20.1 Political authority and government 1953-High Stalinism

Question 1

What was High-Stalinism?

Answer 1

‘High Stalinism’ was after WW2 and Russia’s victory where Stalin had total power and ruled a world superpower

Question 2

What was Stalin’s reaction to the increased number of Party memberships and the army position after the GPW?

++ when were the GKO dismantled?

+++ Which highly ranked military member was removed?

Answer 2

• Stalin feared the post-war government as increased Party memberships to him seemed unreliable as well as the army’s powerful reputation
• He led a ‘back to the future’ plan where wartime institutions and GKO (State Defense Committee) were dismantled (4th Sept 1945)
• Military ranks reduced, famously Marshal Zhukov who Stalin had deemed a threat

Question 3

What was the sequence of events and disagreement between Zhadanov and Malenkov after the GPW?

++ What was their disagreement upon?

+++ Who led the investigation on Malenkov?

++++ What did Zhdanov do in his new position?

+++++ What lead to Malenkov becoming Party Secretariat again?

Answer 3

• Andrei Zhdanov (LR party member) returned to Party Secretariat

++ Zhdanov vs Georgii Malenkov (Stalin’s closest advisor) who wanted to move industrial plant from Germany

+++ Investigation under Mikoyan condemning Malenkov’s actions who lost position as PS

++++ Zhdanov became Stalin’s closest advisor and launched Zhdanovshcina

+++++ Another disagreement about Berlin Blockade of 1948 where roles reversed again. Zhdanov died that year

Question 4

What was the power of the government under Stalin after the GPW?

Answer 4

• Committee met in March 1946 and elected a new Politburo but became an advisory body to Stalin as opposed to the decision making team before
• Stalin manipulated the party and government and had total control relying on his private secretariat to bypass them
• Party power was reduced during this time – they should have met 1/3 years but didn’t meet at all for 13 since 1939

Question 5

What was the composition of the Party after the GPW?

Answer 5

• Recruitment to the Party was reduced, no longer peasants.
• 1952 it was at 7m and Komsomol at 16m.
• The structure of the party changed as ‘old guard’ (beliefs) were replaced by ‘new men’ (brought up within ideology). ‘New men’ were careful and did not act unless instructed. Stalin demolished party autonomy to a chain of command.

Question 6

What did Norman Davies say about the power of the USSR after the GPW?

Answer 6

After the GPW the world ‘witnessed one of the grand illusions of modern history’ as whilst they had won WW2 ‘its internal processes were decomposing’

Question 7

Who said the USSR’s ‘internal processes were decomposing’ after the GPW despite having won?

Answer 7

Norman Davies

Question 8

What was cultural high Stalinism? (4)

Answer 8

• A new period of Zhdanovshchina began in 1946 retaliating to fears over westernization
• It stressed conformity to socialism and Russian goods rejecting everything Western as bourgeois
• There was a blockade on foreign goods and radio transmissions were jammed
• Only a few pro-Soviet foreign writers could enter the USSR but very few Soviet members could leave

Question 9

Literary victims of High Stalinism (3)

Answer 9

• Satirist: Mikhail Zoshchenko & Poet: Anna Akhmatova wrote anti-Soviet journals like The Adventure of a monkey and were Purged whilst Staff were expelled from Union of Soviet Writers
• Writer: Dostoevsky, Hero’s lacked socialist qualities and books forced out of circulation

Question 10

What happened to the previous supporters of the poet Anna Akhmatova?

Answer 10

• Published a portrait of her last year and were sent to the Gulags

Question 11

Musical victims of High Stalinism

Answer 11

• Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich composed pieces deemed as ‘Rootless cosmopolitanism’. His income was reduced and he was forced to compose Stalinist pieces

Question 12

What happened to Jewish people under High Stalinism?

Answer 12

• Anti-Semitism ‘flourished’ with the last Jewish newspaper closed
• Nazi actions towards Jewish people was not mentioned

Question 13

What happened to education under High Stalinism?

Answer 13

• Education focused on the sciences were governed by Marxist principles.
• Stalin even published his economic theories in 1952 which no one dared to opposed

Question 14

What was dismantled on the 4th March 1945 and for what reason?

Answer 14

Wartime institutions and GKO (State Defense Committee) were dismantled (4th Sept 1945)