21. Khrushchev and reaction to Stalinism

Question 1

When were MTSs abolished?

Answer 1

1958

Question 2

Who were Khrushchev’s two main rivals for the leadership?

And what were their policies?

Answer 2

• Beria: anti-Stalinist. Advocated release of political prisoners and moderate foreign policy. The others conspired against him and he was executed in 1953.
• Malenkov (Chairman of the Council of Ministers): put government before Party. Wanted to reduce peasant taxes and invest in consumer goods.

Question 3

What happened in the plot to oust Khrushchev in 1957?

Answer 3

• Presidium voted to remove Khrushchev while he was in Finland.
• He insisted the matter go to the Central Committee, which was full of his appointees.
• Zhukov (deputy Minister for Defence) spoke in K’s favour, and the CC voted to keep him.
• The ‘anti-Party group’ (inc. Melenkov, Molotov and Kaganovich) were expelled from the Central Committee.

Question 4

What happened to Khrushchev’s rivals?

Answer 4

Beria - executed in 1953

Malenkov - forced to resign in 1955; made Minister for Power Stations; expelled from Central Committee in 1957

Molotov - expelled from Central Committee in 1957

Zhukov: dismissed in 1957; propaganda campaign against him

Bulganin: forced to resign as Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1958

Question 5

What was the Secret Speech?

Answer 5

• A speech at a closed session of the 20th Party Congress (in 1956) denouncing Stalin and blaming him for the purges and failures of the Soviet state
• Strongly criticised his wartime leadership and the cult of personality he built.
• The speech was entitled ‘On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences’.
• He also used Lenin’s testament to criticise Stalin.
• However he did not criticise one-party rule, the Five Year Plans, collectivisation or the fundamental Soviet system.

Question 6

What effect did the Secret Speech have in the Eastern Bloc?

Answer 6

Inspired an uprising in Tbilisi, Georgia. Also reformist uprisings in Poland and famously Hungary in 1956.

However, Khrushchev was not hesitant to use force to crush these protests.

Question 7

How many tanks and men were sent to crush the Hungarian Uprising in 1956?

Answer 7

4,000 tanks
200,000 men

Question 8

How many Hungarians were killed by the Soviets in the 1956 uprising?

Answer 8

30,000

Question 9

What policies were part of the decentralisation programme?

Answer 9

• 1962: Party split into urban and rural sections.
• Increased role for local soviets
• ‘Comrade courts’ revived for minor offences
• 60 Moscow ministries were abolished; the country was split into 105 economic regions, each with its own local economic council (sovnarkhoz).

Question 10

What policies were part of the democratisation programme?

Answer 10

• New term limits were introduced for some Party officials
• Membership grew from 7m (1956) to 11m (1964). It became much more working-class, diluting the power of higher-level bureaucrats.
• Khrushchev visited villages and towns to be with the people.

Question 11

How were non-Party members involved under Khrushchev?

Answer 11

Non-members took on supervisory positions and some were invited to Party congresses.