The Pattern of Political Purges

Bibliographic Data

ID9760752
AuthorsZbigniew Brzezinski (Harvard University, corresponding author)
Year1958
Volume317
Issue1
Pages79-87
Publication date1958-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000271625831700111
OpenAlexW2102125271
LanguageEN
Citations received9

The purge is inherent in the totalitarian system but it differs in form depending on circumstances and stage of development of the system. Ob jectives of a purge are: the cleansing of the party, the restoration of its vigor and monolithic unity, the elimination of enemies, and the establishment of the correctness of its line and the primacy of the leadership. Communist purges are of two types: purges whose content is programmatic and whose form is non violent, and purges whose content might or might not be programmatic and whose form is violent. In the satellites, purges were most violent in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. After Stalin's death during the "New Course" there followed a time of "anti-purge" purges which in some countries shook the foundation of Communist control. The dramatic events of fall 1956, however, again produced pressures for further purges.—Ed

Communism · Content (measure theory · Correctness · Foundation (evidence · Political science · Politics · Purge · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Law · Mathematics

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