Show Trials (1936-8):
- 1936 Trial of Zinoviev, Kamanev + 14 others (all but 1 found guilty of Kirov's murder and conspiracy with Trotsky to overthrow the government, and therefore shot)
- 1937 Trial of Seventeen
- 1938 Trial of Twenty-One for Bukharin, Rykov & Tomsky + 18 others (found guilty of forming a Trotsky Rightist bloc involved in sabotage & spying, though Tomsky killed himself)
Influence:
- Russian people lost faith in the CPSU and revolutionary spirit had been crushed and a climate of fear created
- admissions of guilt were attained through physical and mental torture, threats to families & sense of demoralistion (confession was a last act of loyalty to the party)
- The most influential communists' trials were heavily publicised and heavily attended
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