Russia (1953-1964) Power struggle, Khruschev's policies and his downfall, Space Race etc

Question 1

5th FYP aims and results…

(1951-1955)

Resources diverted to rearmamment for Korean War…

Answer 1

Aims:
- Continue developing heavy industry + Transport
- (Post 1953) More investment into consumer goods
Results:
- Most growth targets met
- National income rose by 71%

Question 2

Reception from de-Stalinisation…

Answer 2

• Most of the Presdium welcomed this
• Khrushchev persuaded to speak out in a ‘closed session’ + 1.4k delegates present, and they were not allowed to ask questions + Khruschev used Central Committee materials into abuses under Stalin
• In Khruschev’s speech, Khruschev attacked Stalin on purges, gulags, mass arrests, torture etc + Accused Stalin of betraying Leninist principles

Question 3

Political and Party change under Khruschev…

Answer 3

• More decision-making and debate chances
• Police competed with Party for influence + Police under Party’s authority
• (1957) Khruchev returned to Leninist policy of smaller institutions being directly responsible to their change.
• Khchev also helped restore Party’s position

Question 4

Actions/measures which perhaps contradicted Party’s ascendancy/governance…

Answer 4

• More democracy
• Decentralisation
• (1962) Party would split into urban and rural sections + New rules to limit serving time of Party officials
• (1956-1964) Membership rose from 7m to 11m, 3.6% to 4.8% of populace + Role of the local soviets expanded + Comrade courts being able to handle minor offences revived
• Non-party members encouraged to take supervisory roles + Some invited to Party congresses
• Khruschev visited villages and towns
• Economic decentralisation

Question 5

5th FYP aims/results…

(1951-1955)

Answer 5

Aims:
- Continual of heavy industry development + 4th FYP
- (From 1953) Khrushchev wanted to develop ‘virgin lands’ + build ‘agrocities’
Results:
- Most growth targets met
- National income rose by 71%
- (1955) Malenkov loses leadership due to his changes
- Agriculture production still behind industry and not 1940 level + (1929-1950) No. of cattle reduced from 67m to 65m

Question 6

Industrial development under Khruschev (1953-1964)…

(With issues from Stalinist system)…

Answer 6

Decentralisation and industrial planning:
- (By 1953) Growth slowing down
- Diffeent Moscow ministers sert different industrial targets for each enterpise + No. of enterprises rose + Planning more complex, things starting to break down
- Too few administrators
- Output targets assessed by weight, so heavy goods more emphasies over light goods
- (1957) To aid decentralisation, 60 Moscow minstries abolished + USSR divided into 105 different economic regions -> Each had its own economic council to plan and supervise economic affairs.
- A new Supreme Economic Council -> (1959) A new seven year plan est.

Question 7

Industrial change from seven year plan…

(1959)

(‘Catchup and overtake the USA by 1970’) - Space race things

Answer 7

• Better living standards + 40% wage rise promised with 40-hour week
• Housing factories to produce prefabricated sections for new flats
• Risen production for consumer goods
• Air transport expanded + Aeroflot corp. subsidised for cheap long-distance travel + Said that a peasent could pay for travel 200mi to Moscow to sell produce and still make a profit!)
• (1957) USSR launched world’s first artificial satelitte -> Sputnik + Sputnik II sent Laika the dog to space + (1959) Red flag placed on the moon and pics of ‘dark side’ of moon taken + World’s first civil nuclear-powered Ship made -> ‘Lenin’
• (Apr 1961) Yuri Gagarin became the first ‘human in space’ -> (1963) Valentina Tereshkova worl’s first female cosmonaut

(1958) Brussels World Fair had the world amazed by Soviet tech

Question 8

Results from industrial change…

(Industrial output)

Answer 8

• (1955-1965) Electricity output rose from 170bn kWh to 507bn kWh + Tractors rose from 314k to 804k
• Heavy spending on armamments and space race distorted economy + Despite economic gap narrowed to U.S, still nowhere near them
• (From 1958) Soviet industrial growth began to slow down significantly + (1950s-1964) Economic growth fell from over 10% annaully to 7.5%. -> Mainly due to consumer industries, fell to 2% in 1964.
• U.S had better instrumentation and sophistication in space race + Soviet rocketry good but excessive risk-taking
• USSR’s ‘supermarkets’ initially had abacuses rather than cash registers.

Question 9

Agriculture under Stalin…

(1945-1953)

Answer 9

• (1945) Harvest produced under 60% of pre-war harvests
• (1946) Worst drought since 1891
• 2/3 of agricultural labour force gone + Many animals destroyed + Little agricultural machinery + few horses left
• (1929-1950) No. horses fell from 34.6m to 15.3m

Question 10

Space race things…

Answer 10

(1957) USSR launched world’s first artificial satelitte -> Sputnik + Sputnik II sent Laika the dog to space + (1959) Red flag placed on the moon and pics of ‘dark side’ of moon taken + World’s first civil nuclear-powered Ship made -> ‘Lenin’
- (Apr 1961) Yuri Gagarin became the first ‘human in space’ -> (1963) Valentina Tereshkova worl’s first female cosmonaut

Question 11

Agriculture under Khruschev (1953-1964)…

Answer 11

• (1953) Khruschev told the Central Committee limitations of agricultural production under Stalin had been hidden by unreliable stats + Grain output and no. of livestock being reared than last yrs of tsarist Russia. + Stalin’s encouragement of particular farming methods criticised as counter-productive + Eventhough Khruchev favoured sceptical farming methofs
• For industry, Khruchev placed reform implementations for local Party organisations
• Ministry of Agriculture’s powers thus reduced

Question 12

Changes introduced to peasents to produce more under Khruschev…

(1953-1964 - agriculture)

Answer 12

• Price paid for state procurements of grain + Other agricultural goods
• State procurement quotas fell + Taxes fell
• Quotas on peasents’ private plots fell
• Peasents who didn’t have animals not required to deliver meat to State
• Collectives permitted to set own production targets + Able to choose how to use land

Question 13

Changes introduced to boost production…

(1953-1964)

Answer 13

• Rise in no. of farms which were connected to electricity grid
• (1962) Campaign for increased use of chemical fertiliser
• Rises in use of farm machinery + Collectives able to buy from MTS
• Encouragement to merge collectives for larger farms + (1959-60) No. of collectives halved and no. of state farms rose -> Used to develop ‘virgin lands’

(1958 - MTS’ disbanded to suit peasents who had to pay for equipment loan in goods -> Turned into repair stations)

Question 14

The Virgin Lands Scheme…

(From 1953)

Answer 14

• Khruschev thought to boost production -> Land in western Siberia and northern Kazakhstan that had not been prev. ploughed.
• Initially, cultivated land extended + Komosomol members encouraged spending time on new farms and help building new settlements + further develop farming areas e.g. building roads
• (By 1956) 35.9m hectares of ‘virgin land’ been ploughed for wheat -> Same as Canada’s cultivated land
• Perhaps agricultural prices 2x

(1963) Poor harvest, USSR had to import gran from North America

Question 15

Khruschev’s idea of agrocities…

Answer 15

• An attempt to replicate urban conditions of work -> Perhaps to modernise
• This involved creating huge collective farms/towns -> By destroying old villages
• However, this was unsuccessful
• (1953-64) Milk production rose from 42m tonnes to 63m tonnes + Meat production rose from 6.3m tonnes to 9.1m tonnes -> Despite this, complex issues existed

Question 16

Issues of farming and agriculture despite new measures…

(1953-1964)

Answer 16

• Despite attempts to boost farming time on communal farms (not private plots) -> Private plots provided 1/2 peasents’ income and amounted over 30% of produce sold in USSR
• Despite this, private plots represented only around 3% of the total cultivated area
• New pricing system failed due to state offificials constantly changing them -> Impacted farmers’ planning
• Party officals kept interfering in farm management -> Sometimes, peasent output reduce
• Peasents couldn’t afford to repair machinery -> Very few capable of repairing
• Due to climate, soil became infertile + Land erosion happened
• (1963) Very bad harvest -> USSR had to import grain as a result -> Some from North America
• Limited rise in milk production -> Many crops had unsuitable soil for it to grow e.g. maize

(Too mannt different initiatives, insufficient thought)

Question 17

Social change under Khruschev (1953-1964)…

Answer 17

• Consumer goods more widely available + Economic reforms + alongside de-Stalinisation
• (1958) compulsory voluntary subscriptions to State abolished + Bachelors’ tax and tax on childless couples abolished
• Better pension system
• Hours of work fell + 40-hr working week introduced + Wage equalisation campaign saw rise in wages for lowest paid -> More social equality
• Factory trade unions had a more active role
• Better education, medicine and welfare services
• However, privileges were non-wage payments -> Holidays and good education just for those at high political lvl

(Drawbacks undermoine claim of USSR being an equal society)

Question 18

Ownership of consumer goods per 1k people…

(1955-1966)

Answer 18

Cars - 2 to 5
Radios - 66 to 171
TVs - 4 to 82
Refrigerators - 4 to 40

(Per 1k)

Question 19

Social life and cultural change under Khrushchev (1953-1964)…

Answer 19

• De-Stalinisation perhaps bought more freedom for Soviet citizens
• Restrictions on reading and listening to books and broadcasts lifted
• Limited no. of citizens wanted to travel abroad
• Cultural and sports tours arranged + TVs showed international performances, as well as football
• Khruchev est. ‘Intourist’ so foreigners could visit USSR
• (1957) World Festival of Youth had 34k people from 131 countries in attendance, or by tuning in
• With youth culture, Tarzan films entered youth culture -> Soviet version of ‘Teddy Boys’ -> the ‘stiliagi’
• Changes in youth attitudes saw more vandalism and hooliganism e.g.
• (1961) A survey by Soviet authorities showed that most young people cynical about cynical revolution

(1961) 55% of Soviet populace under 30 yrs

Question 20

Social life and cultural change under Khrushchev (1953-1964)…

(Changs in elitist culture)

Answer 20

• Khrushchev rehabilitated some of those persecuted in the Zhdanovschchina
• Artists such as Shostakovich and Akhmatova permitted to work again
• Dudinstev wrote about a Soviet engineer whose creativity was stifled by the industrial bureaucracy in ‘Not by bread alone’
• (1962) ‘One day in the Life’ by Denisovich sold 1m copies in 6 mnths
• Khruschev disliked ‘modernism’ + Works did not just challenge Stalinism -> but very basis of communism
• Pasternak had to smuggle his ‘Dr Zhivago’ out of Russia + (1957) Printed in Italy + (1958) Pasternak refused his Nobel Prize for literature, ad was prevented from travelling there -> Hounded by USSR and expelled from the ‘Soviet Union of Writers’ + Heavily criticised in Pravda

‘(1956) -‘Not by bread alone’

Question 21

Social life and cultural change under Khrushchev (1953-1964)…

(Ethnic minorities)

Answer 21

• Greater air of liberalism failed to reach ethnic minorities
• Khruschev wanted all groups to speak a single language
• Khruschev against jews having own schools + refused emigration
• Khruschev wanted greater unity

(By 1964) Perhaps, overall greater social hope in USSR

Question 22

Social life and cultural change under Khrushchev (1953-1964)…

(Religion)

Answer 22

• Khruschev campaigned against Churches and Muslims
• Atheism introduced into school curriculum + (1961) Children banned from church services + prohibited for parents to teach children religion
• All higher institions had to deliver a mandatory course on ‘the foundations of scientific atheism’
• (1959-1965) Orthodox Churches fell from 22k to 8k + Mass closure of other places of worship + Pilgrimages banned + Clergymen who criticised athiesm may be forced to retire, arrested or sent to labour camps + other consequences

Question 23

Opposition and the fall of Khruschev…

(From cultural dissidents, poetry, magazines and music)

Answer 23

• Some writers published work abroad to evade Soviet censorship -> tamizdat
• Cases of copies circulated by personal contact -> Risk of imprisonment or labour camps
• Works involve ‘The Youngest Society of Geniuses -> They published ‘The Sphinxes’
• Regular readings of poetry such as ‘Mayak’ happened
• Dissident magazines published -> Ginzberg published ‘Syntaxis’ -> (1960) Was arrested
• Musicians made illegal recordings -> Magnititizdat
• Khruschev attended Manezh Art Exhibition -> Argued about function of art in society

Question 24

Opposition and the fall of Khruschev…

(From Party)

Answer 24

• Liberal reformers v Pro-Stalinists
• (Feb 1955) Khruschev + Bulganin in top jobs -> (1957) Pro-Stalinists failed to oust Khruschev in (1956).
• Khruschev survived by appealing to wider Central Committee over the vote against him in the Presidium -> ‘Anti-Party’ group expelled from Presium, a victory for reformers over hardliners
• Khruschev dismissed Red Army by dismissing Zhukov

Question 25

Treatment of political opposition…

(Khruschev’s tenure)

Answer 25

• (By 1955) 1/4m appeals from political prisoners considered by Soviet Procuracy
• (Few months into 1956) 8-9m former and present political prisoners rehabilitated.
• (1953-1960) 2m returned from gulags + 2m returned from special settlements
• More lenient approach to political opponents contributed to dissent, as well as the de-Stalinisation
• (Mar 1956) Violent national demonstrations in Georgia

Question 26

Khruschev’s fall from power…

Answer 26

• (Sep 1962) Khruschev put pressure top split Presidum into an agriculutral section and an industrial section -> Aroused intense opposition
• (Oct 1964) Khruschev was on holiday -> Received call from Brezhnev for an emergency meeting in the Presidum -> Initially ignored but then returned to Moscow on 13th Oct
• Taken to a meeting of the Presidium -> Several of hia former supporters voiced their criticisms of him
  -> Khrushcev tried to interrupt by lvl of hostility towards him took him by surprise
  -> Refused to resign -> Denied media access, which may have allowed him to whip up support
• A resignation paper presented to Khruschev -> He signed it -> Suslov listed his mistakes -> Resolutions passed -> Brezhnev became First Secretary + Alexei Kosygin became Premier
• Public announcement that khruschev resigned due to ‘advanced age and ill health.’
• Pravda denounced Khruschev few weeks later

Question 27

Reasons for Khruschev’s fall…

(Khruschev was allowed to retire on a pension)

Answer 27

• Personal style of rule, lacking expertise, unprofessional behaviour at times + ‘one-man style’ -> Impolite behviour and quite rude at times
• Blamed for USSR’s poor relations with China + Mishandling of Cuban Missile Crisis
• Offended military for wanting to cut spending on weapons and boost spending on nuclear arms
• Khruschev’s dealings criticised
• Decentralisation offended regional Party secretaries for their responsibilites divided + Khrushcev demanded 1/4 of Central Committee renewed at every election + Granting autonomy upset regional economic councils
• Failure with Virgin Lands Scheme + Had to import from North America due to this

(Khruschev thought he was an agricultural expert)

(Oct 1962) Cuban Missile Crisis -> U.S found out that Khruschev was planting missiles near Cuba -> After tense talks, Soviet ships withdrew -> Victory for U.S diplomacy

Question 28

Political condition of the Soviet Union by 1964…

Answer 28

• ## (1953-1964) Party elite had risen rapidly under Stalinist system + Process of reform was not easy which may be why it was half-hearted and erratic

Question 29

Economic condition of the Soviet Union (1953-1964)…

Answer 29

• USSR developed technologically
• Bureaucracy expanded, one reason being due to more a changing centralised command economy
• (By 1964) No solution to major issue on how to sustain economic growth

Question 30

Social condition of the Soviet Union by 1964…

Answer 30

• (1950s) Soviet living standards began to rise rapidly -> Consumer goods, industrialisation etc -> Perhaps a ‘better’ society on its way
• However, still massive problems that had not been solved

Question 31

Social life and cultural change under Khrushchev (1953-1964)…

(Changs in elitist culture)

Answer 31

• Khrushchev rehabilitated some of those persecuted in the Zhdanovschchina
• Artists such as Shostakovich and Akhmatova permitted to work again
• Dudinstev wrote about a Soviet engineer whose creativity was stifled by the industrial bureaucracy in ‘Not by bread alone’
• (1962) ‘One day in the Life’ by Denisovich sold 1m copies in 6 mnths
• Khruschev disliked ‘modernism’ + Works did not just challenge Stalinism -> but very basis of communism
• Pasternak had to smuggle his ‘Dr Zhivago’ out of Russia + (1957) Printed in Italy + (1958) Pasternak refused his Nobel Prize for literature, ad was prevented from travelling there -> Hounded by USSR and expelled from the ‘Soviet Union of Writers’ + Heavily criticised in Pravda

‘(1956) -‘Not by bread alone’