. Together they upstaged Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Red Army (the party’s military force).
Trotsky was Stalin’s greatest obstacle. He was highly regarded as the natural heir to the top seat. However, his lack of alliances made him vulnerable to Stalin’s scheming.
Later on, in 1940, Stalin planned Trotsky’s assassination; he was killed with an ice pick. After he took Trotsky out of the way, Stalin did something unexpected. He turned against his two allies.
Stalin was paranoid. He had an unquenchable level of fear that he would be betrayed and removed from office.
He expelled Zinoviev and Kamenev with the help of another popular party member, Nikolai Bukharin. Lastly, Stalin decided to eliminate Bukharin and the remaining group of popular party members.
He stripped his former ally of power alongside two other threats, Rykov and Tomsky. By the late 1920s, after eliminating all his potential rivals, Joseph Stalin had become the unopposed leader of Soviet politics.
He then began to build a good reputation among the people. But instead of warming his way into their hearts with good deeds, he chose propaganda.
Life Under Stalin USSR: The Atmosphere of Fear
While positioning himself as the “Father of Nations,” a skillful and unifying leader, he visited the country with terror. He demanded perpetual demonstrations of loyalty and obedience. Citizens went to extreme lengths to show their submission to him.
They worshipped and praised him in public at every public opportunity. But nothing they did was ever enough. Stalin was paranoid. He had an unquenchable level of fear that he would be betrayed and removed from office.
Everyone in the Communist Party and the Red Army was a suspect. Regular citizens, too. This insecurity watered the ground for the purges that were to come. Stalin’s paranoia was going to shake the nation like never before.
The Great Purge and the Show Trials
Halfway through the 1940s, Stalin’s paranoia reached its peak. Following it was an unprecedented repression program known as the Great Purge. Between 1936 and 1938, Stalin abducted individuals he termed “enemies of the people.”
But in fact, they were simple people, he suspected.
At the top of the list were senior Communist leaders whom he had previously used and dumped. They included Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Nikolai Bukharin.
Stalin rounded up virtually anyone notable who had fought alongside Lenin in the revolution. He accused them of treason.
They were conspiring with foreign nations to assassinate him, Stalin alleged. Most of the accusations were ridiculous. But Stalin organized public trials to give the charges some substance.
The elite weren’t the only victims of these Stalin political purges. Thousands of regular citizens were caught in the horrible program.
During these show trials, it was common for the accused persons to confess to the absurd allegations. These admissions were made after hours of torture and threats to harm their family members.
In his usual treacherous fashion, Stalin promised leniency to some of the accused in exchange for their confessions. He never honored his word.
All the trials ended in death by firing squad or sentences to forced labor camps. No show trials were intended to reveal the truth. Stalin just wanted a public demonstration of his ruthlessness.
He wanted to create a perception that the USSR was under grave threats from enemies everywhere. But he alone could preserve the nation from external attacks.
Interestingly, the elite weren’t the only victims of these Stalin political purges. Thousands of regular citizens were caught in the horrible program.
The NKVD and the Machinery of Repression
The Stalin political purges relied heavily on the assistance of a militant force. He found a perfect group in the Soviet secret police known as the NKVD.
This group carried out numerous arrests of citizens. They brutally interrogated their detainees and were tasked to meet specific arrest targets per day.
Regional NKVD forces were furnished with several people to arrest. When they failed to meet these quotas, they carried out raids and rounded up innocent people.
Citizens lived in unimaginable fear. Neighbors suspected one another, and family members became wary of each other.
To get on the NKVD target list, one need not do anything out of the ordinary. Missing a meeting, making a careless joke, or having any link with another suspect could land one in NKVD trouble.
Citizens lived in unimaginable fear. Neighbors suspected one another, and family members became wary of each other. The government promoted a culture of betrayal. As a result, even children began to report any suspicious remarks made by their parents.
Colleagues couldn’t speak freely with one another at work, and friendship began to dwindle. Every night, hundreds went missing. Citizens dreaded the notorious knock of NKVD agents on the door.
Unlucky persons either ended up in prison or in Soviet forced labor camps. Many were executed without trial. Mass graves began to pop up everywhere.
According to estimates reached by historians, over 700,000 people were killed in Stalin’s USSR repression. The government threw millions in prison.
The Gulag: Empire of Forced Labor
There was another notable dimension to the Stalin political purges. These are the dreaded Gulags.
The short form for Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei (Main Camp Administration) they were the destination for detainees who escaped the Stalin executions. Gulags were a network of labor camps scattered across the Soviet Union.
Some of them were in Siberia, the Arctic, and Central Asia. There, prisoners faced some of the most dehumanizing and painful conditions.
Far removed from society, inmates were compelled to engage in a wide range of work. They built railroads, felled trees, mined minerals, and constructed gigantic structures for the state.
The Gulag struck fear into the rest of the population. It kept them loyal and in check. No one wanted to spend the rest of their life in bondage and hard labor.
Not just that. The death rate among the Gulag inmates was dangerously high. They worked in the freezing cold without sufficient clothing, ate little food, and had no access to medical care.
Many were worked to death. Others died of various diseases and malnutrition. Estimates place the number of Gulag inmates from the 1930s to the end of Stalin’s reign in 1953 at about 18 million.
About 1.5 to 2 million of these prisoners died in the camps. Those in the cities were living in constant dread. Every day of life under Stalin’s terror was unbearable.
But the media arm of the government covered up the horrible life with well-crafted lies.
The Role of Propaganda
One of the greatest tools of any dictator is propaganda. The Soviet Union invested heavily in this area. State newspapers, movies, and posters presented Stalin as a savior. He was shielding the Soviet Union from its secret enemies; they all echoed.
TV stations covered live sessions of the show trials. There was little mention of the Gulag. However, whenever the detention center is mentioned, the media portrays it as a place of reform and re-education.
Stalin’s dictatorship methods destroyed lives and ruined families. Many people had their loved ones snatched from them forever. To never be seen.
Life under Stalin’s USSR replaced trust with fear. Silence dislodged dissent. Survival was only possible through absolute submission.
Despite the cold-blooded Stalin Gulag history, the dictator has also been praised for building a strong Soviet Union. During his time, the USSR emerged as a world power.
Through a speedy industrialization drive and with the use of forced labor, the Union rose to become even stronger than Nazi Germany. These high points have, to a considerable extent, reduced the horrors of Stalin’s Gulag history. As a result, Stalin’s legacy has remained a hotly debated topic.
While some consider him a stain in history, others view him as a strong leader who did what was necessary, no matter how messy, to build a stronger Soviet Union.
Conclusion: A Nation Shaped by Repression
No matter what side of the divide you fall under in assessing Stalin’s political wisdom, one fact remains undisputed: His reign was a nightmare for his people.
From the show trials to the freezing compounds of the Gulags, political repression was undeniable. Stalin had little value for human life.
Loyalty had no meaning to him. He betrayed his allies without hesitation. He also spread the same culture throughout the nation.
Life under Stalin’s USSR replaced trust with fear. Silence dislodged dissent. Survival was only possible through absolute submission.
Stalin’s USSR is a perfect demonstration of how devastating the combination of power and terror can be. Together, they can shape a nation and form a culture that could last for centuries.
Many decades later, the shadows of his horrific regime have continued to lurk around Moscow. Do you think Stalin’s repressive regime was a worthy price to pay for the nation’s greatness?
Sources and Further Reading:
- The Great Terror → Orlando Figes
- Policing Stalin’s Socialism: Repression and Social Order in the Soviet Union, 1924-1953 → Jstor
- Joseph Stalin: National Hero or Cold-Blooded Murderer? → BBC Bitesize
- Life in USSR Under Stalin → History Learning Site
- Show Trials of the Communist Regime in Stalin’s Soviet Union →Mathias Corvinus Collegium
