Moscow Show Trials
- A system of purges, whereby Stalin removed opposition from within the party (and made it clear to those remaining that opposition was a bad idea.)
- Show Trials were established to eliminate the negative response forced collectivisation had received (1931-1932)
- Ryutin, a former party member, published “An Appeal to All Members of the All-Union Communist Party” which referred to Stalin as “the evil genius of the Russian Revolution” and argued that he should be removed by force. Stalin took this as a direct threat and proposed that Ryutin be shot. The party were uneasy about shooting one of their own, and so sentenced him to ten years in prison, where he later died.
- Sergei Kirov, party secretary in Leningrad, was one of the main speakers who opposed the death sentence for Ryutin.
- 1 Dec, 1934, Kirov was murdered at the Party headquarters in Leningrad. Evidence, but none definitive, suggests Stalin was involved.
- Stalin used this murder, which he claimed was evidence of a Trotskyite plot, to purge the party of those who were loyal to Lenin’s memory, leaving only those who were loyal to him.
- 1000s of Leningraders were deported to Siberia and the Arctic. Many who were merely connected to supporters of Kirov (family, friends, etc) were also deported.
- Propaganda, pushing the cult of Stalin, referred to those being arrested / tortured / deported as ‘enemies of the people’
- Stalin signed scores of documents, listing people to be killed. On one day alone, documents listing over 3,000 people were signed.
- 2 supporters of Kirovs, Kamenev and Zinoviev, were the next high-profile party members targeted. After a secret trial in 1935, they were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and required to name all associates.
- After this secret trial, Stalin apparently decided that the Russian people should know about the conspirators and their crimes.
August, 1936 – First Show Trial
- Kamenev and Zinoviev retried with 14 co-accused
- 150 Soviet citizens and 30 members of foreign press/ diplomats – all carefully chosen – admitted
- Relatives / supporters of the accused not admitted
- Prosecutor: Andrei Vyshinsky (for all 3 show trials)
- Charges: Those accused had lied in their earlier trials, and were responsible for murder of Kirov, attempts to murder Stalin, Lenin and others, they were spies, saboteurs and traitors.
- Accused pleaded guilty to all charges (after enduring months of torture and threats)
- All defendants were found guilty. They were sentenced to death and executed within 24 hours.
- After 1st trial, families of Kamenev and Zinoviev were either killed or exiled.
- Foreign media satisfied that the men had received a fair trial
January 1937, Second Show Trial
- 17 Old Bolsheviks put on trial
- Pyatakov and Radek best-known of them
- They were accused of being involved in ‘wrecking’ at Trotsky’s behest, and in preparing to reintroduce capitalism to Russia.
- All confessed.
- 13 of 17 sentenced to death and shot day after conviction.
- Radek and two others spared, seemingly for giving up further names. Sent to labour camps (where Radek died 2 years later)
- Red Army purged
- 1937 – the army commander arrested, tried in secret and shot
- Half of the 35,000 officers in the army were either executed or sent to labour camps. Seriously undermined the Red Army at a crucial time (Hitler threatening to attack)
Third Show Trial / The Great Show Trial – March 1938
- Accused included Bukharin (close associate of Lenin who had criticised collectivisation) and Yagoda (head of NKVD)
- Accusations: spying, sabotage, working with Trotsky and Hitler to destroy USSR
- Trials took a long time to ‘prepare’ to ensure smooth running and unequivocal confessions
- Bukharin was particularly difficult to ‘break’ and his ‘confession’ was unsatisfactory until his wife and baby were threatened. He gave a full confession in exchange for their safety. Wife later sent to a labour camp.
- All found guilty and executed immediately.
Impact / Results
- Only 54 people were actually tried (47 executed), but the Purge / Terror spread much, much further
- About 5 million arrested
- At least a million of those were executed, the rest sent to labour camps where about 90% died
- Estimates at the numbers that died vary wildly
- Under Khrushchev, in the 50s, the figure for those who were executed or died in gulags was put at about 7 million.
- An additional 10 million died in famine / forced collectivisation violence in the early 1930s.
- In the 1990s, formerly classified documents were examined and a new estimate of between 19 and 22 million lives (not including war dead) was proposed.
YouTube video, showing footage of one of the trials.
http://youtu.be/nFB9G1HINXI