Liberation in the USSR🌺 Flashcards
What campaign speech was made in February 1946? When did George Kennan make his Long Telegram, and what was issued by the USSR?
In February 1946, Stalin made a campaign speech calling to prepare for war, but allowing rebuilding first. He reflected on Soviet achievements, but an American politburo referred to it as calling for ‘World War Three.’ American Diplomat George Frost Kennan made his Long Telegram on 22 February. N K Novikov made his response telegram in September 1946, as Soviet ambassador in Moscow, arguing that America seeked to achieve world domination and as the USSR acted as a barrier to this, the US wanted to reduce their influence.
What strategy did Stalin use to gain control? What did he tell Georgi Dimitrov? What did he advise Communists to do, but why was this difficult? What were methods of controlling Germany? What did Stalin tell Yugoslav communist Djilas?
Stalin had a popular front strategy in Europe. It is debated as to whether the gradual Sovietization was a cover to achieve domination or if Stalin genuinely wanted a national road to socialism. In Germany, he told Georgi Dimitrov, ‘ All of Germany must be ours, Soviet,’ and directed Communists to merge with the Social Democrats to form the Socialist Unity Party, but Allies had control over the richer, larger part, so they could not enforce full control. A middle ground would be a demilitarised and neutral Germany, or a minimum program to set up a client state in the Eastern dominated zone. Stalin famously told the Yugoslav communist Milovan Djilas, in April 1945, ‘this war is not like those of the past…. Whoever occupies a territory imposes their own social system upon it.’
What did John Lewis Gaddis argue?
What did countries show to counter this?
What showed his intentions of world revolution?
What did Eduard Mark consider as evidence of this?
What countries did Stalin have relaxed attitude towards, and what changed this?
John Lewis Gaddis argues that, ‘ as long as Stalin was running the USSR, the Cold War was inevitable.’ A traditionalist view which can be backed up by archives which showed Stalin had influence over foreign policy. However, the countries, at the time, showed potential for diverse futures. Some argue that the building of National Fronts to remove non-communists from government shows his intentions of taking over the European area occupied by the Red Army. Eduard Mark cites Stalin’s advice to Eastern Germans, as he told them to advance to socialism with zig-zags as to not alienate the West. While Stalin wanted friendly government in Poland to accept the border move, he appeared fine with Hungary and Czechoslovakia being more relaxed. Finlandization would have relaxed the West. Only in 1947 with the failure of the Conference of Foreign Ministers to come up with a peace treaty, the ERP being set up, the Truman Doctrine, and the exclusion of French and Italian communists from government, did Stalin set up Cominform in September 1947 and permit the February 1948 coup in Czechoslovakia.
What were the USSR’s actions in Germany, and how did they mistreat citizens?
It was hoped Germany could be reunified, but this could vary from a neutral country to one sharing the ideology of the US or USSR. At Yalta it was agreed that Germany and Berlin would be split into four. Soviet reparations denuded their zone; East of Elbe, trains sent factories Eastwards, destroying this agricultural zone, while families were raped and attacked by drunken Soviets on anti-German propaganda. German communists, raising this issue, were told by Stalin not to ruin the Red Army’s name.
What did Stalin reject from Potsdam, and what narrative gave Communists power in the East?
In 1946 Stalin rejected economic reform agreed to at Potsdam while the West attempted to integrate economies. In the East, after the war, the Communists had a good reputation for fighting Nazism. While the authoritarian right had been purged out, and parties were scared to take an anti-communist ‘fascist’ line, the Communists were able to stop free expression and grow in popularity, as the PCI did, increasing from 6000 to 2,000,000 by 1948. Meanwhile, national fronts allowed them to maximise political power. Communists had originally just wanted friendly governments, demanding agrarian reform and limited expansion of public sector.
How did the USSR gain control in Romania?
Gheorghe Gheorgiu-Dej was a moderate communist, allowing the monarchy to survive until 1947, the non-Communist Petru Groza, and advocated for coalition with the National Peasant Party and liberal representatives. He had moderate agrarian reform and didn’t touch Church lands until later. However, by March 1948, the People’s Democratic Front won rigged elections after the NPP was banned in 1947 and the social democrats had to merge with the Communists while King Michael abdicated.
How did the USSR gain control in Bulgaria?
Coalitions didn’t last much longer, purges wiped out opposition, and the rest had to join the Fatherland Front. By 1948 the Social Democrats were forcibly absorbed.
How did Communists gain control in Hungary?
In 1945 the Communists made 17%, but the KGP, Smallholders Party, won a majority with their leader Ferenc Nagy becoming Prime Minister. Purges of former fascists wiped out opposition, and in 1947 the Communists made 22%, or 60% including the KGP. By 1949 the Communists had turned themselves into the Hungarian Workers’ Party, and no group dared to oppose it.
How did takeover evolve from peaceful reform to nationalisation, and how was liberation defined?
The idea of a grand plan was spread across the Cold War, considering communists to be conspirators. The West had to be vigilant. The East were moderate at first, with agrarian reform, extended public sector through nationalisations.. Only later turning to eliminating private property. By 1947-48 Communist rule was in place and this is believed to be defined by agreements at Yalta and Potsdam, and the October 1944 Percentages Agreement. The battlefield defined the borders. Albania would liberate itself by 1960, and Yugoslavia by 1950. The worsening of relations between the US and USSR only made things worse.
How did the USSR take advantage of takeover? (i.e. - ethnic cleansing and stealing).
Russians took advantage of their takeover. Zhukov filled his home with paintings and treasures from Germany, while in Baltic and West Ukraine there was ethnic cleansing and mass deporations to make space for Russian and East Ukraine immigrants.
What did Truman announce and Potsdam? How had the USSR been cautious so far with their occupation?
In July 1946, Stalin expected reparations for making protracted war against Japan, and a Polish-German border, but Truman announced he had the atom bomb. So far, Stalin had been cautious in his policy, not intervening with the Communists attempting to have a coup in Greece, and having the minimal program in East Germany of agrarian reform to appeal to West Germany. He wanted to have a bourgeoise-democratic revolution, a February 1917 as opposed to October.
What changed after Hiroshima, and what new toughness was established in Hungary?
With Hiroshima, Andrei Gromyko recalled that Stalin felt the need for East Europe as defence, and established new toughness in Hungary. Marshall Voroshilov, Stalin’s ‘pro-consul,’ established a coalition government and obtained control of the Ministry of Interior to push out the fascist opponents, investigating and arresting them. These were salami tactics, yet Communists believed they were on the right side of history.
What coup d’etat was held in Romania?
Coup d’etat was held with the RCP growing in size from 1000 members according to Ana Pauker, the leader of the Communist Party, and 80 members in Bucharest. They believed they had history on their side, and had a coup on the 23 August 1944.
What did the Polish lose, and what did Romanians lose? What elections were rigged in Romania? Which party won in 1947 Poland elections?
The Polish lost the kresi, land in the East, and the Romanians lost Bessarabia and Transnistria, a part of Ukraine it had occupied. After gaining power in February 1945, the November 1946 elections were rigged, helping them to hold onto their power. In People’s Poland, 1947, in the Stanislaw election, Mikolajckzyk’s Polish Party won more support than Stalin’s place-men, but Gomulka won.
What city in Poland was inhabited by refugees? Why was Sovietisation less effective?
Former German territory, western Poland, with the city Breslau/Wroclaw, was inhabited by millions of refugees from the kresi, and the Sovietization was less effective here due to the Catholic Church’s power, alongside the failure to collectivise peasantry. Between 1946-53, Gomulka established full control, with Mikolajckzyk running for his life by October 1947.
