Stalin's Army Purges

[ArabRASH]

Hey guys, I've gotta do some research and i want to know if anyone has any information or sources as to WHY stalin decided to purge the red army in 1937? I heard maybe it has something to do with the Gestapo or the Treaty of Rapallo possibly, or did he feel threatened by rivals in his own army? Any websites, books, or your own info would be very helpful. Cheers.

[Intelligitimate]

Thurston in his Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934-41 does a good job discussing the numbers. The truth of the matter is that most of the people purged in the army were later put back into their former positions after the 'Great Purges' were over. I don't have the book with me at the moment, but it is something like 80-90%. Thurston also accepts the "Tukhachevsky was framed by the Nazis" idea, and discusses it a little, which may be what you're referring to.

Here is an article from Grover Furr that examines the evidence against Tukhachevsky and also discusses the Nazi-framing idea in depth:

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/tukh.html

Here is Furr's review of Thurston's book:

http://clogic.eserver.org/1-2/furr.html

Hope this helps.

[ArabRASH]

Wow those sources are very very helpful, especially the first article. Do you think it's a pretty reliable source?


most of the people purged in the army were later put back into their former positions after the 'Great Purges' were over.

How is this so? Weren't most of them executed?

Thanks so much for your help!

[Intelligitimate]

Wow those sources are very very helpful, especially the first article. Do you think it's a pretty reliable source?


I find Furr to be extremely reliable. It was published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Russian History/Histoire Russe and is cited by plenty of other works dealing with the Tukhachevsky Affair.



How is this so? Weren't most of them executed?


No! If I remember, most weren't even arrested. To be sure, I recommend getting a copy of Thurston's book.


Surprisingly, a great deal of Thurston's book is viewable on google books, and I think you can get the precise figures there. It appears about 9,600 officers were arrested out of the nearly 37,000 discharged between 1937-39. Of those arrested, over 2/3 were acquitted of charges, with only 3,188 being convicted. 11,178 officers who appealed their dismissals regained their former status between 1937-39.

[Farid]

yes i agree with arabrash

[S R]

"Purging" as a word itself should be recognized with what it was, rather than confuse it with some other term, such as "murder". Often when bourgeois anti-communists speak of Purges, they most often fuse it with the notion that purging was synonymous or equal to murder, which was and is not the case. Purging the Red Army, only meant the dismissal of those in position of leadership from that leadership. Generally because spies and wreckers working for the intelligent services of foreign countries were infiltrating the armies and government positions, as was the case in other countries. It is generally known as the Fifth Column. The US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Davies, wrote about the Trials in his Mission To Moscow book [recommended], about how the Soviet Union were able to rid themselves of this fifth column and strengthen the resolve of the Red Army in its fight against fascism, unlike other countries, like Poland, and Czechoslovakia[sic] whose armies completely capitulated to the Nazis and fascists.

I also agree. Professor Furr is a very reliable source, as he investigates thoroughly all sorts of documentation and provides them in a most objective and Marxist-Leninist manner.

[careyprice31]

Purging in Russian the word 'purge' is "cheestka" meaning a 'cleansing'

it comes from the Russian verb "cheesti" meaning to clean.

well cleansing can be anything really and no it doesnt necessarily mean murder.

and ye a couple of thousand officers were released from prison not long before ww2 and employed to serve during the fight with Hitler, among them was Konstantin Rokossovsky.

Ye what Illigitimate said, about 37,000 were freed.

[Farid]

I think Bryan Adams is really gay, I dont see how quoting a gay artist can help ARABRASH in his research paper.

[RNK]

So yeah, salut.

Anyway, I read from several sources that after the break up of the USSR, released KGB documents showed that only a few thousand were killed, and overall, the rate of incarceration in Soviet prisons, jails and "gulags" was altogether not extraordinary and no different from the amount of people in jails today (on average).