istoryworld
Events relating to communism
Stalin achieves complete personal control in the USSR after removing all his rivals from the Politburo
Stalin concludes his long-standing rivalry with Trotsky, expelling him from the USSR three years after removing him from the Politburo
25 million peasants are moved from the land to provide cheap labour in Stalin's new factories
To escape the Kuomintang forces, the Chinese Communist army begins the Long March from Jiangxi province to Shaanxi
Sergei Kirov, head of the party in Leningrad, is assassinated in his office, giving Stalin the pretext for his first massive purge
Josip Broz, a leading member of the banned Communist Party of Yugoslavia, adopts the name Tito
Mao Zedong wins control over the Chinese Communists during the Long March
Leningrad's opera and ballet company is renamed the Kirov, in memory of the city's recently assassinated commissar
Kim Il Sung leads a Communist guerrilla campaign against the Japanese occupation of Korea
Stalin stages the first of the Moscow show trials, designed to eliminate any surviving high-level opponents
On Stalin's orders Dmitry Shostakovich is attacked in Pravda for providing 'chaos instead of music'
At the same time as the Moscow show trials, millions are purged from the Russian Communist party nation-wide
Lavrenty Beria is appointed head of Stalin's state security organization, the NKVD
An assassin sent by Stalin kills the exiled Trotsky in his home in Mexico City
In To the Finland Station Edmund Wilson discusses the development of socialism and revolution, culminating in Lenin and Trotsky
More than 4000 Polish officers are massacred at Katyń on Stalin's orders
Moscow appoints Tito to head the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
In preparation for the invasion of Russia, Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler set up Special Task Commandos (Einsatzkommando) to exterminate Communists and Jews
Mao Zedong becomes official leader of the Chinese Communist Party, as the elected Chairman of the Central Committee and the Politburo
Bulgaria changes to the Allied side and Communists take control in Sofia
Tito and his partisans, with Soviet assistance, liberate Belgrade
With Budapest still in German hands, the Soviets set up a provisional Hungarian government, at Debrecen
The Soviet army surrounds the Hungarian capital, Budapest
Alexander Solzhenitsyn is sentenced to eight years in a Soviet labour camp for critizing Stalin in a private correspondence
Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Yalta to discuss Allied post-war plans
