The Show Trials (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
The Show Trials
What were show trials?
Show trials served as instruments of political control in Stalinist Russia. These public proceedings invited foreign journalists to observe, ostensibly to demonstrate that the USSR and Stalin faced genuine opposition from so-called 'enemies of the state' whose disloyalty had been concealed. The official narrative presented these trials as proof that eliminating such enemies was entirely justified. However, historians recognise these events as a method through which Stalin removed opponents and potential challengers whilst preserving his popularity amongst the Soviet population.
The trials were carefully choreographed affairs. The verdict was predetermined before proceedings even began, and the entire process aimed to demonstrate the accused's guilt through public confessions of betraying the revolution and the people. These spectacles formed part of Stalin's broader strategy to consolidate absolute control over both party and state.
Background and context
Following the assassination of Sergei Kirov in December 1934, Stalin exploited this event to tighten his grip on the country and launch widespread purges. Whether Stalin himself orchestrated Kirov's murder remains disputed (some evidence suggests the assassination was the work of the NKVD and Lavrenti Beria, whilst Stalin's daughter maintained this account). Regardless of Stalin's direct involvement, he capitalised on the killing to justify a campaign of terror.
Stalin's suspicion of rivals and potential conspiracies bordered on paranoia. He remained vindictive towards those who had previously opposed him, and he refused to accept any constraints on his power or policies. The regime could now exercise total control over party and country from this period onwards.
Complacency and vigilance
A Central Committee letter from January 1935 warned Party organisations against complacency. The document argued that assuming enemies would become weaker as Soviet strength grew was fundamentally mistaken. Drawing on memories of the Right deviation and concerns that enemies might adopt socialist rhetoric whilst harbouring counter-revolutionary intent, the letter emphasised the need for "vigilance, real Bolshevik, revolutionary vigilance." The message was clear: as enemies grew more desperate, they would resort to extreme measures, necessitating constant watchfulness against Soviet power.
Methods of extracting confessions
In preparation for trials, the NKVD employed extensive interrogation techniques to secure signed confessions. Methods ranged from subtle pressure and promises to starvation, physical torture, mental abuse, and threats directed at defendants and their families. The regime removed any restraints on these practices.
In April 1935, a new law decreed that children over the age of 12 found guilty of crimes would face the same punishments as adults, including the death penalty. This provision enabled the NKVD to extract confessions by threatening false charges against the accused's children.
The first major show trial: August 1936
Stalin decided in August 1936 that Grigory Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, both already secretly tried in 1935, should undergo a public show trial for propaganda purposes. Both men faced accusations of allying with Leon Trotsky, who had been expelled from the USSR in 1929 and was accused of fomenting discontent and plotting Stalin's assassination. Fourteen others joined them in the dock, with Yagoda (head of the NKVD) overseeing the interrogation proceedings.
Accusations and charges
A Central Committee circular from 29 July 1936 outlined the charges against what it termed the 'Trotskyite-Zinovievite Counter-revolutionary bloc'. The document alleged that Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev had allied with "the most desperate and embittered enemies of Soviet power" and become the organising force for remnants of defeated classes within the USSR. These classes, "in desperation, are resorting to the terror – the basest instrument of struggle against the Soviet Government."
The circular accused the defendants of adopting terror because of their political bankruptcy and naked ambition for power. Their supposed motivation for embracing terror stemmed from the Party's successes in socialist construction, which bred resentment and a desire for revenge over their own political failures.
According to Sidney Hook, a Jewish American who had visited the USSR in 1929 but whose views changed during the 1930s, the charges were absurd. Writing in his 1987 autobiography, Hook noted that defendants allegedly plotted Kirov's assassination and planned to kill Stalin and his leading associates, all supposedly under Trotsky's direct instructions. This contradicted the accused's well-known Marxist belief that terrorism represented an inappropriate tool for social change.
Additional charges included sabotaging the five-year plans through industrial disruption (putting nails and glass in butter, inducing disease in pigs, wrecking trains). Despite the gravity of these offences, all defendants confessed eagerly and sometimes expanded upon the prosecutor's accusations. This unprecedented exercise in self-incrimination, unaccompanied by any expression of defiance, had no parallel in previous Bolshevik political trials. Equally puzzling was the complete absence of material evidence, despite references to several letters from Trotsky allegedly containing specific instructions for carrying out their crimes. None of these letters was presented as evidence.
The trial proceedings
The trial ran from 19 to 24 August 1936. No material evidence was presented, yet the defendants confessed their guilt.
Example Confessions from the Trial
Zinoviev declared: "I am fully and utterly guilty. I am guilty of having been the organiser, second only to Trotsky, of that bloc whose chosen task was the killing of Stalin. I was the principal organiser of Kirov's assassination."
Kamenev stated: "I Kamenev, together with Zinoviev and Trotsky, organised and guided this conspiracy. We were actuated by boundless hatred and by lust of power."
Witnesses later reported that before the trial began, when Stalin learned that Kamenev refused to confess, he became enraged and instructed the official not to return until he had obtained a signed confession. Midway through the trial, Stalin visited former Politburo member Tomsky, carrying a bottle of wine. Tomsky, Bukharin and Rykov were under investigation for complicity with Zinoviev. Tomsky ordered Stalin to leave, then shot himself.
The prosecutor, Andrey Vyshinsky, concluded his speech by demanding: "I demand that these mad dogs be shot, every last one of them." All defendants were sentenced to death and executed in the cellars of Lubyanka Prison in Moscow on 25 August 1936. Trotsky was sentenced to death in absentia.
Leadership changes and continuing purges
In September 1936, Yagoda was replaced as NKVD head by Nikolai Yezhov. Stalin publicly claimed that Yagoda had not shown sufficient energy in uncovering the 'conspiracy'. More importantly, Yagoda had failed to secure confessions from Nikolai Rykov and Nikolai Bukharin, whom Stalin was determined to implicate. Plans for their trial had to be postponed, though this proved only a temporary reprieve.
Although some leading NKVD officers received sentences for failing to protect Kirov, their terms were short and their treatment lenient. In 1938, Yagoda pleaded guilty to allowing Nikolayev (Kirov's assassin) to reach Kirov. However, since Yagoda was then on trial himself, he may well not have been revealing the truth.
Key Points to Remember:
- Show trials were public, staged proceedings designed to eliminate Stalin's opponents whilst maintaining his popularity and demonstrating the supposed threat from 'enemies of the state'.
- The first major show trial occurred in August 1936, when Kamenev, Zinoviev and 14 others were accused of alliance with Trotsky, plotting Stalin's assassination, and sabotaging the five-year plans.
- Confessions were extracted through torture, starvation, threats to family members, and promises; a 1935 law allowing the death penalty for children over 12 enabled the NKVD to threaten defendants' children.
- No material evidence was presented at trials; defendants confessed publicly and were all executed on 25 August 1936 at Lubyanka Prison.
- The trials formed part of Stalin's broader strategy to consolidate absolute power following Kirov's assassination in 1934, which triggered widespread purges and intensified state terror.