Khrushchev Interpretations Flashcards
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - Destalinisation - A Break from the Past or Not
A Break from the Past arguments:
- More economic freedom through 105 Regional Councils, MTS stations dismantled.
- Gulags emptied and amnesty on political prisoners, censorship relaxed.
- NKVD brought under control and KGB less aggressive internally.
- Party given greater status, Politburo and collegiate leadership encouraged.
- Anti-Party group members not killed, simply demoted.
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - A Break from the Past or Not
Not a Break from the Past arguments:
- Command economy still maintained.
- Force used to quell unrest in Hungary and internally at Noverchaask.
- Censorship is retured after negative books published about Stalin.
- Anti-religious and anti-semitic policies show no break from the past.
- Sidelining of enemies in power struggle including shooting of Beria and attack on the Anti-Party Group alike to Stalin.
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - USSR Internally Peaceful or Not
Internally Peaceful arguments:
- No major unrest, peasants satisfied due to focuses of agricultural improvement.
- Relaxation of censorship allowed more literary freedom.
- Secret police not as invasive internally.
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - USSR Internally Peaceful or Not
Not Internally Peaceful arguments:
- Peasants apathetic after horrors of Stalin, Virgin Lands was not hugely supported.
- Workers angry at food prices and wages leading to violent repression at Noverachaask 1962.
- Censorship returned after negative books published about Stalin.
- Anti-religious and anti-semitic policies cause internal rifts
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - Destalinisation or Other Factors for his Fall
Destalinisation argument:
- Decentralisation of government threatening key members of the party.
- Allowing greater debate and freedom within the politburo made it easier for Brezhnev to overthrow him.
- Destalinisation weakening Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe and causing rift with China.
- Secret Speech criticising Stalin, and by proxy his main supporters.
Khrushchev and the Nature of Government - Destalinisation or Other Factors for his Fall
Other Factors argument:
- Failure of agricultural policy.
- Loss of prestige in Cuba and international embarrassments.
- Intolerable personality traits, arrogance and contradictions over censorship.
- Deterioration of relations with China.
- Defence cuts which annoyed the military (Zhukov particularly).
Khrushchev and Economy and Society - Reforms a Failure or Not Courageous Failure (sympathetic) argument:
- Tried to create agro-towns and lighten the command economy.
- Unable to reform the command economy hugely due to unwillingness by many of the party to accept any notion of capitalism.
- State Pricing Mechanisms and Working Hour restrictions fine, however unable to make major change in the context of command economy.
- Tried to give a degree of social freedom however had to renege when people took criticisms too far.
Khrushchev and Economy and Society - Reforms a Failure or Not
Hare-Brained Failure (critical) argument:
- Reforms such as the Virgin Lands Scheme were well intended and initially successful but were badly planned, such as use of poor quality land and lack of fertilisers and thus resulted in failure.
- He hadn’t accounted for the bureaucratic Soviet system that wouldn’t allow for quick implementation of reforms.
- He did not realise the threat that some Communist members would have felt because of some of the changes; loss of industrial interests.
- They were not radical enough to deal with the backwardness that Stalin had left behind, command economy continued and arms and space race offset consumer improvements.
Khrushchev and Economy and Society - Reforms a Failure or Not Considerable Achievement (positive) argument:
- It was only in 1963 that there was a significant fall in grain production and that was mainly due to poor weather, its failure has been exaggerated.
- He made quite radical change to industrial infrastructure (105 Regional Economic Units) in establishing light industries and thus raised living standards.
- He had to prioritise political problems and dealt with them effectively for example closing Gulags and placing the NKVD under control.
Khrushchev and War and Revolution - Inspirational and Innovative or Erratic and Impulsive
Inspirational and Innovative argument:
- In his Secret Speech he took the USSR away from the dangerous competition of Stalin by claiming, ‘There are only two ways – either peaceful coexistence [with the West] or the most destructive war in history. There is no third way.’ This can be seen as him trying to create a more peaceful and secure world.
- Khrushchev ended Soviet occupation of Austria and allowed it to integrate with the West in 1955.
- When this move towards a ‘thaw’ saw Russia’s satellites trying to gain more freedom, such as Hungary in 1956, Khrushchev was quick to react with tanks gaining support from the Communist Party in Russia as a whole.
- His erection of the Berlin Wall also prevented further embarrassment to the GDR in regards to mass migration, leading to support at home as a satisfactory solution had been achieved without conflict.
- The Cuban Missile Crisis is seen as a success as he tested Kennedy’s resolve, and rather than call his bluff and invade Cuba he decided to (secretly) remove missiles from Turkey. The ‘hotline’ between the White House and the Kremlin was also established, strengthening the peaceful coexistence stance.
- He also subsequently started to begin the process to détente with the Test Ban Treaty in 1963, paving the way for SALT negotiations.
Khrushchev and War and Revolution - Inspirational and Innovative or Erratic and Impulsive
Erratic and Impulsive argument:
- Some Communists saw it as a betrayal of Marxist-Leninist ideas of ‘World Revolution’. This happened within the USSR but most notably caused a rift with Maoist China who accused him of being ‘too soft on imperialists’, he then withdrew military support when the Chinese needed it.
- Some point at the Hungarian Revolt as a ‘disaster’ that was caused by de-stalinisation but in fact put the movement back with the ruthless suppression that was a poor advert for Communism worldwide.
- The Berlin Wall was an oppressive and inhumane measure that only worsened relations with the West.
- By taking Kennedy to the brink in the Cuban Missile Crisis Khrushchev nearly provoked a catastrophic nuclear war. When he then agreed to remove missiles from Cuba he was seen by fellow Russian officials as someone who had backed down. This also led to a huge rift with Cuba, and Castro took the lead in trying spread worldwide Communism.
Khrushchev and War and Revolution - Inspirational and Innovative or Erratic and Impulsive
Both argument:
This is a fairly simple interpretation to evidence. You could use supporting points from either of the other two viewpoints to cogently support this kind of argument. Best examples could be;
- He was erratic and impulsive over Berlin and Cuba but the objective was respect and not WW3.
- The Berlin Wall was inhumane but it did certainly stabilise the Cold War situation in Europe.
- His swift dealing with the Hungarian Crisis ended it, although did turn some against Communism – however the Suez distraction was very well manipulated.
The split with China was possibly more down to Mao than it was to Khrushchev who tried to foster good relations but would not be browbeat.
Khrushchev and the Empire - A Courageous Failure in Minorities, Satellite States and Asia Policy or Not
Courageous Failure argument:
- Khrushchev’s appeasement of Tito, allowing him a certain amount autonomy encouraged eastern European states to follow the Yugoslavian model and thus created instability within the Soviet bloc.
- The Hungarian Crisis was a disaster because he was forced into ‘Stalinist’ use of force to deal with opposition and De-Stalinisation and further liberal reforms in eastern Europe suffered a setback until Gorbachev.
- The violence in Hungary put off western communist sympathisers, preventing hope of Soviet expansion.
- The creation of the Berlin Wall to conclude the German Question once again shows a resort to repression when liberalism failed.
- De-Stalinisation worsened relations with China, who feared the impact within their movement. It led to a Sino-Soviet split with the Chinese claiming to be the real upholders of Marxism and thus dividing the Communist world in a way that was unfeasible under Stalin.
Khrushchev and the Empire - A Courageous Failure in Minorities, Satellite States and Asia Policy or Not
Courageous Success arguments:
- Khrushchev gained Tito’s support over the Hungarian Rising, and also gained the approval of Mao by using force (after conversations with him that suggest that Khrushchev was rather torn on what to do).
- The West also failed to intervene in Hungary, giving him a propaganda success.
- Khrushchev prevented further economic damage to Communist East Germany with the creation of the Wall and removed western influence by sealing it off.
- Mao’s attempts to manipulate Khrushchev failed, although he had been instrumental in supporting him through the Hungarian Crisis. He refused to give them potentially dangerous military support in India and Taiwan and thus ensured ‘peaceful coexistence’.
- Mao did try his 100 Flowers campaign (allowing Chinese leadership to be dicussed and criticised) out of fear of being likened to Stalin after Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech’.
