St. Cloud State University theRepository at St. Cloud State Culminating Projects in History Department of History 5-2017 Stalin: From Terrorism to State Terror, 1905-1939 Matthew alW z St. Cloud State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/hist_etds Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Walz, Matthew, "Stalin: From Terrorism to State Terror, 1905-1939" (2017). Culminating Projects in History. 10. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/hist_etds/10 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Culminating Projects in History by an authorized administrator of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Stalin: From Terrorism to State Terror, 1905-1939 by Matthew Walz A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of St. Cloud State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History May, 2017 Thesis Committee: Marie Seong-Hak Kim, Chairperson Mary Wingerd Edward Greaves Plamen Miltenoff 2 Abstract While scholars continue to debate the manner in which the Great Terror took shape in the Soviet Union, Stalin’s education as a revolutionary terrorist leader from 1905-1908 is often overlooked as a causal feature. This thesis analyzes the parallels between the revolutionary terrorists in Russia in the first decade of the twentieth century, particularly within Stalin’s Red Brigade units, and the henchmen carrying out the Great Terror of the 1930s. Both shared characteristics of loyalty, ruthlessness and adventurism while for the most part lacking any formal education and existing in a world of paranoia.