a
reference to a
series of widely publicized and a
series of closed unpublicized
trials held in the Soviet
Union in the
late 1930s. In 1927 when
Stalin's most vocal opponent,
Leon Trotsky, attempted to
turn the celebration of the
Russian revolution into a
mass demonstration against
party leader Stalin, he and seventy-odd members were expelled from the
Communist Party. In the
following three years more than 6,500 members were exiled, banished or imprisoned for supporting the views of
Trotsky.
Stalin continued to carry out his plan to purge the
Communist Party, and by the
late 1930s three widely publicized
trials were held in which many prominent Soviet officials freely confessed to
crimes of
treason, were found guilty and executed or imprisoned. However, it was later established that the confessions were
false, the accused were innocent, and had confessed under
pressure of
intensive torture and intimidation. A
series of unpublicized
trials of top Soviet military leaders were also held, in which a number of prominent military leaders were eliminated accompanied by a massive purge throughout the Soviet armed forces.