Krushchev: communist governments in the USSR

Question 1

Who were the four after Stalin’s death

Answer 1

• Krushchev
• Malenkev
• Beria
• Molotov

Question 2

The leadership struggle after Stalin’s death

Answer 2

• 1953-55
• Stalin dominated the state and the party based on his reputation and his use of terror
• His power was uniquely personal, this meant no one could claim undisputed leadership of the soviet union
• Left no testament, or indication of who he wanted to be the next leader

Question 3

What happened to Molotov

Answer 3

• Disgraced in 1941 for the failure of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact (Nazi Soviet Pact) - supposed to achieve peace with Germany for 10 years

Question 4

Gregory Malenkov

Answer 4

• Rumoured to be Stalin’s choice
• After his death he took over from stalin as premier of the soviet union
• Malenkov’s power base was the state

Question 5

Lavrenity Beria

Answer 5

• Head of Stalin’s political’s police
• Deputy premier to Stalin in his last years
• Power base was the MVD

Question 6

Nikita Krushchev

Answer 6

• Secretary of the central committee on Stalin’s death
• No state role
• Popular member of the politburo
• Power base was the party
• Reputation for being “appratchiks appratchik”

Question 7

Beria’s actions after Stalin’s death

Answer 7

• A collective leadership is formed between Beria, KIrushchev and malenkov, with Beria the supposed leader
• Beria quickly moved to reduce the use of terror
• Amnesty issued on the 27th March 1953 - released a million prisoners, doctors plot denounced, and doctors were released
• Malenkov and Krushchev still fear Beria
• In june Beira was arrested, he was accused of being a british spy, and he was executed, this was an illegal act but Krushchev and Malenkov felt it was necessary to restore socialist legality

Question 8

Krushchev’s actions after Stalin’s death

Answer 8

• September 1953 became First Secretary of the central committee
• Filled the presidium (politburo) with his allies, removed half of those already elected in order to acheive this
• By 1956 Krushchev had outmanoeuvered his opponents

Question 9

What were Krushchev’s aims

Answer 9

• He beleived in the revolutionary goals of Lenin
• Wanted to create a society of plenty with no poverty or inequality
• Commitment to the revolution central to the future of communism, so encouraged public participation and more dynamism in the party
• “humane socialism” - socialism without the terror, rejected stalin’s belief in terror
• Krushchev’s aims were clear but he was impulsive and often announced his plans before thinking them through, this made him inconsistent

Question 10

The secret speech 1956

Answer 10

• 20th party congress Krushchev feel confident to criticise Stalin
• Accused Stalin of forming a cult of personality, tyranny and economic mistakes
• The speech failed to mention the holodamor as Krushchev had been the commissar of Ukraine at the time
• The speech also failed to mention that the politburo contained many members who benefited from Stalin’s rule

Question 11

De-stalinisation

Answer 11

• Return to legality of Lenin
• Humane socialism
  Reforms:
• Regular meetings of the presidium and central committee
• decentralise decision making, giving more power to organisations at regional level
• Party and government officials no longer faced prison for not meeting targets
• secret police no longer used for personal use, firmly under party control
• 2 million prisoners were released from labour camps between 1953-60. Process was slow.

Question 12

Reaction to destabilisation

Answer 12

• Welcomed by the people
• Though fear did not disappear
• Criticism outside of the boundaries laid down by the party resulted in internal exile or admittance to a psychiatric hospital
• Population were aware that secret police had sophisticated methods of surveillance

Question 13

Crisis of 1957

Answer 13

• Anti party group
• attempt to overthrow Khrushchev as a result of the decentralisation of power
• led by Malenkov, Molotov, Shepilov and Kaganovich
• They were caught but not imprisoned or executed instead given unimportant jobs
• for example Molotov became ambassador of Mongolia

Question 14

Destalinisation after the crisis of 1957

Answer 14

• Khrushchev pushed harder for destalinisation
• Stalins body was removed from Lenin’s mausoleum in red square
• 1962 party divided into industrial and agricultural, decentralised power
• limit to the length party officials could serve, created resentment as it threatened their power and privileges but made the party more responsive

Question 15

Fall of Khrushchev

Answer 15

• 1964 the central committee voted Khrushchev out
• it was an attempt for the party to maintain its power which Khrushchev had been decentralising
• however thus was a sign of Khrushchev impact on the party that the central committee could vote him out, he later remarked “Stalin would have had them shot”