The Great Terror, an explosion of organized bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in 1934 in 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history. His paranoia and desire to be a complete autocrat were reinforced by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police force. Stalin's ambition was reflected in his determination to eliminate rivals such as the supporters of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror had an impact on the Communist Party, government officials, and peasants. The NKVD, Stalin's instrument for carrying out the Terror, show trials and purges, particularly affected the intelligentsia. The NKVD, transformed by Stalin from the original secret police established in 1917, known as the Cheka, was a secret police service formed in 1934 with Genrikh Yagoda as executive until 1936. The NKVD was an agency responsible for enforcing the laws of the Soviet Union which had direct power over the Communist Party. This secret police organization was no longer controlled by the party, but rather by the party, and only Stalin stood above it. Although the agency contained a regular USSR public police force including traffic police, firefighters, and border guards, the agency ultimately directed mass executions that were not legally authorized, directed labor camps, inhibited resistance and was responsible for mass deportations to deserted regions. . The main role of the NKVD was to enforce Stalinist policies, impacting society as people began to fear the police, rather than feeling safe, until its dissolution in 1946.... ... middle of paper ...... requested by French writer André Malraux, spy for France. Babel was tried by an NVDK troika, a commission made up of three people who handed down sentences and prosecuted him for espionage in the service of the French, the Austrians and Leon Trotsky. Babel was imprisoned in Butyrka Prison and shot on January 27, 1940. The Great Terror which took place from 1934 to 1940 had a considerable impact on Soviet society due to the implementation of Stalinist policies by the NKVD. The implementation of this policy through the purges of innocent individuals and members of the government, the forced convictions of innocents in the show trials of 1936 to 1938, and the effects this all had on groups in society such as the intelligentsia, greatly affected the lives of Soviet citizens. people who fear for their safety and their future. The Terror not only eliminated dissent from society, but it also made people fearful..