trafamily murders: according to a study of the Morozov case, more
than 50 “informant-children” were murdered in 1932.MOSCOW TRIALS (1936–1938).As part of his effort to acquire to-
tal power and stigmatize any real or suspected opposition, Joseph
Stalinordered the NKVDto prepare a series of major public trials of
Old Bolsheviks. In these show trialsin 1936, 1937, and 1938, for-
mer close associates of Vladimir Leninwho had led the Russian
Revolution of November 1917and won the civil warof 1918–1921
were tried for treason, sabotage, and murder committed on behalf of
Nazi Germany. Leon Trotsky, living in foreign exile, was indicted as
a coconspirator, the arch-fiend responsible for most of the crimes.
With one exception, the defendants confessed in open court, and all
were immediately shot or deported to the gulag(forced labor
camps), where they perished.
Stalin saw the trials as political theater, insisting that the NKVD
wring confessions out of the accused by appealing to their sense of
party loyalty, their concern for their families who faced death sen-
tences, and promises of pardons and rehabilitation. Torture was also
used; some men were beaten to a pulp, while others were kept awake
for days as a conveyor belt of interrogators worked on them. (One
Old Bolshevik was kept awake for 90 hours in a marathon interroga-
tion session.) Stalin read the interrogation reports, and he even cor-
responded and met with a few of the defendants, promising some of
them clemency for cooperating with the NKVD. All of these prom-
ises were broken, and every prisoner who met with Stalin went to the
executionchambers. Nikolai Bukharin, whom Lenin had dubbed the
“favorite of the party,” wrote to Stalin hours before his death: “Koba,
why do I have to die?” Stalin, who used the name “Koba” as his party
nom de guerre, undoubtedly believed that Bukharin’s death was a
necessary part of the drama he was directing.
The trials were public spectacles, more akin to medieval morality
plays than modern judicial processes. The victims—with the excep-
tion of Bukharin—confessed to being murders, traitors, and sabo-
teurs, and they demanded the death penalty for themselves and their
co-defendants. The prosecutor, Andrei Vyshinsky, echoed this with
demands that “these mad dogs be shot.” The judges agreed, sentenc-
ing the defendants to executionwithout the right of appeal. TheMOSCOW TRIALS (1936–1938)• 16706-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 167