Renewed Terror Flashcards
What did Stalin ruthlessly enforce after the war?
isolation of the non-Soviet world
What were 2 reaons why Stalin ruthlessly enforced isolation of the non-Soviet world after the war?
1) national security at a time of emerging Cold War
2) Obsessive fear of ideological contamination
What is an evident sign of Stalin’s obsessive fear of ideological contamination?
his harsh treatment of returned prisoners of war and his purge of former army officers and anyone with knowledge of the world outside Russia
Within, the USSR, especially in areas newly incorporated into it (such as _____________ and ________) people needed to show unwavering loyalty, even in the small minutiae of daily life/
Baltic States
Ukraine
When was a law passed which outlawed marriages to foreigners?
Feb 1947
What was the law in feb 1947?
this outlawed marriages to foreigners
What 3 places were under surveillance, with police watching for meetings between Soviet girls and foreign men?
Hotels, restaurants and embassies
Who is an example of harsh treatment after returning to the USSR?
Leopold Trepper, Polish Communist
Who was Leopold Trepper who is an example of harsh treatment after returning to the USSR from the war?
he was a Polish Communist who risked his life as a key leader of the Red Orchestra, the left wing spy ring inside Nazi Germany. He was awarded the medal as a Hero of the Soviet Union, and immediately after deposition in the gulag, released in 1955
Who was a a Polish Communist who risked his life as a key leader of the Red Orchestra, the left wing spy ring inside Nazi Germany. He was awarded the medal as a Hero of the Soviet Union, and immediately after deposition in the gulag, released in 1955
Leopold Trepper
Who was head of the security apparatus in the post-war years?
Beria
What was the position of Beria post-war years?
he was head of the security apparatus, NKVD chief and deputy prime minister
How as the NKVD reorganised?
into two separate ministries:
MVD (internal affairs)
MGB (espionage)
What was the MVD (one function of the NKVD?
this controlled domestic security and the gulags as an internal affairs branch
How many people were arrested annually for counter revolutionary activities during the last years of Stalin?
tens of thousands
c how many war time survivors were went to labour camps?
12 million
What did the period after the war become known as?
Zhdanovchina
What was Zhdavnovchina?
this was the period after the war where Zhdanov had coordinated the great cultural purge launched by Stalin in 1946
Why was it typical of a totalitarian approach to culture to promote the ‘right’ ideology by using culture as a medium for propaganda?
as this surprised dissent and creative individualism
Why did Stalin want complete Soviet isolation and imprisonement of those who had come into contact with the West?
as he feared the spread of bourgeois and decadent western values
How did the Zhdanovchina begin?
with the purge of two literary works published in Leningrad (e.g the Adventures of a Monkey)- the authors were purged and expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers
What happened to writer Pasternak when he was condemned during the Zhdanovchina for his apolitical poems?
his girlfeidnd was sent to the gulag
Who’s girlfruend was sent to the gulag after he was condemned during the Zhdanovchina for his apolitical poems?
pasternak
What book is an example of a literary work which was purged and resulted in the author being banned from the Unionof Soviet Writers?
The Adventures of a Monkey
What was promoted as the true Soviet art during the Zhdanvochina which was a reassertion of that of the 1920’s and 1930s?
Socialist realism
Why was the great film director Eisenstein attacked for his epic film Ivan the Terrible>
as he portrayed the Tsar;s bodyguards as thugs rather than a progressive army
What type of novels, plays and films were praised?
those which denigrated American commercialism, or extolled Soviet achievements
What had suffered bad under the Zhdanov cultural purge?
Soviet music
How was a great composer intimindated into not performing his music?
the Soviet impirsoed his wife
Why were scientific developments crippled in 1948?
as teaching was based on Marxist principles
How was western influence completely blocked? (3)
Non-communist foreign papers were unobtainable, foreign radio transmissions were jammed and only a few approved foreign books were translated into Russian
What image of Stalin was projected after the war?
he was portrayed as th worlds’ greatest living genius, equally superior in all areas of philopshy, science, military strategy and economics
How as the image of Stalin as the worlds greatest living genius, equally superior in all areas of philopshy, science, military strategy and economics cultivated?
in newspapers, books, plays, films, radios
What did it become customary for the first and last paragraphs of any academic article or book to acknowledge?
Stalin’s genius on the subject with which they were writing
Which historian claimed that Stalin was accorded god-like veneration in the post war years?
Gregory Freeze
What 2 phrases praised Stalin after the war?
Father of all the peoples
Best friend of all the children
For how long had Stalin not visited a peasant village or Kolkhoz?
for 25 years
Where did Stalin spend most of his years after the war, and during the first 2 weeks of war?
at his dacha outside of Moscow
When did the Stalin cult reach a climax?
on his 70th birthday
How is it clear that Stalin’s cult reached a climax at his 70th birthday?
Moscow’s Red Squar was dominated by a giant portrait of Stalin, suspended in the sky and illuminated by halo of search lights
What had towns competed with each other for?
for the privilege of re-naming themsleves after him
What are 5 examples of towns named after Stalin?
Stalingrad, Stalinabad, Stalino, Stalinsk, Stalingorsk
What were Stalin prizes introduced for?
to reward artistic or scientific work (to counter balance wester Nobel prizes)
What were paintings commissioned to celebrate?
the mythic great moments in his earlier career
The Stalin cult was never enough for Stalin. What 2 thins did nothing to reduce his obsessive fear for his personal power>
adulation from the people, nor slavish obedience and flattery from his subordinates
Stalin deliberately enginerred an atmosphere of poisonous jealousies and personal rivalries. What were his 2 motives for doing this?
his paranoia about possible conspiracies against him and the tactic of divide and rule to prevent any subordinate from being too powerful
What is megalomania, which Stalin had?
an obsession with excessive power
