HIST 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Lignite, Pewex, Leninism
Document Summary
Eastern europe is referring to the countries that belonged to the soviet sphere of influence. All had single-party rule and were called the communist party, but truly. Yugoslavia: did have single party rule, but manage to escape soviet domination. Purges in eastern europe was modeled after the great purge, ordered by stalin. Goal of the purges was to intimidate people: laszlo rajk"s and rudolf slansky"s death. Cheka: police apparatus that spied on people, founded in 1917 after the bolshevik revolution. Known as the sword and shield of the bolshevik party. Meant to keep the bolshevik party in power. When arrested, they have no legal rights and weren"t entitled to a lawyer. All assumed to be guilty if hauled off by the secret police. Were placed in prison where they were interrogated, usually tortured and victims of psychological tactics. If people did not admit to their accused crime, they would threaten to go after their families.