collectivization at an increased rate after the famine. Stalin s purge began after the death of Sergei Kirov. It is believed that the murder may have been arranged by Stalin as a pretext for eliminating all opponents. Stalin used Kirov s death as an excuse to charge Party members and Army generals with treason or conspiracy and sentence them to death. Almost all of the members of the Central Committee and the 17th Congress were killed or arrested; some were sent to labor camps known as Gulags. At first, the purge was secret; show trials in Moscow were evidence of the purge s existence. Later on the purge spread from high-ranking officials to people associated with Lenin and then to common workers and farmers. Anyone perceived as a threat to Stalin s power was killed. The officer-corps were created so Stalin would have total support in the lower ranks of the armed forces. Everyone was considered a suspect by the secret police. During the purge the secret police ordered spying on important industrialists. They also ordered neighbors to spy on each other, children to report on their parents, children to watch their siblings, and adults to spy on their employers/employees. With so may people being arrested, killed, or just disappearing, many began to lose faith in Stalin’s leadership. Not many spoke openly spoke out against Stalin for fear of their lives and Western nations did not find out the true extent of the purge because it was not discussed in public. One of the most adverse affects of the purge was that when World War II began, many of the Soviet Union’s best generals had been killed off. The lack of capable generals was a contributing factor in many of the Soviet Union s early defeats in the war. These sanctions were just a few of the many policies that were imposed by the Stalin government, which led to the discontent and eventually repression of millions of Russians. The heaviest losses occurred in Ukraine, which h...
