Section 4: The Stalinist Dictatorship and Reaction 1941-1964 Flashcards
Operation Barbarossa
June 1941
Germans launched a three-pronged attack which the USSR was unprepared for, killing 6 million Soviet soldiers and besieged Leningrad for 900 days, until the city evacuated.
However, once Germany threatened Moscow, Stalin launched a counter-offensive which pushed the Germans back 200km, delaying German campaign. In addition, the Germans were unprepared for the Russian Winter.
This allowed General Zhukov to launch a counter-offensive, making German victory on the Eastern-front impossible (Battle at Kursk)
Soviet forces where therefore able to reach Berlin, forcing surrender
Wartime Leadership
Stalin was a poor wartime leader, evident as he had ignored 80 warnings of Operation Barbarossa. He had purged 80,000 Red Army officers and was forced to use Gulag labour. He had an inflexible mindset, meaning tactical withdrawal was often avoided as he did not want to give the enemy a chance to recover.
However, he did show determinism. He only addressed the people 9 times during the war, but powerfully so, as he spoke of a ‘patriotic war of all the people’. Additionally, he began to delegate power more effectively, trusting those with military expertise and produced a clearly defined military and government structure:
- GKO (State Defence Committee) given power over all party and state bodies
- The Stavka (Military Supreme Command), headed all land, sea and air operations
Lastly, the cult of sacrifice gave Soviet Forces an advantage.
Wartime Opposition
Not Russians were supportive. A Russian Liberation Movement formed in Ukraine with 50,000 men fighting the Red Army and an estimated 1 million men and 250,000 Cossacks joined Hitler.
How Did Stalin Halt Opposition?
- Propaganda, which portrayed Stalin as the Father of Motherland
- Order 277 ‘Not One Step Backwards’
Order 277 ‘Not One Step Back’
Any soldier who fell behind or tried to retreat was shot. Blocking units armed with machine guns were added to the NKVD to prevent desertion or retreat
Ethnic Groups During WW2
Stalin deported suspected ethnic groups, fearful they might switch allegiances. 1.5 million were deported to gulags and 200,000 Polish officers were shot.
Economic Impact of the War
Production was geared towards needs of military, therefore, new railways were built to link factories to front lines. 3500 new industrial enterprises were built and new furnaces were constructed at the Magnitogorsk. Additionally, the whole population was harnessed for war and workforce geared towards rigorous production. The Soviet economy was helped by foreign aid, with the USA providing 11 billion dollars under the Land Lease Scheme. However, food problems persisted.
Social Impact
A new law was introduced that mobilized all undrafted workers for war work - all men aged 16-55 and women 16-45 were sent to munitions factories. Overtime became obligatory and holidays were suspended, the working week increased to 70 hours and factories were placed under martial law e.g there was severe punishments for lateness and unauthorised absence was punishable by death. People were encouraged to sacrifice themselves for ‘Holy Mother Russia’ and new laws were introduced to combat falling death rates and death rise - taxes were increased for those with 2 children or less, divorce was made harder and abortion was banned.
How Did Women’s Burdens increase?
They became essential workforce members and expected to raise large families. Over 1/2 workforce and 80% collective farmers were female, increasing the likelihood of pulling ploughs with their bodies
Impact of the War
- Soviet wartime loses totalled about 27 million
- Stalin’s reputation sored, with paintings projecting him as a great wartime leader adorned all buildings. However, he emerged more paranoid.
- It created a sense of collective endeavour for their country, government and Stalin, giving a new hope of change once the war was over.
- Opened up influence of Western ideas with links to western allies, Lend-lease aid and deployment of soldiers helped disprove propaganda view that the west was drab. Western books, music and goods found there way into Russia.
High Stalinism
High Stalinism marked a period of fierce political and economic repression, accompanied by a cultural programme that stressed the superiority of the Soviet life.
Stalin was portrayed as the world’s greatest living genius in all fields and portrayed as a God-like figure, no longer disciple of Lenin but equal.
Towns were renamed after him e.g. Stalingrad, Stalino and Stalinsk
Purges continued and the role of the secret police enhanced further.
Impact of High Stalinism
It was largely successful but there was still dissent.
- There was an armed uprising in the gulags 1949 and Gulag statistics reflect that 332% of prisoners had not fulfilled their work targets.
- Robert Service notes that there is something wrong when a Totalitarian state cannot keep order in its own detention centres- there was a gulf between the centre and the periphery.
Industry
The command economy was back and there was 85% investment into heavy industry.
There was a 4th FYP
4th FYP
It aimed to restore the economy to its pre-war levels.
This meant workers in Leningrad had to contribute a further 30 hours a month on top of a standard 8 hour day.
Gulag labour continued to be exploited with 2.5 million helping to reconstruct the economy in addition of the help of 2 million prisoners of war.
Impact of the 4th FYP
Factories and steel works were rebuilt and mines reopened. By 1950s, the economy had exceeded pre-war levels, fulfilling their aims.
However, agriculture remained weak. even by Stalin’s death, with grain production in 1950 being less than it had been in 1940.
Agriculture
Was devastated after the war.
- Nearly 100,000 collectives had stopped functioning
- Arable lands had been destroyed during the war such as the scorched-earth policy
As a result, discipline on collectives tightened.
- 70% of yield was given to the cities
- Number of collective farms were reduced by two thirds , merging them to become increase production
Revival of Terror
High Stalinism was characterised by the revival of terror.
- A new law outlawed marriages to foreigners, banned international hotels and restaurants were watched by the NKVD
- The NKVD was strengthened and organised into 2 units; the MVD and the MGB.
- Stalin manipulated science of photography to airbrush disgraced Bolsheviks and the ‘old Bolshevik’
Anti-Semitism
When Israel turned out to be pro-USA, Stalin returned to his fiercely anti-Semitic stance, fearing all Jews within USSR were enemies.
- Textbooks no longer recognised Karl Marx as Jewish
- Jewish wives of Politburo members were arrested
Mingrelian Case
1951
A purge against the head of the NKVD, Beria, who had been accused of collaborating with Western powers. The purge aimed to weaken Beria’s authority.
Doctor’s Plot
1952
After Zhdanov’s death, Pravda accused 13 doctors of failure to treat him properly. Stalin argued they were using their position in medical professions to harm top leadership.
1953
A group of doctors were arrested for trying to kill Stalin. This may have been to intimidate top leadership so that a coup wasn’t planned.
Zhdanovshchina
A form of cultural High Stalinism. It stressed conformity to socialist ideas.
- All things Russian were promoted above all else.
-Foreign words were removed from dictionaries.
- All scientific inventions such as the television were allegedly invented by Russians.
Other cultural forms of High Stalinism:
Social Realism became norm in literature, art, music and film.
- The journal of Anna Akhmatova’s poetry was described as poisonous and she was expelled from the USSR
- Shostakovich, who had composed a wartime symphony dedicated to besiege city of Leningrad, was outlawed in High Stalinism and his symphonies were no longer played.
- Boris Pasternak was also condemned for his ‘apolitical poems’ and his mistress was sent to the gulag.
Power Vacuum on Stalin’s Death
Stalin died of a stroke, leaving the nation politically demoralised, without grooming a successor.
His body was embalmed and their were huge outpours of grief.
Stalin’s Legacy
‘Left a crucial, Stalin shaped hole at the centre of the system.’
In order to prevent another dictatorship emerging, a leading group of Politburo members met regularly in his absence.
Khrushchev Assent to Power
After the war he became Party Secretary of Stalin’s Moscow inner circle and became victorious in the power struggle which followed Stalin’s death.
Khrushchev’s Secret Speech
1956, delivered at the 20th Party Congress
Denounced Stalin’s crimes and proved to be the turning point in the regime. Figes called it the beginning of the end of the Soviet System.
It attacked Stalin for the ‘cult of personality’ and cited how Stain was guilty of sickening self-glorification, he read out Lenin’s Testament criticising Stalin, he focused on Stalin’s attack on loyal Party members, criticised Stalin’s war performance and criticised the NKVD in purges who were given instructions to ‘beat, beat and once again, beat.’
What Did he Not Include in his Speech?
- Did not criticise Stalin pre-1934
- Accepted rapid industrialisation and collectivisation
- Ignored the suffering of non-party members before war
De Stalinisation
The denouncing of Stalin.
- Released thousands of prisoners convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes.
- He set up a commission to investigate execution of and found that 35% of those arrested for anti-Soviet activities had been shot, and all the alleged conspiracies were fabricated
Khrushchev and Terror
20th Party Congress Speech
Dealing with Opposition
22nd Party Congress
Economic Development
Through Agriculture and Industry
Agriculture
Aimed to incentivise peasants to produce more and to change the system to inspire production. He did this by cutting taxes and increased agricultural investments.
MTS were abolished meaning collectives had to but machinery.
However, Khrushchev’s constant interference created confusion and inefficiency.
Virgin Land Schemes (Agriculture)
Designed to plough a tract of virgin land in Kazakhstan, Siberia and Urals for grain cultivation.
The total area of land cultivated was the size of Canada.
As a result, the 1956 harvest was announced as a great victory- largest in Soviet history so far. Yet results didn’t reach these levels again.
Industry
Spectacular achievements in the space programme.
More attention given to consumer goods.
7 Year Plan
7 Year Plan
Emphasised improving the standard of living.
- 40 hour week and 40% wage rise promised
- Rapid expansion of chemical industry to provide fertilisers for agriculture.
Results of the 7 Year Plan
There was a major increase in consumer goods and the large investment in oil helped USSR in space developments.
Space Programme
Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space which was a huge boost to Soviet prestige and elevated them in the eyes of international community.
Social Change Under Khrushchev
He prioritised the ‘good of the people’, consumerism, housing and greater freedom to move jobs.
Pension schemes were expanded for the disabled, elderly and sick.
Minimum wage rose, 7 hour fixed hours a day introduced, holiday pay introduced and fierce labour laws repealed.
Housing, Medicine and Education
He launched a housing programme to end housing shortages in the next 10-12 years. Millions of prefabricated, low-cost apartment blocks were built - known as Khrushchyovkas. But for many families, it was the first time they had private space, running water, and heating
There was an increase in the number of doctors and hospital beds.
School leaving age rose from 14-15, and secondary school fees were abolished.
Religion
Khrushchev revived Lenin’s spirit of militant atheism. Anti-religious propaganda strengthened and taxes on religious activity increased.
Cultural Change under Khrushchev
Many writers who had been blamed or censored were rehabilitated e.g. Anna Akhmatova.
Criticism of Stalin was acceptable but criticism of the system was not such as Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago as it portrayed the revolution in a bad light.
However, books such as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published as it told the full truth of the gulags without blaming the Soviet System as he felt it could be a weapon against his enemies who opposed him. (1 million copies were sold in the first 6 months)
The poem The Heirs of Stalin was published in the Pravda which warned against the resurgence of Stalinism.
World Youth Festival
Brought together over 34,000 young people from 130+ countries. Soviet youth were exposed to Jazz, Rock and roll and Western fashion such as jeans and movies such as Tarzan. It was a symbol of the Soviet Unions cultural thaw.
Opposition from Within the Party
April 1964, Brezhnev gave Khrushchev’s 70th birthday speech, praising his achievements. He was awarded ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’.
But a few months later he was ousted in a coup orchestrated by Brezhnev. Khrushchev was on holiday in Georgia when he received an urgent telephone call summoning him to an emergency Presidium meeting. Several of his former supporters voiced criticism of him.
At first he refused to resign but was denied access to the media which might have otherwise enabled him to whip up popular support. The vote to outs him was unanimous. The next day he was presented with resignation papers and had little choice but to sign them.
Publicity Regarding Khrushchev’s Resignation
A public announcement was made that he had resigned due to ‘advanced age and ill-health’
Weeks later the Pravda denounced Khrushchev for his ‘hare-brained schemes, half-baked conclusions’
Opposition from Cultural Dissidents
A new group of cultural dissidents emerged as a result of cultural and artistic freedom.
The written word, especially poetry, was most popular. Many published their work abroad, known as Tamizdat . Many used Samizdat - copying material by hand/typewriter - and circulated these copies by hand and became a type of underground press.
Impromptu public poetry readings occurred in Mayakovsky Square.
Workers revolted at the news that prices of butter rose. They hung placards on passing trains that read ‘Cut up Khrushchev for Sausages’
Around 500,000 Soviet Citizens participated in mass disturbances. They were called ‘Parasites’/accused of living a ‘parasitic way of life’
Treatment of Political Opposition
Khrushchev was more lenient with political opposition. For example, he rehabilitated political prisoners. However, dissidents saw this as an opportunity to discuss and debate issues.
Reasons for Khrushchev’s Fall
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
Khrushchev secretly placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in order to protect Cuba from a U.S. invasion. The USA discovered the missiles and blockaded Cuba. After 13 tense days, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.
It looked as though Khrushchev had backed down to the West, which was a humiliating retreat.
Soviet Union by 1964
- Mass terror had ended yet after the secret speech, trust in the regime faltered
- Agriculture continued to suffer
- There were technological advancements such as nuclear weapons and advancements in rocketry
- Living standards had increased rapidly
