Why the great purge was necessary

So I was arguing with a lib in r/Greece and he made the claim that the letters sent from Trotsky to people like Zenoviev were faked by the KBG (he did really say KBG, not NKVD lol in 1934) so the purges were not necessary. I responded to the claim with a gigantic comment and I will repost it here so it is not wasted.DISCLAIMERThis post takes for granted that the statement that the KGB faked the letter is true (it isn't btw). It's purpose is to prove that the USSR had traitors inside the party, that a purge was necessary and it wasn't Stalin purging innocent people.First traitor, Yagoda, the head of the OGPU and the killer of Kirovz the best friend of Stalin and a very influential politician.In 1934, before the murder of Kirov, the terrorist Leonid Nikolayev was picked up by OGPU agents in Leningrad. In his possession they found a gun. and a chart showing the route which Kirov traveled daily. When Yagoda was notified of Nikolayev's arrest, he instructed Zaporozhetz, assistant chief of the Leningrad OGPU, to release the terrorist without further examination. Zaporozhetz was one of Yagoda's men. He did what he was told.A few weeks later, Nikolayev murdered Kirov.What did he hope to accomplish ?Yagoda had his own ideas about the kind of government whichwould be set up after Stalin was overthrown. It would be modeled on that of Nazi Germany, he told Bulanov. Yagoda himself would be the Leader; Rykov would replace Stalin as secretary of a reorganized Party; Tomsky would be chief of the trade-unions, which would come under strict military control like the Nazi labor battalions; the "philosopher" Bukharin, as Yagoda put it, would be "Dr. Goebbels."Now let's talk about Bukharin,Tomsky and Tukhachevsky. They were planning to coup Stalin when the war with Nazi Germany started.Also they promised Hitler everything Germany had in 1917 if they recognized their coup.How does Tukhachevsky visualize the mechanism of the coup?""That's the business of the military organization," Tomsky replied. He added that the moment the Nazis attacked Soviet Russia, the Military Group planned to "open the front to the Germans" - that is, to surrender to the German High Command. This plan had been worked out in detail and agreed upon by Tukhachevsky, Putna, Gamarnik and the Germans."In that case," said Bukharin thoughtfully, "we might be able to get rid of the Bonapartist danger that alarms me."Tomsky did not understand. Bukharin went on to explain: Tukhachevsky would try to set up a military dictatorship; he might even try to get popular support by making scapegoats of the political leaders of the conspiracy. But, once in power, the politicians could turn the tables on the Military Group. Bukharin told Tomsky: "It might be necessary to try those guilty of the `defeat' at the front. This will enable us to win over the masses by playing on patriotic slogans..."Now finally let's talk about Yeznov.He tried to sabotage the USSR by falsely accusing innocent party members of betraying the revolution and then kicking them out of the party.He kicked more than 200 thousand people, which about 60% were innocent and reinstated when everything was discovered by Stalin.A quote from Stalin about Yeznov"Yeznov is a rat,in 1938 he killed many innocent people. We shot him for that."ConclusionWithout a purge the USSR would have been weak and unable to fight the fascists. Stalin wasn't a lunatic or a power hungry politician that purged his opponents, he protected the USSR from revisionists and traitors.Sourceshttps://books.google.fi/books/about/Stalin_s_Loyal_Executioner.html?id=KqojAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=yhttp://www.shunpiking.org/books/GC/GC-AK-MS-chapter20.htmhttps://books.google.fi/books?redir_esc=y&id=NWYvGYcxCjYC&q=officer#v=snippet&q=officer&f=falsehttps://espressostalinist.com/the-real-stalin-series/yezhovshchina/ via /r/communism https://ift.tt/2XozSCi