Khrushchev Flashcards
How did the use of media change under Khrushchev?
There was an increase in magazines, radios and televisions.
Soviet cinemas changed as many films focused on soviet victories, whilst others focused on the roles of ordinary people.
TV played a major role in celebrating the Soviet’s triumphs.
What did Khrushchev do to Stalin’s cult?
Criticised it and promoted destalinisation.
How did Khrushchev use the personality cult?
Portrayed himself as:
- a disciple of Lenin who was completing the journey Lenin started.
- responsible for new successes such as the Soviet space program and rising harvests in the Virgin Land Scheme
- respected statesman who negotiated with the US President as an equal
- Hero of WWII
- An authority of literature, art, science, industry and agriculture.
- Great performer who was perfecting the Soviet system.
What anti-religious policies did Khrushchev put in place?
- Wanted to revive the Anti-Religious campaign of the 1920s as he realised Church attendance was a form of resistance.
- Churches that were reopened during and after WWII were closed.
- Anti-religious propaganda was reintroduced
- Anti-religious magazines were reintroduced, for example Science and Religion was published regularly from 1960.
- Roman Catholic monasteries were closed in 1959.
- Orthodox convert were placed under surveillance
- Patrols refused to let believers have access to holy sites.
How did Khrushchev’s anti-religious policies succeed?
KGB succesful closed thousands of churches, reducing the number of Orthodox Church buildings from 8,000 in 1958 to 5,000 in 1964.
How did Khrushchev’s anti-religious policies fail?
- Failed to win the battle for the ‘soul of the Soviet people’
- Women organised their own campaigns to protect their religious freedoms.
- Some marched, other circulated pamphlets Christianity or Islam, while others took their children out of school in order to counter the anti-religious propaganda.
- Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign led to the birth of a new dissident campaign that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.
How did Khrushchev use Science against Religion?
- Used soviet space race program to attack religion.
- Yuri Gagarin said he traveled to the heavens and fond no God.
What did Khrushchev do about Islam?
- Islam groups were banned from running special events for women, sch as women-only prayer meetings.
- Khrushchev campaign also targeted Islamic women, reviving the 1920 campaign to liberate women from Islam
How did Khrushchev reduce the role of the secret police?
- Renounced the use of mass terror
- Stopped using the secret police as a weapon against the Party.
- Used ‘popular oversight’ were citizens disciplined themselves.
- Dissidents were dealt with through psychiatric rehabilitation/treatment.
What were the thaws?
Refers to the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were relaxed.
Millions of political prisoners were released from Gulag labour camps.
Why did western culture emerge under Khrushcev?
The thaws allowed for freer expression and also allowed for things such as western culture to emerge.
What were the limits of the thaws?
- there was a greater chance of criticism through art.
