What was the reason for Stalin's repressions of 1937? What was their scale? What role did they play in the history of our country? The answers to these questions, which continue to occupy researchers, political scientists, publicists, and anyone interested in the past of the USSR, are in this book by three famous authors. Each of them reveals a certain aspect of the topic: Yu. Zhukov focuses on the reforms of the state apparatus in 1937, V. Kozhinov writes about changes in national ideology, Yu. Mukhin talks about the fight against the "fifth column" in the USSR in the 1930s. The vastness of the factual material, its deep analysis, accessibility and simplicity of presentation - all this is present in the works of Yu.