The Great Terror on the Local Level: Purges in Moscow Factories, 1936–1938

Abstract

Memoirs and accounts written by victims of Stalinist repressions have described the horrifying human toll of the Great Terror. In building upon these histories – in seeking to understand not only the suffering of victims but also the impetus, unfolding, scope, and consequences of the purges – it is particularly useful to examine the Great Terror on the local level. Whereas records from the Smolensk Party Archive have provided Western historians with valuable information on the purges in a largely agrarian oblast, materials depicting the purges in Soviet factories have previously remained quite scarce. Just recently, however, Western scholars have for the first time received access to party archives in the Soviet Union. Party documents held at the Moscow Party Archive (including obkom, gorkom, raikom , and factory partkom records) furnish a detailed picture of the purges and their impact upon Moscow workers, managers, and party officials. This research note will discuss the catalyst initiating the purges in Moscow factories, the charges brought against purge victims, the spread and scope of arrests, a social profile of those purged, and the consequences of the purges for factory management and party membership. The initial impetus for the purges came from the Central Committee in the form of a July 29, 1936, top-secret letter directing local party committees to root out all Trotskyists. In turn the Moscow city and oblast party committees sent a secret letter to all factory party committees on August 16, 1936, advising them to do the same.