Stalinist repression – mass political repression, carried out in the USSR during the period of Stalinism (late 1920s – early 1950s). The number of direct victims of repression (persons sentenced for political (counter-revolutionary) crimes to the death penalty or imprisonment, evicted, deported) is estimated at several million. In addition, the researchers point to the serious consequences that these repressions had for the Soviet society as a whole, its political structure.
They say: a whole people cannot be suppressed without end. Lying! Can! We see how our people were empty, wild, and indifference descended on him not only for the fate of the country, not only for the fate of the neighbor, but even for their own fate and the fate of children. Indifference, the last saving reaction of the body, has become our defining feature.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
If you try to find the beginning of repression in the union, then 1927 should certainly serve as a starting point. This year was marked by the fact that massacres began to take place in the country, with the so-called pests, as well as saboteurs. At one of the party meetings, Stalin declared that the country “must destroy all remnants of imperialism and all supporters of the White Guard movement.” An excellent reason for this, Stalin appeared June 7, 1927. On this day in Poland, the political representative of the USSR, Voykov, was killed. As a result, the terror began. For example, on the night of June 10, 20 people were shot who were associated with the empire. These were representatives of ancient noble families. In total, in June of the 27th year, more than 9 thousand people were arrested, accused of high treason, complicity with imperialism and other things that sound ominous, but very hard to prove. Most of those arrested were sent to prison.
Socio-political sense of mass repression
Repressions in the USSR in the 30s
A new mass wave of repression inside the country unfolded in early 1930. At this moment, the struggle began not only with political rivals, but also with the so-called fists. In fact, the new blow of the Soviet power to the rich began, and this blow caught not only the wealthy, but also the middle peasants and even the poor. One of the stages of this strike was dispossession.
Beginning in 1937, the wave of repression in the USSR began to increase. The reason was Order No. 00447 of the NKVD of the USSR of July 30, 1937. This document also declared the immediate repression of all anti-Soviet elements, namely:
- Former fists. All those whom the Soviet authorities called their fists, but who escaped punishment, or were in labor settlements or in exile, were to be repressed.
- All representatives of religion. To repress was subject to all who have at least some relation to religion.
- Participants in anti-Soviet actions. Under such participants were engaged all who ever spoke actively or passively against Soviet power. In fact, this category included those who did not support the new government.
- Anti-Soviet politicians. Inside the country, anti-Soviet politicians called everyone who was not a member of the Bolshevik Party.
- White Guards.
- People with a criminal record. People who had a criminal record were automatically considered enemies of the Soviet regime.
All these categories were to be repressed. According to the order of the NKVD, all people who belonged to these categories had to be divided into two camps:
- Hostile elements. Any person who was called a hostile element was sentenced to death.
- Inactive items. Others who were not sentenced to death were sent to camps or prisons for a term of 8 to 10 years.
All cases are now considered in an even more accelerated mode, where most cases were considered en masse. According to the same decree of the NKVD, repressions were applied not only to convicts, but also to their families. In particular, the following penalties were applied to families of the repressed:
- Families repressed for active anti-Soviet actions. All members of such families were sent to camps and labor camps.
- Families of the repressed who lived in the frontier zone were subject to relocation inland. Often special settlements were formed for them.
- The family of the repressed, living in major cities of the USSR. Such people were also resettled inland.
Further repression continued, although their main events have already passed. In fact, repressions in the USSR continued until 1953.
In total from 1930 to 1953, 3 mil 800 thousand people were repressed on charges of counterrevolution. Of these, 749,421 people were shot… And this is only according to official information… And how many more people died without trial, whose names are not on the list?
Good luck in finding.
