The Great Purges

1. The Great Purges Interpretations

2. Interpretations • Few documents released under the Soviet Regime • Key archives (e.g KGB) have not been opened • Those that are opened – vast amount of information reflecting different experiences

3. What do they argue about? • Debates centre around… • The role of Stalin in the purges and the extent of his personal control of the process • The extent to which his actual personality shaped the purges.

4. Totalitarian Views • Purges were masterminded by an evil puppet master – should have been predominant in the Cold War period. • Historians in West wanted to demonstrate that it was a system where the leadership exercised totalitarian control over an unwilling population

5. Totalitarian view • Predominated in the West since 1945 • Top down view of terror – as instructions were given by those at the top and were carried out by those below • Intentionalist interpretation – Stalin intended to kill his opponents

6. Revisionist Views • Emerged 1970s-80s • Not so anti-Soviet and changes within the USSR itself • Challenges totalitarian view • Disagree for a variety of reasons

7. Revisionist Views • Sometimes called “decisionist” because it see the purges as a result of decisions made by the Communist leadership in reaction to a series of crises in he mid-1930s • Arch-Getty – argues that Stalin alone, provided simple and convenient interpretations when real story is more complicated.

8. The nature of the topic – its scale, varying definitions of what it involves Times in which they write, e.g under Stalin, during the Cold War, during the glasnost period of the 1980s Different perspectives e.g views of socialism and Communism Why do Historians disagree about the purges? They wish to challenge prevailing views to make their names, eg revisionist challenge totalitarian interpretations Use different sources e.g memoirs, primary papers, secondary accounts, etc.

9. Stalin was the architect and planner of the purges. He exercised much personal control over the arrests and directives Stalin’s personality was central to the way the purges were carried out Stalin sought to get rid of old Bolsheviks who might present a threat to his leadership Stalin used the purges as a weapon to establish control of the party Totalitarian View The NKVD was the instrument of a disciplined state apparatus which carried out orders passed down from the top Stalin used the purges in 1937-8 as a terror mechanism to control the population

10. Stalin is responsible for the terror and set in process, but his personality alone is not a sufficient explanation for the scale and form of the purges Stalin did not exercise the personal control of the process and he himself had little idea about what was going on in some areas Soviet state was chaotic in the mid-30s. Confusion and conflict between Moscow and rest of USSR. The centre used the purges to try and get control but they spiralled out of control and gained a momentum of theirown. Revisionist Views Stalin did not have a master plan for the purges The machinery of terror was not well organised. Many people were selected at random, denounced or implicated by their colleagues or other people. Terror was generated from below as well as above The NKVD was riven by internal divisions. Units within the organisation often acted on their own initiative