“The history of the Soviet country in the 1930’s is very complex and contradictory… On the one hand, it was a time of tremendous enthusiasm for “builders of socialism”, who thought they were creating a society of equality and justice, which, as they believed, was testified to by the profound social changes taking place in public life… On the other hand, this was a period of establishment and domination of an anti-democratic, inhuman totalitarian regime, where lawlessness reigned – something that few acknowledged at the time. The Great Terror came down on the entire country and its numerous peoples as a disastrous plague, a profound tragedy…” Those words belong to Professor of History Ksenofont Sanukov. The 1930’s were a time of intensive industrialization of the country.
One after another new industrial giants were put into operation. They were
chiefly built by Komsomol, (or Young Communist League) members. Their patriotism,
energy and romantic perception of reality were cleverly manipulated by
the leaders of the Communist Party and the country. Young people were summoned
to the most taxing sections of socialist construction, uninhabited areas…
yet, they were excessively proud to be trailblazers! One such fervent young
man was soviet poet Boris Ruchiyov. Together with young fellows just like
him he labored on the construction of the so-called “Magnitka” – the metallurgical
plant in the town of Magnitogorsk, in the Urals, and dedicated the following
lines to that period:
Boris Ruchiyov recalls how together with his comrades, who were involved in the construction of the Metallurgical plant, he lived in draughty tents, that offered poor protection from the winds, rain and scorching sun. They sought warmth at huge bonfires, the sight of which cheered their exhausted souls. They experienced both joy and anguish, and were proud that they had been entrusted with such an important task for the good of their country.“Magnitka is a’ bustle with activity ‘round the clock – In the 1930’s Magnitka drew young people like a magnet. Its builders were looked upon as heroes. And, indeed, they were heroes, these young romantics, who sacrificed their health for the benefit of their country’s growing might. Here is a document of the time – a letter written by Magnitka Komsomol-members to Yakov Gugel, who headed the construction of the metallurgical plant: “In the bitterly-cold winter of 1929 the first builders’ tent appeared at the foothill of mount Magnitnaya. A while later, a whole tent settlement sprouted in the steppe land. Dozens of thousands of young people flocked here, in response to the Party summons, to make their active contribution to this gigantic socialist construction site. Youths and girls comprised 60 percent of the workers who built Magnitka. On February 1st 1932 blast furnace ? 1 produced the first iron… Today we, Komsomol-members, have decided to build one of the highly responsible construction projects – furnace ? 2 – relying on our own resources, under the guidance of technical staff, and demonstrate genuine bolshevist pace and top notch results, thus ensuring compliance with the Party order on the construction of the Magnitogorsk plant.” Quite a fair degree of foreign experts worked at the Magnitka construction site, including those from the USA. They lived in their own settlement. On June 12th 1932 the central Soviet newspaper “Izvestiya” reprinted from the American weekly “Current History” an article by American engineer Myles Shirover about the construction of Magnitogorsk, where it was written, in part, that in comparison with the Magnitogorsk metallurgical plant the steel giants of Ruhr and powerful metallurgical plants of France, Belgium and England seem like pigmies… History has never before seen a whole nation building a metallurgical plant with such zest and drive, - wrote the American engineer. In point of fact, the plant has been constructed by soviet youth: 60 percent of the workers engaged at the construction site are under 24 years of age. A voluntary, yet strict discipline that spread to all the working youth was conducive in overcoming numerous difficulties of the construction process, wrote Myles Shirover. The soviet papers of the 1930’s were riddled with reports of new plants and factories being commissioned. For example, the leading communist paper “Pravda” dated June 18th 1930 published a telegram, signed by the head of construction and secretary of the party organization of the Stalingrad Tractor plant: “Stalingrad. June 17th. Today the first tractor came off the conveyer
belt. Lenin’s decree - to substitute the miserable peasant’s nag for the
fiery steed of machine industry – is being materialized… The tractor plant
is launched on its way… The struggle for pace and output continues…” The
tractor production began also at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant.
Soviet power was into its thirteenth year…Beyond the capital’s Krestiyanskaya Zastava spread the waste ground, which had been branded worthless for building development back in pre-revolutionary times. This barren expanse was occasionally visited by garbage men and overrun by vagabonds and gypsies, who pitched their tents here. One cold April day the first ten topographers-surveyors came here with their measuring reels and got to work, measuring and pegging out the area. Nobody paid much attention to them. However, when a few days later there appeared wagons and people who started clearing out the area, a joyous rumor spread like wildfire among the locals that the 1st State Bearing plant would be built on the territory of the waste ground. Every new day brought more hustle and bustle to the site. New batches of workers kept arriving… The party and Komsomol building committees became a headquarters in the true sense of the word. Communists and Komsomol-members were delegated to the most difficult sections of construction. They worked overtime, on their free days… Work hummed ‘round the clock. The first bearing came off the assembly line sooner than the most fervent of optimists had predicted. This was on January 19th 1932.” In March 1932 the Central Committee of the Mechanical-engineers’ trade union joyously informed that one of the Leningrad plants had started production of combine engines: “…The production of these engines will relieve our machine industry of the necessity of importing engines. The first pilot engine showed excellent results… While the watch factory in Moscow has begun to turn out machinery for watch-making. Up until now such machinery was manufactured exclusively in Switzerland… The “Krasnaya Presniya” plant in Moscow saved the state budget some 2 million in gold roubles by launching the production of a number of foundry machines that had previously been imported from abroad…” People rejoiced as our economy was liberating itself from the shackles of import obligations. This filled them with enthusiasm… By 1930 unemployment was done away with. In one newspaper report of that year they published the name of the last unemployed – Mikhail Shkunov. He’d lost his work in 1921 and registered at the labour exchange, finding the occasional day labour… Finally, he got a plumber’s job at a factory. Some time later, since it was no longer needed - the labour exchange was liquidated. The reclamation of Siberia and the Far East was proceeding a remarkably fast pace. Towns and industrial facilities were being constructed there. Electricity was brought to the Trans-Siberian main way – the road traversing the Eurasian part of the country and linking its European part with the Far East. On February 5th 1937 the central newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” published a letter from the Far East – written by a Komsomol-member, wife of one of the military leaders there – Valentina Hetagurova: “Sisters! Komsomol-members! I address you on behalf of all young women of the Far East. Far in the East, in the Primorye and Amur taiga, together with our husbands and brothers we are reclaiming and rebuilding a wonderful land… Five years ago – I was 17 at the time – I became a resident of the Far East. First, they wanted to leave us, girls, in Khabarovsk. However, we protested vigorously! Together with my friend I begged to be directed to the most far away, remote area – to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. So, my dear friends, my sisters! On behalf of all Far easterners, I implore you to come here. I am not asking you to renounce all you hold dear in life. After all, what awaits you here is so fascinating, even if it is difficult. By arriving in this remote land of the Far East you, girls, bring a refining, dignifying touch to these harsh and austere conditions. You will help to inspire and encourage new heroic deeds. But remember, only the brave, decisive people may come here, those who do not quake at the first hardship. This land isn’t for the faint-hearted… There is wonderful work and amazing people in store for you here! We are anxiously expecting you, sisters!” This summons from Valentina Hetagurova sparked one of the most striking and mass patriotic movements… In a matter of months some 60 thousand girls of various professions responded to this call. Fearless, selfless girls were sung praise to in songs, movies of the time. Here is an excerpt from one song, written by composer Isaac Dunayevsky. “Devoted daughters of our land are Far East bound!” goes the song. “Good bye, girls! The train is waiting. The horn blares a farewell… Write to us, girls, and tell us how the Far Eastern land welcomes you!” A whole army of composers, writers, poets, cinematographers and journalists toiled over the ‘romantic’ image of the epoch of the 1930’s. And their toil wasn’t in vain. The image of the country, born by soviet art, may not have always faithfully reflected reality, but it sure was attractive! Several generations of soviet people fell under its hypnotic charm… In the Soviet Union children were a privileged class. If the state showed any concern for anyone – it definitely did for the youngsters! They were provided with free education, and after class studies – they had access to similarly gratis interest circles and clubs. Youngsters went in for sports, grew fruit and vegetables in school gardens, went on hikes and tourist trips, studied the animal and plant life, and during holidays were sent to summer camp. They looked up to their heroic contemporaries as a shining example to emulate: workers who set records, metro builders, polar explorers, military men and sportsmen. However, the youngsters also underwent a greater degree of ideological brainwashing than anyone else in the country. The communist leadership of the country had high hopes for them! In 1936 in his speech timed to the adoption of the new soviet constitution Joseph Stalin said: “We now have a vast multi-national state, in stability and soundness
the envy of any multi-national state in any part of the world.”
Industrialization of the country and the selfless work of the Soviet people, however, wasn’t the only thing the 1930’s are famed for. They were also notorious for what has come to be known as the ‘Great Terror’. Historian Leonid Katzva, looking into the reasons that led up to the Great Terror, came to the following conclusion: “The accelerated industrialization resulted in a down-side: numerous instances when the planned targets were aborted, spoilage and equipment damage and breakdown. To remove all responsibility for this from the shoulders of the country’s leadership, a scapegoat was found – the older generation of experts – particularly engineers. They were accused of detesting the new, Soviet regime, of nurturing dreams of reinstating the old, pre-revolutionary one and of downright sabotage. In 1930-1931 illustrative court trials against a number of leading figures in the Soviet economy were held, resembling theatrical performances. Those on trial were not only branded responsible for acts of sabotage and for slowing down the pace of industrialization, but even accused of espionage, a desire to overthrow Soviet power and to create a bourgeois government. All these accusations were false. Nonetheless, all the defendants pleaded guilty to crimes they had never committed, since in return for this they had been promised life. In parallel developments, there was a series of slightly less scandalous political trials. Under cover of these public court processes, secret reprisals were gathering force. Leningrad (nor St.Petersburg) witnesses a wave of arrests of the clergy, while in Moscow a group of historians, who refused to share the dominant at the time Marxist ideology were exiled. Mass reprisals were accompanying the collectivization process in the agricultural regions and the struggle to eradicate the well-to-do peasantry.” The excuse for escalating terror was the murder on December 1st 1934
of the leader of the Leningrad Party organization Sergei Kirov. In their
time many history analysts accused Joseph Stalin of being an accessory
to this crime. However, these days historians are more inclined to believe
the killer was governed by personal motives. One way or another, Stalin
cashed in on the murder of Kirov. Without waiting for the results of the
investigation, he set into motion extraordinary measures.
“…It was allowed to shorten the term of investigation into affairs of state importance to a mere 10 days, to consider them in absence of the accused, and to pronounce a death sentence that was non-appealable. Already in a matter of days the first arrests began, and on December
22nd the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS for short) announced
that the murder of Sergei Kirov had been masterminded by a secret “Leningrad
centre”, linked to the old-time Party opposition as represented by Grigory
Zinoviev and Leo Kamenev. On December 28th and 29th 1934 a closed trial was held, where all members of this ostensible ‘centre’ were sentenced to death. Moreover, the verdict was immediately executed.” In the wake of the feigned ‘Leningrad centre’ affair there followed the discovery of a similar Moscow-based one. Despite the fact that the number of accused in these trials numbered no more than a few dozen people, they were exaggeratedly paraded around as proof of the existence of a conspiracy in the country. The Central Committee of the Communist party circulated a secret missive to all party organizations, the contents of which were not to be disclosed among the non-affiliated. The letter contained a call to seek out concealed followers of Trotsky and Zinoviev. This marked the beginning of a purge within the party ranks. “Simultaneously the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (the NKVD) was instructed to reopen investigation into the murder of Sergei Kirov and prepare an open court hearing against the so-called “terrorist Trotskist-Zinoviev centre”,” historian Pyotr Deinichenko writes. “After a dose of torture the 16 accused, which comprised many former leaders of the Communist party and the Soviet Government, admitted their guilt in all possible crimes. In August 1936 they came up before the Military Collegiate of the Supreme Court. They were accused of masterminding political assassinations and of links with Leon Trotsky (who was a convenient scapegoat, since he was abroad and could be accused of virtually anything). All the accused were sentenced to immediate death. The entire court proceedings were accompanied by a ruthless propaganda campaign. At meetings and assemblies of the workers there were vociferous calls to ‘crush the trotskist vipers’.” The end of January 1937 witnessed the second open Moscow trial against the Trotskists. This time the accused were pronounced guilty of a conspiracy to overthrow Stalin’s government, to wreck the 5-year economic plan, reinstate private property on land and, in the long run, to restore capitalist relations. Besides, the trotskists were accused of industrial sabotage, espionage
in the interests of Germany and Japan. Once again, the charged all admitted
their guilt. Not only did they testify against themselves, but they also
testified against their recent colleagues – acclaimed communists Nikolai
Bukharin and Alexei Rykov. The latter were expelled from the party ranks
just days after this, and were soon after arrested right at the Plenary
meeting of the Central Committee. In his speech at this plenary meeting
Joseph Stalin informed that due to subversive activity of spies, saboteurs
and However, as historian Pyotr Deinichenko notes, “…the enemy didn’t have any definite, clear-cut characteristics. From now on anyone could turn out to be the enemy! In the wake of the Plenary meeting mass arrests of staff workers of people’s commissariats were held. In the course of one year hundreds of thousands of party and soviet workers were arrested, as well as leaders of industrial enterprises and professional specialists. Denunciations were encouraged. In fact, the latter reached such proportions and scope, that in Kiev alone, for example, ‘compromising statements’ were made against almost half of the members of the town party organization. The overall number of party members subject to repression was around a million. A majority were executed. Family members of the latter didn’t escape punishment, either. However, the greater majority of those who suffered from the onslaught of repressions were ordinary non-party folk. Altogether from January 1937 to December 1938 around 7 million people were arrested.” However, by January 1937 there were already around 5 million people in camps and prisons. Most of them were one-time peasants, convicted at the end of the 1920’s – early 1930’s. They began executing them on a mass scale, so as to clear room for new convicts. Historians believe that in the period between 1937 and 1938 some 3 million people died or were executed in prison camps.
“Mass extermination of people, a majority of them specialists, led to drastic consequences,” historian Pyotr Deinichenko writes. “In the second half of 1937 an economic crisis set in. People who came to take over the jobs of the repressed were often poorly qualified. Besides, they were not likely to display any initiative, since they feared it might be misconstrued as ‘enemy subversion’. This had a particularly detrimental effect on the state of the armed forces.” Historian Leonid Katzva remarks: “The tightened repressive measures dealt a blow to the defense potential of the Soviet Union. In 1937 by means of an intricate provocation the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs fabricated a trumped-up charge against a group of military leaders, who were accused of conspiring against Joseph Stalin… After being subjected to brutal torture, they were sentenced to death. The tribunal was made up of Marshals Vasili Blukher, Alexander Yegorov, a number of other prominent military people, a majority of whom were later also arrested and executed – in 1938 – 1939. The reprisals were not limited to just the higher command. They concerned commanding officers of all levels.
At this point let us quote from a court protocol of the Military Jury
regarding the application of one of those who was “…His only request is that the Jury make it known to the Central Committee of the Pan-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks that within the fold of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs there exists an ‘abscess’, which deliberately fabricates files against innocent individuals, forcing them to acknowledge their guilt. He insists that there is no investigation into the circumstances of the accusation, and one is deprived of all opportunity to prove one’s innocence of a crime that has been attributed to one through the false testimony of various individuals. The investigation methods are such that force others to invent and calumniate against quite innocent people, not to mention the accused themselves. Rudzutak begs the court to give him an opportunity to write and report all this to the party Central Committee. He assures the court that he, personally, never harbored any evil thoughts against the policy of our party, since he always entirely sympathized with the policy regarding all spheres of economy and culture.” Historian Leonid Katzva remarks: “The distinctive feature of reprisals of the 1930’s was that they were aimed at people who were not enemies of the regime, were possibly apolitical or even sincerely devoted to soviet power and Stalin personally. Within the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs there began something of a competition: who shows up and arrests the most so-called ‘enemies of the people’. More often than not the unfortunate offenders were charged with various clauses of article 58 of the Criminal Code that envisaged punishment for terror, espionage, sabotage, anti-soviet propaganda and so on. The relatives of the accused were often subjected to reprisals, too. There even emerged a special category: a family-member of an ‘enemy of the people’. The investigators didn’t bother looking for proof – they preferred to fall back on various proven methods of putting pressure on the accused. Thus, there was the so-called ‘conveyor belt torture’ – an uninterrupted questioning throughout many hours and even days, when the arrested wasn’t allowed to sleep or even sit. They also resorted to threats to arrest one’s relatives, the usual beatings and many other methods. The court trial turned into a farce, it lasted 5-10 minutes and was limited to the reading of the indictment and announcement of the verdict. Widespread at the time was an extrajudicial method of reprisals, when the verdict was pronounced by the so-called ‘troika’, the investigator of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, a representative, correspondingly, of the local authorities and the militia.” The wave of reprisals was no accidental occurrence. This was a logical outcome of the suppression of the opposition, the strengthening Communist party dictatorship and eventually – the emergence of Joseph Stalin’s one-man-rule. The reprisals became an instrument of inculcating total submission and compliance with the regime through inciting fear and insecurity. To wind up our account of the reprisals of the 1930’s, for objectivity’s sake, let’s quote the opinion of a historian with communist convictions – Professor Olshtynsky: “Mass reprisals are, indeed, a gloomy page in the history of Soviet society. However, this is a page, and not the entire history of the new make-up of society, born in trials and tribulations. The desire to depict the entire historical route traversed by our country through a prism of reprisals, without doing justice to the historical achievements of this heroic and at once tragic epoch testifies to ideological prejudice and narrow-mindedness of the authors. One cannot identify Stalin’s one-man-rule political system with the totalitarianism of fascist countries, something they frequently do in anti-soviet propaganda in the West… In Soviet society industrial development proceeded in the nationwide public and state interests. The political system presupposed the existence and functioning, albeit in limited form, of power structures representing the workers, trade unions, various public organizations. Stalin’s austere administrative system of governing society, born of the historical conditions of existence of the Soviet state, nonetheless, preserved the humanistic and ‘national’ essence of socialism, irrespective of the mistakes and distortions admitted by the leadership. In totalitarian countries, however, there was a relentless dictatorship of large-scale capital in the interests of exploiting the working classes and conducting invasive wars. All public organizations of the workers were suppressed.” Early in 1938 the party suddenly spoke out about a need to correct the mistakes and distortions. On December 8th of that year the direct perpetrator of the Terror Nikolai Yezhov was removed from his post. His place was taken over by Lavrentiy Beria. The scope of reprisals lessened, somewhat… However, their repercussions would long continue to impact the destinies of our country and its people. At the end of the 1930’s there was an ominous sense of foreboding, warning of impending outside threat. This was clearly manifest in the songs of the period. Like this one, entitled “If Tomorrow Brings War”, which has the following lines: “If tomorrow brings war, if the enemy lunges, If the forces of darkness invade… As one the soviet people will stand In defense of their land. If tomorrow summons us to march I shall prepare for it today…” Indeed, the future was bleak for the soviet people: war was soon
to break out with Nazi Germany – a war that would go down in Russian history
as the Great Patriotic war.
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diversionists
the country had found itself in a most difficult situation, and summoned
everyone to fight against the internal enemy.
As a result,
by the end of 1938 the overall number of convicted was close on 8 million.
As a result
of all this, the Red Army officers of arms suffered irreparable damage.
Besides, just as in the economy, the reprisals forced the commanders to
fear initiative and avoid shouldering responsibility for decision-making.
This couldn’t but negatively impact the army’s compatibility.”
subjected
to reprisals – a high-ranking soviet party and government leader Jan Rudzutak:
