Khrushchev Flashcards
German secret police under Khrushchev
Stasi
When was the Hungarian Uprising?
1956
Who initially took power after Stalin’s death?
Georgy Malenkov
Why was Lavrentiy Beria executed?
After 1953 East German uprising, he was suspected of taking American money for reunification of Germany
What happened to Georgy Malenkov post 1955?
In 1955 forced to resign as soviet premier due to relations with Beria, in 1957 he attempted a Coup, kicked out of party and exiled to Kazakhstan in 1961
Who was known as Stalin’s protégé and criticised destalinisation?
Vyacheslav Molotov
Who replaced Malenkov as Soviet Premier in 1955?
Nikolai Bulganin
Why did Malenkov, Molotov and Bulganin oppose Khrushchev, and what did the Politburo do?
Felt his liberal policies lead to the unrest Poland and Hungary, voted for him to be removed as party secretary, but Khrushchev argued that whole party should decide
Why was Bulganin forced to resign in 1957?
He admitted to involvement within the “anti-party group”
Who did Khrushchev send in to do farming, and was it a successful move?
Communist youth - No
Why was Beria feared?
After Stalin’s death, the powers of the secret police had increased
What didn’t help the VLP in regard to crop choice?
Decided what crop they wanted to grow, not what was possible to grow in the soil
What were the core reasons for destalinisation?
To justify more progressive economic measures (privatisation); to help aid co-existence with the west and to absolve Khrushchev and other leaders involved in Stalin’s errors
Why would Khrushchev personally want destalinisation?
To sever ties from his role within the purges
What was set up in 1955?
A committee looking into Stalin’s repressive policies
What did Khrushchev say in his secret speech?
Criticised purges, handling of WW2, Foreign policy, and read out Lenin’s letters condemning Stalin
What happened as a result of the secret speech?
Hungarian and polish uprisings, tension with chairman Mao
What did Khrushchev report to the central committee in 1953?
That grain production and livestock was lower than in the final years of the Tsarist regime
What happened to the price of grain between 1953 and 1956?
It went up 25%
What happened in regard to collective farms?
Could set own targets and choose how to use land, encouraged to merge collective farms to create larger farms, collective farms halved from 1950 to 1960
What was there a campaign about?
Private cows, they were “voluntarily” given to the collective farms
What was the young communist league called?
Komsomol
How did cereal production change from 1952 to 1953-6, to 1957-1960 to 1961-1964 (excluding maize)?
From 82m tons to 99m to 120m to 132m
How did meat production change from 1952 to 1953-6 to 1957-60 to 1961-4m
5.2m tons to 6.3m to 8.2m to 9.1m
How did farmers incomes change from 1952-8?
More than doubled
How many volunteers were there for VLP?
250k, mainly Komsomol
How many tractors were given for the VPL?
120k
How many acres were freshly ploughed within the first year?
6 million
What happened in 1963 and what did Khrushchev have to do?
Grain production went down a third, which lead to a shortage of animal fodder, so slaughtered livestock, Khrushchev had to import large quantities of grain from NA & Australia to avoid famine
When were Gulags shut down?
1961
What changed in courts?
Anti-state crimes could no longer be tried in secret courts, military courts now only for espionage cases, or where military personnel involved, confessions not enough to get a conviction, presumed guilt in counter revolutionary cases dropped
What happened to the secret police in 1954?
State owned again
How happened to laws and the death penalty in 1961?
Death penalty covered a broader range of crimes, also used retroactively, parasites law introduced - if someone was thought to be avoiding socially useful work, could be internally exiled, property confiscated on the verdict of local groups if confirmed by the town Soviet, increased penalties for hooliganism
Which 1954 book criticised Stalin’s regime?
“The Thaw” - Ilya Ehrenburg
Which book about life in the Gulags were published in 1962?
“A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Only work published before 1990)
Which booked was not allowed to be published in the USSR, why, and what award did it receive?
“Dr Zhivago” - Boris Pasternak, alleged anti-Soviet themes, won Nobel prize for literature in 1958, had to turn it down due to pressure from KGB, thought he wouldn’t be let back into Russia if he collected the award
How did Khrushchev remove Stalin’s cult of personality?
Stalin’s body moved from Lenin’s mausoleum to outside the Kremlin wall in 1961, all of Stalin’s faces removed from art work, words in national anthem changed to remove mention of Stalin, places named after Stalin changed (e.g. Stalingrad change to Volgograd in 1961)
Who were the 4 main conspirators to remove Khrushchev in 1957?
Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich and Dmitri Shepilov
What was the Ukrainian man made famine of 1932-3 called and who was a major orchestrator of it?
Holodomor - Lazar Kaganovich
Who were there lots of jobs for, and why?
Those at the top - due to Stalin’s purges
What was abolished in 1958?
Compulsory subscriptions to the state
What happened to taxes and pensions in 1958?
Bachelor’s tax and taxes on childless couples lifted, pensions improved, and peasants now eligible for pension
What were working conditions like under Khrushchev?
40hr work week introduced (reduction in hours), increase in wages of lowest paid, factory trade unions given more responsibilities, difference between high and low incomes were the lowest in any highly industrialised country
How did ownership of cars go (per 1000 people) from 1955 to 1966?
2 to 5
How did ownership of radios, fridges, washing machines, sewing machines, and TVs (per 1000 people) from 1955 to 1966?
From 66 to 171, 4 to 40, 1 to 77, 31 to 151 and 4 to 82
Which country was never a part of the Warsaw Pact?
Yugoslavia
What was the average working hours in 1958?
7 hours a day
When and what was the Belgrade Declaration?
In 1955 - allowed to countries to interpret communism as they wished
What happened in Poland, as a result of the Belgrade declaration?
There was a “Polish Thaw” in October 1956, Poland had more control over its domestic affairs, but had to restate its commitment to the Warsaw pact
Who was the Polish leader?
Władysław Gomułka
Who was forced to resign as Hungarian leader in June 1956?
Mátyas Rákosi
Who was put in as leader of Hungary?
Imre Nagy
What was allowed after the new leader was appointed?
Political parties allowed to meet again, red army left Hungary, the leader of the Hungarian catholic church was released from prison
What happened on 31st October 1956?
Imre Nagy announced that Hungary would be leaving the Warsaw pact
What happened on 4th November 1956?
Soviet tanks sent into Budapest, upto 4,000 killed
What happened after the Hungarian uprising?
Nagy was tried and executed, Rákosi reinstated as leader of poland, 20k Hungarians fled to the west
What was the Hungarian secret police called?
The AVH
What happened to Georgia in March 1956?
Uprising crushed with gunfire, several hundred died, others went to prison camps
Why was Georgia against destalinisation?
Stalin was a national hero
What policy did Khrushchev deploy in agriculture?
Decentralisation
How did Khrushchev incentivise peasants to increase their production?
Increase price the state paid for agricultural good off peasants, reduced state quotas that collective farms had to achieve, reduced tax and calculated it by plot size, not by property owned, cut quotas on peasants private land, from 1953, farmers without animals didnt have to supply meat to the state, collectives could set their own targets and have more say in how their land was used
What other agricultural policies did Khrushchev introduce?
Increased number of farms connected to electricity, campaigned for introduction of new crops, such as maize, creation of agro-cities, this policy never got far
What did Khrushchev campaign in 1962?
Increase the use of chemical fertilisers
What did Khrushchev disband in 1958?
Machine Tractor Stations, sold machinery to collective farms
In his aims for decentralisation, how many Moscow ministries did Khurshchev shut down?
60
What did Khrushchev change economically with decentralisation?
USSR split into 105 different economic reasons, with own local economic council (Sovnarkhoz)
What did Khrushchev have to gain politically from decentralisation?
Most of Malenkov’s supporters were in the central ministries
What did Khrushchev promise in 1959?
A 40% wage increase by 1965
What did Khrushchev change about the railways?
Electrified, changed engine to run on diesel, railway expanded
What happened in regards to air travel?
Airoflot was subsidised to allow cheap long distance flights
What was launched in 1959?
The ice breaker ‘Lenin’ world’s first civil nuclear powered ship
What happened in the space race in 1957, 59, 61 and 63?
First artificial satellite launched (Sputnik), Sputnik II took a dog (laika) into orbit; red flag put on moon, photos of ‘dark side of the moon’; April, Yuri Gagarin first man in space; Valentina Tereshkova first female cosmonaut
How many millions of Tons of coal was produced from 1955 to 58 to 65?
391, 496, 578
How many billions of kilowatts of electricity were generated in 1955, 58 and 65?
170, 235, 507
How many tractors made from 1955 to 58 to 65?
314,000 to 415,000 to 804,000
How many TV sets were made from 1955 to 58 to 65?
495,000 to 979,000 to 3,655,000
How many fridge were made from 1955 to 58 to 65?
151,000 to 360,000 to 1,675,000
How much had been spent on retail (inc food) from 1955 to 58 to 65?
50.2m Roubles to 67.2 to 104.8
What distorted the economy?
Heavy spending on the space race and armaments
What was economic growth like under Khrushchev?
10% per year, went down to 7.5%
How much did consumer industries grow in 1964?
2%
What did Khrushchev do to oppose religion?
Created atheism schools, banned church services to kids
What were the aims of the 1954 Geneva convention?
To end Korean and Indo-China war
What piece of diplomacy was conducted with Austria in 1955?
A peace treaty, originally partitioned between allied powers, allowed to be independent if promised to be neutral
What happened at the 1955 soviet summit?
Khrushchev and Bulganin talked to Eisenhower about possible disarmament
What happened in regard to Finland in Khrushchev’s foreign policy?
Russian bases in Finland were closed
How many people fled to West Berlin from 1949 to 1957?
2 Million
What did Khrushchev threaten to do to East Germany?
Release DDR as own nation
When were foreign players allowed to visit Moscow?
1954
Why did Khrushchev storm out of a meeting with Eisenhower in 1960?
He refused to apologise after the USSR shot down a U2 spy plane that was flying over Russia
Why was there a meeting with Kennedy in 1961?
To sort tensions out over Germany
Why was there tensions with China over communism?
Russia noted chinese inferiority, they weren’t as industrialised, Maoists accused USSR of abandoning revolution
How did Khrushchev offer to help the Chinese nuclear programme?
Promised to help if they had some say in defence policy, Mao rejected offer
What did Khrushchev say about Mao and vice-versa?
“Living corpse” and “Khrushchev has moved from adventurism to capitulationism”
What did Mao say about the USSR in 1964?
It needed a counter revolution to become communist
When was the bay of pigs invasion?
April 1961
How did Khrushchev justify the Cuban situation?
Denied missiles in Cuba, said US blockaded Cuba
How was the US preparing for war?
2nd biggest invasion force since D-Day formed in Cuba
How was the Cuban Missiles crisis resolved?
Khrushchev would remove Cuban missiles it Kennedy removed missiles from Turkey (Americans didn’t know they existed)
How did Khrushchev show preferential treatment to his son-in-law?
He appointed him to the central committee, he took him to Germany, rather than the foreign minister or German ambassador
Why was Khrushchev ousted from power?
Failure of VLS, too much focus on consumer goods offended military by focusing on nuclear weapons rather than conventional ones, poor handling of CMC and relations with China, decentralisation offended key party members
What did the 7 year plan fail to meet its targets in?
Gross national income, consumer goods, mineral fertilisers and meat
What was the biggest failure in the 7 year plan?
Grain - target to get 164-80m tons, only produced 121m (meat also failed - hit 5.25m tons when goal was 6.1m)
What were the successes of the 7 year plan?
Steel (achieve target), industrial goods (exceeded target), oil (exceeded target by 2m tons)
What was the biggest success of the 7 year plan?
Workers employed- target was 66.5m, achieved 76.9m
What did the 7 year plan achieve in Regards to housing?
Surpassed target of available housing - 650-60 million, achieve 672.9m square metres
