Use the following link to access the documents indicated below:
www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/coll.html

In groups, study the following:

1) Letter of April 1932, from Feigin to Ordzhonikidze (a close friend of Stalin's), about conditions on the Kolkhozes (collective farms)
www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/aa2feign.html

(a) What problems and issues does this letter raise?
(b) What was the response of Stalin to these issues?

2) Bukharin's letter and the Purges
www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/b2bukhar.html

What evidence of Terror and repression does this document provide to widen your understanding of the reasons for and potential effects of the Purges and Great Terror of the 1930s?

3) Study of Kirov's murder
www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/b2centcm.html

What evidence is presented here of the reaction to the murder amongst the Communist Party?

After completing the above:

1) Present findings as a group to the rest of the class.

2) Examine how these can be put together to demonstrate a better understanding of the nature of Stalin's regime.