Joseph Stalin died 65 years ago, but his personality and the policies he pursued are still the subject of fierce debate among historians, politicians, and ordinary people. The scale and ambiguity of this historical figure are so great that to this day the attitude towards Stalin and the Stalin era for some citizens of our country is a kind of indicator that determines their political and social position.

One of the darkest and most tragic pages in the country is political repression, which peaked in the 1930s and early 1940s. It is the repressive policy of the Soviet state during the reign of Stalin that is one of the main arguments of opponents of Stalinism. After all, on the other side of the coin is industrialization, the construction of new cities and enterprises, the development of transport infrastructure, the strengthening of the armed forces and the formation of a classical model of education, which still works “by inertia” and is one of the best in the world. But collectivization, the deportation of entire peoples to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the extermination of political opponents and adversaries, as well as random people included in them, excessive harshness towards the country’s population is another part of the Stalin era, which also cannot be erased from people’s memory.

However, recently, publications have increasingly appeared that the scale and nature of political repressions during the reign of I.V. Stalin's claims were greatly exaggerated. It is interesting that not so long ago this position was voiced, it seemed, by those who were in no way interested in the “whitewashing” of Joseph Vissarionovich - employees of the US CIA think tank. By the way, it was in the USA that Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the main denouncer of Stalin’s repressions, lived in exile at one time and it was he who owned the frightening figures - 70 million repressed. The US CIA analytical center Rand Corporation calculated the number of those repressed during the reign of the Soviet leader and obtained slightly different figures - about 700 thousand people. Maybe the scale of repression was greater, but clearly not as much as Solzhenitsyn’s followers say.

The international human rights organization Memorial claims that from 11-12 million to 38-39 million people became victims of Stalinist repressions. The scatter, as we see, is very large. Still, 38 million is 3.5 times more than 11 million. Memorial lists the following as victims of Stalinist repression: 4.5-4.8 million convicted for political reasons, 6.5 million deported since 1920, about 4 million deprived of voting rights under the Constitution of 1918 and the resolution of 1925, about 400- 500 thousand repressed on the basis of a number of decrees, 6-7 million died from hunger in 1932-1933, 17.9 thousand victims of “labor decrees”.

As we can see, the concept of “victims of political repression” in this case is expanded to the maximum. But political repression is still specific actions aimed at arresting, imprisoning or physically destroying dissidents or those suspected of dissent. Can those who died of hunger be considered victims of political repression? Moreover, considering that at that difficult time most of the world's population was starving. Millions of people died in the African and Asian colonies of European powers, and in the “prosperous” United States of America, it was not for nothing that these years were called the “Great Depression.”

Go ahead. Another 4 million people were deprived of the right to vote during the Stalinist period. However, can the loss of rights be considered as full-fledged political repression? In this case, the multi-million African-American population of the United States, which in the first half of the twentieth century not only did not have voting rights, but was also segregated by race, is also victims of political repression by Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and other American presidents. That is, approximately 10-12 million people from those classified by Memorial as victims of repression are already in question. Victims of time - yes, not always thoughtful economic policies - yes, but not targeted political repression.

If we approach the issue strictly, then only those convicted under “political” articles and sentenced to death or certain terms of imprisonment can be called direct victims of political repression. And this is where the fun begins. The repressed included not only “politicians,” but also many real criminals, convicted of ordinary criminal offenses, or who, for certain reasons (unpaid gambling debt, for example), tried to get away from criminals by initiating a new “political” article to political. Former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky writes in his memoirs about such a story, which only took place during the “Brezhnev” time, in his memoirs - an ordinary criminal was sitting with him, who, in order not to answer to other prisoners for a gambling debt, deliberately scattered anti-Soviet leaflets in the barracks. Of course, such cases were not isolated.

To understand who can be classified as politically repressed, it is necessary to take a closer look at Soviet criminal legislation from the 1920s to the 1950s - what it was, to whom the harshest measures could be applied, and who could and who could not become victims." execution" articles of the criminal code.

Lawyer Vladimir Postanyuk notes that when the Criminal Code of the RSFSR was adopted in 1922, Article 21 of the main criminal law of the Soviet republic emphasized that in order to combat the most serious types of crimes that threaten the foundations of Soviet power and the Soviet system, as an exceptional measure to protect the state of working people shooting is used.

For what crimes under the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and other union republics was the death penalty imposed during the Stalin years (1923-1953)? Could they be sentenced to death under Article 58 of the Criminal Code?

V. Postanyuk: Crimes punishable by an exceptional punishment - the death penalty - were included in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. First of all, these were the so-called. "counter-revolutionary" crimes. Among the crimes for which the death penalty was imposed, the criminal law of the RSFSR listed the organization for counter-revolutionary purposes of armed uprisings or invasion of Soviet territory by armed detachments or gangs, attempts to seize power (Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR); communication with foreign states or their individual representatives with the aim of inducing them to armed intervention in the affairs of the Republic; participation in an organization operating to commit crimes specified in Art. 58 CC; opposition to the normal activities of government institutions and enterprises; participation in an organization or assistance to an organization acting in the direction of helping the international bourgeoisie; organizing terrorist acts directed against representatives of the Soviet government or figures for counter-revolutionary purposes; organization for counter-revolutionary purposes of destruction or damage by explosion, arson or other means of railway or other routes and means of communication, public communications, water pipelines, public warehouses and other structures or structures, as well as participation in the commission of these crimes (Article 58 of the Criminal Code). The death penalty could also be received for active opposition to the revolutionary and labor movement while serving in responsible or highly secret positions in Tsarist Russia and counter-revolutionary governments during the Civil War. The death penalty followed for organizing gangs and gangs and participating in them, for counterfeiting by conspiracy of persons, for a number of official crimes. For example, Article 112 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR emphasized that execution can be ordered for abuse of power, excess of power or inaction and neglect, followed by the collapse of the managed structure. The appropriation and embezzlement of state property, the passing of an unjust sentence by a judge, the receipt of a bribe under aggravating circumstances - all these crimes could also be punishable by up to the death penalty.

During the Stalinist period, could minors be shot and for what crimes? Were there any such examples?

V. Postanyuk: During the period of its validity, the code was repeatedly amended. In particular, they extended to issues of criminal liability of minors and were associated with mitigation of penalties that could be applied to minor offenders. The rules on punishment also changed: the use of execution against minors and pregnant women was prohibited, short-term imprisonment was introduced for a period of 1 month (Law of July 10, 1923), and later for a period of 7 days (Law of October 16, 1924) .

In 1935, the famous Resolution “On measures to combat juvenile delinquency” was adopted. According to this resolution, minors over 12 years of age were allowed to be prosecuted for theft, causing violence and bodily harm, mutilation, murder or attempted murder. The resolution stated that all criminal penalties could be applied to juvenile offenders over 12 years of age. This formulation, which was not clear, gave rise to numerous allegations about the facts of the execution of children in the Soviet Union. But these statements, at least from a legal point of view, are not true. After all, the rule on the impossibility of imposing the death penalty on persons under 18 years of age, contained in Art. 13 Fundamental Principles and in Art. 22 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR was never repealed.

Was there really not a single case of execution of minors in the Soviet Union?

V. Postanyuk: There was such a case. And this is the only reliably known case of a teenager being shot in Soviet times. 15-year-old Arkady Neyland was shot on August 11, 1964. As we see, this is far from Stalin’s time. Neyland was the first and only minor officially sentenced by a Soviet court to capital punishment - execution. The crime of this criminal was that he hacked to death a woman and her three-year-old son with an ax. The teenager’s petition to pardon was rejected, and Nikita Khrushchev himself spoke out in support of capital punishment for him.

Thus, we see that Soviet criminal legislation actually provided for the death penalty under the “anti-Soviet” 58th article. However, as the lawyer noted in his interview, among the “execution” anti-Soviet acts there were crimes that in our time would be called terrorist. For example, one can hardly call a person who organized sabotage on a railroad track a “prisoner of conscience.” As for the use of execution as the ultimate punishment against corrupt officials, this practice still exists in a number of countries around the world, for example, in China. In the Soviet Union, the death penalty was seen as a temporary and exceptional, but effective measure to combat crime and the enemies of the Soviet state.

If we talk about the victims of political repression, then a huge part of those convicted under the anti-Soviet article were saboteurs, spies, organizers and members of armed and underground groups and organizations that acted against the Soviet regime. Suffice it to remember that in the 1920s and 1930s the country was in a hostile environment, and the situation in a number of regions of the Soviet Union was not particularly stable. For example, in Central Asia, individual groups of Basmachi continued to resist Soviet power in the 1930s.

Finally, you should not miss another very interesting nuance. A significant part of the Soviet citizens repressed under Stalin were senior officials of the party and the Soviet state, including law enforcement and security agencies. If we analyze the lists of senior leaders of the NKVD of the USSR at the union and republican levels in the 1930s, then most of them were subsequently shot. This indicates that harsh measures were applied not only to political opponents of the Soviet government, but also, to a much greater extent, to its representatives themselves who were guilty of abuse of power, corruption or any other malfeasance.

Mass repressions in the USSR were carried out in the period 1927 - 1953. These repressions are directly associated with the name of Joseph Stalin, who led the country during these years. Social and political persecution in the USSR began after the end of the last stage of the civil war. These phenomena began to gain momentum in the second half of the 30s and did not slow down during the Second World War, as well as after its end. Today we will talk about what the social and political repressions of the Soviet Union were, consider what phenomena underlie those events, and what consequences this led to.

They say: an entire people cannot be suppressed endlessly. Lie! Can! We see how our people have become devastated, gone wild, and indifference has descended on them not only to the fate of the country, not only to the fate of their neighbor, but even to their own fate and the fate of their children. Indifference, the last saving reaction of the body, has become our defining feature . That is why the popularity of vodka is unprecedented even on a Russian scale. This is terrible indifference when a person sees his life not chipped, not with a corner broken off, but so hopelessly fragmented, so corrupted along and across that only for the sake of alcoholic oblivion is it still worth living. Now, if vodka were banned, a revolution would immediately break out in our country.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Reasons for repression:

• Forcing the population to work on a non-economic basis. There was a lot of work to be done in the country, but there was not enough money for everything. The ideology shaped new thinking and perceptions, and was also supposed to motivate people to work for virtually nothing.
• Strengthening personal power. The new ideology needed an idol, a person who was unquestioningly trusted. After Lenin's assassination this post was vacant. Stalin had to take this place.
• Strengthening the exhaustion of a totalitarian society.

If you try to find the beginning of repression in the union, then the starting point, of course, should be 1927. This year was marked by the fact that massacres of so-called pests, as well as saboteurs, began to take place in the country. The motive for these events should be sought in the relations between the USSR and Great Britain. Thus, at the beginning of 1927, the Soviet Union became involved in a major international scandal, when the country was openly accused of trying to transfer the seat of the Soviet revolution to London. In response to these events, Great Britain broke off all relations with the USSR, both political and economic. Domestically, this step was presented as preparation by London for a new wave of intervention. At one of the party meetings, Stalin declared that the country “needs to destroy all remnants of imperialism and all supporters of the White Guard movement.” Stalin had an excellent reason for this on June 7, 1927. On this day, the political representative of the USSR, Voikov, was killed in Poland.

As a result, terror began. For example, on the night of June 10, 20 people who were in contact with the empire were shot. These were representatives of ancient noble families. In total, in June 27, more than 9 thousand people were arrested, accused of high treason, complicity with imperialism and other things that sound menacing, but are very difficult to prove. Most of those arrested were sent to prison.

Pest Control

After this, a number of major cases began in the USSR, which were aimed at combating sabotage and sabotage. The wave of these repressions was based on the fact that in most large companies that operated within the Soviet Union, leadership positions were occupied by immigrants from imperial Russia. Of course, these people for the most part did not feel sympathy for the new government. Therefore, the Soviet regime was looking for pretexts on which this intelligentsia could be removed from leadership positions and, if possible, destroyed. The problem was that this required compelling and legal reasons. Such grounds were found in a number of trials that swept across the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Among the most striking examples of such cases are the following:

• Shakhty case. In 1928, repressions in the USSR affected miners from Donbass. This case was turned into a show trial. The entire leadership of Donbass, as well as 53 engineers, were accused of espionage activities with an attempt to sabotage the new state. As a result of the trial, 3 people were shot, 4 were acquitted, the rest received prison sentences from 1 to 10 years. This was a precedent - society enthusiastically accepted the repressions against the enemies of the people... In 2000, the Russian prosecutor's office rehabilitated all participants in the Shakhty case, due to the absence of corpus delicti.
• Pulkovo case. In June 1936, a major solar eclipse was supposed to be visible on the territory of the USSR. The Pulkovo Observatory appealed to the world community to attract personnel to study this phenomenon, as well as to obtain the necessary foreign equipment. As a result, the organization was accused of espionage ties. The number of victims is classified.
• The case of the industrial party. Those accused in this case were those whom the Soviet authorities called bourgeois. This process took place in 1930. The defendants were accused of trying to disrupt industrialization in the country.
• The case of the peasant party. The Socialist Revolutionary organization is widely known under the name of the Chayanov and Kondratiev group. In 1930, representatives of this organization were accused of attempting to disrupt industrialization and interfering in agricultural affairs.
• Union Bureau. The case of the union bureau was opened in 1931. The defendants were representatives of the Mensheviks. They were accused of undermining the creation and implementation of economic activities within the country, as well as connections with foreign intelligence.

At this moment, a massive ideological struggle was taking place in the USSR. The new regime tried its best to explain its position to the population, as well as justify its actions. But Stalin understood that ideology alone could not restore order in the country and could not allow him to retain power. Therefore, along with ideology, repression began in the USSR. Above we have already given some examples of cases from which repression began. These cases have always raised big questions, and today, when documents on many of them have been declassified, it becomes absolutely clear that most of the accusations were unfounded. It is no coincidence that the Russian prosecutor's office, having examined the documents of the Shakhty case, rehabilitated all participants in the process. And this despite the fact that in 1928, no one from the country’s party leadership had any idea about the innocence of these people. Why did this happen? This was due to the fact that, under the guise of repression, as a rule, everyone who did not agree with the new regime was destroyed.

The events of the 20s were just the beginning; the main events were ahead.

Socio-political meaning of mass repressions

A new massive wave of repressions within the country unfolded at the beginning of 1930. At this moment, a struggle began not only with political competitors, but also with the so-called kulaks. In fact, a new blow by the Soviet regime against the rich began, and this blow affected not only wealthy people, but also the middle peasants and even the poor. One of the stages of delivering this blow was dispossession. Within the framework of this material, we will not dwell in detail on the issues of dispossession, since this issue has already been studied in detail in the corresponding article on the site.

Party composition and governing bodies in repression

A new wave of political repressions in the USSR began at the end of 1934. At that time, there was a significant change in the structure of the administrative apparatus within the country. In particular, on July 10, 1934, a reorganization of the special services took place. On this day, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created. This department is known by the abbreviation NKVD. This unit included the following services:

• Main Directorate of State Security. It was one of the main bodies that dealt with almost all matters.
• Main Directorate of Workers' and Peasants' Militia. This is an analogue of the modern police, with all the functions and responsibilities.
• Main Directorate of Border Guard Service. The department dealt with border and customs affairs.
• Main Directorate of Camps. This administration is now widely known by the abbreviation GULAG.
• Main Fire Department.

In addition, in November 1934, a special department was created, which was called the “Special Meeting”. This department received broad powers to combat enemies of the people. In fact, this department could, without the presence of the accused, prosecutor and lawyer, send people into exile or to the Gulag for up to 5 years. Of course, this applied only to enemies of the people, but the problem is that no one reliably knew how to identify this enemy. That is why the Special Meeting had unique functions, since virtually any person could be declared an enemy of the people. Any person could be sent into exile for 5 years on simple suspicion.

Mass repressions in the USSR

The events of December 1, 1934 became the reason for mass repressions. Then Sergei Mironovich Kirov was killed in Leningrad. As a result of these events, a special procedure for judicial proceedings was established in the country. In fact, we are talking about expedited trials. All cases where people were accused of terrorism and aiding terrorism were transferred under the simplified trial system. Again, the problem was that almost all the people who came under repression fell into this category. Above, we have already talked about a number of high-profile cases that characterize repression in the USSR, where it is clearly visible that all people, one way or another, were accused of aiding terrorism. The specificity of the simplified trial system was that the verdict had to be rendered within 10 days. The accused received a summons a day before the trial. The trial itself took place without the participation of prosecutors and lawyers. At the conclusion of the proceedings, any requests for clemency were prohibited. If during the proceedings a person was sentenced to death, this penalty was carried out immediately.

Political repression, party purge

Stalin carried out active repressions within the Bolshevik Party itself. One of the illustrative examples of the repressions that affected the Bolsheviks happened on January 14, 1936. On this day, the replacement of party documents was announced. This move had been discussed for a long time and was not unexpected. But when replacing documents, new certificates were not awarded to all party members, but only to those who “earned trust.” Thus began the purge of the party. If you believe the official data, then when new party documents were issued, 18% of the Bolsheviks were expelled from the party. These were the people to whom repression was applied primarily. And we are talking about only one of the waves of these purges. In total, the cleaning of the batch was carried out in several stages:

• In 1933. 250 people were expelled from the party's senior leadership.
• In 1934 - 1935, 20 thousand people were expelled from the Bolshevik Party.

Stalin actively destroyed people who could lay claim to power, who had power. To demonstrate this fact, it is only necessary to say that of all the members of the Politburo of 1917, after the purge, only Stalin survived (4 members were shot, and Trotsky was expelled from the party and expelled from the country). In total, there were 6 members of the Politburo at that time. In the period between the revolution and the death of Lenin, a new Politburo of 7 people was assembled. By the end of the purge, only Molotov and Kalinin remained alive. In 1934, the next congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) party took place. 1934 people took part in the congress. 1108 of them were arrested. Most were shot.

The murder of Kirov exacerbated the wave of repression, and Stalin himself made a statement to party members about the need for the final extermination of all enemies of the people. As a result, changes were made to the criminal code of the USSR. These changes stipulated that all cases of political prisoners were considered in an expedited manner without prosecutors' lawyers within 10 days. The executions were carried out immediately. In 1936, a political trial of the opposition took place. In fact, Lenin's closest associates, Zinoviev and Kamenev, were in the dock. They were accused of the murder of Kirov, as well as the attempt on Stalin's life. A new stage of political repression against the Leninist Guard began. This time Bukharin was subjected to repression, as was the head of government, Rykov. The socio-political meaning of repression in this sense was associated with the strengthening of the cult of personality.

Repression in the army

Beginning in June 1937, repressions in the USSR affected the army. In June, the first trial of the high command of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), including the commander-in-chief Marshal Tukhachevsky, took place. The army leadership was accused of attempting a coup. According to prosecutors, the coup was supposed to take place on May 15, 1937. The accused were found guilty and most of them were shot. Tukhachevsky was also shot.

An interesting fact is that of the 8 members of the trial who sentenced Tukhachevsky to death, five were subsequently repressed and shot. However, from then on, repressions began in the army, which affected the entire leadership. As a result of such events, 3 marshals of the Soviet Union, 3 army commanders of the 1st rank, 10 army commanders of the 2nd rank, 50 corps commanders, 154 division commanders, 16 army commissars, 25 corps commissars, 58 divisional commissars, 401 regiment commanders were repressed. In total, 40 thousand people were subjected to repression in the Red Army. These were 40 thousand army leaders. As a result, more than 90% of the command staff was destroyed.

Increased repression

Beginning in 1937, the wave of repressions in the USSR began to intensify. The reason was order No. 00447 of the NKVD of the USSR dated July 30, 1937. This document stated the immediate repression of all anti-Soviet elements, namely:

• Former kulaks. All those whom the Soviet authorities called kulaks, but who escaped punishment, or were in labor camps or in exile, were subject to repression.
• All representatives of religion. Anyone who had anything to do with religion was subject to repression.
• Participants in anti-Soviet actions. These participants included everyone who had ever actively or passively opposed Soviet power. In fact, this category included those who did not support the new government.
• Anti-Soviet politicians. Domestically, anti-Soviet politicians defined everyone who was not a member of the Bolshevik Party.
• White Guards.
• People with a criminal record. People who had a criminal record were automatically considered enemies of the Soviet regime.

• Hostile elements. Any person who was called a hostile element was sentenced to death.
• Inactive elements. The rest, who were not sentenced to death, were sent to camps or prisons for a term of 8 to 10 years.

All cases were now considered in an even more accelerated manner, where most cases were considered en masse. According to the same NKVD orders, repressions applied not only to convicts, but also to their families. In particular, the following penalties were applied to the families of those repressed:

• Families of those repressed for active anti-Soviet actions. All members of such families were sent to camps and labor camps.
• The families of the repressed who lived in the border strip were subject to resettlement inland. Often special settlements were formed for them.
• A family of repressed people who lived in major cities of the USSR. Such people were also resettled inland.

In 1940, a secret department of the NKVD was created. This department was engaged in the destruction of political opponents of Soviet power located abroad. The first victim of this department was Trotsky, who was killed in Mexico in August 1940. Subsequently, this secret department was engaged in the destruction of participants in the White Guard movement, as well as representatives of the imperialist emigration of Russia.

Subsequently, the repressions continued, although their main events had already passed. In fact, repressions in the USSR continued until 1953.

Results of repression

In total, from 1930 to 1953, 3 million 800 thousand people were repressed on charges of counter-revolution. Of these, 749,421 people were shot... And this is only according to official information... And how many more people died without trial or investigation, whose names and surnames are not included in the list?

In the USSR, both ordinary citizens and prominent figures of science and art fell under Stalin's repressions. Under Stalin, political arrests were the norm, and very often cases were fabricated and based on denunciations, without any other evidence. Next, let us remember the Soviet celebrities who felt the full horror of repression.

Ariadna Efron. Translator of prose and poetry, memoirist, artist, art critic, poet... The daughter of Sergei Efron and Marina Tsvetaeva was the first of the family to return to the USSR.

After returning to the USSR, she worked in the editorial office of the Soviet magazine "Revue de Moscou" (in French); wrote articles, essays, reports, made illustrations, translated.

On August 27, 1939, she was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced under Article 58-6 (espionage) to 8 years in forced labor camps; under torture she was forced to testify against her father.

Georgy Zhzhenov, People's Artist of the USSR. During the filming of the film "Komsomolsk" (1938), Georgy Zhzhenov traveled by train to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. During the trip, on the train, I met an American diplomat who was traveling to Vladivostok to meet a business delegation.

This acquaintance was noticed by film workers, which served as a reason for accusing him of espionage activities. On July 4, 1938, he was arrested on charges of espionage and sentenced to 5 years in forced labor camps.

In 1949, Zhzhenov was again arrested and exiled to the Norilsk ITL (Norillag), from where he returned to Leningrad in 1954, and was completely rehabilitated in 1955.

Alexander Vvedensky. Russian poet and playwright from the OBERIU association, along with other members of which he was arrested at the end of 1931.

Vvedensky received a denunciation that he had made a toast in memory of Nicholas II; there is also a version that the reason for the arrest was Vvedensky’s performance of the “former anthem” at one of the friendly parties.

He was exiled in 1932 to Kursk, then lived in Vologda, in Borisoglebsk. In 1936 the poet was allowed to return to Leningrad.

On September 27, 1941, Alexander Vvedensky was arrested on charges of counter-revolutionary agitation. According to one of the latest versions, in connection with the approach of German troops to Kharkov, he was transported on a train to Kazan, but on December 19, 1941 he died of pleurisy on the way.

Osip Mandelstam. One of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century in November 1933 wrote an anti-Stalin epigram “We live without feeling the country beneath us...” (“Kremlin Highlander”), which he reads to one and a half dozen people. Boris Pasternak called this act suicide.

One of the listeners reported on Mandelstam, and on the night of May 13-14, 1934, he was arrested and sent into exile in Cherdyn (Perm region).

After a short-term release on the night of May 1-2, 1938, Osip Emilievich was arrested a second time and taken to Butyrka prison.

On August 2, a Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR sentenced Mandelstam to five years in a forced labor camp. On September 8, he was sent by convoy to the Far East.

On December 27, 1938, Osip died in a transit camp. Mandelstam's body, along with the other deceased, lay unburied until spring. Then the entire “winter stack” was buried in a mass grave.

Vsevolod Meyerhold. The theorist and practitioner of theatrical grotesque, author of the "Theatrical October" program and creator of the acting system called "biomechanics" also became a victim of repression.

On June 20, 1939, Meyerhold was arrested in Leningrad; At the same time, a search was carried out in his apartment in Moscow. The search protocol recorded a complaint from his wife Zinaida Reich, who protested against the methods of one of the NKVD agents. Soon (July 15) she was killed by unidentified persons.

“...They beat me here - a sick sixty-six-year-old man, they put me on the floor face down, they beat me on my heels and back with a rubber band, when I was sitting on a chair, they beat me on my legs with the same rubber […] the pain was such that it seemed to be on sore sensitive places boiling water was poured on my feet..." he wrote.

After three weeks of interrogations, accompanied by torture, Meyerhold signed the testimony required by the investigation, and the board sentenced the director to death. On February 2, 1940, the sentence was carried out. In 1955, the Supreme Court of the USSR posthumously rehabilitated Meyerhold.

Nikolay Gumilyov. The Russian poet of the Silver Age, creator of the school of Acmeism, prose writer, translator and literary critic did not hide his religious and political views - he openly baptized himself in churches and declared his views. So, at one of the poetry evenings, he answered a question from the audience - “what are your political beliefs?” replied, “I am a convinced monarchist.”

On August 3, 1921, Gumilyov was arrested on suspicion of participation in the conspiracy of the “Petrograd Combat Organization of V.N. Tagantsev.” For several days the comrades tried to help their friend, but despite this, the poet was soon shot.

Nikolai Zabolotsky. The poet and translator was arrested on March 19, 1938 and then convicted in the case of anti-Soviet propaganda.

The incriminating material in his case included malicious critical articles and a slanderous review “review” that distorted the essence and ideological orientation of his work. He was saved from the death penalty by the fact that, despite torture during interrogation, he did not admit the charges of creating a counter-revolutionary organization.

He served his sentence from February 1939 to May 1943 in the Vostoklag system in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur region, then in the Altailaga system in the Kulunda steppes.

Sergei Korolev. On June 27, 1938, Korolev was arrested on charges of sabotage. He was subjected to torture, according to some sources, during which both his jaws were broken.

The future aircraft designer was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. He will go to Kolyma, to the Maldyak gold mine. Neither hunger, nor scurvy, nor unbearable living conditions could break Korolev - he will calculate his first radio-controlled rocket right on the wall of the barracks.

In May 1940, Korolev returned to Moscow. At the same time, in Magadan he did not get on the ship "Indigirka" (due to all the seats being occupied). This saved his life: traveling from Magadan to Vladivostok, the ship sank off the island of Hokkaido during a storm.

After 4 months, the designer is again sentenced to 8 years and sent to a special prison, where he works under the leadership of Andrei Tupolev.

The inventor spent a year in prison, since the USSR needed to build up its military power in the pre-war period.

Andrey Tupolev. The legendary creator of the aircraft also fell under the machine of Stalin's repressions.

Tupolev, who throughout his life developed over a hundred types of aircraft on which 78 world records were set, was arrested on October 21, 1937.

He was accused of sabotage, belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization and of transferring drawings of Soviet aircraft to foreign intelligence.

This is how the great scientist’s working trip to the USA came back to haunt him. Andrei Nikolaevich was sentenced to 15 years in the camps.

Tupolev was released in July 1941. He created and headed one of the main "sharashkas" of that time - TsKB-29 in Moscow. Andrei Tupolev was completely rehabilitated on April 9, 1955.

The great designer died in 1972. The country's main design bureau bears his name. Tu aircraft are still among the most popular in modern aviation.

Nikolai Likhachev. The famous Russian historian, paleographer and art historian, at his own expense, Likhachev created a unique historical and cultural museum, which he then donated to the state.

Likhachev was expelled from the USSR Academy of Sciences and, of course, fired from his job.

The verdict did not say a word about confiscation, but the OGPU took away absolutely all the valuables, including books and manuscripts that belonged to the academician’s family.

In Astrakhan, the family was literally dying of hunger. In 1933, the Likhachevs returned from Leningrad. Nikolai Petrovich was not hired anywhere, not even for the position of an ordinary research assistant.

Nikolay Vavilov. At the time of his arrest in August 1940, the great biologist was a member of the Academies in Prague, Edinburgh, Halle and, of course, the USSR.

In 1942, when Vavilov, who dreamed of feeding the whole country, was dying of hunger in prison, he was accepted in absentia as a Member of the Royal Society of London.

The investigation into the case of Nikolai Ivanovich lasted 11 months. He had to endure about 400 interrogations with a total duration of about 1,700 hours.

In between interrogations, the scientist wrote a book in prison, “The History of the Development of Agriculture” (“World Agricultural Resources and Their Use”), but everything written by Vavilov in prison was destroyed by the investigator, an NKVD lieutenant, as “of no value.”

For "anti-Soviet activities" Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was sentenced to death. At the last moment, the sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison.

The great scientist died of starvation in a Saratov prison on January 26, 1943. He was buried in a common grave along with other deceased prisoners. The exact burial place is unknown.

Original taken from takoe_nebo V

“The concept of dictatorship means nothing more than power that is unrestricted by anything, not constrained by any laws, absolutely not constrained by any rules, and directly based on violence.”
V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin). Collection Op. T. 41, p. 383

“As we move forward, the class struggle will intensify, and the Soviet government, whose forces will increase more and more, will pursue a policy of isolating these elements.” I.V. Dzhugashvili (Stalin). Soch., vol. 11, p. 171

V.V. Putin: “Repressions crushed people without regard to nationalities, beliefs, or religions. Entire classes in our country became their victims: Cossacks and priests, simple peasants, professors and officers, teachers and workers.
There can be no justification for these crimes." http://archive.government.ru/docs/10122/

How many people in Russia/USSR were killed by the communists under Lenin-Stalin?

Preface

This is a subject of ongoing debate and this is a very important historical topic that needs to be addressed. I spent several months studying all possible materials available on the Internet; at the end of the article there is an extensive list of them. The picture turned out to be more than sad.

There are a lot of words in the article, but now you can confidently poke any communist face into it (pardon my French), broadcasting that “there were no mass repressions and deaths in the USSR.”

For those who do not like long texts: according to dozens of studies, the Lenin-Stalinist communists destroyed a minimum of 31 million people (direct irretrievable losses without emigration and the Second World War), a maximum of 168 million (including emigration and, most importantly, demographic losses from the unborn ). See the General Figures Statistics section. The most reliable figure seems to be direct losses of 34.31 million people - the arithmetic average of the sums of several of the most serious works on actual losses, which in general do not differ very much from each other. Excluding the unborn. See the Average Figure section.

For ease of use, this article consists of several sections.

“Pavlov’s Help” is an analysis of the most important myth of the neocommies and Stalinists about “less than 1 million people who were repressed.”
“Average figure” is a calculation of the number of victims by year and topic, with the corresponding minimum and maximum figures from sources, from which the arithmetic average figure of losses is derived.
“Statistics of general figures” - statistics on general figures from the 20 most serious studies found.
“Materials used” - quotes and links in the article.
“Other important materials on the topic” - interesting and useful links and information on the topic that are not included in this article or not directly mentioned in it.

I would be grateful for any constructive criticism and additions.

Pavlov's help

The minimum death toll, which all neo-communists and Stalinists adore, “only” 800 thousand executed (and according to their mantras, no one else was destroyed) is given in a 1953 certificate. It is called "Certificate of the special department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs on the number of those arrested and convicted by the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD of the USSR in 1921-1953." and is dated December 11, 1953. The certificate is signed by the acting. the head of the 1st special department, Colonel Pavlov (the 1st special department was the accounting and archival department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), which is why its name “Pavlov’s certificate” is found in modern materials.

This certificate in itself is false and a little more than completely absurd, etc. it is the main and main argument of the neocomms - it must be analyzed in detail. There is indeed a second document, no less beloved by the neocommies and Stalinists, a memorandum to the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade N.S. Khrushchev. dated February 1, 1954, signed by Prosecutor General R. Rudenko, Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov and Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin. But the data in it practically coincides with the Help and, unlike the Help, does not contain any details, so it makes sense to parse the Help.

So, according to this Certificate from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the years 1921-1953, a total of 799,455 were shot. Excluding the years 1937 and 1938, 117,763 people were shot. 42,139 were shot in the years 1941-1945. Those. during the years 1921-1953 (excluding the years 1937-1938 and the years of war), during the struggle against the White Guards, against the Cossacks, against the priests, against the kulaks, against the peasant uprisings, ... only 75,624 people were shot (according to “quite reliable” data). Only in the 1937s under Stalin did they slightly increase activity in the purge of “enemies of the people.” And so, according to this certificate, even in the bloody times of Trotsky and the cruel “Red Terror”, it turns out that everything was quiet.

I will give for consideration an excerpt from this certificate for the period 1921-1931.

Let us first pay attention to the data on those convicted of anti-Soviet (counter-revolutionary) propaganda. In 1921-1922, at the height of the fierce struggle against the counter-control and the officially declared “Red Terror”, when people were seized only for belonging to the bourgeoisie (bespectacled and white hands), no one was arrested for counter-revolutionary, anti-Soviet propaganda (according to the Reference). Openly campaign against the Soviets, speak at rallies against the surplus appropriation system and other actions of the Bolsheviks, curse the blasphemous new government from church pulpits and you’ll get nothing. Just freedom of speech! In 1923, however, 5,322 people were arrested for propaganda, but then again (until 1929) there was complete freedom of speech for anti-Soviet activists, and only starting in 1929 did the Bolsheviks finally begin to “tighten the screws” and prosecute for counter-revolutionary propaganda. And such freedom and patient acceptance of anti-Sovietists (in accordance with an honest document, for many years NOT ONE was imprisoned for anti-government propaganda) occurs during the officially declared “Red Terror”, when the Bolsheviks closed all opposition newspapers and parties, imprisoned and shot clergymen for what they said was not what was needed... As an example of the complete falsity of this data, one can cite the surname index of those executed in the Kuban (75 pages, of the names that I read, all were acquitted after Stalin).

For 1930, regarding those convicted of anti-Soviet agitation, it is generally modestly noted that “There is no information.” Those. The system worked, people were convicted and shot, but no information was received!
This certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the “No information” written in it directly openly confirms and is documentary evidence that much information about the punishments carried out was not registered and disappeared altogether.

Now I want to examine the point of the fascinating Information on the number of executions (CMN - Capital Punishment). The Certificate for 1921 indicates 9,701 executed. In 1922 there were only 1,962 people, and in 1923 there were only 414 people (in 3 years 12,077 people were shot).

Let me remind you that this is still the time of the “Red Terror” and the ongoing civil war (which ended only in 1923), a terrible famine that claimed several million lives and was organized by the Bolsheviks, who took away almost all the grain from the “class alien” breadwinners - the peasants, and also the time of peasant uprisings caused by this surplus appropriation and hunger, and the cruelest suppression of those who dared to be indignant.
At a time when, according to the official Information, the number of executions was already small in 1921, in 1922 it was still greatly reduced, and in 1923 it almost stopped altogether, in reality, due to the most severe surplus appropriation system, a terrible famine reigned in the country, dissatisfaction with the Bolsheviks intensified and the opposition intensified, everywhere Peasant uprisings broke out. The Bolshevik leadership demands that the unrest of the dissatisfied, the opposition and uprisings be suppressed in the most brutal manner.

Church sources provide data on those killed as a result of the implementation of the wisest “general plan” in 1922: 2,691 priests, 1,962 monks, 3,447 nuns (Russian Orthodox Church and the Communist State, 1917-1941, M., 1996, p. 69). In 1922, 8,100 clergy were killed (and the most honest Information states that in total, including criminals, 1,962 people were shot in 1922).

Suppression of the Tambov uprising of 1921-22. If we recall how this was reflected in the surviving documents of that time, Uborevich reported to Tukhachevsky: “1000 people were captured, 1000 were shot,” then “500 people were captured, all 500 were shot.” How many such documents were destroyed? And how many such executions were not reflected in the documents at all?

Note (interesting comparison):
According to official data, in the peaceful USSR from 1962 to 1989, 24,422 people were sentenced to death. On average, 2,754 people for 2 years in a very calm, peaceful time of golden stagnation. In 1962, 2,159 people were sentenced to death. Those. During the benign times of the “golden stagnation”, more people were shot than during the most brutal “Red Terror”. According to the Certificate, in 2 years 1922-1923, only 2,376 were shot (almost as many as in 1962 alone).

The Certificate from the 1st Special Department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs on repressions includes only those convicted who were officially registered as “contra.” Bandits, criminals, violators of labor discipline and public order, naturally, were not included in the statistics of this Certificate.
For example, in the USSR in 1924, 1,915,900 people were officially convicted (see: Results of the decade of Soviet power in figures. 1917-1927. M, 1928. pp. 112-113), and according to the Information through the special departments of the Cheka-OGPU this year only 12,425 people were convicted (and only they can officially be considered as repressed; the rest are simply criminals).
Need I remind you that in the USSR they tried to declare that we have no political ones, only criminals. Trotskyists were tried as saboteurs and saboteurs. The rebellious peasants were suppressed as bandits (even the Commission under the RVSR, which led the suppression of peasant uprisings, was officially called the “Commission for Combating Banditry”), etc.

Let me add two more facts to the wonderful statistics of the Help.

According to the well-known archives of the NKVD, which are cited to refute the scale of the Gulags, the number of prisoners in prisons, camps and colonies at the beginning of 1937 was 1.196 million people
However, in the population census conducted on January 6, 1937, 156 million people were obtained (without the population recorded by the NKVD and NPOs (that is, without the special contingent of the NKVD and the army), and without passengers on trains and ships). The total population according to the census was 162,003,225 people (including contingents of the Red Army, NKVD and passengers).

Considering the size of the army at that time was 2 million (experts call the figure 1,645,983 as of January 1, 1937) and assuming that there were about 1 million passengers, we obtain approximately that the NKVD special contingent (prisoners) by the beginning of 1937 was about 3 million. Close to our calculated specific number of 2.75 million prisoners was indicated in the NKVD certificate provided by TsUNKHU for the 1937 population census. Those. according to another OFFICIAL certificate (and also, of course, truthful), the actual number of prisoners was 2.3 times higher than the generally accepted one.

And one more, last example from official, truthful information about the number of prisoners.
A report on the use of prisoner labor in 1939 reports that there were 94,773 in the UZHD system at the beginning of the year, and 69,569 at the end of the year. (In principle, everything is wonderful, researchers simply reprint this data and compile the total amount of prisoners from them. But the trouble is, the same report gives another interesting figure) The prisoners, as stated in the same report, worked 135,148,918 people days. Such a combination is impossible, since if during the year 94 thousand people worked every day without days off, then the number of days they worked would be only 34,310 thousand (94 thousand per 365). If we agree with Solzhenitsyn, who claims that prisoners were entitled to three days off per month, then 135,148,918 man-days could be provided by approximately 411 thousand workers (135,148,918 for 329 working days). Those. and here the OFFICIAL distortion of reporting is about 5 times.

To summarize, we can once again emphasize that the Bolsheviks/communists did not record all of their crimes, and what was recorded was then repeatedly purged: Beria destroyed incriminating evidence on himself, Khrushchev cleared archives in his favor, Trotsky, Stalin, Kaganovich also did not they really liked to save materials that were “ugly” for themselves; Likewise, the leaders of the republics, regional committees, city committees, and departments of the NKVD cleaned out local archives for themselves. ,

And yet, knowing full well about the practice of extrajudicial executions that existed at that time, about the numerous purges of archives, the neocommies summarize the found remnants of the lists and give a final figure of less than 1 million executed from 1921 to 1953, including criminals sentenced to capital punishment. The falsity and cynicism of these statements “beyond good and evil”...

Average figure

Now about the real numbers of communist victims. These figures of people killed by the communists consist of several main points. The numbers themselves are indicated as the minimum and maximum values ​​I have encountered in various studies, indicating the study/author. Figures in items marked with an asterisk are for reference only and are not included in the final calculation.

1. “Red Terror” from October 1917 - 1.7 million people (Denikin Commission, Melgunov) - 2 million.

2. Epidemics of 1918-1922. - 6-7 million,

3. Civil war 1917-1923, losses on both sides, soldiers and officers killed and died from wounds - 2.5 million (Poles) - 7.5 million (Alexandrov)
(For reference: even the minimum figures are greater than the number of deaths during the entire First World War - 1.7 million.)

4. The first artificial Famine of 1921-1922, 1 million (Polyakov) - 4.5 million (Alexandrov) - 5 million (with 5 million indicated in the TSB)
5. Suppression of peasant uprisings of 1921-1923. - 0.6 million (own calculations)

6. Victims of forced Stalinist collectivization 1930-1932 (including victims of extrajudicial repressions, peasants who died of starvation in 1932 and special settlers in 1930-1940) - 2 million.

7. Second artificial famine 1932-1933 - 6.5 million (Alexandrov), 7.5 million, 8.1 million (Andreev)

8. Victims of political terror of the 1930s - 1.8 million.

9. Those who died in prison in the 1930s - 1.8 million (Alexandrov) - more than 2 million

10*. “Lost” as a result of Stalin’s corrections of the population censuses of 1937 and 1939 - 8 million - 10 million.
According to the results of the first census, 5 leaders of TsUNKHU were shot in a row, as a result the statistics were “improved” - the population was “increased” by several million. These figures are probably distributed in paragraphs. 6, 7, 8 and 9.

11. Finnish war 1939-1940 - 0.13 million

12*. Irreversible losses in the war of 1941-1945 are 38 million, 39 million according to Rosstat, 44 million according to Kurganov.
The criminal mistakes and orders of Dzhugashvili (Stalin) and his henchmen led to colossal and unjustified casualties among the Red Army personnel and the civilian population of the country. At the same time, no mass murders of the civilian non-combatant population by the Nazis (except Jews) were recorded. Moreover, all that is known is that the fascists deliberately exterminated communists, commissars, Jews and partisan saboteurs. The civilian population was not subjected to genocide. But of course, it is impossible to isolate from these losses the part for which the communists are directly to blame, so this is not taken into account. Nevertheless, the mortality rate of prisoners in Soviet camps over the years is known; according to various sources, it is about 600,000 people. This is entirely on the conscience of the communists.

13. Repressions 1945-1953 - 2.85 million (together with clauses 13 and 14)

14. Famine of 1946-47 - 1 million.

15. In addition to deaths, the country’s demographic losses also include irrevocable emigration as a result of the actions of the communists. In the period after the coup of 1917 and the beginning of the 1920s, it accounted for 1.9 million (Volkov) - 2.9 million (Ramsha) - 3 million (Mikhailovsky). As a result of the war of 41-45, 0.6 million - 2 million people did not want to return to the USSR.
The arithmetic average figure for losses is 34.31 million people.

Used materials.

Calculation of the number of victims of the Bolsheviks according to the official methodology of the USSR State Statistics Committee http://www.slavic-europe.eu/index.php/articles/57-russia-articles/255-2013-05-21-31

A well-known incident of the summary statistics of those repressed in GB cases (“Pavlov’s certificate”) on the number of executions in 1933 (although this is actually defective statistics from the summary certificates of the GB, deposited in the 8th Central Asia of the FSB), disclosed by Alexey Teplyakov http://corporatelie.livejournal .com/53743.html
There, the number of people executed was underestimated by at least 6 times. And perhaps more.

Repressions in Kuban, index of those executed by name (75 pages) http://ru.convdocs.org/docs/index-15498.html?page=1 (from what I have read, everyone was rehabilitated after Stalin).

Stalinist Igor Pykhalov. “What is the scale of “Stalinist repressions”?” http://warrax.net/81/stalin.html

Population census of the USSR (1937) https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8C_ %D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0 %A0_%281937%29
The Red Army before the war: organization and personnel http://militera.lib.ru/research/meltyukhov/09.html

Archival materials on the number of prisoners in the late 30s. Central State Archive of National Economy (TSANH) of the USSR, fund of the People's Commissariat - Ministry of Finance of the USSR http://scepsis.net/library/id_491.html

Article by Oleg Khlevnyuk about massive distortions of statistics of the Turkmen NKVD in 1937-1938. Hlevnjuk O. Les mecanismes de la “Grande Terreur” des annees 1937-1938 au Turkmenistan // Cahiers du Monde russe. 1998. 39/1-2. http://corporatelie.livejournal.com/163706.html#comments

A special investigative commission to investigate the atrocities of the Bolsheviks of the Commander-in-Chief of the AFSR, General Denikin, provides figures for the victims of the Red Terror only for 1918-19. - 1,766,118 Russians, including 28 bishops, 1,215 clergy, 6,775 professors and teachers, 8,800 doctors, 54,650 officers, 260,000 soldiers, 10,500 policemen, 48,650 police agents, 12,950 landowners, 355,250 intellectuals, 193.35 0 workers, 815,000 peasants.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0 %B4%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8 %D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE_%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0 %B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8E_%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%8F %D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0 %BE%D0%B2#cite_note-Meingardt-6

Suppression of peasant uprisings of 1921-1923.

The number of victims during the suppression of the Tambov uprising. A large number of Tambov villages were wiped off the face of the earth as a result of cleansing operations (as punishment for supporting “bandits”). As a result of the actions of the occupation-punitive army and the Cheka in the Tambov region, according to Soviet data alone, at least 110 thousand people were killed. Many analysts put the figure at 240 thousand people. How many “Antonovites” were later destroyed from organized famine
Tambov security officer Goldin said: “For execution, we do not need any evidence or interrogations, as well as suspicions and, of course, useless, stupid paperwork. We find it necessary to shoot and shoot.”

At the same time, almost all of Russia was engulfed in peasant uprisings. In Western Siberia and the Urals, on the Don and Kuban, in the Volga region and the central provinces, peasants, who only yesterday had fought against the whites and the interventionists, spoke out against Soviet power. The scale of the performances was enormous.
book Materials for the study of the history of the USSR (1921 - 1941), Moscow, 1989 (compiled by Dolutsky I.I.)
The largest of them was the West Siberian uprising of 1921-22. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%A1%D0%B8% D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D1%82%D0% B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%281921%E2%80%941922%29
And all of them were suppressed by this government with approximately the same extreme measure of cruelty, briefly described in the example of the Tambov province. I will give just one extract from the protocols on the methods of suppressing the West Siberian uprising: http://www.proza.ru/2011/01/28/782

Fundamental research by the largest historian of the revolution and the Civil War S.P. Melgunov “Red Terror in Russia. 1918-1923." is documentary evidence of the atrocities of the Bolsheviks committed under the slogan of the fight against class enemies in the first years after the October Revolution. It is based on testimony collected by the historian from various sources (the author was a contemporary of those events), but primarily from the printed organs of the Cheka itself (VChK Weekly, Red Terror magazine), even before his expulsion from the USSR. Published from the 2nd, expanded edition (Berlin, Vataga Publishing House, 1924). You can buy it on Ozone.
The human losses of the USSR in the Second World War were 38 million. A book by a group of authors with an eloquent title - “Washed in Blood”? Lies and truth about losses in the Great Patriotic War." Authors: Igor Pykhalov, Lev Lopukhovsky, Viktor Zemskov, Igor Ivlev, Boris Kavalerchik. Publishing house "Yauza" - "Eksmo, 2012. Volume - 512 pages, of which by author: I Pykhalov - 19 pp., L. Lopukhovsky in collaboration with B. Kavalerchik - 215 pp., V. Zemskov - 17 pp., I. Ivlev - 249 pp. Circulation 2000 copies.

Rosstat's anniversary collection dedicated to the Second World War indicates the country's demographic losses in the war at 39.3 million people. http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/doc_2015/vov_svod_1.pdf

Genby. “The demographic cost of communist rule in Russia” http://genby.livejournal.com/486320.html.

The terrible famine of 1933 in figures and facts http://historical-fact.livejournal.com/2764.html

Statistics of executions in 1933 underestimated by 6 times, detailed analysis http://corporatelie.livejournal.com/53743.html

Calculation of the number of communist victims, Kirill Mikhailovich Aleksandrov - Candidate of Historical Sciences, senior researcher (specializing in "History of Russia") of the encyclopedic department of the Institute of Philological Research of St. Petersburg State University. Author of three books on the history of the anti-Stalin resistance during the Second World War and more than 250 publications on Russian history of the 19th-20th centuries.http://www.white-guard.ru/go.php?n=4&id=82

Repressed census of 1937 http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0313/tema07.php

Demographic losses from repression, A. Vishnevsky http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0313/tema06.php

Censuses of 1937 and 1939 Demographic losses using the balance method. http://genby.livejournal.com/542183.html

Red terror - documents.

On May 14, 1921, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) supported the expansion of the rights of the Cheka with regard to the application of Capital Punishment (CMP).

On June 4, 1921, the Politburo decided to “give the Cheka a directive to intensify the fight against the Mensheviks in view of the intensification of their counter-revolutionary activities.”

Between January 26 and 31, 1922. V.I. Lenin - I.S. Unshlikht: “The transparency of the revolutionary tribunals is not always; strengthen their composition with “yours” [i.e. Cheka - G.Kh.] people, strengthen their connection (in every way) with the Cheka; increase the speed and force of their repressions, increase the attention of the Central Committee to this. The slightest increase in banditry, etc. should entail martial law and executions on the spot. The Council of People's Commissars will be able to carry this out quickly if you don't miss it, and it can be done by telephone” (Lenin, PSS, vol. 54, p. 144).

In March 1922, in a speech at the XI Congress of the RCP(b), Lenin stated: “For public proof of Menshevism, our revolutionary courts must be shot, otherwise they are not our courts.”

May 15, 1922. “t. Kursk! In my opinion, it is necessary to expand the use of execution... to all types of activities of the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, etc. ... "(Lenin, PSS, vol. 45, p. 189). (According to the figures from the Reference, it follows that the use of executions, on the contrary, was rapidly reduced in these years)

Telegram dated August 11, 1922, endorsed by the Deputy Chairman of the State Political Administration of the Republic I. S. Unshlikht and the Head of the Secret Department of the GPU. T.P. Samsonov, ordered the provincial departments of the GPU: “immediately liquidate all active Socialist Revolutionaries in your area.”

On March 19, 1922, Lenin, in a letter addressed to members of the Politburo, explains the need now, using the terrible famine, to begin an active campaign to expropriate church values ​​and deal a “deadly blow to the enemy” - the clergy and the bourgeoisie: The greater the number of representatives of the reactionary clergy and the reactionary bourgeoisie succeeds we should be shot over this, so much the better: we must now teach this public a lesson so that for several decades they will not dare to think about any resistance<...>» RCKHIDNI, 2/1/22947/1-4.

Spanish Flu pandemic 1918-1920 in the context of other influenza pandemics and bird flu, M.V. Supotnitsky, Ph.D. Sciences http://www.supotnitskiy.ru/stat/stat51.htm

S.I. Zlotogorov, “Typhus” http://sohmet.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000004/st002.shtml

Statistics on general figures from the studies found:

I. The most minimal direct victims of the Bolsheviks according to the official methodology of the USSR State Statistics Committee, without emigration - 31 million http://www.slavic-europe.eu/index.php/articles/57-russia-articles/255-2013-05-21- 31
If it is impossible to establish the number of victims of war “communism” through the Bolshevik archives, then is it even possible to establish here, other than speculation, something that corresponds to reality? It turns out that it is possible. Moreover, quite simply - through the bed and the laws of ordinary physiology, which no one has yet canceled. Men sleep with women regardless of who got into the Kremlin.
Let us note that it is in this way (and not by compiling lists of the dead) that all serious scientists (and the State Commission of the USSR State Statistics Committee, in particular) calculate human losses during the Second World War.
Total losses of 26.6 million people - the calculation was carried out by the Department of Demographic Statistics of the USSR State Statistics Committee during work as part of a comprehensive commission to clarify the number of human losses of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. - Mobile Administration of the GOMU of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, no. 142, 1991, inv. No. 04504, l.250." (Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century: Statistical research. M., 2001. p. 229.)
31 million people appears to be the low end of the regime's death toll.
II. In 1990, statistician O.A. Platonov: “According to our calculations, the total number of people who died a non-natural death from mass repressions, hunger, epidemics, and wars amounted to more than 87 million people during the years 1918-1953. And in total, if we add up the number of people who did not die a natural death, those who left their homeland, as well as the number of children that could have been born to these people, then the total human damage to the country will be 156 million people.”

III. Outstanding philosopher and historian Ivan Ilyin, “The size of the Russian population.”
http://www.rus-sky.com/gosudarstvo/ilin/nz/nz-52.htm
“All this is just during the years of the Second World War. Adding this new shortage to the previous one of 36 million, we get a monstrous sum of 72 million lives. This is the price of the revolution.”

IV. Calculation of the number of communist victims, Kirill Mikhailovich Aleksandrov - Candidate of Historical Sciences, senior researcher (specializing in "History of Russia") of the encyclopedic department of the Institute of Philological Research of St. Petersburg State University. Author of three books on the history of the anti-Stalin resistance during the Second World War and more than 250 publications on Russian history of the 19th-20th centuries.http://www.white-guard.ru/go.php?n=4&id=82
"Civil War 1917-1922 7.5 million.
The first artificial famine 1921-1922 more than 4.5 million.
Victims of Stalin's collectivization 1930-1932 (including victims of extrajudicial repressions, peasants who died of starvation in 1932 and special settlers in 1930-1940) ≈ 2 million.
Second artificial famine 1933 - 6.5 million.
Victims of political terror - 800 thousand.
Deaths in places of detention - 1.8 million.
Victims of World War II ≈ 28 million.
Total ≈ 51 million."

V. Data from the article by A. Ivanov “Demographic losses of Russia-USSR” - http://ricolor.org/arhiv/russkoe_vozrojdenie/1981/8/:
"...All this makes it possible to judge the total losses of the country's population with the formation of the Soviet state, caused by its internal policies, its conduct of the civil and world wars during 1917-1959. We have identified three periods:
1. Establishment of Soviet power - 1917-1929, the number of human losses - over 30 million people.
2. The costs of building socialism (collectivization, industrialization, liquidation of the kulaks, the remnants of the “former classes”) - 1930-1939. - 22 million people.
3. World War II and post-war difficulties - 1941-1950 - 51 million people; Total - 103 million people.
As we see, this approach, using the latest demographic indicators, leads to the same assessment of the magnitude of human casualties suffered by the peoples of our country during the years of Soviet power and the communist dictatorship, which was arrived at by different researchers using different methods and different demographic statistics. This once again demonstrates that the 100-110 million human sacrifices of building socialism are the real “price” of this “building.”
VI. Opinion of the liberal historian R. Medvedev: “Thus, the total number of victims of Stalinism reaches, according to my calculations, a figure of approximately 40 million people” (R. Medvedev “Tragic Statistics // Arguments and Facts. 1989, February 4-10. No. 5(434). P. 6.)

VII. Opinion of the commission for the rehabilitation of victims of political repression (headed by A. Yakovlev): “According to the most conservative estimates of the specialists of the rehabilitation commission, our country lost about 100 million people during the years of Stalin’s rule. This number includes not only the repressed themselves, but also those doomed to the death of members of their families and even children who could have been born, but were never born." (Mikhailova N. Underpants of counter-revolution // Premier. Vologda, 2002, July 24-30. No. 28(254). P. 10.)

VIII. Fundamental demographic research by a team led by Doctor of Economics, Professor Ivan Koshkin (Kurganov) “Three Figures. About human losses for the period from 1917 to 1959." http://slavic-europe.eu/index.php/comments/66-comments-russia/177-2013-04-15-1917-1959 http://rusidea.org/?a=32030
“Nevertheless, the widespread belief in the USSR that all or most of the human losses in the USSR are associated with military events is incorrect. The losses associated with military events are enormous, but they do not cover all the losses of the people during Soviet power. Contrary to the opinion spread in the USSR, they account for only a part of these losses. Here are the corresponding figures (in millions of people):
The total number of casualties in the USSR during the dictatorship of the Communist Party from 1917 to 1959. 110.7 million - 100%.
Including:
Losses in wartime 44.0 million, - 40%.
Losses in non-military revolutionary times 66.7 million - 60%.

P.S. It was this work that Solzhenitsyn mentioned in a famous interview with Spanish television, which is why it arouses the especially fierce hatred of Stalinists and neo-Commies.

IX. The opinion of the historian and publicist B. Pushkarev is about 100 million (Pushkarev B. Unexplained issues of demography of Russia in the 20th century // Posev. 2003. No. 2. P. 12.)

X. Book edited by the leading Russian demographer Vishnevsky "Demographic modernization of Russia, 1900-2000". Demographic losses from communists 140 million (mainly due to unborn generations).
http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2007/0313/tema07.php

XI. O. Platonov, book "Memoirs of the National Economy", total losses of 156 million people.
XII. Russian emigrant historian Arseny Gulevich, book “Tsarism and Revolution”, the direct losses of the revolution amounted to 49 million people.
If we add to them the losses due to the birth rate deficit, then with the victims of two world wars, we get the same 100-110 million people destroyed by communism.

XIII. According to the documentary series "History of Russia in the 20th Century", the total number of direct demographic losses suffered by the peoples of the former Russian Empire from the actions of the Bolsheviks from 1917 to 1960. is about 60 million people.

XIV. According to the documentary film "Nicholas II. Throttled Triumph", the total number of victims of the Bolshevik dictatorship is about 40 million people.

XV. According to the forecasts of the French scientist E. Théry, the population of Russia in 1948, without unnatural deaths and taking into account normal population growth, should have been 343.9 million people. At that time, 170.5 million people lived in the USSR, i.e. demographic losses (including unborns) for 1917-1948. - 173.4 million people

XVI. Genby. the demographic price of communist rule in Russia is 200 million. http://genby.livejournal.com/486320.html.

XVII. Summary tables of victims of Lenin-Stalin repressions

IN THE USSR. I tried to answer nine of the most common questions about political repression.

1. What is political repression?

There have been periods in the history of different countries when state power, for some reason - pragmatic or ideological - began to perceive part of its population either as direct enemies, or as superfluous, “unnecessary” people. The selection principle could be different - by ethnic origin, by religious views, by financial status, by political views, by level of education - but the result was the same: these “unnecessary” people were either physically destroyed without trial or investigation, or subjected to criminal prosecution, or became victims of administrative restrictions (expelled from the country, sent into exile within the country, deprived of civil rights, and so on). That is, people suffered not for any personal fault, but simply because they were unlucky, simply because they found themselves in a certain place at a certain time.

Political repressions occurred not only in Russia, and in Russia - not only under Soviet rule. However, when remembering the victims of political repression, we first of all think about those who suffered in 1917–1953, because among the total number of Russian repressed people they make up the majority.

2. Why, when talking about political repressions, are they limited to the period 1917–1953? There were no repressions after 1953?

The demonstration of 25 August 1968, also called the "demonstration of the seven", was carried out by a group of seven Soviet dissidents on Red Square to protest the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia. Two of the participants were declared insane and subjected to compulsory treatment.

This period, 1917–1953, is singled out because it accounted for the vast majority of repressions. After 1953, repressions also occurred, but on a much smaller scale, and most importantly, they mainly affected people who, to one degree or another, opposed the Soviet political system. We are talking about dissidents who received prison sentences or suffered from punitive psychiatry. They knew what they were getting into, they were not random victims - which, of course, in no way justifies what the authorities did to them.

3. Victims of Soviet political repression - who are they?

These were very different people, different in social origin, beliefs, worldview.

Sergei Korolev, scientist

Some of them are the so-called “ former”, that is, nobles, army or police officers, university professors, judges, merchants and industrialists, and clergy. That is, those whom the communists who came to power in 1917 considered to be interested in the restoration of the previous order and therefore suspected them of subversive activities.

Also, a huge proportion of the victims of political repression were “ dispossessed“peasants, most of them strong farmers, who did not want to join collective farms (some, however, were not saved by joining a collective farm).

Many victims of repression were classified as “ pests" This was the name given to production specialists - engineers, technicians, workers, who were credited with the intent to cause material, technical or economic damage to the country. Sometimes this happened after some real production failures, accidents (for which it was necessary to find those responsible), and sometimes it was only about hypothetical troubles that, according to prosecutors, could have happened if the enemies had not been exposed in time.

The other part is communists and members of other revolutionary parties who joined the communists after October 1917: Social Democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, Bundists, and so on. These people, who actively fit into the new reality and participated in the construction of Soviet power, at a certain stage turned out to be redundant due to the internal party struggle, which in the CPSU (b), and later in the CPSU, never stopped - first openly, later hidden. These are also communists who came under attack due to their personal qualities: excessive ideology, insufficient servility...

Sergeev Ivan Ivanovich. Before his arrest, he worked as a watchman at the Chernovsky collective farm “Iskra”

At the end of the 30s, many were repressed military, starting with senior command staff and ending with junior officers. They were suspected of potential participants in conspiracies against Stalin.

It is worth mentioning separately employees of the GPU-NKVD-NKGB, some of which were also repressed in the 30s during the “fight against excesses.” “Excesses on the ground” is a concept that was coined by Stalin, implying the excessive enthusiasm of punitive authorities. It is clear that these “excesses” naturally followed from the general state policy, and therefore, in the mouth of Stalin, words about excesses sound very cynical. By the way, almost the entire leadership of the NKVD, which carried out repressions in 1937–1938, was soon repressed and shot.

Naturally, there was a lot repressed for their faith(and not only Orthodox). This includes the clergy, monasticism, active laypeople in parishes, and simply people who do not hide their faith. Although the Soviet government did not formally prohibit religion and the Soviet constitution of 1936 guaranteed citizens freedom of conscience, in fact, open profession of faith could end sadly for a person.

Rozhkova Vera. Before her arrest she worked at the Institute. Bauman. Was a secret nun

Not only individual people and certain classes were subjected to repression, but also individual peoples- Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens and Ingush, Germans. This happened during the Great Patriotic War. There were two reasons. Firstly, they were seen as potential traitors who could go over to the side of the Germans when our troops retreat. Secondly, when German troops occupied Crimea, the Caucasus and a number of other territories, part of the peoples living there actually collaborated with them. Naturally, not all representatives of these peoples collaborated with the Germans, not to mention those of them who fought in the ranks of the Red Army - however, subsequently all of them, including women, children and old people, were declared traitors and sent into exile (where, by force inhumane conditions, many died either on the way or on the spot).

Olga Berggolts, poetess, future “muse of besieged Leningrad”

And among those repressed there were many ordinary people, who seemed to have a completely safe social origin, but were arrested either because of a denunciation, or simply because of an order (there were also plans from above to identify “enemies of the people”). If some major party functionary was arrested, then quite often his subordinates were also arrested, down to the lowest positions such as a personal driver or housekeeper.

4. Who cannot be considered a victim of political repression?

General Vlasov inspects ROA soldiers

Not all those who suffered in 1917–1953 (and later, until the end of Soviet power) can be called victims of political repression.

In addition to the “political” ones, people were also imprisoned in prisons and camps on ordinary criminal charges (theft, fraud, robbery, murder, and so on).

Also, those who committed obvious treason cannot be considered victims of political repression - for example, “Vlasovites” and “policemen”, that is, those who went to serve the German occupiers during the Great Patriotic War. Even regardless of the moral side of the matter, it was their conscious choice; they entered into a fight with the state, and the state, accordingly, fought with them.

The same applies to various kinds of rebel movements - Basmachi, Bandera, “forest brothers”, Caucasian abreks and so on. You can discuss their rights and wrongs, but the victims of political repression are only those who did not take the warpath with the USSR, who simply lived an ordinary life and suffered regardless of their actions.

5. How were the repressions legally formalized?

Certificate of execution of the death sentence of the NKVD troika against the Russian scientist and theologian Pavel Florensky. Reproduction ITAR-TASS

There were several options. Firstly, some of the repressed were shot or imprisoned after the opening of a criminal case, investigation and trial. Basically, they were charged under Article 58 of the USSR Criminal Code (this article included many points, from treason to anti-Soviet agitation). At the same time, in the 20s and even in the early 30s, all legal formalities were often observed - an investigation was carried out, then there was a trial with debate between the defense and the prosecution - the verdict was simply a foregone conclusion. In the 1930s, especially starting from 1937, the judicial procedure turned into a fiction, since torture and other illegal methods of pressure were used during the investigation. That is why, at trial, the accused admitted their guilt en masse.

Secondly, starting from 1937, along with ordinary judicial proceedings, a simplified procedure began to operate, when there were no judicial debates at all, the presence of the accused was not required, and sentences were passed by the so-called Special Meeting, in other words, the “troika”, literally behind 10-15 minutes.

Thirdly, some of the victims were repressed administratively, without any investigation or trial at all - the same “dispossessed”, the same exiled peoples. The same often applied to family members of those convicted under Article 58. The official abbreviation CHSIR (member of the family of a traitor to the motherland) was in use. At the same time, personal accusations were not brought against specific people, and their exile was motivated by political expediency.

But in addition, sometimes repressions did not have any legal formalization at all; in fact, they were lynchings - starting from the shooting in 1917 of a demonstration in defense of the Constituent Assembly and ending with the events of 1962 in Novocherkassk, where a workers’ demonstration protesting against rising prices for food was shot. food.

6. How many people were repressed?

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin

This is a complex question to which historians still do not have an exact answer. The numbers are very different - from 1 to 60 million. There are two problems here - firstly, the inaccessibility of many archives, and secondly, the discrepancy in calculation methods. After all, even based on open archival data, one can draw different conclusions. Archival data is not only folders with criminal cases against specific people, but also, for example, departmental reports on food supplies for camps and prisons, statistics of births and deaths, records in cemetery offices about burials, and so on and so forth. Historians try to take into account as many different sources as possible, but the data sometimes disagree with each other. The reasons are different - accounting errors, deliberate fraud, and the loss of many important documents.

It is also a very controversial question - how many people were not just repressed, but specifically physically destroyed and did not return home? How to count? Only those sentenced to death? Or, on top of that, those who died in custody? If we count the dead, then we need to understand the causes of death: they could be caused by unbearable conditions (hunger, cold, beatings, overwork), or they could also be natural (death from old age, death from chronic diseases that began long before the arrest). Death certificates (which were not even always preserved in the criminal case) most often included “acute heart failure,” but in reality it could have been anything.

In addition, although any historian should be impartial, as a scientist should be, in reality each researcher has his own ideological and political preferences, and therefore the historian may consider some data more reliable, and some less. Complete objectivity is an ideal that should be strived for, but which has not yet been achieved by any historian. Therefore, when faced with any specific estimates, you should be careful. What if the author, wittingly or unwittingly, overstates or understates the numbers?

But to understand the scale of the repressions, it is enough to give this example of discrepancies in numbers. According to church historians, in 1937-38 more than 130 thousand clergy. According to historians committed to communist ideology, in 1937-38 the number of arrested clergy was much smaller - only about 47 thousand. Let's not argue about who is more right. Let's do a thought experiment: imagine that now, in our time, 47 thousand railway workers are arrested in Russia throughout the year. What will happen to our transport system? And if 47 thousand doctors are arrested in a year, will domestic medicine even survive? What if 47 thousand priests are arrested? However, we don’t even have that many of them now. In general, even if we focus on the minimum estimates, it is easy to see that the repressions have become a social disaster.

And for their moral assessment, the specific numbers of victims are completely unimportant. Whether it’s a million or a hundred million or a hundred thousand, it’s still a tragedy, it’s still a crime.

7. What is rehabilitation?

The vast majority of victims of political repression were subsequently rehabilitated.

Rehabilitation is the official recognition of the state that a given person was convicted unfairly, that he is innocent of the charges brought against him and therefore is not considered to have been convicted and gets rid of the restrictions that people released from prison may be subject to (for example, the right to be elected as a deputy, the right to work in law enforcement organs and the like).

Many believe that the rehabilitation of victims of political repression began only in 1956, after the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev exposed Stalin’s cult of personality at the 20th Party Congress. In fact, this is not so - the first wave of rehabilitation took place in 1939, after the country's leadership condemned the rampant repressions of 1937-38 (which were called “excesses on the ground”). This, by the way, is an important point, because it thereby recognized the general existence of political repression in the country. It is recognized even by those who launched these repressions. Therefore, the assertion of modern Stalinists that repression is a myth looks simply ridiculous. How about a myth, if even your idol Stalin recognized them?

However, in 1939-41, few people were rehabilitated. And mass rehabilitation began in 1953 after the death of Stalin, its peak occurred in 1955–1962. Then, until the second half of the 1980s, there were few rehabilitations, but after perestroika announced in 1985, their number increased sharply. Individual acts of rehabilitation occurred already in the post-Soviet era, in the 1990s (since the Russian Federation is legally the successor to the USSR, it has the right to rehabilitate those who were unjustly convicted before 1991).

But, shot in Yekaterinburg in 1918, she was officially rehabilitated only in 2008. Previously, the Prosecutor General's Office had resisted rehabilitation on the grounds that the murder of the royal family had no legal formality and had become the arbitrariness of local authorities. But the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2008 found that even though there was no court decision, the royal family was shot by the decision of the local authorities, which have administrative powers and therefore are part of the state machine - and repression is a measure of coercion on the part of the state.

By the way, there are people who undoubtedly became victims of political repression, who did not commit what they were formally accused of - but there is no decision on their rehabilitation and, apparently, there never will be. We are talking about those who, before falling under the skating rink of repression, were themselves drivers of this skating rink. For example, the “iron people's commissar” Nikolai Yezhov. Well, what kind of innocent victim is he? Or the same Lavrenty Beria. Of course, his execution was unjust, of course, he was not any English or French spy, as was hastily attributed to him - but his rehabilitation would have become a demonstrative justification for political terror.

The rehabilitation of victims of political repression did not always occur “automatically”; sometimes these people or their relatives had to be persistent and write letters to government bodies for years.

8. What do they say now about political repression?

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin

In modern Russia there is no consensus on this topic. Moreover, social polarization is manifested in attitudes towards it. Various political and ideological forces use the memory of repression in their political interests, but ordinary people, not politicians, can perceive it very differently.

Some people are convinced that political repression is a shameful page in our country’s history, that it is a monstrous crime against humanity, and therefore we must always remember those repressed. Sometimes this position is simplistic, all victims of repression are declared equally sinless righteous, and the blame for them is placed not only on the Soviet government, but also on the modern Russian government as the legal successor of the Soviet one. Any attempts to figure out how many were actually repressed are a priori declared to be a justification of Stalinism and condemned from a moral standpoint.

Others question the very fact of repression, arguing that all these “so-called victims” are really guilty of the crimes attributed to them, that they really harmed, blew up, plotted terrorist attacks, and so on. This extremely naive position is refuted by the fact that the fact of repression was recognized even under Stalin - then it was called “excesses” and in the late 30s almost the entire leadership of the NKVD was condemned for these “excesses”. The moral deficiency of such views is equally obvious: people are so eager to wishful thinking that they are ready, without any evidence, to slander millions of victims.

Still others admit that there were repressions, they agree that those who suffered from them were innocent, but they perceive all this completely calmly: they say, it could not have been otherwise. Repression, it seems to them, was necessary for the industrialization of the country and for the creation of a combat-ready army. Without repression it would not have been possible to win the Great Patriotic War. Such a pragmatic position, regardless of how much it corresponds to historical facts, is also morally flawed: the state is declared to be the highest value, in comparison with which the life of each individual person is worthless, and anyone can and should be destroyed for the sake of the highest state interests. Here, by the way, one can draw a parallel with the ancient pagans, who made human sacrifices to their gods, being one hundred percent sure that this would serve the good of the tribe, people, and city. Now this seems fanatic to us, but the motivation was exactly the same as that of modern pragmatists.

One can, of course, understand where such motivation comes from. The USSR positioned itself as a society of social justice - and indeed, in many respects, especially in the late Soviet period, there was social justice. Our society is socially much less fair - plus now any injustice instantly becomes known to everyone. Therefore, in search of justice, people turn their gaze to the past - naturally, idealizing that era. This means that they psychologically strive to justify the dark things that happened then, including the repressions. Recognition and condemnation of repression (especially declared from above) among such people is coupled with approval of current injustices. One can demonstrate in every possible way the naivety of such a position, but until social justice is restored, this position will be reproduced again and again.

9. How should Christians perceive political repression?

Icon of the New Russian Martyrs

Among Orthodox Christians, unfortunately, there is also no unity on this issue. There are believers (including churchgoers, sometimes even in the priesthood) who either consider all those repressed guilty and unworthy of pity, or justify their suffering by the benefit of the state. Moreover, sometimes - thank God, not very often! - you can also hear the opinion that the repressions were a blessing for the repressed themselves. After all, what happened to them happened according to God’s Providence, and God will not do anything bad to a person. This means, say such Christians, that these people had to suffer in order to be cleansed of heavy sins and to be spiritually reborn. Indeed, there are many examples of such spiritual revival. As the poet Alexander Solodovnikov, who went through the camp, wrote, “The grille is rusty, thank you! //Thank you, bayonet blade! // Such freedom could only be given to me // by long centuries.”

In fact, this is a dangerous spiritual substitution. Yes, suffering can sometimes save the human soul, but it does not at all follow from this that suffering in itself is good. And even more so, it does not follow from this that the executioners are righteous. As we know from the Gospel, King Herod, wanting to find and destroy the baby Jesus, ordered the preventive killing of all the babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. These babies are canonized by the Church, but their killer Herod is not. Sin remains sin, evil remains evil, a criminal remains a criminal even if the long-term consequences of his crime are wonderful. In addition, it is one thing to talk about the benefits of suffering from personal experience, and quite another thing to say this about other people. Only God knows whether this or that test will turn out for good or for bad for a particular person, and we have no right to judge this. But this is what we can and should do - if we consider ourselves Christians! - This is to keep God's commandments. Where there is not a word about the fact that for the sake of the public good you can kill innocent people.

What are the conclusions?

First and the obvious is that we must understand that repression is evil, both social and personal evil of those who carried it out. There is no justification for this evil - neither pragmatic nor theological.

Second- this is the correct attitude towards victims of repression. They should not all be considered ideal. These were very different people, both socially, culturally, and morally. But their tragedy must be perceived regardless of their individual characteristics and circumstances. All of them were not guilty of the authorities who subjected them to suffering. We do not know which of them is righteous, which is a sinner, who is now in heaven, who is in hell. But we must feel sorry for them and pray for them. But what we definitely shouldn’t do is don’t speculate on their memory, defending our own political views in polemics. The repressed should not become for us means.

Third- we must clearly understand why these repressions became possible in our country. The reason for them is not only the personal sins of those who were at the helm in those years. The main reason is the worldview of the Bolsheviks, based on atheism and the denial of all previous traditions - spiritual, cultural, family, and so on. The Bolsheviks wanted to build heaven on earth, and at the same time they allowed themselves any means. Only that which serves the cause of the proletariat is moral, they argued. It is not surprising that they were internally ready to kill by the millions. Yes, there were repressions in different countries (including ours) even before the Bolsheviks - but still there were some brakes that limited their scale. Now there were no brakes - and what happened happened.

Looking at various horrors of the past, we often say the phrase “this must not happen again.” But this Maybe repeat itself, if we discard moral and spiritual barriers, if we proceed solely from pragmatics and ideology. And it doesn’t matter what color this ideology will be - red, green, black, brown... It will still end in great blood.