Stalins Purges

Stalin's Purges

There are many different types of insectides and pesticides. Aldrin is a an
insecticide which is one of several isomers, compounds that have the same
make-up but different structure of hexachlorohexahydrodimethanonaprthalene
which is a chlorinated hydrocarbon.
Aldrins were first prepared in the late 40s, it comes as a light tan or brown
solid or as a powder. Aldrins are the result of the reaction of
hexachlorocyclopentadiene with bicycloheptadiene, which both come from
hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum. Aldrins are very similar to another
pesticide dieldrin, because aldrin is can easily convert to dieldrin. The two
pesticides toxicities do not differ that much.
Aldrins were used mainly in the 1950s and the early 1970s. Aldrins were
used as a soil insecticide to control root worms, beetles, and termites. In
1974 the use of aldrins were banned by the EPA and production of it stopped
in America, since then there has been a decrease in the amount of aldrin in
our food.
Aldrin can enter the body numerous ways. You can eat food from soil
treated with the pesticide, you can eat animal meat that had been exposed to
the aldrin, or drink water or milk containing the compound. It is also possible
to inhale air that has been treated with the pesticide.
If you are exposed to high levels of aldrin in a short period of time the
main effects are headaches, dizziness, irritability, loss of appetite, nausea,
muscle twitching, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. Death may be a
result from high exposures or doses. Long term exposure at random doses of
aldrin and dialdrin have not been documented. Studies have been done on
rats showing liver damage and the bodies immune system to protect against
infections can be suppressed. Test were aldrin is admitted orally show that
mice have come up with liver cancer but not rats. Although there is little
evidence to assume that aldrin is carcinogenic the EPA considers it probable.
It has not be determined if the compounds are as dangerous to humans as to
animals but scientists believe if animals react badly to something it is a likely
that humans would be effected the same way.
Stalin’s Massacre
By 1945 the world knew the name Adolf Hitler. Many had heard of his
demented plans to rule the world, and knew of his attempt at trying to destroy a
race of people. Although the many had heard of Stalin, they would not come to
know him in the same respect they did of Hitler. Stalin would in the course of
about five years would have more people put to death for crimes they did not
commit than Hitler ever did. Stalin’s “Purges” would claim millions of innocent
Russian lives. Stalin’s principal objective for having some many of his fellows
Russians executed was to gain and ensure personal power over Russia. He would
stop at nothing to make sure that he had absolute power, and by the end of his
terror he would come close to eliminating all of his opposition.
In Russian the word for purge is Yezhovshchina. The first to use purging as a
device to gain power was Lenin, not Stalin (Dmytrshyn 541). Lenin would never
use it to the magnitude that Stalin would under his rule though. Like Lenin though
the purges were used as a political tool to gain power. Stalin’s first attempt at
purging his so called opposition, sometimes close friends or allies, who he felt
were gaining to much power or popularity in the government came against an Old
Bolshevik, N. Riutin. Ruitin had written a 200-page essay about Stalin, the
document bashed Stalin and requested his removal. Stalin, outraged, tried to have
Riutin assassinated but his attempts and plans failed. Stalin could never gain
control of the secret police in Russia so he would eventually eliminate it and place
the NKVD in its place. The NKVD would be Stalin’s greatest tool in wreaking
havoc over Russia (mars 1).
In December of 1934 a party leader in Leningrad, Sergei Kirov, was
assasinated. Later eveidence revealed that Stalin was behind Kirov’s. Stalin felt
that Kirov was gaining popularity and he feared this. This fear would drive Stalin
to have Kirov assasinated. Kirov’s murder would signal off the beginning of
Stalin’s Great Purge.
Stalin would use Kirov’s murder as a pretext to blame those who threatened his
power. He would use the murder to have innocent politicians, all of whom Stalin
saw as a enemy, convicted for the murder. These victims would either be
murdered or sent to prison. As result 14 men, who were supposedly involved in
the murder, were shot. They would be the first of numerous people who would
suffer under the mass murder of Stalin. Many others would suffer the same
consequences, for being involved with Kirov’s.
If victims were not sentenced to death they were forced into exile or prison
camps, were the majority would die. The camps were located in some of worst
areas of Russia, mainly Siberia or the Arctic region of Russia. One reason for the
purges ending when it did, was because the labor camps, that so many of the
victims were sent to, had reached maximum capacity.
Stalin’s greatest purges came against the government. Countless numbers of
delegates, officials, and politcal leaders would suffer the greastest from Stalin’s
rampage. The most prominent and well known Communist would be arrested. Of
the 1956 members of the Seventeenth Party Congress, known as the “victors’
Congress”, 1108 were arrested, charged with counterrevolutionary activities (mars
3). The Bolsheviks, who Stalin was once a part of, appeared to be gaining power
over him so they became a main target for Stalin. The Bolsheviks reputation
would be destroyed by Stalin, and many would be convicted for Kirov’s murder,
about 36% of the Bolsheviks were purged. The NKVD would force the
Bolsheviks into to admitting to treason against the Marxist revolution for the
“Show Trials” or they would be shot. Stalin would destroy books and records of
the Bolsheviks and rewrite history in his favor. By May of 1935 the Society of
Old Bolsheviks had been dissolved.
During Stalin’s Reign of Terror, “Show Trials” were put on. These public
trials had some of the victims who confessed to the accusastions. This allowed
Stalin to continue his purging longer because, it would look better to the public if
those who they were charging were admitting to the accusations. It was in a way a
display of Stalin’s use of propaganda.
The first “Show Trial” took place in Moscow in August of 1936. This trial
would serve as a pretext for a series of trials which was later to come. In the trial
the survivng leaders of the October Revolution were accused of proposterous
crimes. Some confessed freely, others were forced to confess after being brutally
tortured. All members were executed. The second and third trials consisted of
leading Bolsheviks all were found guilty and were shot. Many others were put on
the Show Trials which allowed Stalin’s work to continue for as long as it did.
Stalin in later years, during the Great Purge, began to take greater caution of the
members of the CPSU, the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Those who were
members and those looking to become members had to undergo several screening
tests and those who showed at least the slightest signs of opposition were either
forced out of the party or were put on trial. In 1936 Stalin ordered a “new
cleansing” of the Communist Party. The members were forced into getting new
identification cards, this act would lead to more arrests. By the end of the purging
the membership of the party had dropped more than half. Although younger
members were accepted into the party because they seemed more loyal to Stalin.
Stalin’s control over the NKVD, the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, had a
profound impact on the amount of officials and citizens effected by Stalin’s
massacre. The leader of the NKVD at the beginning of the purges was G.G.
Iagoda. When Iagoda had failed to execute Stalin’s plans exactly, he would be
replaced. The new leader of the was named Nikolai Yezhov and he was a trusted
friend to Stalin and carried out Stalin’s desires to Stalin’s liking. Yezhov, along
with his men, would commit numerous murders against those who Stalin opposed.
The NKVD would find those who appeared to be a threat to Stalin and murder or
send them off to the work camps. Although the NKVD would be Stalin’s best tool
for carrying out the purges, even high ranking officials in the NKVD were not safe
from Stalin’s insanity.
Stalin would not went through the government, to find the enemies, but he also
would go through the military. Many of the top military leaders in Russia were
given trials, but many were simply shot. Between 1937 and 1938 half the
regimental commanders, nearly all the brigade commanders, all commanders of
army corps and military districts, members of military councils, heads of political
directorates, the majority of political commissars in army corps, divisions and
brigades, almost a third of regimental commissars and many other military
instructors were put on trial for crimes they had not commited. In 1937 Stalin
would turn special attention to the Red Army. Prominant generals and thousands
of soliders were relieved of duty and many more were expelled. Stalin’s purging
of the army got rid of important generals who would have been used as prime
leaders in time of war. This was a good display of the fear and insecurity he had
of his fellow Soviets.
Many have wondered what the reason was for Stalin’s rage. Some say it was to
cover up the economic failure, others believe it came from his madness
(Dmytryshyn 541). The general consent is that it was merely for him to gain and
keep absolute power in the Russian government. Stalin’s purpose for killing
countless amounts of people was to eliminate those who he thought were a threat
to him. He felt opposition was all around him. He would have many prominent
and important figures slaughtered for having to much power. To some extent the
accusation that he was insane or he was driven by his madness could be
recognized as being true in a sense. His insecurity and nervousness would lead
him to have so many put to death.
To protect Stalin from massive public disapproval he would not only use the
“Show Trials” but also work in the government by making what he was doing
legal. Stalin would sign directives which would allow him to investigate those
who he felt responsible for wrong doings or acts against the government. One
directive allowed him to speed of the trials of victims, this would become his base
for mass acts of mistreatment against socialist legality. Stalin would also use
propaganda as a tool to keep a good name. He controlled the news and would
rewrite books which would proclaim him as a great man (CQI 190).
Over a period of about 5 years Stalin would have a millions of people put to
death or in prison. His obsession with having absolute power would cost so many
innocent people their lives. It is estimated that over 10 million people were killed
under Stalin’s purges. He would use lies and propaganda to cover up his
slaughter. Many of those who held some sort of office lived in fear, not knowing
if they would be the next who would be accused for some outrageous crime and be
dragged from their home and shot. By the end of the purges the NKVD was out of
control and the purges began to effect the common people.
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