06 Party and government 1953-85 Flashcards
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - The removal of Stalinists from the Party
-One of Khrushchev’s early reforms involved removing Stalin’s most loyal supporters from the Party
-Khrushchev was able to do this because he was Secretary of the Central Committee, and so had considerable power over appointments
-Between 1953 and 1956 Khrushchev replaced around half of the regional party secretaries and half of the Central Committee
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending of the Stalinist Cult of Personality
-Khrushchev was a Leninist and so he opposed Stalin’s personality cult
-There was no longer any official celebration of Stalin’s birthday.
-Newspapers, once full of Stalinist quotes, started quoting Marx and Lenin instead.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending of the Stalinist Cult of Personality - The Secret Speech
-Then in 1956 Khrushchev took the dramatic step of directly criticizing Stalin to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress in a 4-hour secret speech
-He argued that Stalin had abandoned collective leadership and set himself up as dictator.
-He highlighted how Stalin made serious mistakes such as purging the army just before the Nazi invasion.
-He claimed that Stalin committed enormous crimes, particularly during the terror when he ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
-He also quoted the criticism of Stalin in Lenin’s Testament, which had been kept secret until then.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending the use of terror against Party members
-Khrushchev wanted to restore the Leninist principle of ‘Socialist legality’ - the idea that the government, including the secret police, were subject to the law.
-Between 1953 and 1960, 2 million political prisoners were released from the camps.
Ending the use of political terror against Party officials was one of Khrushchev’s biggest achievements. Khrushchev’s enemies were sacked or demoted, not tortured or shot.
The one exception to this was the execution of Beria in 1953 – this decision was taken by the Presidium (new name for the Politburo from 1952) in order to restore ‘socialist legality’ and remove someone they saw as a direct threat to this principle.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending the use of terror against Party members shown to have worked with The Anti-Party Group
-In 1957 there was an attempt to overthrow Khrushchev led by Malenkov and Molotov. Khrushchev termed his opponents the ‘Anti-Party group’.
-Khrushchev survived this coup attempt as although the majority of the Presidium voted in favour of Khrushchev’s removal, he argued that the decision to replace him could only be taken by the Central Committee.
-As a result Khrushchev survived. He then sacked or demoted his opponents. Molotov became ambassador to Mongolia and Malenkov was put in charge of electricity.
-The attempted coup in 1957 was significant because it – 1. Demonstrated that senior communists would no longer use political terror against each other and – 2. recognised that the power of the Party leader depended on the support of the Central Committee.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending the use of terror against Party members shown to have worked with Khrushchev’s fall from power
-In 1964, as a result of a slowing economy and foreign policy setbacks, senior figures in the Presidium staged a coup against Khrushchev.
He was summoned to a special meeting and criticized for mishandling the economy, foreign policy and creating his own cult of personality.
On this occasion the plotters had the backing of the majority of the Central Committee and so Khrushchev was removed.
What is significant is that Khrushchev was allowed to retire, with a pension, a car and various luxuries, rather than being shot or publicly humiliated.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Democratising the Party
-Khrushchev attempted to make the Party more democratic by opening up the Party to more workers, and by tackling entrenched elites.
-Khrushchev allowed an expansion of Party membership. It grew from 7 million in 1954 to 11 million in 1964.
-He introduced fixed terms for Senior communists. As a result, two-thirds of regional Secretaries and the Presidium were replaced between 1957 and 1961.
-In 1961 he built on this by introducing fixed terms for all jobs within the Party, including a fixed 16-year term for Central Committee members.
In what ways did Khrushchev reform government? - Ending the concept of personal rule
-Stalin side-lined the Party and established a personal dictatorship. Under Khrushchev, however, the Party regained its authority.
-Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev was forced to work with other senior figures in the Party.
-The Secret Speech for example, had to gain the approval of the Presidium before it could be given. The Central Committee then forced Khrushchev to accept revisions to the Speech several months after it was given.
-Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev’s power depended on retaining a majority of support in the Central Committee. Indeed, Khrushchev’s overthrow in 1964 demonstrated the extent to which the Party’s power now mattered.
Did things really change under Khrushchev - limits to de-Stalinization
-This is because Khrushchev faced a backlash in government after making his secret speech
-In June 1956 the Central Committee issued a statement to the Party revising Khrushchev’s speech
In Hungary, de-Stalinisation inspired the people to rise up and try to free themselves from Soviet control in 1956 which had to be put down by force
Did things really change under Khrushchev - maintained use of cults of personality
-There were charges which were levelled at Khrushchev when he was removed from power in 1964, that he was creating his own cult of personality and also by-passing the Central Committee and Presidium to rule by decree
Did things really change under Khrushchev - maintained use of secret police
-Despite the new sense of freedom, the regime continued to use oppression where necessary
-There were around 20,000 political prisoners in the camps and the secret police (KGB) remained part of the system
How far did the government of the Soviet Union change under Brezhnev? - Brezhnev’s belief in stability
-When Brezhnev became leader, his interpretation and leadership style was very different
-As a result no significant modernisation of government occurred under Brezhnev.
-He believed that the revolutionary transformation had already taken place under Lenin and Stalin. His job was therefore to manage their legacy and maintain the status quo.
How far did the government of the Soviet Union change under Brezhnev? - The reversal of Khrushchev’s reforms - Overall
-As well as implementing no significant new reforms of his own, Brezhnev reversed the majority of Khrushchev’s government reforms.
-As a result, the centralised government of Stalin, with an entrenched bureaucracy, was firmly restored (not that Khrushchev had been that successful in getting rid of it).
How far did the government of the Soviet Union change under Brezhnev? - The reversal of Khrushchev’s reforms - Stability of cadres
-Khrushchev had tried to break up monopolies of power and develop a more dynamic government by introducing fixed terms for officials. This was replaced by Brezhnev’s policy of ‘stability of cadres’.
-‘Stability of cadres’, Brezhnev removes the fixed terms of officials of 16 years and replaces them with unlimited terms .
How far did the government of the Soviet Union change under Brezhnev? - The reversal of Khrushchev’s reforms - Re-centralising the party
-Khrushchev had attempted to break up the central ministries and decentralise government by giving more power to the republics. Brezhnev reversed this, re-establishing the all-union ministries that Khrushchev had abolished.
-Khrushchev hoped that splitting the party into industrial and agricultural wings would encourage innovation. Brezhnev ended the spit between these two wings of the party.
