Khrushchev Flashcards
What position did Khruschev initially hold?
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
How did Khruschev win the leadership struggle?
Economic debate- the Virgin Lands
What happened at the 22nd party congress?
Stalin’s body removed from Lenin’s mausoleum, more direct and public condemnation of Stalin- blamed him for the unpreparedness of the Soviet Union when Germany attacked in 1941 and for inept leadership.
the main elements of agricultural change under Khrushchev
Collective farms made larger (merging kolkhozes and sovkozes), effort to eradicate rural poverty, higher prices were paid for produce, Virgin Lands scheme. State employees given regular wage, annual holidays and sickness benefits
Aim of the Virgin Lands scheme
Grain production increased by a third by cultivating unused land in Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Volga region
Failure of Virgin Lands
Kazakhstan harvest failure 1963 and Russia forced to buy grain from the US
impact of Khrushchev’s response in Hungary on Communism
Communist parties in Western Europe lost many members and declined in influence
Poles under Khrushchev
Wanted greater freedoms after the secret speech- Khrushchev gave into their demands = far less oppressed e.g. peasants were allowed to leave collective farms to set up independent smallholdings and the Catholic church was once more allowed to teach religion in schools
Khrushchev’s foreign policy
Peaceful coexistence
Quotes from the secret speech
‘Stalin trampled on the Leninist principle of collective party leadership’
impact of the secret speech in Russia
Younger, better-educated people pleased. Older people remained loyal to Stalin’s memory= four day protests in Tbilisi
impact of the secret speech on Krushchev’s political position
Weaker- June 1957 Malenkov led Molotov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov and Bulganin in an (unsuccessful) coup
impact of the speech in satellite states
Seemed to provide the chance to rebel against foreign domination. Unrest in Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Led to the Hungarian uprising
heart attack after secret speech
Polish leader Bierut
Khrushchev’s economic innovation
the sovnarkoz reform February 1957- enterprises were no longer under the authority of ministries but of regional councils. Plants would now obtain their supplies from within their region. Failed because competition still remained between regional councils
New police structure
MVD in charge of internal policing, KGB in charge of external threats. Both were placed under direct administration of the party rather than an individual
Khrushchev and Yugoslavia
Khrushchev met with Tito to re-accept Yugoslavia as a communist state
Khrushchev and Hungary
Khrushchev sent 30,000 troops to deal with demonstrations, killing 20,000. Gero replaced with Nagy and Khrushchev promised Nagy and other European leaders more freedom, Nagy wanted to be out of the Warsaw pact. This coincided with the Suez Crisis which resulted in the prospect of Russia losing influence in the Middle East. Khrushchev sent troops back into Hungary and Nagy was replaced with the pro-soviet Kadar
Khrushchev reforms to the bureaucracy
Imposed policies that reduced the bureaucracy’s special privileges: 1962 abolished the monthly bonuses that high officials routinely received
Relationships with America
Attempted to negotiate peacefully during the Berlin crisis 1958-1961 e.g Geneva and Camp David summits in 1959 with Eisenhower. Deteriorated after U2 plane May 1960. 1961 Vienna conference with Kennedy failed to rebuild relationships, leading to the construction of the Berlin Wall
Negative impacts of the Cuban Missile crisis
discredited Khrushchev’s commitment to his allies of Cuba and China
Relationship with China
1958 Soviet union declined to provide China with military support in the conflict of Taiwan and USA. Sino-Soviet split in 1960 because of disagreements over Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence and the Soviet’s refusal to help China’s nuclear weapon build-up and to rectify the Russo-Chinese border
Bold but rash economic promise
surpassing the total western output of dairy products within three years
Failed agricultural reform
abolished Machine Tractor Stations but this now meant that peasants couldn’t afford machinery= agricultural stagnation in the 1960s
Example of the end of censorship during the thaw
‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ which criticised the labour camps published in 1962
How many political prisoners released?
2 million between 1953 and 1960
Height of tension in Sino-soviet relationships
1960 when Khrushchev ordered the removal of all 1390 Soviet experts in China and the cancellation of all 257 joint technical projects
Economic success
emphasis on consumer goods in the 7th five-year-plan caused consumer goods to increase by 60%
Evidence Mao was willing to follow de-Stalinisation
100 flowers campaign
Spoke about Lenin at the 8th Party Congress but not Stalin
Evidence Russia and China were united in 1956
Khrushchev consulted Mao before invading Hungary
Housing
construction of self-contained ‘agro-towns’ for peasants but these were built cheaply and thus of a poor standard