Chapter 23 Flashcards
Opposition and the fall of Khrushchev
What were some of the many issues that cultural dissidents opposed?
Greater democracy, human rights, the rights of nationalities, religious feeling, the violation of artistic freedom
What is tamizdat?
The act of publishing and printing banned writings abroad, as seen by ‘Dr Zhivago’
What is samizdat?
Dissident activity whereby individuals reproduced and distributed illicit content
Which of the two forms of written dissident was more dangerous?
Samizdat due to the personal contact and had a high punishment in the kabour camps
What was the name of a student group that set up an underground journal?
‘The Youngest Society of Geniuses’ and the journal was ‘The Sphinxes’
Regular readings of poetry in Moscow were dedicated and named after which poet?
Vladmir Mayakovsky
Who were the most typical attendees of Mayak poetry readings?
Typically, they were attended by students and members of the intelligentsia
Why was publisher and editor Alexander Ginzburg arrested and sent to numerous labour camps?
As the editor of a poetry magazine ‘Syntaxis’ he was arrested for exposing human rights abuses and demanding reforms
What are some examples of ‘dissident’ magazines?
Boomerang, Phoenix, Novy Mir
How many cultural dissidents were arrested in 1961 and why were they?
130,000 because they were intellectuals whose writings were considered hostile by the regime
Who is a Nobel laureate who was similarly charged with ‘social paratism’?
Joseph Brodsky
How was music a form of cultural dissidence?
Musicians made illegal recordings and passed between friends, so that diverse styles were heard around the USSR
How did Khrushchev’s argument on the effectiveness of art impact artists?
His challenge only encouraged painters to pursue their art in private, challenging official artistic reality
What was the name of a musician who reacted to political events in their work?
Yuliy Kim
What were some examples of nonconformist arts of the period?
Oleg Vassiliev, Ilya Kabakov, Erik Bulatov, Edik Steinberg, Vladmir Yankilevsky
How were artists able to avoid the persecution that writers faced?
Most artists managed some ‘legal’ work and authorities found their work less damaging than the writers
Who was arguably the most famous of the Khrushchev defecters?
Ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev
Who led the most prominent division during Khrushchev’s rise to power?
The liberal reformers, such as Bulganin, and the conservative pro-Stalinists Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich
Why did the hardliners seek to remove Khrushchev from power?
Not because of his policies nor his reorganisation but rather a desire to restore Stalinism
To what positions were Khrushchev’s opposition demoted to?
Molotov became an ambassador to Mongolia, Malenkov became director of a HEP station in Kazakhstan and Kaganovich became director of the Sverdlovsk cement works
How many political prisoners’ appeals had been considered and how many had been released by 1955?
250,000 appeals had been considered but only 4% of these had been approved
How many political prisoners were rehabilitated in 1956?
Eight to nine million former or present political prisoners
Why did Khrushchev’s lenient treatment of political opposition spreat more dissent?
Dissidents and the intelligentsia saw it as an opportunity to discuss and debate issues such as elections and human rights
Who were the orchestrators of Khrushchev’s ousting from power?
Leonid Brezhnev, Nikolai Podgorny and Mikhail Suslov
What was the reason officially given to the public which explained Khrushchev’s resignation?
They blamed it on his ‘advanced age and ill health’
What were the personal reasons for Khrushchev’s ousting?
He was accused of having a ‘one-man style’ and of having an overbearing style, embarrassing and flamboyant behaviour and creating his own personalty cult
What were the decentralisation reasons for Khrushchev’s ousting?
His decentralisation policies upset central Party members who lost control of regions and localities and regional party secretaries were offended by the division of their responsibilities
What were the agricultural reasons for Khrushchev’s ousting?
The failure of the Virgin Lands Scheme and the shortfall in food supplies were seen as Khrushchev’s personal resonsibility as he set himself up as an expert
What were the industrial reasons for Khrushchev’s ousting?
His decision to promote production of consumer goods offended those who thought he was giving inadequate attention to heavy goods
What were the military reasons for Khrushchev’s oustings?
He offended the military by wanting to reduce expendiure on conventional arms and concentrate on nuclear arms
What were the foreign policy for Khrushchev’s oustings?
There was widespread disapproval of Khrushchev’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and he was personally blamed for poor relations with China
