ould gain favors and position. A new variety in justice was created for Stalin’s new judicial system. In this system guilt was assumed and evidence was optional. All people were held in contempt in this system and there was no justice in Russia. By 1934 Stalin had eliminated all likely potential opposition to his leadership by internal purges. These opponents could easily face loosing their current status for the regal surroundings of a gulag in Siberia, exile, or even the theft of their lives. Never before or since in history were hundreds of thousands of people torn away from their apartments, thrown into prison, subjected to torture, made to confess to crimes, and then either exterminated or sent to concentration camps. It is no surprise that today, even 60 years after the Great Terror, it is difficult for many people to address these questions with a great deal of composure. In these internal purges over one hundred thousand farmers died for Stalin’s form of progress and five hundred thousand intellectuals died for his security. These purges sent ripples of fear and terror though the entire country. Arrests and on the spot executions quickly became widespread and with this the atmosphere the “Great Terror” was ushered in. Stalin implemented a new brand of justice where guilt was presumed and show trials were common place. In 1929 Stalin had the first of many show trials. These trials not only stunted Russia's growth and prosperity but also destroyed the will of the people. In that year the "Engineer Trials" were held. During these trials the Russian elite was brought forth by Stalin on counts of treason and other high crimes. Confessions from the elite which consisted of engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and clergy were extracted by many means not the least of which included torture. After these trials were through thousands of the Russian elite were murdered or simply became unpeople. These...
