Joseph Stalin died 65 years ago, but his personality and the policies he pursues are still the subject of fierce controversy among historians, politicians, and ordinary people. The scale and ambiguity of this historical figure are so great that until now, the attitude towards Stalin and the Stalinist era for some citizens of our country is a kind of indicator that determines the political and social position.

One of the darkest and most tragic pages in the country is political repression, which peaked in the 1930s and early 1940s. It is the repressive policy of the Soviet state during the years of Stalin's rule that is one of the main arguments of the opponents of Stalinism. Indeed, on the other side of the coin - industrialization, the construction of new cities and enterprises, the development of transport infrastructure, the strengthening of the armed forces and the formation of a classical model of education, which still works "by inertia" and is one of the best in the world. But collectivization, deportation of entire peoples to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the extermination of political opponents and opponents, as well as random people attributed to them, excessive harshness towards the country's population - this is another part of the Stalin era, which also cannot be erased from human memory.

However, in recent years there have been more and more publications that the scale and nature of political repressions during the reign of I.V. Stalin's were greatly exaggerated. It is interesting that not so long ago this position was voiced, it seemed, by those who were in no way interested in "whitewashing" Joseph Vissarionovich - employees of the analytical center of the US CIA. By the way, it was in the United States that Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the main denouncer of Stalin's repressions, once lived in exile, and it is he who owns the frightening figures - 70 million repressed. The analytical center of the US CIA "Rand Corporation" has calculated the number of repressed during the reign of the Soviet leader and obtained slightly different figures - about 700 thousand people. Perhaps the scale of the repression was greater, but clearly not as much as Solzhenitsyn's followers say.

The international human rights organization Memorial claims that from 11-12 million to 38-39 million people became victims of Stalin's repressions. The spread, as we can see, is very large. Yet 38 million is 3.5 times more than 11 million. Memorial refers to the victims of Stalinist repressions: 4.5-4.8 million convicted for political reasons, 6.5 million deported since 1920, about 4 million deprived of voting rights under the 1918 Constitution and the 1925 decree, about 400 500 thousand repressed on the basis of a number of decrees, 6-7 million died of hunger in 1932-1933, 17.9 thousand victims of "labor decrees".

As you can see, the concept of "victims of political repression" in this case is expanded to the maximum. But political repression is still concrete actions aimed at arresting, imprisoning, or physically eliminating dissidents or suspected dissidents. Can we refer to those who died of hunger as victims of political repression? Moreover, considering that at that difficult time she was starving most of population of the earth. Millions of people died in the African and Asian colonies of European powers, and in the "prosperous" United States of America it is not for nothing that these years were called the "Great Depression".

Go ahead. Another 4 million people were deprived of the right to vote during the Stalinist period. However, can defeat in rights be considered as full-fledged political repression? In this case, the multimillion African American population of the United States, in the first half of the twentieth century, not only did not have voting rights, but was also segregated by race, is also the victims of political repression by Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and other American presidents. That is, approximately 10-12 million people from among those classified by Memorial as victims of repression are already in doubt. Victims of time - yes, not always a well-thought-out economic policy - yes, but not targeted political repression.

If we approach the issue strictly, then only persons convicted under “political” articles and sentenced to death penalty or certain terms of imprisonment. And this is where the fun begins. The repressed included not only "politicians", but also many of the most real criminals, convicted of ordinary criminal offenses, or who tried, for certain reasons (unpaid card debt, for example) to get away from criminals by means of instituting a new "political" article to the political. Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky wrote in his memoirs about such a story, which only already took place in the "Brezhnev" time, in his memoirs - an ordinary criminal sat with him, who, in order not to answer to other prisoners for a card debt, specially scattered anti-Soviet leaflets in the barracks. Of course, such cases were not isolated.

To understand who can be classified as politically repressed, it is necessary to take a closer look at the Soviet criminal legislation of the 1920s - 1950s - what it was, to whom the most severe measures could be applied and who could and who could not become a victim " execution "articles of the criminal code.

Lawyer Vladimir Postaniuk notes that when the Criminal Code of the RSFSR was adopted in 1922, Article 21 of the main criminal law Soviet republic it was emphasized that in order to combat the most serious types of crimes that threaten the foundations of Soviet power and the Soviet system, execution is used as an exclusive measure to protect the state of workers.

For what crimes was the death penalty imposed in the Stalin years (1923-1953) under the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and other Union republics? Could they be sentenced to death under Article 58 of the Criminal Code?

V. Postaniuk: Crimes punishable by an exceptional measure of punishment - the death penalty - were included in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. First of all, these were the so-called. "Counter-revolutionary" crimes. Among the crimes for which the death penalty was imposed, the criminal law of the RSFSR listed the organization for counterrevolutionary purposes of armed uprisings or the invasion of Soviet territory by armed detachments or gangs, attempts to seize power (Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR); relations with foreign states or their individual representatives with the aim of persuading them to intervene armed in the affairs of the Republic; participation in an organization acting for the purpose of committing crimes specified in Art. 58 of the Criminal Code; opposition to normal activities government agencies and enterprises; participation in the organization or assistance to an organization acting in the direction of assistance to the international bourgeoisie; organizing, for counter-revolutionary purposes, terrorist acts directed against representatives of the Soviet government or leaders; organizing for counter-revolutionary purposes the destruction or damage by an explosion, arson or in any other way of railway or other lines and means of communication, means of public communication, water pipelines, public warehouses and other structures or structures, as well as participation in the execution of these crimes (Article 58 of the Criminal Code). The death penalty could also be obtained for active opposition to the revolutionary and labor movement while serving in responsible or highly secret positions in tsarist Russia and from counter-revolutionary governments during the Civil War. The death penalty followed for organizing gangs and gangs and participating in them, for counterfeiting by conspiracy of persons, for a number of official crimes. For example, Article 112 of the RSFSR Criminal Code emphasized that execution could be ordered for abuse of power, abuse of power or inaction and negligence, followed by the collapse of the governed structure. Embezzlement and embezzlement of state values, a judge's unjust verdict, aggravated bribe-taking - all these crimes could also be punished up to the death penalty.

Could minors be shot during the Stalinist period and for what crimes? Have there been such examples?

V. Postaniuk: During the period of its validity, the code was amended several times. In particular, they extended to the issues of criminal responsibility of minors and were associated with mitigation of measures of responsibility that could be applied to juvenile criminals. The norms on punishment also changed: the use of execution against minors and pregnant women was prohibited, short-term imprisonment was introduced for a period of 1 month (Law of July 10, 1923), and later for a period of 7 days (Law of October 16, 1924) ...

In 1935, the famous Decree "On measures to combat juvenile delinquency" was adopted. According to this decree, minors over 12 years old were allowed to be prosecuted for theft, violence and bodily harm, injury, murder or attempted murder. The decree stated that all criminal penalties could be applied to juvenile criminals over 12 years old. This formulation, which was not very clear, gave rise to numerous allegations of the shooting of children in the Soviet Union. But these statements, at least from a legal point of view, do not correspond to reality. After all, the rule on the impossibility of assigning the death penalty to persons under the age of 18, contained in Art. 13 Basic principles and in Art. 22 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, has not been canceled.

Was there really not a single case of the execution of minors in the Soviet Union?

V. Postaniuk: There was such a case. And this is the only reliably known case of shooting in Soviet time teenager. 15-year-old Arkady Neiland was shot on August 11, 1964. As you can see, this is far from Stalin's time. Neiland was the first and only juvenile officially sentenced by a Soviet court to capital punishment - by shooting. The guilt of this criminal was that he hacked to death with an ax a woman and her three-year-old son. The petition to pardon the teenager was rejected, and Nikita Khrushchev himself spoke out in support of the capital punishment for him.

Thus, we see that the Soviet criminal legislation did provide for the death penalty under the "anti-Soviet" 58th article. However, as the lawyer noted in his interview, among the "execution" anti-Soviet acts there were crimes that in our time would be called terrorist. For example, one can hardly call a “prisoner of conscience” a person who organized sabotage on a railroad track. As for the use of execution as a capital punishment in relation to corrupt officials, this practice still exists in a number of countries around the world, for example, in China. In the Soviet Union, the death penalty was seen as a temporary and exclusive, but effective measure to combat crime and the enemies of the Soviet state.

If we talk about the victims of political repression, then a huge part of those convicted under the anti-Soviet article were saboteurs, spies, organizers and members of armed and underground groups and organizations that acted against Soviet power. Suffice it to recall that in the 1920s - 1930s the country was in a hostile environment, the situation was not particularly stable in a number of regions. Soviet Union... For example, in Central Asia individual groups of Basmachi continued to resist the Soviet regime in the 1930s.

Finally, one should not miss another very interesting nuance. A significant part of the Soviet citizens repressed under Stalin were responsible workers of the party and the Soviet state, including law enforcement, security agencies. If we analyze the lists of the highest leaders of the NKVD of the USSR at the union and republican level in the 1930s, then most of them were subsequently themselves shot. This indicates that tough measures were applied not only to the political opponents of the Soviet government, but also, to a much greater extent, to its representatives themselves, guilty of abuse of power, corruption or any other malfeasance.

In the 20s and ended in 1953. During this period, mass arrests took place, and special camps for political prisoners were created. No historian can name the exact number of victims of Stalin's repressions. More than a million people were convicted under Article 58.

Origin of the term

The Stalinist terror affected almost all strata of society. For more than twenty years, Soviet citizens lived in constant fear - one wrong word or even a gesture could cost life. It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of what the Stalinist terror was based on. But of course, the main component of this phenomenon is fear.

The word terror in Latin means "horror". The method of ruling the country based on instilling fear has been used by rulers since ancient times. For the Soviet leader historical example Ivan the Terrible served. Stalin's terror is in a way a more modern version of Oprichnina.

Ideology

The midwife of history is what Karl Marx called violence. The German philosopher saw only evil in the security and inviolability of members of society. Stalin used Marx's idea.

The ideological basis of the repressions that began in the 1920s was formulated in July 1928 in " Short course history of the CPSU. "At first, the Stalinist terror was a class struggle, which was supposedly needed to resist the overthrown forces. But the repression continued after all the so-called counter-revolutionaries were in camps or were shot.

If at the beginning of the Stalinist repressions the state security bodies fought against the opponents of the revolution, then by the mid-thirties the arrests of old communists began - people selflessly devoted to the party. Ordinary Soviet citizens were already afraid not only of the NKVD officers, but also of each other. Denunciation has become the main tool in the fight against "enemies of the people."

The Stalinist repressions were preceded by the "Red Terror", which began during the Civil War. These two political phenomena have many similarities. However, after the end of the Civil War, almost all political crimes cases were based on falsified charges. During the "red terror", they imprisoned and shot primarily those who disagreed with the new regime, of whom there were many at the stages of the creation of the new state.

The case of lyceum students

Officially, the period of Stalinist repression begins in 1922. But one of the first high-profile cases dates back to 1925. It was in this year that a special department of the NKVD fabricated a case on charges of counter-revolutionary activities of the graduates of the Alexandrovsky Lyceum.

On February 15, over 150 people were arrested. Not all of them were related to the above. educational institution... Among the convicts were former students Jurisprudence schools and officers of the Semenovsky Life Guards regiment. Those arrested were accused of assisting the international bourgeoisie.

Many were shot already in June. 25 people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. 29 of those arrested were sent into exile. Vladimir Schilder, a former teacher, was 70 years old at that time. He died during the investigation. Nikolai Golitsyn, the last chairman of the Council of Ministers, was sentenced to death Russian Empire.

Shakhty affair

The charges under Article 58 were ridiculous. Of a person who does not own foreign languages and never communicated with a citizen in my life western state, could easily be accused of collusion with American agents. During the investigation, torture was often used. Only the strongest could withstand them. Often, those under investigation signed a confession just to complete the execution, which sometimes lasted for weeks.

In July 1928, the victims Stalinist terror became specialists of the coal industry. This case was named "Shakhty". The leaders of Donbass enterprises were accused of sabotage, sabotage, creation of an underground counter-revolutionary organization, and assistance to foreign spies.

In the 1920s, there were several high-profile cases. Dekulakization continued until the early thirties. It is impossible to count the number of victims of Stalin's repressions, because no one in those days carefully kept statistics. In the nineties, the KGB archives became available, but even after that, researchers did not receive comprehensive information. However, separate execution lists were made public, which became a terrible symbol of Stalin's repressions.

The Great Terror is a term that is applied to a short period of Soviet history. It lasted only two years - from 1937 to 1938. Researchers provide more accurate data on victims during this period. 1,548,366 people were arrested. Shot - 681 692. It was a struggle "against the remnants of the capitalist classes."

Reasons for the "great terror"

During Stalin's times, a doctrine was developed to intensify the class struggle. This was only a formal reason for the destruction of hundreds of people. Among the victims of the Stalinist terror of the 30s are writers, scientists, military men, engineers. Why was it necessary to get rid of representatives of the intelligentsia, specialists who could benefit the Soviet state? Historians offer various answers to these questions.

Among modern researchers there are those who are convinced that Stalin had only an indirect relationship to the repressions of 1937-1938. However, his signature appears in almost every execution list, in addition, there is a lot of documentary evidence of his involvement in mass arrests.

Stalin strove for one-man power. Any indulgence could lead to a real, not fictional conspiracy. One of the foreign historians compared the Stalinist terror of the 1930s with the Jacobin terror. But if the last phenomenon, which took place in France at the end of the 18th century, presupposed the destruction of representatives of a certain social class, then in the USSR, people who were often not related to each other were arrested and executed.

So, the reason for the repression was the desire for one-man, unconditional power. But a formulation was needed, an official justification for the need for mass arrests.

Occasion

On December 1, 1934, Kirov was killed. This event became the formal reason for the Killer was arrested. According to the results of the investigation, again fabricated, Leonid Nikolaev did not act independently, but as a member of an opposition organization. Stalin later used Kirov's assassination in the fight against political opponents. Zinoviev, Kamenev and all their supporters were arrested.

The trial of the officers of the Red Army

After Kirov's murder, the military trials began. GD Guy was one of the first victims of the Great Terror. The commander was arrested for the phrase "Stalin must be removed", which he uttered while intoxicated. It is worth saying that in the mid-thirties, denunciation reached its climax. People who have worked in the same organization for many years ceased to trust each other. Denunciations were written not only against enemies, but also against friends. Not only for selfish reasons, but also out of fear.

In 1937, a trial took place over a group of officers of the Red Army. They were accused of anti-Soviet activities and assistance to Trotsky, who by that time was already abroad. The following were on the firing list:

• Tukhachevsky M.N.
• Yakir I.E.
• I. P. Uborevich
• Eideman R.P.
• Putna V.K.
• Primakov V.M.
• Gamarnik Ya.B.
• Feldman B.M.

The witch hunt continued. In the hands of the NKVD officers, there was a record of the negotiations between Kamenev and Bukharin - they were talking about the creation of a "right-left" opposition. In early March 1937 with a report, which spoke of the need to eliminate the Trotskyists.

According to the report of the General Commissioner of State Security Yezhov, Bukharin and Rykov were planning a terror against the leader. A new term appeared in Stalin's terminology - "Trotskyist-Bukharin", which means "directed against the interests of the party."

In addition to the aforementioned politicians, about 70 people were arrested. 52 were shot. Among them were those who were directly involved in the repressions of the 1920s. For example, state security officers and politicians Yakov Agronom, Alexander Gurevich, Levon Mirzoyan, Vladimir Polonsky, Nikolai Popov and others were shot.

Lavrenty Beria was involved in the "Tukhachevsky case", but he managed to survive the "purge". In 1941, he took up the post of General Commissioner of State Security. Beria was already shot after Stalin's death - in December 1953.

Repressed scientists

In 1937, revolutionaries and politicians became victims of the Stalinist terror. And very soon the arrests of representatives of completely different social strata began. People who had nothing to do with politics were sent to the camps. It is easy to guess what the consequences of the Stalinist repressions are after reading the lists below. The "Great Terror" became a brake on the development of science, culture and art.

Scientists who became victims of Stalinist repression:

• Matvey Bronstein.
• Alexander Witt.
• Hans Gelman.
• Semyon Shubin.
• Evgeny Pereplekin.
• Innokenty Balanovsky.
• Dmitry Eropkin.
• Boris Numerov.
• Nikolay Vavilov.
• Sergey Korolev.

Writers and poets

In 1933, Osip Mandelstam wrote an epigram with a clear anti-Stalinist overtones, which he read to several dozen people. Boris Pasternak called the poet's act a suicide. He was right. Mandelstam was arrested and sent into exile in Cherdyn. There he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt, and a little later, with the assistance of Bukharin, he was transferred to Voronezh.

Boris Pilnyak wrote The Tale of the Unquenched Moon in 1926. The characters in this work are fictional, at least that's what the author says in the preface. But to everyone who read the story in the 1920s, it became clear that it was based on the version of the murder of Mikhail Frunze.

Somehow, Pilnyak's work got into print. But it was soon banned. Pilnyak was arrested only in 1937, and before that he remained one of the most published prose writers. The case of the writer, like all others like it, was completely fabricated - he was accused of spying for Japan. He was shot in Moscow in 1937.

Other writers and poets who were subjected to Stalinist repression:

• Victor Bagrov.
• Julius Berzin.
• Pavel Vasiliev.
• Sergey Klychkov.
• Vladimir Narbut.
• Peter Parfenov.
• Sergei Tretyakov.

It is worth talking about the famous theatrical figure, charged under Article 58 and sentenced to capital punishment.

Vsevolod Meyerhold

The director was arrested at the end of June 1939. His apartment was later searched. A few days later, Meyerhold's wife was killed. The circumstances of her death are still not clear. There is a version that the NKVD officers killed her.

Meyerhold was interrogated for three weeks and tortured. He signed everything that the investigators demanded. On February 1, 1940, Vsevolod Meyerhold was sentenced to death. The verdict was carried out the next day.

During the war

In 1941, the illusion of the abolition of repression appeared. In Stalin's pre-war times, there were many officers in the camps who were now needed at large. Together with them, about six hundred thousand people were released from prison. But this was a temporary relief. In the late forties, a new wave of repression began. Now the ranks of "enemies of the people" have been joined by soldiers and officers who have been in captivity.

1953 amnesty

Stalin died on March 5. Three weeks later, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree according to which a third of the prisoners were subject to release. About a million people were released. But the first to leave the camps were not political prisoners, but criminals, which instantly worsened the criminal situation in the country.

The topic of political repression in the USSR under Stalin is one of the most discussed historical topics of our time. To begin with, let's define the term "political repression". This is what the dictionaries say.

Repression (lat. Repressio - suppression, oppression) is a punitive measure, punishment applied by state bodies, the state. Political repression is a measure of coercion applied for political reasons, such as imprisonment, expulsion, exile, deprivation of citizenship, forced labor, deprivation of life, etc.

It is obvious that the reason for the emergence of political repressions is the political struggle in the state, causing some "political motives" for punitive measures. And the more fiercely this struggle is waged, the greater the scope of the repressions. Thus, in order to explain the reasons and scale of the repressive policy pursued in the USSR, it is necessary to understand what political forces acted at this historical stage. What goals did they pursue. And what they managed to achieve. Only this approach can lead us to a deep understanding of this phenomenon.

In Russian historical journalism, two trends have developed in relation to the issue of repressions in the 1930s, which can be conditionally called “anti-Soviet” and “patriotic”. Anti-Soviet journalism presents this historical phenomenon in a simplified black-and-white picture, attributing b O most of the causal relationships to personal qualities of Stalin. A purely philistine approach to history is used, which consists in explaining events only by the actions of individuals.

From the patriotic camp, the vision of the process of political repression also suffers from bias. This position, in my opinion, is objective and is connected with the fact that the pro-Soviet historians were initially in the minority and, as it were, on the defensive. They constantly had to defend and justify, and not put forward their own version of events. Therefore, their works, as an antithesis, contain only "+" signs. But thanks to their criticism of anti-Sovietism, it was possible to somehow sort out the problem areas of Soviet history, see outright lies, and get away from myths. Now, it seems to me, the time has come to restore an objective picture of events.

Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Zhukov

Regarding the political repression of the pre-war USSR (the so-called "Great Terror"), one of the first attempts to recreate this picture was the work "Another Stalin" by Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuri Nikolayevich Zhukov, published in 2003. I would like to talk about his conclusions in this article, as well as express some of my thoughts on this issue. This is what Yuri Nikolayevich himself writes about his work.

“The myths about Stalin are far from new. The first, apologetic, began to take shape back in the thirties, taking on a complete outline by the early fifties. The second, revelatory, followed after Khrushchev's secret report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. It actually appeared to be a mirror image of the previous one, it just turned from “white” to “black”, without changing its nature at all ...
... Far from pretending to be complete and therefore indisputable, I will dare only one thing: to get away from both preconceived points of view, from both myths; try to restore the old, once well-known, but now diligently forgotten, resolutely unnoticed, ignored by everyone. "

Well, a very commendable wish for a historian (no quotes).

"I am only a student of Lenin ..."- I. Stalin

To begin with, I would like to talk about Lenin and Stalin as his successor. Both liberal and patriotic historians often find the opposition of Stalin to Lenin. Moreover, if the former oppose the portrait of the cruel dictator Stalin, as it were, to the more democratic Lenin (after all, he introduced the NEP, etc.). The latter, on the contrary, present Lenin as a radical revolutionary as opposed to the statesman Stalin, who removed the unbelted "Leninist guard" from the political scene.

In fact, it seems to me that such oppositions are incorrect, tearing the logic of the formation of the Soviet state into two opposing stages. It would be more correct to speak of Stalin as the successor to what Lenin began (all the more, Stalin always spoke about this, and by no means out of modesty). And try to find common features in them.

Here is what, for example, the historian Yuri Yemelyanov says about this:

"First of all, Stalin was constantly guided by the Leninist principle of creative assimilation of Marxist theory, rejecting "dogmatic Marxism"... Constantly making adjustments to the day-to-day implementation of policies to match the real situation, Stalin at the same time followed the main Leninist guidelines. Putting forward the task of building a socialist society in one separate country, Stalin consistently continued Lenin's activities, which led to the victory of the world's first socialist revolution in Russia. Stalin's five-year plans logically followed from Lenin's GOELRO plan. The Stalinist program of collectivization and modernization of the countryside met the tasks of mechanization Agriculture delivered by Lenin. "

Yuri Zhukov also agrees with him (p. 5): “To understand Stalin's views, his approach to solving all problems without exception is important - 'concrete historical conditions'. It was they, and not someone's authoritative statement, that the official dogmas and theories became the main ones for Stalin. They, and not anything else, explain his adherence to the policy of the same as himself, the pragmatist of Lenin, explain his own hesitations and breaks, his readiness, under the influence of real conditions, not at all embarrassed, to reject previously made proposals and insist on other , sometimes diametrically opposite. "

There are good reasons to assert that the Stalinist policy was a continuation of the Leninist one. Perhaps, if Lenin was in Stalin's place, in the same "concrete historical conditions" he acted in a similar way. In addition, it is worth noting the phenomenal performance of these people, and the constant striving for development and self-study.

Struggle for Lenin's legacy

Even during Lenin's lifetime, but when he was already seriously ill, a struggle for leadership in the party unfolded between Trotsky's group and the "left" (Zinoviev, Kamenev), as well as the "right" (Bukharin, Rykov) and Stalin's "centrist group". We will not go into much of the vicissitudes of this struggle, but note the following. In the turbulent process of party discussions, it was the Stalinist group that stood out and received the support of the party, which initially occupied much worse "starting positions." Anti-Soviet historians say that Stalin's particular cunning and cunning contributed to this. He, they say, skillfully maneuvered among opponents, pushed them against each other, used their ideas, and so on.

We will not deny Stalin's ability to play a political game, but the fact remains: the Bolshevik party supported him. And this was facilitated, firstly, by the position of Stalin, who, despite all the differences, tried to prevent a split in the party at this difficult time. And, secondly, the focus and ability of the Stalinist group for practical state activity, the thirst for which, apparently, was very strongly felt among the Bolsheviks who won the civil war.

Stalin and his comrades-in-arms, unlike their opponents, objectively assessing the current situation in the world, realized the impossibility of a world revolution at this historical stage and, proceeding from this, began to consolidate successes achieved in Russia, and not "export" them outside. From Stalin's report to the XVII Congress: "We were guided in the past and in the present we are guided by the USSR and only by the USSR".

It is impossible to say with sufficient precision from what date the full-fledged dominance of the Stalinist group in the country's leadership began. Apparently, this is the period from 1928 to 1929, when it can be said that this political force began to pursue an independent policy. At this stage, the repressions against the party opposition were rather mild. Usually, for opposition leaders, defeat ended in removal from leadership positions, expulsion from Moscow or from the country, or expulsion from the party.

The scale of the repression

Now is the time to talk about numbers. What was the scale of political repression in the Soviet state? In discussions with anti-Sovietists (see "The Court of History" or "The Historical Trial"), just such a question causes a painful reaction on their part and accusations of "justification, inhumanity", etc. But talking about numbers really matters, as numbers often tell a lot about the nature of the repression. On the this moment the most widely known was the research of Doctor of Historical Sciences. V.N. Zemskova.

Table 1 shows Zemskov's data obtained from two sources: statistical reporting of the OGPU-NKVD-MVD-MGB and data from the 1st special department of the former USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

V.N. Zemskov:

“At the beginning of 1989, by decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a commission of the History Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created, headed by corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences Yu.A. Polyakov to determine the loss of the population. As a member of this commission, we were among the first historians to gain access to the statistical reports of the OGPU-NKVD-MVD-MGB that were not previously issued to researchers ...

... The overwhelming majority of them were convicted under the famous 58th article. In the statistical calculations of these two departments, there is a rather significant discrepancy, which, in our opinion, is explained not by the incompleteness of the information of the former KGB of the USSR, but by the fact that the employees of the 1st special department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs more widely interpreted the concept of "political criminals" and in the statistics they compiled there was a significant "Criminal impurity".

It should be noted that so far there is no unity among historians in assessing the process of dispossession. Should the dispossessed be classified as politically repressed? Table 1 includes only those dispossessed in the 1st category, that is, those who were arrested and convicted. Those sent for special settlement (2nd category) and simply dispossessed, but not sent (3rd category) were not included in the table.

Now let's use this data to identify some special periods. This is 1921, 35 thousand convicted of them 6 thousand to the highest measure - completion civil war... 1929 - 1930 - carrying out collectivization. 1941 - 1942 - the beginning of the war, the increase in the number of those shot to 23 - 26 thousand is associated with the elimination of "especially dangerous elements" in prisons that fell under the occupation. And a special place is occupied by 1937-1938 (the so-called "Great Terror"), it was during this period that there was a sharp surge of political repression, especially 682 thousand sentenced to military service (or over 82% for the entire period). What happened during this period? If with other years everything is more or less clear, then 1937 looks truly very terrifying. The work of Yuri Zhukov is devoted to the explanation of this phenomenon.

Such a picture emerges from the archival data. And there is a fierce debate about these numbers. They really do not coincide with the tens of millions of victims voiced by our liberals.

Of course, it cannot be said that the scale of the repressions was very low, starting only from the fact that the real number of repressed turned out to be an order of magnitude fewer numbers liberals. The repressions were significant in the designated special years, when large-scale events for the whole country took place, in comparison with the level of "quiet" years. But at the same time, we must understand that repressed for political reasons does not automatically mean innocent. There were those convicted of serious crimes against the state (robbery, terror, espionage, etc.).

Stalin's course

Now, after talking about numbers, let's move on to the description historical processes... But at the same time I want to make one digression. The topic of the article is very painful and gloomy: few people are inspired by political intrigue and repression. However, we must understand that life Soviet people these years was not filled with this. In the 20s - 30s, there were truly global changes in which the people were directly involved. The country has developed at an incredible pace. The breakthrough was not only industrial: public education, health care, culture and labor rose to a qualitatively new level, and the citizens of the USSR saw it with their own eyes. The Soviet people rightly perceived the "Russian miracle" of the Stalinist five-year plans as the fruit of their own efforts.

What was the policy of the new leadership of the country? First of all, the strengthening of the USSR. This was expressed in the implementation of accelerated collectivization and industrialization. In raising the country's economy to a completely new level. The creation of a modern army based on a new military industry. All the resources of the country were used for these purposes. The source was agricultural products, mineral raw materials, timber, and even cultural and church values. Stalin here was the toughest conductor of such a policy. And, as history has shown, it is not at all in vain ...

In international politics, the new course consisted in curtailing activities to "export the world revolution", normalizing relations with capitalist countries, and looking for allies before the war. This was primarily due to the growing tension in the international arena and the expectation a new war... The USSR, at the "proposal" of a number of countries, enters the League of Nations. At first glance, these steps run counter to the tenets of Marxism-Leninism.

Lenin once said about the League of Nations:

"An unveiled instrument of imperialist Anglo-French desires ... The League of Nations is a dangerous instrument directed with its edge against the country of the dictatorship of the proletariat.".

Whereas Stalin in an interview:

“Despite the withdrawal of Germany and Japan from the League of Nations - or, perhaps, that is why - the League may become some kind of brake in order to delay the outbreak of hostilities or prevent them. If this is so, if the League can turn out to be a kind of hillock on the way to at least somewhat complicate the cause of war and to some extent facilitate the cause of peace, then we are not against the League. Yes, if this is the course of historical events, it is possible that we will support the League of Nations, despite its colossal shortcomings ".

Also in international politics, the activities of the Comintern are being adjusted, an organization called upon to carry out the world proletarian revolution. Stalin, with the help of G. Dimitrov, who returned from the Nazi dungeons, calls on the Communist Parties of European countries to join the "Popular Fronts" with the Social Democrats, which again can be interpreted as "opportunism." From Dimitrov's speech at the VII World Congress of the Communist International:

“Let the communists recognize democracy, come out to defend it, then we are ready for a united front. We are supporters of Soviet democracy, democracy of the working people, the most consistent democracy in the world. But we defend and will defend in the capitalist countries every inch of bourgeois democratic freedoms, which are encroached upon by fascism and bourgeois reaction, because this is dictated by the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat ”!

At the same time, the Stalinist group (in foreign policy these are Molotov, Litvinov) went to the creation of the Eastern Pact as part of the USSR, France, Czechoslovakia, England, suspiciously similar in composition to the former Entente.

Such a new course in foreign policy could not fail to cause protest sentiments in some party circles, but it was objectively needed by the Soviet Union.

The normalization of public life also took place within the country. Returned new year holidays with a Christmas tree and a carnival, the activities of the communes were curtailed, officers' ranks were introduced in the army (oh horror!), and much more. Here is one illustration that, I think, conveys the atmosphere of that time. From the decision of the Politburo:

[in the Internet] .

The repressions of the 1930s occupy a special place in the history of Russia in the 20th century. 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 this time. The chronological order of events that occurred at this time, we can find in any history textbook. Many historians argued on this topic, but expressing their personal point of view regarding 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. accounted for a peak, at this time the largest number of people were imprisoned in camps and shot. History testifies that at this time every third person was either repressed or a relative of the repressed.

The first thing that was done during this period was to conduct show trials, the purpose of which appears in the very name is to demonstrate the punitive power of power, and the fact that everyone 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 the authorities to gain a foothold in their dominant position is understandable and natural, on the other hand, a too immoral, from a human point of view, and cruel path was chosen for this.

Now we understand that the ruling power always needs some kind of counterbalance, which allows you to achieve balance in opinions and views. statesmen that 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 repression of the 30s

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

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

During the Great Terror, the NKVD services 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 indisputable that it was the political figure of Stalin who played a decisive role in the punitive department of the state.

According to the declassified archival materials, mass repressions on the ground were carried out in accordance with the planned targets issued from above to identify and punish the enemies of the people. Moreover, on many documents, the requirement 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 strengthening 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 assess 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 from 1936 to 1939. more than 1.2 million communists were repressed - half of the total number of the party. Moreover, according to the 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 in force at that time.

Researchers identify several main reasons for the Great Terror. Chief among them is the Bolshevik ideology itself, which tends to divide people into friends and foes.

It should be noted that the difficult economic situation that developed in the country in the period under review, it was advantageous for the current government to explain it as a result of the sabotage 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, the provision of cheap labor for large-scale construction projects in the country.

Finally, many are inclined to believe that one of the reasons for political repression was the mental illness of Stalin, who suffered from paranoia. The fear sown among the masses became a reliable foundation for the complete submission of 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 employees of the apparatus into thoughtless executors.

The Great Terror policy 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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In the USSR, both ordinary citizens and prominent figures in science and art fell under the Stalinist repressions. Under Stalin, political arrests were the norm, and very often cases were fabricated and based on denunciations, without any other evidence. Next, remember Soviet celebrities who felt the horror of the repressions on themselves.

Ariadne Efron. A translator of prose and poetry, a memoirist, artist, art critic, poetess ... The daughter of Sergei Efron and Marina Tsvetaeva was the first of her family to return to the USSR.

After returning to the USSR, she worked in the editorial office of the Soviet magazine "Revue de Moscou" (on French); wrote articles, essays, reports, made illustrations, translated.

On August 27, 1939, she was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced under Article 58-6 (espionage) to 8 years in forced labor camps; under torture she was forced to testify against her father.

Georgy Zhzhenov, People's Artist of the USSR. During the filming of the film "Komsomolsk" (1938) Georgy Zhzhenov went by train to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. During the trip, on the train, he met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok to meet a business delegation.

This acquaintance was noticed by the cinema workers, which was the reason for his accusation of espionage. On July 4, 1938, he was arrested on charges of espionage and sentenced to 5 years in forced labor camps.

In 1949 Zhzhenov was again arrested and exiled to the Norilsk labor camp (Norillag), from where he returned to Leningrad in 1954, and in 1955 he was completely rehabilitated.

Alexander Vvedensky. Russian poet and playwright from the OBERIU association, together with other members of which he was arrested at the end of 1931.

Vvedensky received a denunciation that he made a toast in memory of Nicholas II, there is also a version that the reason for the arrest was the performance of Vvedensky at one of the friendly parties of the "former anthem".

He was exiled in 1932 to Kursk, then he lived in Vologda, in Borisoglebsk. In 1936 the poet was allowed to return to Leningrad.

On September 27, 1941, Alexander Vvedensky was arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary agitation. One of latest versions, in connection with the approach of German troops to Kharkov, he was convoyed in a train to Kazan, but on the way on December 19, 1941 he died of pleurisy.

Osip Mandelstam. One of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century, in November 1933, wrote the anti-Stalinist epigram "We live without feeling the country ..." ("The Kremlin Highlander"), which is read by a dozen people. Boris Pasternak called this act a suicide.

Some of the listeners reported on Mandelstam, and on the night of May 13-14, 1934, he was arrested and sent into exile in Cherdyn (Perm Territory).

After a short-term release on the night of May 1–2, 1938, Osip Emilievich was arrested a second time and taken to Butyrka prison.

On August 2, a special meeting at the NKVD of the USSR sentenced Mandelstam to five years in a forced labor camp. On September 8, he was sent in stages to Far East.

On December 27, 1938, Osip died in a transit camp. Until the spring, Mandelstam's body lay unburied along with the other deceased. Then the entire "winter pile" was buried in a mass grave.

Vsevolod Meyerhold. The theorist and practitioner of theatrical grotesque, the author of the "Theater October" program and the creator of the acting system, called "biomechanics", also fell victim to repression.

On June 20, 1939, Meyerhold was arrested in Leningrad; at the same time, a search was carried out in his apartment in Moscow. The search report contains a complaint from his wife, Zinaida Reich, who protested against the methods of one of the NKVD agents. Soon (15 July) she was killed by unidentified persons.

"... They beat me here - a sick sixty-six-year-old man, laid me face down on the floor, beat me on the heels and on the back with a rubber band, when I sat on a chair, beat me on my legs with the same rubber [...] the pain was such that it seemed to sore sensitive places boiling water was poured on feet ... "- he wrote.

After three weeks of interrogations, accompanied by torture, Meyerhold signed the testimony required by the investigation, and the board sentenced the director to be shot. On February 2, 1940, the sentence was carried out. In 1955 Supreme Court The USSR posthumously rehabilitated Meyerhold.

Nikolay Gumilyov. The Russian poet of the Silver Age, the founder of the school of acmeism, prose writer, translator and literary critic did not hide his religious and political views- he was openly baptized in churches, declared his views. So, at one of the poetry evenings he answered a question from the audience - "What are your political convictions?" answered - "I am a convinced monarchist."

On August 3, 1921, Gumilyov was arrested on suspicion of participation in the conspiracy of the "Petrograd military organization of V. N. Tagantsev." For several days, the comrades tried to help out a friend, but despite this, the poet was soon shot.

Nikolay Zabolotsky. The poet and translator was arrested on March 19, 1938 and then convicted in the case of anti-Soviet propaganda.

As the accusatory material in his case, there were spiteful critical articles and a slanderous review "review" that distorted the essence and ideological orientation of his work. He was saved from the death penalty by the fact that, despite torture during interrogations, he did not admit the accusations of creating a counter-revolutionary organization.

He served his term from February 1939 to May 1943 in the Vostoklag system in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur region, then in the Altaylag system in the Kulundinsky steppes.

Sergey Korolev. On June 27, 1938, Korolev was arrested on charges of sabotage. He was tortured, according to some reports, during which both of his jaws were broken.

The future aircraft designer was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. He will go to the Kolyma, to the Maldyak gold mine. Neither hunger, nor scurvy, nor unbearable conditions of existence could break the Queen - he will calculate his first radio-controlled missile right on the wall of the barrack.

In May 1940, Korolev returned to Moscow. At the same time, in Magadan, he did not get on the "Indigirka" steamer (due to the occupation of all places). This saved his life: following from Magadan to Vladivostok, the steamer sank off the island of Hokkaido during a storm.

After 4 months, the designer is again sentenced to 8 years and sent to a special prison, where he works under the leadership of Andrey Tupolev.

The inventor spent a year in prison, since the USSR needed to build up its military power in the pre-war period.

Andrey Tupolev. The legendary creator of the plane also fell under the machine of Stalinist repressions.

Tupolev, who in his entire life developed over a hundred types of aircraft, on which 78 world records were set, on October 21, 1937, was arrested.

He was accused of sabotage, belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization, and of transferring plans for Soviet aircraft to foreign intelligence.

So the great scientist "backfired" on a working trip to the United States. Andrei Nikolaevich was sentenced to 15 years in the camps.

Tupolev was released in July 1941. He created and headed one of the main "sharashki" of that time - TsKB-29 in Moscow. Andrey Tupolev was fully rehabilitated on April 9, 1955.

The great designer died in 1972. The main design bureau of the country bears his name. Tu planes are still among the most demanded in modern aviation.

Nikolay Likhachev. The famous Russian historian, paleographer and art critic at his own expense Likhachev created a unique historical and cultural museum, which he then donated to the state.

Likhachev was expelled from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; of course, he was fired from his job.

The verdict did not say a word about confiscation, but the OGPU took away absolutely all valuables, including books and manuscripts that belonged to the academician's family.

In Astrakhan, the family was literally starving to death. In 1933, the Likhachevs returned from Leningrad. Nikolai Petrovich was not hired anywhere, even for the position of an ordinary researcher.

Nikolay Vavilov. At the time of his arrest in August 1940, the great biologist was a member of the Academies in Prague, Edinburgh, Halle and, of course, in the USSR.

In 1942, when Vavilov, who dreamed of feeding the whole country, was dying of hunger in prison, he was accepted in absentia as a Member of the Royal Society of London.

The investigation into the case of Nikolai Ivanovich lasted 11 months. He had to endure about 400 interrogations with a total duration of about 1,700 hours.

In the intervals between interrogations, the scientist wrote the book "History of the Development of Agriculture" in prison ("World resources of agriculture and their use"), but everything written by Vavilov in prison was destroyed by an investigator - a lieutenant of the NKVD as "of no value."

For "anti-Soviet activity" Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was sentenced to death. At the last moment, the sentence was mitigated - 20 years in prison.

The great scientist died of hunger in the Saratov prison on January 26, 1943. He was buried in a common grave with other deceased prisoners. The exact burial site is unknown.