KRUSCHEV DESTALINISATION 2 Flashcards
years after Stalins death their was a degree of relaxation= kruschevs thaw
opened up discussion within party regarding the true horrors of Stalins regime, gradually a process of private/silent desalinisation occured> due to hardline stalinists
krushcev ordered a secret commission to investigate Stalins abuse of power
the commsioenrs 70 page report said that near 2m people had been arrested 1935-40, near 700k of those had been executed, all the alleged plots and conspiracies had been fabricated- stalin had personally sanctioned torture to obtain confessions
krushcev delivered a secret speech at the 20th party congress 1956
deliverers a close session with no media, however the speech didnt stay secret printed and reached hands of 25m
the secret speech denounced stalin:
catalogued stalins crime agsint the party, attack stalin and his use fo self glorification (cop), referred to Lenin’s assessment of Stalins testament, focus on the attacks on memebers in the party pointing out 98/134 members of the 1934 central committee had been shot,
suggested stalin had orchestrated the killing of Kirov, blamed stalin for not being prepared for ww2 (purged military leaders,
however, not all features of stalin was reanocued in his speech
no criticism of marxism lens ideology, no criticism of Stalinn before 1934 or policy fo rapid industralsion and forced collectivism, no criticism of attacks of non party embers ge repression of kualks
other concequenses of desalinisation:
rehabilitation of purged victims, reshaping of communist party, Khrushchev thaw on soviet culture.
other concequenses of desalinisation: political
relaxation on totalirain control , secret polcie more collective leadership (moving away from autocratic rule) denouncing purges executions in sp= release of political prisoners from gulag
other concequenses of desalinisation: social
censorship, led to flourishing in literature/art that previously had been repressed, allowed open criticism of the state, education relaxed, =more open/liberal society
other concequenses of desalinisation:
outburst of anger against stalin
public meetings condemned stalin, portraits of stalin torn down, students in Moscow began to boycott university canteen
other concequenses of desalinisation:
International cocnequencces
protest broke out in Hungary and Poland after secret speech>too liberal, suppressed in a. powerful way
1957, speech allowed khurstchev opponents to challenge in his leadership
chiefly come from staunch stalinist who formed anti party group (malenkovled), challenged him on several motions
-critics speech, centralsion on power left bitterness, not happy with his leadership/stsyle of the gov
anti party won
7:4 so kruschev insitied the issue was to be voted on by a broader base=posted to central committee, krushcev won. anti part removed from positons of power and krushcevn head of gov and party
HOWEVER, HIGHLGITH UDNERLYING TENSION IN THE SOVET SYSTEM