During the Great Purge, which group was especially targeted?

During the Great Purge, which group was especially targeted?

• A. Factory owners.
• B. Foreign diplomats.
• C. Old Bolsheviks, or party activists from the early days of the revolution.
• D. Peasant leaders.

Answer: (C)

The main idea being tested is how the Great Purge targeted the leadership and security of the Soviet state to consolidate Stalin’s authority. Old Bolsheviks were especially focused on because these veteran revolutionaries had been central to building the Soviet system and held legitimacy within the party. Fearful they could challenge him or reassert the old revolutionary order, Stalin’s regime moved to remove them through arrests, show trials, and executions or exile during 1936–1938. By eliminating this experienced core, Stalin could replace it with officials loyal to him, ensuring tighter control over both the party and state. Other groups did face repression, but the Great Purge is most closely associated with erasing the old guard of the party. Factory owners, foreign diplomats, and peasant leaders were not the central targets in the same way, and their repression occurred under different policies or pressures, rather than as the defining aim of the purge.

The main idea being tested is how the Great Purge targeted the leadership and security of the Soviet state to consolidate Stalin’s authority. Old Bolsheviks were especially focused on because these veteran revolutionaries had been central to building the Soviet system and held legitimacy within the party. Fearful they could challenge him or reassert the old revolutionary order, Stalin’s regime moved to remove them through arrests, show trials, and executions or exile during 1936–1938. By eliminating this experienced core, Stalin could replace it with officials loyal to him, ensuring tighter control over both the party and state.

Other groups did face repression, but the Great Purge is most closely associated with erasing the old guard of the party. Factory owners, foreign diplomats, and peasant leaders were not the central targets in the same way, and their repression occurred under different policies or pressures, rather than as the defining aim of the purge.