Josef Stalin's use of mass murder and extermination was perhaps the most horrific act in history. His complete disregard for human life was basically unmatched by any other dictator in history. He covered the entire country of Russia in a blanket of fear, the fear that their life could be taken at any moment for having the slightest connection to anything that Stalin disliked. Maybe it was a greed for power and control, maybe it was racism and bloodlust, but either way, its effects were devastating to the country.
There could be various motivations for Stalin's use of terror. But perhaps the most obvious or most sensible is plainly his lust for power. He would seem to go to any length to gain as much power as possible. This is best stated by document 3, when it says, " he was determined to be in a position of absolute control, ruling as an autocrat with no restraints of any kind." He simply wanted complete control, at any costs. There was nothing that he wasn't willing to do to reach the goal.
The terror and murder seems to have been very widespread. The constant threat of being exterminated for any reason kind of crippled the entire country. This is best proof of this comes from document 7 when it states, "What is sometimes neglected by those of us who never faced such things, is the extreme intensity with which the terror bore down not only upon its victims but upon the population as a whole." This makes it quite clear that this mass murder had an effect on everyone. Not just those directly involved in the terror. It .
The Soviet Union reacted very passively to Stalin's terror. The country had a history of being weak in the face of any exerted governmental power, which is basically summed up in document 11. Also, simply the fact that so many people were allowed to be killed is a testament to this idea. Millions and Millions were exterminated before anything was done. That shows how they reacted to Stalin.