The Great purge
On July 2, 1937, Stalin sent a top-secret letter to all regional Party chiefs ordering them to present, within five days, estimates of the number of kulaks and “criminals” that should be arrested, executed, or sent to camps. Produced in a matter of days, these figures roughly matched those of suspect individuals already under police surveillance, although the criteria used to distribute the kulak and criminal elements among the two categories are not clear.
On July 30, 1937 the NKVD Order no. 00447 was issued, directed against ex-kulaks and other anti-Soviet elements. They were to be executed or sent to prison camps.
The following categories were systematically tracked down: ex-kulaks previously deported to special settlements in inhospitable parts of the country, former tsarist civil servants, former officers of the White Army, participants in peasant rebellions, members of the clergy, persons deprived of voting rights, former members of non-bolshevik parties, ordinary criminals, like thieves, known to the police and various other “socially harmful elements”. However, many were also arrested at random in police sweeps, or as a result of denunciations or simply because they happened to be relatives, friends or just acquaintances of people already arrested. Many railwaymen, workers, peasants, and engineers were arrested in the course of the Kulak Operation just because they had the misfortune of working in, or near, important strategic factories, railway or building sites, where, as a result of frantic rhythms and plans, many work accidents had occurred in previous years.
On July 30, 1937 the NKVD Order no. 00447 was issued, directed against ex-kulaks and other anti-Soviet elements. They were to be executed or sent to prison camps.
The following categories were systematically tracked down: ex-kulaks previously deported to special settlements in inhospitable parts of the country, former tsarist civil servants, former officers of the White Army, participants in peasant rebellions, members of the clergy, persons deprived of voting rights, former members of non-bolshevik parties, ordinary criminals, like thieves, known to the police and various other “socially harmful elements”. However, many were also arrested at random in police sweeps, or as a result of denunciations or simply because they happened to be relatives, friends or just acquaintances of people already arrested. Many railwaymen, workers, peasants, and engineers were arrested in the course of the Kulak Operation just because they had the misfortune of working in, or near, important strategic factories, railway or building sites, where, as a result of frantic rhythms and plans, many work accidents had occurred in previous years.