POL SCI 140L Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: The Great Terror, Great Purge, Nikita Khrushchev
12 Feb 2018
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1936-38: great terror, the holocaust of violence ( stephen cohen ) Stalin was trying to build a patrimonial state. Patrimonial state: all power flows up to the leader who asserts the right to define the status and fate of all those living within that state. Great terror is not something out of control! Khrushchev reported to delegates of central committee about the injustice of wiping out the political elite. Most officials that had revolutionary ideals and taken local initiatives were the ones targeted in this holocaust. They are targeted in favor of newly trained officials who replace them. These people are trained to be politically docile managers. Stalin made a clear case foreshadowing his intentions. Said that russians were tsarists, liked having one powerful leader. He introduced doctrinal revision meant to justify straying from a party congress that constructed the foundations of socialism. The class struggle intensifies as socialism is build.
