Matvei Bronstein: Theorical physicist. Pioneer of quantum gravity. Arrested, accused of fictional “terroristic” activity and shot in 1938
Lev Shubnikov: Experimental physicist. Accused on false charges. Executed
Adrian Piotrovsky: Russian dramaturge. Accused on false charges of treason. Executed.
Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the Communist revolution. Member of the Politburo. Falsely accused of treason. Executed.
General Alexander Egorov: Marshal of the Soviet Union. Commander of the Red Army Southern Front. Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Arrested, accused on false charges, executed.
General Mikhail Tukhachevsky Supreme Marshal of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the Red Napoleon. Arrested, accused on fake charges. Executed.
Grigory Zinoviev: Chairman of the Communist International Movement. Member of the Soviet Politburo. Accused of treason and executed.
Even the secret police themselves were not safe:
Genrikh Yagoda : Right-hand of Joseph Stalin. Head of the NKD Secret Police. He spied on everyone in Russia and jailed thousands of innocents. Yagoda was arrested and executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genrikh_Yagoda
Nikolai Yezhov : Appointed head of the NKD Secret Police after the death of Yagoda. Arrested on fake charges, executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov
Everybody was absolutely terrified during this period. At least 600 000 people were killed and over 100 000 people were deported to Gulags in Siberia.
Today, Russian schools no longer teach what Joseph Stalin did. Many young russians actually believe that Stalin was a great patriot.
This is part of an effort by Vladimir Putin to rehabilitate him:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/21/stalin-is-making-a-comeback-in-russia-heres-why-a89155
There’s a pretty good Behind the Bastards episode on Stalin. Basically he was an ultra-paranoid drunk that forced his cabinet members to get drunk with him on a regular basis, which pretty much ruined any potential for effective government in the USSR.
Russia has a strong-man fetish which even the Bolsheviks couldn’t overcome. For all the post-revolution ideology and communist rhetoric, they still just want a Tsar.
That’s just conservatism. Your team is good, somebody’s gotta be in charge, do what people above you say, and the rest is theater. It’s innate human tribalism. It can co-opt any ideology, because we’re pretty good at theater.
Hmm, I’m not sure I agree that tribalism necessarily begets autocracy. And I don’t think what you’re saying accounts for the personality cult that’s been built very intentionally around Putin:
https://theconversation.com/putins-propaganda-is-rooted-in-russian-history-and-thats-why-it-works-184197
Internally they have things like this image from an FSB calendar:
Projecting the “tough guy” persona is a big part of how Putin stays in power. It’s a carefully manufactured public image.
Tall tales about the guy in charge predate writing. Performing loyalty by boosting your tribe’s leader as a flawless chest-beating demigod is theater, and it’s nigh universal. Putin’s examples are honestly quite grounded: he’s photographed doing the thing, and claiming merely human levels of machismo. He didn’t shoot eighteen holes-in-one, or enchant bulletproof t-shirts, or stick Jesus in his family tree.