Purge, in Communist Party political slang, is an abbreviation of the expression purge of the Party ranks. In itself, the term was innocent enough: in 1933, in the Soviet Union, for example, some 400,000 people were expelled from the Party, but suffered no worse fate. But from 1936 onwards, during the Great Purge, the term changed its meaning, because being expelled from the Party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment or even execution. Following Stalin's death being purged from the ranks of the Party resulted in loss of reputation, but not automatic imprisonment or death.
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