The darkest period of political repression in the USSR occurred in 1937-1938. In history, it was called the Great Terror. His victims were people of the most diverse social backgrounds. In addition to the remnants of the pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, party workers, military personnel and the clergy were subjected to repression. But basically the list of the repressed in 1937 was made up of representatives of the working class and peasantry, most of whom until the last moment were not able to understand the essence of the charges against them.
Terror unprecedented in scope
Despite the fact that all decisions on holding bloody actions were based on the decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, it was proved that in reality Stalin personally gave these orders. In its scope, the terror of those years has no equal in the entire history of the state. The list of the repressed in 1937 is striking in its scope. When during the Khrushchev thaw period the data on the victims of that period were partially made public, it turned out that only 681,692 people were sentenced to death on a political article.
If we add to them those who died in prison from illness, hunger and overwork, this number will increase to a million. According to the data available to academician A. D. Sakharov, for 1937-1938. About 1,200,000 party workers were arrested. If we consider that only 50,000 of them survived until their release, it becomes clear what a terrible blow the party suffered from its own leader.
The plenum that began the terror
By the way, the term "Great Terror" came to us from the UK. That is how he entitled his book on the events of 1937-1938. English historian R. Conquest. But we had a different name - “Yezhovschina”, which came from the name of the chief executioner of that bloody era, the head of the NKVD, N. I. Yezhov, who also later became a victim of the inhuman regime created with his participation.
As rightly noted by researchers of the events of those years, the beginning of the Great Terror should be considered the plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks held in early 1937. It delivered a speech by Stalin, in which he called for intensifying the struggle against the enemies of the people, who, according to his doctrine, intensified their subversive activities as society progressed in building socialism.
At the same plenum, charges were brought against the so-called right-left opposition - a political association that included both Trotskyists - K. Radek, G. L. Pyatakov and L. B. Kamenev, and right deviators - A. I. Rykova and N.A. Uglanova. The leader of this anti-Soviet group was named N. I. Bukharin. Among other things, Bukharin and Rykov were charged with preparing the assassination attempt on Stalin.
All members of this group were sentenced to capital punishment. A curious detail - all 72 speakers who spoke from the podium, were also soon accused of subversive activities and shot. This was the beginning of an unprecedented in the history of rampant lawlessness in the country. It is characteristic that his first victims were precisely those who, sitting in the conference room, voted for him.
Repression against peasants
In the months following the plenum, the installation given by Stalin received its implementation. Already in June, the government decided to universally apply the death penalty for persons formerly in peasant rebel groups, the “green movement”.
In addition, the list of repressed in 1937 was replenished with the so-called fists, that is, peasants who did not want to join the collective farms and sought prosperity by personal labor. Thus, this resolution dealt a blow to those former rebels who, having served time, tried to return to normal life, and to the most hardworking part of the peasantry.
Destruction of the command staff of the army
It is known that since the days of the Civil War, Stalin was very hostile to the military. In many ways, the reason for this lies in the fact that the head of the army was his implacable enemy - Trotsky. During the years of the Great Terror, this attitude towards the military reached its extreme. Perhaps he feared a future coup, organized by the most influential military leaders who could lead the masses of soldiers.
And although by 1937 Trotsky was no longer in the country, Stalin perceived the representatives of the high command as potential opponents. This resulted in mass terror against the command staff of the Red Army. It is enough to recall the tragic fate of one of the most talented commanders - Marshal Tukhachevsky. As a result of these repressions, the country's defense capability was significantly reduced, which was clearly seen in the first years of the war.
Terror among the NKVD officers
The bloody wave of terror and the NKVD bodies themselves did not pass. Many of his employees, who yesterday, with all the zeal, complied with the instructions of Stalin, were among the convicts and with their own names added to the list of repressed in 1937. During these years, many prominent leaders of the NKVD were shot. Among them - the People’s Commissar Yezhov himself and his predecessor Yagoda, as well as a number of prominent employees of this People’s Commissariat.
Archived Public Information
With the advent of perestroika, a significant part of the NKVD archives was declassified, and this made it possible to establish the true number of repressed in 1937. According to updated data, it amounted to about one and a half million people. Huge work was done by the archive staff and their volunteers. In addition to the publication of general statistics, the names of the repressed in 1937 were published, as well as throughout the entire period of political repression.
Thanks to this, many relatives of the victims of Stalin's lawlessness got the opportunity to learn about the fate of their loved ones. As a rule, everyone who wanted to recreate the history of those years and turned to the Soviet authorities with a question about where to find lists of the repressed in 1937, who tried to get any documentary information about the events of that time, received a categorical refusal. Only through democratic changes in society did this information become publicly available.