Khrushchev's Attempts to Reform Government

Question 1

By what year had Khrushchev emerged as leader of the Soviet Union?

Answer 1

1956

Question 2

What did Khrushchev want to do?
What stood in his way?

(Attempts at reform of gov)

Answer 2

Revive the Party

BUT

Reform threatened to destabilise the government

SO

Khrushchev was continually caught between stability and reform

Question 3

What were Khruschev’s aims?

Answer 3

Preserve what he saw as the essential freighted of Communist government 
BUT ALSO 
Committed to de-Stalinisation:
1) ending PERSONAL rule
2) ending the use of TERROR

Question 4

What were the key stages of de-Stalinisation?

Answer 4

Ending terror 
Personnel changes 
The secret speech 
Democratisation and decentralisation 
Final reforms

Question 5

How did Khrushchev end Terror?

Answer 5

Began immediately after Stalin’s death:

• March and April 1953: amnesties for various classes of prisoners
• May— 4,620 Communist prisoners rehabilitated

Question 6

What were Khruschev’s personnel changes?

Answer 6

He removed Stalin’s loyalists from senior party bodies:
1953-56: Khrushchev replaced:
• around half of the regional Party secretaries
• 44% is the Central Committee

Question 7

What was The Secret Speech?

Answer 7

1956– Khrushchev criticised Stalin at the Party Congress

His speech was kept secret (risked undermining the authority of the Party)

Argued that Stalin had:
• abandoned Party government
• established a dictatorship based on the “cult of personality”

Question 8

What was the impact of the secret speech?

Answer 8

Stalin was widely loved in the Party—> Many communists were profoundly shocked.

As news of it was leaked, there were demonstrations in favour of multi-Party democracy at Moscow State University
—>
Khrushchev backtracked:
He agreed with his critics: the Soviet people were “not ready” to know the truth about Stalin.

Question 9

What were the major government reforms that Khrushchev introduced with regards to democratisation?

Answer 9

• ‘Democratisation’ : designed to allow workers and peasants to join the Communist Party.

Membership grew:

1954: 6.9m
1964: 11m

The Party became more representative of the people of Russia:
By 1964– 60% of members were either workers or peasants.

Question 10

What were the major government reforms Khrushchev introduced, despite the population not being ready to learn the truth about Stalin, with regards to decentralisation?

Answer 10

• ‘Decentralisation’ — the abolition of some central ministries.

Economic powers were devolved to the 105 newly created economic councils

Ministry of Agriculture mores away from Moscow to make it “closer to the fields”

Question 11

What was the backlash to Khrushchev democratisation and decentralisation?

Answer 11

Many Communist officials were demoted or lost their jobs

So

Renewed criticism of Khrushchev within the Party

So

1957– The “Anti-Party group” attempted to oust him (but K survived due to the support of the Central Committee)

Question 12

What were Khruschev’s final reforms?

Answer 12

Twenty-Second Party Congress— October 1961– introduces his final major political reforms:

• The Party was divided into two: one Party supervises Agriculture, the other industry
• Fixed terms were introduced for all government jobs: this forced party officials to move jobs regularly. Eg. Central committee members had a fixed term of 16 years: prevent stagnation.

Question 13

What was the extent of de-Stalinisation?

Answer 13

Some aspects of Stalinism lived on:
1) government never publicly rejected his legacy OR admitted the extent of his crimes
YET
2) Khrushchev succeeded in ending the use of terror against Party officials
3) ended Stalin’s system of personal rule:
- K was forced to negotiate with other senior Party figures
- The party’s growing power led to his downfall: 10/1964– forced to retire by senior Party figures who believed his reforms had gone too far