Stalin's First Purge: The Tsaritsyn Affair of 1918

In 1918, as the Russian Civil War raged, Joseph Stalin was sent to Tsaritsyn (modern Volgograd) to secure grain supplies for Moscow. But what began as a logistical mission turned into a bloody power struggle. Stalin, along with Kliment Voroshilov, purged the city's military specialists — many of them former tsarist officers — accusing them of treason. He ignored orders from Leon Trotsky and the central Sovnarkom, set up his own parallel command, and executed dozens without trial. This episode explores the Tsaritsyn affair: how Stalin's paranoia and thirst for control foreshadowed the Great Purges of the 1930s. We discuss the roles of key figures like Andrei Snesarev, the tsarist general Stalin had shot, and the Don Cossack uprising led by Pyotr Krasnov. We also examine the strategic importance of Tsaritsyn as a railway hub and the 'Tsaritsyn Front' that became a proving ground for Stalin's ruthless methods. This is the story of how Stalin learned to purge — and how the seeds of the gulag were sown in a dusty Volga city.

#Stalin #Tsaritsyn #RussianCivilWar #RedArmy #Voroshilov #Trotsky #Purge #Cossacks #Krasnov #Snesarev #Volga #1918 #SovietHistory #Revolution #MilitaryHistory #Bolsheviks #History #FexingoHistory

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