During the Stalin era , the Soviet agriculture production collapsed causing famines in 1932 – 1933 . Official output numbers of industrial production were used as propaganda to portray the Soviet Union as an economic miracle . Soviet propaganda also used cross-border comparisons with Finland , to represent the country as a " vicious and reactionary Fascist clique " . The Finnish Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim and the leader of the Finnish Social Democrat Party Väinö Tanner were particular hate figures . Stalin gained near-absolute power in 1935 – 1936 , leaving only the army as self-governing , but its officers also became the target of purges during the Great terror in 1937 – 1938
Great terror
Great Purge
Background of the Winter War