How did Joseph Stalin maintain power in the Soviet Union during the Great Terror?
1 Answer
I think that the Great Terror (1936-38) was the way to maintain power.
Explanation:
In my opinion Stalin used a very complex technique to maintain the society in a state of non-equilibrium and constant conflict so presenting himself as a guide, a healer a tough but just father that was able to straighten things up and eliminate the enemy of the state.
Periodically he was able to unleash a campaign of terror against the "Enemies of the State" and so launch a kind of military campaign against these enemies involving the entire nation and, in turn, every layer of the society.
Basically you had all the possible elements concentrated into the definition of the “Enemy of the State":
This enemy is mysterious, he is everywhere (can even be one of your relatives!) and at the same time terrible (it will endanger the noble work of the leader!): normally it is a counter-revolutionary organization probably founded and helped by foreign capitalist nations but formed by politically deviant citizens led by criminal and perverted important political figures.
Ok this is a weird definition but comprises:
1) People that travelled abroad or were in contact with foreign people/organizations (they were contaminated by the foreign capitalistic thinking), such as: ambassadors, businessman, military attaches and intellectuals, among others;
2) Members of the party and high ranking functionaries; in this case the idea is that a high ranking politician got "perverted" by capitalistic desires becoming an enemy of communism. Basically all the colleagues of Stalin could become one of these;
3) Saboteurs: these are responsible for undermining agricultural or industrial production at any level. Obviously most of these saboteurs are simply scapegoats for the disastrous results of the production planning (5 years plan) and used to justify the impossibility to attain the unreal goals set up by the central government (goals that have to be right because originated from the central power!);
4) The classic: these are always the same; kulaks ("rich farmers"), former Czarist army officers or functionaries (even if at this point they would have been very old), white guards and socialist/Trotskyist/Mensheviks, priests. These are the habitués of the purges and strangely enough were always present...even after all the previous "successful" purges!
As you can see Stalin was able to pick up all the people he wanted to eliminate in these groups and keep the others in a state of continuous fear for their lives (anybody could become the "Enemy of the State") not having the material time "to plot" against him! Also, the society was always distracted away from the problems and horrors perpetrated by the government (famine, riots, corruption, etc.) and away from the real responsible.
[A trial conducted under the fatherly eye of the leader]
