Soviet archival evidence shows that the purges were democratically initiated by the party at large and were initially very popular due to the real problem of capitalist sabotage They got worse when the NKVD became overzealous and stepped beyond the bounds that were given them. The evidence shows that Stalin actually spent more time trying to reign in the excesses, but was often unsuccessful largely due to the weakness of the Soviet state that was recovering from a brutal civil war.
Of course, the purges were very excessive and rightly considered one of the big mistakes of the Stalin era, but the idea that they were his is ahistorical.
No dude, Stalin was a facist at heart and only used communism to further his agenda. He killed anyone who he felt threatened his power and with paranoia. Idk where you get the idea that he was trying to reign in the purges. He wasn’t. Doctor’s Plot, the red purge, holodomor, his hatred of Jews, there’s way too much. Everyone was happy to see him gone, at least secretly (refer to the secret speech). He had terrorised all of USSR.
While the politburo did sign off on the purges (never said they weren’t complicit) it was NOT a democratic process. You need representation of voters there.
Soviet archival evidence shows that the purges were democratically initiated by the party at large and were initially very popular due to the real problem of capitalist sabotage They got worse when the NKVD became overzealous and stepped beyond the bounds that were given them. The evidence shows that Stalin actually spent more time trying to reign in the excesses, but was often unsuccessful largely due to the weakness of the Soviet state that was recovering from a brutal civil war.
Of course, the purges were very excessive and rightly considered one of the big mistakes of the Stalin era, but the idea that they were his is ahistorical.
No dude, Stalin was a facist at heart and only used communism to further his agenda. He killed anyone who he felt threatened his power and with paranoia. Idk where you get the idea that he was trying to reign in the purges. He wasn’t. Doctor’s Plot, the red purge, holodomor, his hatred of Jews, there’s way too much. Everyone was happy to see him gone, at least secretly (refer to the secret speech). He had terrorised all of USSR.
While the politburo did sign off on the purges (never said they weren’t complicit) it was NOT a democratic process. You need representation of voters there.
This is almost entirely anti-communist propaganda. Don’t believe the capitalists when they talk about socialism. They lie, distort and exaggerate.