The Great Terror, an epidemic of organized bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place from 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and desire to be a complete autocrat were reinforced by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin's ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as the followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The general concept and practices of the Terror had an impact on the communist party, government officials, and peasants. The NKVD, Stalin's tool for terror, show trials and purges, particularly affected intellectuals. 1934 with Genrikh Yagoda as leader until 1936. The NKVD was a police agency of the Soviet Union that had direct power over the Communist Party. This secret police organization was no longer controlled by the party, but rather controlled the party and only Stalin was above it. Although the agency contained a regular USSR public police force that included traffic police, firefighters, and border guards, the agency ultimately directed unauthorized mass executions, ran labor camps, inhibited resistance, and was responsible for mass deportations to desert regions. . The main role of the NKVD was to impose Stalinist policy, impacting society as people began to fear the police, rather than feel safe, until its dissolution in 1946....... middle of paper . .....cruted by French writer André Malraux, a spy for France. Babel was tried by an NVDK troika, a commission of three people who handed down sentences, and was tried for being a spy for the French, the Austrians and Leon Trotsky. Babel was imprisoned in Butyrka prison and was shot on January 27, 1940. The Great Terror that occurred from 1934 to 1940 had a great impact on Soviet society due to the application of Stalinist policy by the NKVD. The implementation of the policy through the purge of innocent individuals and members of the government, the forced convictions of innocents during the show trials from 1936 to 1938, and the effects this had on groups in society such as the intelligentsia, greatly influenced life of the Soviets. people who make them fearful for their safety and future. The Terror not only removed dissent from society, but also frightened people.