Stalin’s Purges Soviet Terror Stalin’s great purges had a distressing significance during the 1930’s. The purges, in effect, started on December 1, 1934 with the murder of Sergei Kirov, a Leningrad party leader. This act, in fact, helped shut ‘Russia’s window to the West.’ These great purges brought on ugly results and severely menaced the Soviet Unions power and future. The purges were designed to expunge any threats of political resistance. ‘An important aspect …showed first 75 words of 1869 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1869 total…sand. Some victims were not even dead when they were pushed into these pits. The purges during the 1930s initiated by Joseph Stalin brought enormous consequences in all sectors of the society and greatly endangered Soviet Union's sovereignty. The best estimate is that between ‘ten and eleven million people perished under Soviet regime between 1926 and 1939, most of them from the Ukranian famine.’ Stalin’s purges created many wicked consequences, some that are still prevalent today.