If you know anything about the GULAG, you know that people sent there as "counter-revolutionary Trotskyist activists" very often did not have anything to do with counter-revolutionary activist, or Trotsky, or anything. Very often it was just being unlucky, and even then, they strongly believed in the Soviet system, they just thought there was some clerical error, and tried to appeal to higher leader to have those errors fixed - without understanding the point of the Terror.

Most people eventually did understand, of course.