What percentage of people were acquitted in "Stalin's trials"
Upvote:9
What were "Stalin's trials"?
If you want to limit the discussion to the few "show trials", like Шахтинское дело or "Московские процессы" (1, 2, 3), you can compute that from the public information and get something like 1%. These were well scripted events and acquittals were limited to some foreigners (e.g., Germans at the Shakhty) and specific stunts ("see, this is a real trial, we even acquitted X" - to execute him after the next trial).
1927 - 1955, all political cases: 0%
"Convictions" vs "Acquittals" were meaningless in these cases.
This was not how the Soviet "judiciary" operated, especially during Stain's years. It was a system not of meting out punishments for crimes, but for fulfilling the government needs for free labor in GULAG (aka "industrial armies" prescribed by the Communist Manifesto).
A funny tidbit: the huge article Сталинские репрессии does not even mention the word "acquittal" ;-)
post-Stalin
Later on (after the 20th congress), the court proceedings became more meaningful (see, e.g., Дело мальчиков), but only in some criminal (non-political) cases.
E.g., consider Rokotov-Faibishenko: this was in 1960, and an entirely economic (not political!) case. However, the perpetrators were tried on a ex post facto law (expressly forbidden by all Soviet constitutions) 3(!) times and were sentenced to death.
Standard Operating Procedure
"Thinking"
The "Soviet thinking" during Stalin's years went like this:
- Chekist: Anyone can be suspected
- Prosecutor: A suspicion by Chekists is sufficient grounds for an arrest warrant
- Judge: An arrest is a conclusive proof of guilt
While looking caricaturish, these principles were accepted by "everyone", coalescing into the adage "у нас зря не сажают" ("our system does not imprison people for nothing").
"Working"
Chekist
A CheKa/GPU/NKVD(&c) operative was a high status government official: well paid, fed, clothed; permitted to carry a gun. He was feared and respected. He valued his job.
His job performance was evaluated on how many people he brought to trial. To catch his quota of "enemies of the people", he used many informers who reported on their social and workplace acquaintances: some to get rid of rivals or arbitrary vindictiveness, others out of genuine love for the country/political idealism &c.
Given "агентурные материалы" (agents' material reports, e.g., "John Doe said that he was not paid fairly" or "Jane Doe thinks(!) that she is better than the party secretary"), he has no choice to ask for an arrest warrant and interrogate the suspect, asking for evidence on more people. If he did not, he would have been accused of "political myopia" and arrested himself.
Prosecutor & Judge (and "кивалы"/"nodders")
ты что, органам не доверяешь?!
This question (what, you do not trust the security apparatus?!) was very dangerous. If you do not backpedal right away, you will find yourself on the receiving end of the "justice" system.
Finally
This question reminds me of another one (Were there in the USSR monasteries decorated with Soviet orders?) - both betray complete ignorance of Soviet realities. This is not to belittle the questioners, of course, but to underscore how effective Soviet propaganda was.
More post
- 📝 What is this artillery shell?
- 📝 What proportion of women died in childbirth before modern times?
- 📝 Did Napoleon III reserve a special set of aluminum cutlery for special guests?
- 📝 Did people on the Bridge of Death in Pripyat actually die?
- 📝 Was there anything in common between the War of 1812 between Britain and America and the War of 1812 between Napoleon and Russia?
- 📝 The nature of the Preliminary Articles of Peace of 1782
- 📝 "Musketeer" beard, mustache and hairdress - where did they originate?
- 📝 Are views in Thailand on Axis powers influenced by colonization?
- 📝 During the Sengoku-jidai, what were shinobi (aka ninja) used for?
- 📝 What were the traveling practices of merchants, roughly between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?
- 📝 Why didn't the Khalkh Mongols support the Dzungars in their fight against China?
- 📝 When did chairs with arms and backs develop in Europe?
- 📝 Six pregnant maidens from Kamchatka
- 📝 How did China deal with the Black Death during the second plague pandemic?
- 📝 Did people 'go to the beach' for pleasure during classical antiquity?
- 📝 How did Juneteenth come to be the primary national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States?
- 📝 Did Zoroastrianism influence some Ancient Greek Philosophers?
- 📝 Help identify origin of a small clay statue
- 📝 Is eenie meenie miney mo about lynching?
- 📝 Is/was it an Indonesian tradition or custom to drink your victims' blood?
- 📝 Elevated walkway in background at 1980s Potsdamer Platz seen in Wim Wenders' film “Der Himmel über Berlin”
- 📝 Why did Japan never "apologize" enough for World War 2?
- 📝 Who is this person?
- 📝 What was life like for an adult Victorian chimney sweep?
- 📝 Was Kingdom of Cochin the only kingdom in South Asia to be a protectorate of (any empire of) China?
- 📝 Why did so many ruling European families hold on to Catholicism during the Reformation?
- 📝 Demographics: Were diseases the sole reason for the decrease in native Hawaiian population?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the CIA didn't want Reagan to end the Cold War?
- 📝 Was jealousy the cause of Ernst Winter's death?
- 📝 What did Cyrus the great look like?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What percentage of people were acquitted in "Stalin's trials"
- 📝 What percentage of British people during the industrial revolution were rich?
- 📝 What percentage of Jews were in "finance" (money-lenders) throughout Middle Ages?
- 📝 What were Hispanic people called in the US in the 1800s?
- 📝 What were the thoughts of the Celts, Romans and other ancient European people about the standing stones which survive from prehistoric times?
- 📝 What percentage of British and American troops were involved in direct combat with enemy in World War II
- 📝 What were the rights of various classes of people in the Roman Republic?
- 📝 What demographic of people were the Ford Motor's Company biggest customers during the car boom of the early twentieth Century?
- 📝 What sorts of people were popular celebrities in 17th to 19th century Europe?
- 📝 What percentage of the population in the Thirteen Colonies in 1776 were first/second generation immigrants?
- 📝 How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
- 📝 What percentage of people in 14th century England owned any armour?
- 📝 What percentage of the Nazis were highly educated men?
- 📝 What taxes were assessed on people in Alta California?
- 📝 What percentage of slaves originally brought from Africa were purchased from slave traders as opposed to having been captured by Europeans?
- 📝 What type of people were most likely to be suspected of witchcraft in Salem?
- 📝 What were common reasons people attended executions in mid 1930s.?
- 📝 What percentage of the population were serfs by region/year?
- 📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
- 📝 What were Hitler's religious beliefs?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What were the acceptance criteria in universities of medieval Europe?
- 📝 What is the origin of the stereotype that Polish people lack intelligence?
- 📝 What did people in 13th century England know about Greek mythology?
- 📝 What were Germany's long-term aims in World War I?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 In 19th century France, were police able to send people to jail without a trial, as presented in "Les Misérables"?