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A Level Edexcel History - USSR and UK Parliamentary Reform > RUSSIA Politics- KHRUSHCHEV AND BREZHNEV > Flashcards

RUSSIA Politics- KHRUSHCHEV AND BREZHNEV Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Brezhnev’s regime based on?

A

Party structures

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2
Q

What had developments after the death of Stalin shown?

A

For change to occur, the impetus would have to come from the leadership itself

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3
Q

How did Brezhnev approach politics?

A

Preferred to trust Party officials in their responsibilities

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4
Q

What happened after Stalin died?

A

Members of the Politburo formed a collective leadership

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5
Q

Who were the main players in the collective leadership after Stalin’s death?

A

Beria; Malenkov; Khrushchev

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6
Q

Who initially after Stalin’s death seemed to be holding the most power?

A

Beria

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7
Q

How did Beria move quickly after Stalin’s death to build his popular support?

A

Reduced the use of terror

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8
Q

When did Beria issue an amnesty releasing a million prisoners?

A

27 March 1953

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9
Q

What became the key principle of government after Stalin’s death?

A

Socialist legality

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10
Q

When did Khrushchev become First Secretary of the Communist Party?

A

September 1953

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11
Q

How did Khrushchev originally consolidate his power?

A

Removed almost 1/2 of those elected to Central Committee in 1952; gave CC more authority over both government and Party structures

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12
Q

When was Khruschchev’s ‘Secret Speech’?

A

Twentieth Party Congress of 1956

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13
Q

What did Khrushchev accuse Stalin of in his ‘Secret Speech’?

A

Developing a cult of personality; acting as a tyrant; using unnecessary terror; making economic mistakes

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14
Q

What did Khrushchev gloss over in his ‘Secret Speech’?

A

Politburo contained Party members, including himself, who had risen through the ranks by implementing Stalin’s policies

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15
Q

How did Khrushchev believe that the Soviet system would be rejuvenated?

A

By a return to the legality of Leninism

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16
Q

What was Khrushchev careful to focus attention on during de-Stalinisation?

A

Stalin and not the Soviet system itself

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17
Q

What were the key features of de-Stalinisation?

A

Regular meetings of presidium and CC resumed; decentralisation of decision-making; party and government officials no longer faced prison for failing to meet targets; secret police brought firmly under Party’s control; secret police lost control over labour camps; 2 million political prisoners released 1953-60

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18
Q

Why was it significant that the secret police lost control over the labour camps?

A

Their economic resources had bolstered power of organisation

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19
Q

How many of those who appealed for release from the labour camps on political grounds were returned to civilian life by 1955?

A

4%

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20
Q

What did heavy punishments remain for under Khrushchev?

A

Corruption; criticism outside boundaries laid down by Party leadership

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21
Q

What could criticism of Party leadership result in under Khrushchev?

A

Internal exile; removal to a psychiatric hospital

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22
Q

Why did the population still fear the secret police under Khrushchev?

A

Aware that the secret police had ever more sophisticated methods of surveillance

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23
Q

What was the most contentious aspect of de-Stalinisation?

A

Decentralisation of decision-making

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24
Q

When was the ‘Anti-Party Group’ coup?

A

1957

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25
Q

What was the ‘Anti-Party Group’ coup?

A

Attempt to remove Khrushchev from power

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26
Q

Who led the ‘Anti-Party Group’?

A

Malenkov; Molotov

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27
Q

How did Khrushchev halt the ‘Anti-Party Group’ coup?

A

Demanded that the issue went to CC, packed with his allies

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28
Q

What was the difference between Stalin and Khrushchev’s approaches to removing political rivals?

A

Khrushchev’s rivals were not arrested/executed

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29
Q

What happened to Malenkov after the ‘Anti-Party Group’ coup was unsuccessful?

A

Put in charge of electricity

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30
Q

What happened to Molotov after the ‘Anti-Party Group’ coup was unsuccessful?

A

Became ambassador to Mongolia

31
Q

When was Khrushchev’s power enhanced?

A

March 1958- he became Prime Minister as well as First Secretary

32
Q

Why did Khrushchev not have the same personal dictatorship as Stalin?

A

His power was subject to the authority of the CC; debate within Party was common

33
Q

When did further de-Stalinisation reforms emerge?

A

Twenty-Second Party Congress of 1961

34
Q

What did the second wave of de-Stalinisation involve?

A

Stalin’s body removed from Red Square; major purge of local Party secretaries; 1962 division of Party into industrial/agricultural departments; limit on length Party officials could serve in-post

35
Q

What did Khrushchev reduce the time in which Party officials could serve in-post to?

A

3 years

36
Q

What were some of the reasons for Khrushchev’s growing unpopularity?

A

Economic mistakes; Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962; his erratic and unpredictable behaviour

37
Q

When did Khrushchev cause a stir because he repeatedly banged his shoe on the table during a debate at the United Nations?

A

1960

38
Q

When did Khrushchev’s failures in agricultural policy come to a head?

A

Disastrous harvest in 1963

39
Q

When did the Central Committee decide to remove Khrushchev from his post?

A

1964

40
Q

Who had Khrushchev’s reforms made particularly uneasy?

A

Bureaucrats in Party

41
Q

How did Brezhnev sideline potential rivals within the Politburo?

A

Nikolai Podgorny given largely ceremonial post of Head of State; Alexander Shelepin put to task on foreign affairs

42
Q

What was Brezhnev part of initially?

A

Group of leaders

43
Q

What allowed Brezhnev to get his way without causing conflict?

A

His affable personality

44
Q

How did Brezhnev quickly reverse those aspects of de-Stalinisation that had upset the Party?

A

Division of Party into industrial/agricultual sections dropped; limits on tenure of office removed; ‘trust in cadres’; decisions no longer made by leader without consulting Party; Soviet Constitution of 1977

45
Q

How did the membership of the Party grow after 1953?

A

From 6.9 million to 17 million by 1980

46
Q

When had Brezhnev emerged as ‘first among equals’?

A

1966

47
Q

What is an example of Brezhnev being prepared to smooth over divisions within the Party?

A

Kosygin remained Prime Minister despite the fact that the 2 men hated eachother

48
Q

What did the Soviet Constitution of 1977 do?

A

Enshrined the right of citizens to critcise incompetent and ineffective Party secretaries

49
Q

How did Brezhnev consolidate his move away from de-Stalinisation?

A

Limited recognition of centenary of Stalin’s birth in 1979

50
Q

Which Party Congress was referred to as ‘the congress of silences’?

A

Twenty-Third Party Congress of 1966

51
Q

What were the only changes made at the Twenty-Third Party Congress of 1966?

A

Presidium renamed Politburo; First Secretary renamed General Secretary

52
Q

What made Brezhnev’s rule different to both Stalin’s and Khrushchev’s?

A

Exercised less personal power

53
Q

What was the problem with Brezhnev’s popular leadership style?

A

Stagnation

54
Q

What luxuries did Brezhnev enjoy?

A

Hunting; collecting Western limousines

55
Q

When had the Party structures that had developed under Stalin become so entrenched that the system was difficult to change?

A

1980

56
Q

What had the Party leadership developed into under Brezhnev?

A

Oligarchy

57
Q

Who was the most powerful oligarch in Brezhnev’s Party leadership?

A

General Secretary

58
Q

Who were some of the most powerful players in Brezhnev’s Politburo?

A

Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers); Suslov (Party ideology chief); Shelepin (former boss of the KGB)

59
Q

What did promotions usually involve before the 1970s?

A

Moving to another part of the Soviet Union to gain experience and spread new ideas

60
Q

What did promotions involve under Brezhnev?

A

Made from within the ranks of the local Party membership after serving time in a junior position

61
Q

What is an example of the widespread corruption under Brezhnev?

A

‘Cotton affair’

62
Q

What was the ‘Cotton affair’?

A

Resulted in millions of roubles being claimed for non-existent cotton as officials fiddled the figures

63
Q

What was the Soviet leadership becoming by the early 1980s?

A

‘Gerontocracy’

64
Q

How many members of the Politburo were 70+ by 1984?

A

7/11

65
Q

How long did Politburo meetings last for by 1984?

A

40 minutes

66
Q

How much of Stalin’s Central Committee were retained in office by his last Party Congress?

A

56%

67
Q

How much of Brezhnev’s Central Committee were retained in office in 1976?

A

79%

68
Q

What were Brezhnev’s final years marked by?

A

An increasing loss of control

69
Q

When did Brezhnev die?

A

1982

70
Q

Who succeeded Brezhnev?

A

Andropov

71
Q

What did Andropov recognise?

A

Need for reform

72
Q

What was Andropov’s key priority?

A

Corruption

73
Q

What hampered Andropov’s abilities to be effective?

A

His lack of charm; illness

74
Q

When did Andropov die?

A

February 1984

A Level Edexcel History - USSR and UK Parliamentary Reform (25 decks)

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