Welcome to Russian History Retold.

Episode 312.

Episode 312 The Great Purge part 3.

Last time we covered the purge of intellectuals

and the military. Today we finish up the series.

We'll discuss the destruction of the old Bolsheviks, the cultural war, and the end of this tumultuous

period in Soviet history.

While the military men were being hunted down, tried and executed,

it was time to purge the party of the Old Bolsheviks, especially those who resided in Leningrad.

That focus was in part due to the assassination of Sergei Kirov, who was the first secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the

All Union Communist Party. Love these long titles. Kirov himself was considered an old Bolshevik, which is why many believe that Stalin was behind his assassination, as he was a definite threat to his power.

To divert suspicion on himself, Stalin ordered the rounding up and executions of those

associated with the Leningrad Bolsheviks, claiming they were behind Kirof's murder.

During the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held in 1961,

one of the speakers had this to say about the purge of the old Bolsheviks in Leningrad.

Quote, the Leningrad Party Organization suffered particularly large losses.

For a period of four years, there was an uninterrupted wave of repressions in Leningrad against honest

and completely innocent people. Promotion to a

responsible post often amounted to a step toward the brink of a precipice.

Many people were annihilated without a trial and investigation on the basis of false, hastily fabricated charges.

Not only officials themselves, but also their families were subjected to

repressions. Even absolutely innocent children whose lives were broken from the

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