Shakhty Case

The Shakhty Case was a show trial in the Soviet Union in 1928. It involved the public trial of 53 engineers accused of sabotage. This event was part of a broader ideological shift under Joseph Stalin, signaling a distrust of "bourgeois specialists" and a move towards stricter ideological control in various fields, including science and culture. The trial, accompanied by extensive propaganda, led to the arrest of many engineers and underscored the Soviet government's increasing reliance on Marxist-Stalinist ideology. This period also saw other significant events, such as the forced requisition of grain and the collectivization of agriculture, which intensified class struggle in the countryside. The Great Purge, a series of trials in the late 1930s, further solidified Stalin's power by eliminating political rivals and critics through fabricated charges and confessions obtained under duress.12