High stalinism Flashcards
dictatorship and totalitarianism; renewed Terror; the NKVD under Beria; Zhdanovism and the cultural purge; Stalin's cult of personality; the Leningrad affair; purges and the Doctors' Plot
How were decisions made after the GPW
no party congresses were held between 1939 and 1952
the politburo was reduced to an advisory body
big decisions were made by gatherings of Stalin’s inner circle and often Stalin could bypass both government and party and exert direct central authority
how did membership of the party change
members less likely to be committed ideologists from the peasantry or workers
new men were obedient bureaucrats who did not show initiative and avoided ideological debates
what is high Stalinism
the culmination of Stalin’s regime 1945-1953
Stalin’s authority over the state, party and the people and the cult of the personality reached its peak
example of Stalin playing his men off one another
Zhdanov challenged the policy of Malenkov
Malenkov was investigated as he lost his position as party secretary
Malenkov and Beria schemed against Zhdanov and engineered his political downfall in 1948
What positions did Stalin hold
head of government
Party chairman
why did Stalin play people off against each other and encourage rivalry
protect himself
make sure the members of the politburo worked hard to produce the outcomes he wanted
helped to confirm Stalin’s dominance
example of harsh treatment of people who had been outside of the USSR during the GPW
Leopold Trepper
led a spy ring in Nazi Germany
awarded a medal as a hero of the soviet union then immediately arrested and deposited in the gulag
What law was passed in February 1947
marriages to foreigners were outlawed
How were people in the newly annexed territories treated
needed to show unwavering loyalty
saying the wrong thing or brief contact with a foreigner could get a person denounced or arrested
How was surveillance used
hotels, restaurants and embassies were under surveillance with police watching for meetings between soviet girls and foreign men
What was Beria’s role
NKVD chief
deputy prime minister
member of politburo
in charge of developing a soviet atomic bomb
how was the NKVD reorganised and strengthened
separated into the MVD and MGB
what was the role of the MVD
ministry of internal affairs
controlled domestic security and the gulags
What was the role of the MGB
ministry of state security
handled counter intelligence and espionage
How many wartime survivors were sent to labour camps
around 12 million
How similar was the renewed terror to the terror of the 1930s
far fewer people were killed
but tens of thousands were arrested annually for counter revolutionary activities and millions sent to labour camps
who coordinated the cultural purge
Zhdanov
what 2 literary works began the Zhdanovschina by being purged
The adventures of a money and a collection of poems
the publishers were purged and the authors expelled for the Union of Soviet writes
what happened to socialist realism
re-asserted as the norm in literature, art and cinema
what did condemned artists have to do
make public recantations of their errors in order to keep working
what did favoured cinema show
criticisms of American commercialism
soviet achievements
the cult of Stalin
How was antisemitism prevalent in the cultural purge
Jewish artists were supressed of ignored
Jewish newspapers shut down
Nazi wartime atrocities portrayed and fascist crimes without mentioning jews
what happened to the great composer Prokofiev
came under criticism for anti socialist tendencies
found it difficult to get his music performed
removed from his teaching post
his wife was imprisoned as a way of intimidating him
What did Lysenko do
August 1948 given complete dominance over the Academy of Sciences
his theory crippled Soviet scientific development
How were Western influences blocked from the USSR
non-communist foreign newspapers were unobtainable
foreign radio transmission were jammed
only a few approved foreign books were translated into Russia
only Pro-soviet foreign writers and artists were allowed into the USSR
very few soviet citizens were allowed to visit the West
how was Stalin portrayed after the GPW
worlds greatest living genius
saviour of Russia during wartime
How was the Stalin’s image cultivated
seen in newspapers books, plays, films radio and speeches
became customary for the first and last paragraphs of any academic article or book to acknowledge Stalin’s genius on the subject
What happened on Stalin’s 70th birthday
Moscow’s red square was dominated by a giant portrait of Stalin suspended in the sky and illuminated by a halo of lights
How did towns compete over Stalin
competed with each other for the privilege of re-naming themselves after him
e.g. Stalingrad, Stalino, Stalinsk, Stalinabad
What were Stalin prizes
used to reward artistic or scientific work
Why was their party rivalries between Moscow and Leningrad
Leningrad was formerly the capital
Stalin always took care to prevent politicians with a power base in Leningrad from becoming too powerful e.g. Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kirov, Zhdanov
pride Leningrad took from its heroic role in the great siege
home of the revolution
What was the Leningrad affair
in 1949 after the removal and death of Zhdanov Stalin followed up by purging the Leningrad party
engineered by Beria and Malenkov
leading Leningrad party and government officials were arrested forced to confess and put on trial - all were executed in October 1950
more than 2000 officials form the city were removed from their post, exiled and replaced by pro-Stalin communists
What was the Mingrelian case and when was it
launched in 1951
purge of party officials in Georgia
what % of returned POWs were held in gulags
50
what happened to the party officials in the Mingrelian case
accused of collaboration with Western powers (mainly Mingrelians - ethnic group in Georgia)
what was the function of the Mingrelian case
limit Beria’s power as he was Mingrelian
suppression of non-Russian nationalities
How did the doctors plot begin
Female doctor wrote to Stalin in 1948 accusing the doctors who treated Zhdanov for his heart attack of sloppy methods contributing to his death
at the time nothing was done but used as an excuse for the doctors plot in 1952
what was the doctors plot
1952 many doctors accused of being part of a Zionist conspiracy to murder Zhdanov and other members of the leadership and were arrested
claimed that Jewish doctors were in the the pay of the United States and Israel and were abusing their positions to harm the USSR
when and where was the doctors plot announced
January 1953 Pravda announced a Jewish dominated medical establishment in pay of USA and Israel had infiltrated the Leningrad party and the red army
had killed Zhdanov and were plotting to kill Stalin
what happened to jews in the doctors plot
hundreds of doctors arrested and several of them tortured
thousands of ordinary Jews rounded up and deported to the gulag
anti-Jewish hysteria from the press made it so non-jews feared to enter hospitals and shunned all Jewish professional
