ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the darker side of the 1930s: the Great Terror. The waves of terror, or, from the official perspective, antiterrorist campaigns, that convulsed the Soviet Union in the late 1930s constitute one of the most disturbing and perplexing episodes in its history. The opening of the Soviet archives has provided vivid evidence to support the argument that Joseph Stalin played a central role in initiating and directing the terror. In the mid-1930s, as life was supposedly becoming better and more joyous, the Soviet Union seemed to become less revolutionary. The new patriotism also blurred the line between Soviet and Russian identities, highlighting the leading role of Russian history, Russian heroes, and the Russian people in the multiethnic Soviet fatherland. In the Soviet Union, state censorship and official artists' unions closely policed cultural production. Soviet leaders responded with policies and propaganda designed to put the country on a war footing.
