Stalin: Paranoia and The Purges

Stalin: Paranoia and The Purges
"One death is a tragedy, a million just statistics" (Stalin).
<Tab/>In a decree of September 5th 1793, the revolutionary government of France announced the implementation of harsh measures against those considered to be "enemies of the revolution" under the slogan "terror is the order of the day." For the next nine months, this "reign of terror" orchestrated by Maximilien Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety resulted in the deaths of seventeen thousand mainly innocent people. Over a century later, Joseph Stalin announced his own decree of…