Kremlin Moves to Clear Names of Stalin Purges

The Communist Party on Thursday urged mass rehabilitation of victims of the feared “troikas”--the summary courts that carried out Josef Stalin’s bloody purges.

The party’s policy-making Central Committee, saying progress depends on rectifying the past, recommended that top government bodies pass a law “to consider rehabilitated all citizens repressed by decisions of these organs.”

Such a recommendation from a top party body is certain to be approved by the government.

It was not clear how many cases among the millions of people killed, imprisoned or exiled by Stalin would be affected by the action, which was announced on the evening TV news program “Vremya” and carried by the official Tass news agency.

But it was apparent the party believes consideration of Stalin’s repression is keeping the country from focusing on its future and that it is seeking quick resolution of as many cases as possible.

The “troikas” were so named because they consisted of three local officials: the head of the secret police, the Communist Party leader and the prosecutor. Historians say they had the power to inflict death penalities, often without any reference to the Soviet penal code.