During the Great Purge in the USSR, top communist leaders carried out a campaign of repression and violence aimed at eliminating perceived enemies of the Soviet state. The purges were initiated by Joseph Stalin and his inner circle, who sought to consolidate their power and eliminate any potential threats to their authority.
Top communist leaders played a key role in carrying out the purges. They oversaw the arrest, interrogation, and execution of thousands of people, including political opponents, intellectuals, military leaders, and ordinary citizens. Many were falsely accused of crimes or forced to confess under torture. The purges also targeted high-ranking officials within the Communist Party, including members of the Politburo and Central Committee.
Some top communist leaders, such as Nikolai Bukharin and Lev Kamenev, were accused of plotting to overthrow Stalin and were executed as a result. Others were purged simply for being perceived as disloyal or insufficiently committed to the Communist Party. The purges lasted from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 700,000 to 1.5 million people