So I know the purges were used as a fear tactic to intimidate loyalty, a way to curb over population as a means to ensure some people are fed and have jobs, and removing political opponents. But what I ask is if there were any other reasons for the russian people to be sent to the gulags or straight up executed while Stalin was in charge?
Other interpretations of the Great Terror include the idea that it was fundamentally a power struggle between the centre and regions, with the various victims being 'guilty' of being lax or bad party members by the centre (see for example J. Arch Getty, Origins of the Great Purges) or that the Terror was a process that got out of control and/or was driven by fear, some seemingly rational and much of it not (James Harris, The Great Fear or J. Arch Getty's later Road to Terror).
a way to curb over population
...where did you hear that one?