Khrushchev Flashcards
When was the period of “Silent Destalinisation”?
1953-56
When did Khrushchev make his Secret Speech?
At the 20th Party Congress in February 1956
How many people read the Secret Speech on first day?
20-25 million people
How many prisoners were released during Silent Destalinisation?
7,000
How many prisoners were released in the 10 months after the Secret Speech?
617,000
What was party expansion like under Khrushchev?
Party membership expanded from 7 million in 1956 to 11 million in 1964
What happened in 1962?
Khrushchev split the party into urban and rural sections at all levels
What was “Decentralisation”
Dismantling Stalin’s policy of centralised control of the country and re-distributing power
What was “Democratisation”
Re-introducing a principle of democracy and reducing censorship slightly
When was the Hungarian Uprising?
1953
How did Khrushchev respond to the Hungarian Uprising?
He crushed it brutally, resulting in 22,000 Hungarian casulties
Who made up the “Anti-Party Group”?
Hardliners such as Molotov, Kaganovich and Koroshilov who strongly opposed the Secret Speech
How did Khrushchev deal with political opposition?
Usually demoted or expelled from the Party, rather than shot
How did Khrushchev decentralise the economy?
. Between 1954-55, 11,000 enterprises were transferred from central to republican control
. In May 1957, 105 regional councils were established to replace Central Economic Ministries
When were MTS abolished?
1958
What was the Virgin Lands Campaign?
More than 300,000 Komsomol volunteers were mobilised to cultivate 35.9 million acres of virgin land
What were the successes of the Virgin Lands Campaign?
In 1956, the harvest was the largest in Soviet History, with 125 million tonnes of grain produced. Over half came from the newly cultivated regions
What were the failures of the Virgin Lands Campaign?
Crop yields never reached as high as 1956 again and by 1963, the grain harvest was disastrous due to the infertility of the soil
What was the Maize Obsession?
85 million acres of maize was planted in an effort to increase the amount of livestock that Russia could rear.
What was the result of the Maize Obsession?
Only 1/6 of the corn planted was harvested ripe
What was the 7 Year Plan?
A programme for industrial growth, Khrushchev wanted rapid expansion of chemical industry in order to provide more mineral fertilisers for agriculture.
What was industrial growth like under Khrushchev?
. Overall industrial progress was impressive and there was a major increase in consumer goods.
. However, growth rates suffered due to the huge expense of the space and missile programmes
. By 1963-4, growth fell to the lowest during peace time
When was the first successful test of an ICBM?
August 1957
Who was the first man in space and when?
Yuri Gagarin- 1961
What was education like under Khrushchev?
The number of students in higher education almost trebled and in 1958, the secondary school leaving age was increased from 14 to 15
How did Khrushchev improve living conditions?
. In 1957, he launched a programme to end the housing shortage. The annual rate of housing construction doubled between 1956-67 and 108 million people moved into the new apartments.
. The number of doctors and hospital beds rose significantly
How did Khrushchev improve working conditions?
In 1956, the minimum wage rose sharply and there was a major increase in the pension scheme.
A 7 hour working day was introduced in 1960
When was the New Party Programme?
1961
What was the New Party Programme?
Khrushchev expressed a desire to move from socialism to “true communism”, which he predicted would be a chieved by 1980
What was Khrushchev’s attitude to religion?
He had a spirit of “militant atheism” and between 1959-64, 3/4 of all Christian churches and monasteries were closed down
What was Tamizdat?
Evading Soviet censorship by publishing works abroad
What was Samizdat?
Illegally copying dissident works by hand
What was “Syntaxis”?
A dissident samizdat poetry magazine run by Alexander Ginsburg
When did Boris Pasternak win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
1958
When was Krushchev deposed?
1964
