Khrushchev - Government

Question 1

who were the three main contenders in the power struggle after Stalin’s death?

Answer 1

Khrushchev - had the support of the party behind him
Malenkov - had the support of the state
Beria - had control over the NKVD.
Malenkov replaced Stalin as Premier of the USSR, Khrushchev became head of the central committee.

Question 2

what were Khrushchev’s political strengths?

Answer 2

• popular as he had a working class background
• politically apt but underestimated by others
• understood science and agriculture
• had a power base within the party

Question 3

what were Malenkov’s political strengths?

Answer 3

• heir apparant after Stalin’s death

- power base within the state

Question 4

what were Beria’s political strengths?

Answer 4

• had control of the NKVD
• ended up with the most power under the joint leadership
• close friend and ally of Stalin
• secret police files on his opposition at his disposal

Question 5

what were Khrushchev’s political weaknesses?

Answer 5

• no support from the state

- named lower on the lists of Stalin’s successors

Question 6

what were Malenkov’s political weaknesses?

Answer 6

• funeral speech lacked emotion
• handicapped by alliance with Beria
• controlled missile and agriculture production during WWII
• bad blood with the Red Army

Question 7

what were Beria’s political weaknesses?

Answer 7

• widely feared and blamed for the purges
• feared that he would revert to a Stalinist dictatorship
• responsible for purging the Red Army

Question 8

what measures towards de-Stalinisation did Beria take?

Answer 8

• March 1953 Beria gives an amnesty to political prisoners and counter revolutionaries.
• May 1953 a party commission set up to rehabilitate the 5000 wrongly executed
• Gulag population drops from 2.4 to 1.6 million (undermining the MVD)

Question 9

What happened to Beria?

Answer 9

June 1953 he was arrested, tried and executed for his role in the terror.

Question 10

what happened politically after Beria’s death?

Answer 10

Malenkov and Khrushchev remain in dual power until 1954

Question 11

what did Krushchev do to the party in 1953-56?

Answer 11

he replaced 44% of the central committee with those loyal to him. he also attacks Malenkov by reducing the number of regional committees to 25 and giving more power to the republics.

Question 12

what happened to Malenkov?

Answer 12

in Feb 1955 he loses his premiership, replaced by Bulganin who is loyal to Khrushchev. in 1957 he is ousted from power.

Question 13

what was the secret speech of 1956?

Answer 13

at the 20th party congress on Feb 14th 1956 Khrushchev called a secret meeting after 10 days of Politburo debate. there was no press and no guests.

Question 14

what did Khrushchev say in his secret speech?

Answer 14

• attacked Stalin’s cult of personality using Marxist ideology and accusing him of wanting to eclipse Lenin.
• he claimed that Stalin had undermined the party by doing away with collective leadership and purging the 17th party congress was used as an example.
• he criticized Stalin for not preparing for operation Barbarossa despite being informed. He also spoke for the first time about the deportation of entire nationalities.
• he told people Stalin had fabricated the doctors plot

Question 15

what did Khrushchev not mention in the secret speech?

Answer 15

• no attack on the party, leninism, communism, secret police, 5 year plans or collectivisation.

Question 16

why did Khrushchev give the secret speech?

Answer 16

• trying to split Stalin from Lenin and promote Leninism
• seeks to win the support of the party
• only the state was getting things done, this was his attempt to activate the party.

Question 17

what was the impact of the secret speech within the party?

Answer 17

• led to the renewed importance of the party and the Red Army, with the MVD being sidelined along with the state
• Malenkov forms an anti-party group in 1957, he won a vote 7 to 4 to expel Khrushchev who calls an emergency congress protected by the army and expels Malenkov from the party
• it ended political terror - June 1956 saw over 50,000 prisoners released
• the party gained popularity, from 6 million members to 11 million by 1964.

Question 18

what was the impact of the secret speech internationally?

Answer 18

led to unrest in Poland and Hungary - in Poland their leader had a heart attack reading the speech and mass demonstrations followed, Khrushchev intervened and allowed his equivalent to be elected. Hungary was inspired by Poland, demonstrations lead to Nagy seizing power and setting up democratic elections. in Nov the USSR, Germany and Poland invade Hungary and hang Nagy.

Question 19

what did Khrushchev do at the 22nd party congress?

Answer 19

in 1961 destalinisation restarts and Khrushchev accuses Stalin of being involved in Kirov’s murder.

Question 20

what does Khrushchev do to the party in 1962?

Answer 20

he splits the party into an agricultural sector and an industrial sector - including the Politburo.

Question 21

what happened to Khrushchev?

Answer 21

the party majorly opposed his reforms and so he was deposed in 1962