Dissidents and popular discontent

Question 1

Who was Andropov

Answer 1

a conservative suspicious of Khrushchevs liberalisation
Rejected use of mass terror
Want to use secret police to target small minority who refused to conform
known as dissidents

Question 2

Andropovs different strategies

Answer 2

Rejected show trials or other public attempts to control Soviet citizens

• Allowed dissident artists to emigrate, over 100,000 potential ‘trouble makers’ allowed to leave
• Sent opponents of regime to mental asylums received ‘treatment’ for their ‘paranoid reformist delusions’
• Put pressure on those deemed suspicious issuing formal warning 70,000 Soviet citizens received secret police warning in 1970’s

Question 3

Was Andropov successful?

Answer 3

Failed to stamp out opposition
Illegal material published,
Homemade samizdat magazines contained literature that Soviet authorises believed was counter revolutionary
Dissidents known in West remained free e.g Andrei Sakharvov

Question 4

Why did Soviet citizens feel popular discontent

Answer 4

• Anxious about slow improvement in living standards
• Dissatisfied with quality and availability of foo and consumer goods
• Resentful at the privileges and corruption of party members

Question 5

KGB reports that the loss of faith in system led to social malaise included an increase in?

Answer 5

alcoholism
Falling birth rate
Demand for western goods
Increased black market trade

Question 6

How did Andropov tackle the problem of malaise

Answer 6

Anti corruption - Investigated senior party officials,Nikolai Shchelokov (Minister of interior) used Soviet resources to make themselves rich

Anti alcohol campaign - Workers could be sacked for drunkenness

Operation Trawl - Anti drunkenness and anti absenteeism campaign,
KGB officers visited parks train stations arresting people who were drunk or absent from work