he purges had literally deformed Soviet society. The end of the purges showed the collapse of almost all local government; the disappearance of private land ownership and a governing body totally devoted to Stalin. In addition to these items approximately 80 percent of the the people held in gulags were males and by the 1950’s the percentage of males to females in the age groups most affected by the purges was about 35 percent versus 65 percent. In 1939 Stalin put an end to the chaos that he started. He officially blamed the secret police for letting things get out of control and at times he pointed his finger at them in blame. This would not be the end of the killing altogether. Stalin’s fear and terror had become an integral part of his leadership style and was required to maintain his power. This man who had rather meek beginning and had started as an Autocrat had made the leap to dictator early on in his reign. By the time the terror subsided in 1939, Stalin had managed to bring both the party and the public to a state of complete submission and panic to his rule. The Soviet people were so demoralized and so fearful of reprisals that mass arrests were no longer necessary. Stalin’s influence even reached into the church encouraging people to serve the state and pray to him. Stalin ruled as absolute dictator of the Soviet Union throughout World War II and until his death in March 1953.Even after Stalin’s death his policies of fear and oppression still reach into the heart of the Soviet union. Fear of persecution for most any reason still persists today. The twenty years of Stalin have left what appears to be a perminate shade of mistrust of any government and fear of non-conformity. One effect of the intellectual voids that Stalin created during the Great Purge allowed common men to become upwardly mobile. The upper echelons of business and in government became vacant of highly qualified people....
