Editing Joseph Stalin (section)

====Great Purge====
{{Main|Great Purge}}

[[File:Vinnycia16.jpg|thumb|right|Exhumed mass grave of the [[Vinnytsia massacre]], 1943]]
Stalin's approach to state repression was often contradictory.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=126}} In May 1933, he released many convicted of minor offences, ordering the security services not to enact further mass arrests and deportations,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=125}} and in September 1934, he launched a commission to investigate false imprisonments. That same month, he called for the execution of workers at the Stalin Metallurgical Factory accused of spying for Japan.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=126}}{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=125}} After [[Sergey Kirov|Sergei Kirov]] was murdered in December 1934, Stalin became increasingly concerned about assassination threats,{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=179|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2003|2pp=126–127|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=314|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=128–129}} and state repression intensified.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=128, 137}} Stalin issued a decree establishing [[NKVD troika]]s which could issue rapid and severe sentences without involving the courts.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=315}} In 1935, he ordered the NKVD to expel suspected counterrevolutionaries from urban areas;{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=318}} over 11,000 were expelled from Leningrad alone in early 1935.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=318}}
[[File:RIAN archive 910794 Memorial events in Bykovnya Graves reserve.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial to a victim of the Great Purge at the [[Bykivnia graves|Bykivnia mass grave]]]]

In 1936, [[Nikolai Yezhov]] became head of the NKVD,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=139}} after which Stalin move to orchestrate the arrest and execution of his remaining opponents in the Communist Party in the [[Great Purge]].{{Sfn|Service|2004|pp=314–317}} The first [[Moscow Trials|Moscow Trial]] in August 1936 saw Kamenev and Zinoviev executed.{{Sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1pp=139, 154–155, 164–172, 175–176|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=320|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=139}} The second trial took place in January 1937,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=139–140}} and the third in March 1938, with Bukharin and Rykov executed.{{Sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1pp=192–193|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=346|3a1=Conquest|3y=2008|3p=24 |4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=140}} By late 1937, all remnants of [[Collective leadership in the Soviet Union|collective leadership]] were gone from the Politburo, which was now effectively under Stalin's control.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=176–177}} There were mass expulsions from the party,{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=349}} with Stalin also ordering foreign communist parties to purge anti-Stalinist elements.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=391}} These purges replaced most of the party's old guard with younger officials loyal to Stalin.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=137–138, 147}} Party functionaries readily carried out their commands and sought to ingratiate themselves with Stalin, to avoid becoming victims.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=140}} Such functionaries often carried out more arrests and executions than their quotas set by government.{{Sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=204}}

[[File:Gelya Markizova.jpg |thumb|upright=.7|Stalin receives flowers from [[Engelsina Markizova]], 1936. The girl's father was later executed in the Great Purge.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hockstader |first=Lee |date=10 March 1995 |title=From a ruler's embrace to a life in disgrace |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/03/10/from-a-rulers-embrace-to-a-life-in-disgrace/6df151d2-82c3-4589-85b3-2015c802258f/#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/03/10/from-a-rulers-embrace-to-a-life-in-disgrace/6df151d2-82c3-4589-85b3-2015c802258f/#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-06-15 |website=Washington Post (Arq. in WikiWix Archive)}}</ref>]]

Repressions intensified further from December 1936 until November 1938.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=347}} In May 1937, Stalin ordered the [[Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization|arrest of much of the army's high command]], and mass arrests in the military followed.{{Sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1p=201|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=349|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=140}} By late 1937, purges extended beyond the party to the wider population.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=141, 150}} In July 1937, the Politburo ordered a purge of "anti-Soviet elements", targeting anti-Stalin Bolsheviks, former Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, priests, ex–White Army soldiers, and common criminals.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=350|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=150–151}} Stalin initiated "[[Mass operations of the NKVD|national operations]]", the ethnic cleansing of non-Soviet ethnic groups — among them [[Polish Operation of the NKVD|Poles]], [[NKVD Order No. 00439|Germans]], [[Latvian Operation of the NKVD|Latvians]], [[Finnish Operation of the NKVD|Finns]], [[Greek Operation|Greeks]], [[Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union|Koreans]], and [[Soviet deportations of Chinese people|Chinese]] — through internal or external exile.{{Sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1p=204|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=351, 390|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=151}} More than 1.6 million people were arrested, 700,000 shot, and an unknown number died under torture.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=151}} The NKVD also assassinated defectors and opponents abroad;{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=394}} in August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico, eliminating Stalin's last major opponent.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=230|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=394|3a1=Overy|3y=2004|3p=338|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=174}}

Stalin initiated all key decisions during the purge, and personally directed many operations.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=151, 159}} Historians debate his motives,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=151}} noting his personal writings from the period were "unusually convoluted and incoherent", filled with claims about enemies encircling him.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=152}} He feared a domestic [[fifth column]] in the event of war with Japan and Germany,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=153, 156–157}} particularly after right-wing forces overthrew the leftist Spanish government.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=347–248|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=125, 156–157}} The Great Purge ended when Yezhov was replaced by [[Lavrentiy Beria]],{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=367}} a fellow Georgian completely loyal to Stalin.{{Sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=245}} Yezhov himself was arrested in April 1939 and executed in 1940.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=209|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=369|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=160}} The purge damaged the Soviet Union's reputation abroad, particularly among leftist sympathisers.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=162}} As it wound down, Stalin sought to deflect his responsibility,{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=157}} blaming its "excesses" and "violations of law" on Yezhov.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=159}}