Stalin - Political Authority and Culture 1946-1953 Flashcards
What is ‘Political High Stalinism’?
The years that followed WWII - totalitarian state
When was the (state defence committee) GKO dissolved?
September 1945
Who took the role of Minister of Defence?
Stalin
Which high ranking officer was demoted?
Zhukov
What was Zhukov’s demotion?
Sent to Odessa, lost seat in Central Committee
Why was Zhukov demoted?
Viewed as a rival
Which figures were ‘played off’ each other?
Malenkov and Zhdanov
How were the ‘played off’?
Zhdanov criticised Malenkov’s policies - latter lost position as Party Secretary
What did Zhdanov launch?
The Zhdanovishchina
When did Zhdanov die?
1948
What did Zhdanov’s death start?
The Doctor’s plot
When was Malenkov appointed Party Secretary?
1948
When did the USSR possess the atom bomb?
1949
What new territory did the USSR gain?
Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania
How long did the Party Congress not meet for?
1939-1952
How did Stalin lead?
Through a ‘Personal Dictatorship’
How did Stalin undermine the Party?
- reduced Politburo to an advisory body
- CC met only 6 times after 1946
- Party Congress not held for 13 years
In 1952, how many members did the Party have?
7 million
Where were members recruited from?
Administrative ranks, industry, government and education
What needed to be raised in the Party?
The education level
Who was recruited less to the Party?
Peasants and Workers
Who were the ‘Old Men’?
Members that had joined the party for Marxism
Who were ‘New Men’?
Members who had joined the party as a way of life - ‘faceless bureaucrats
When did the Zhdanovshchina occur?
1946
What was purged under Zhdanovshchina?
- Ana Akhmatova’s poems as ‘poisonous’
- journal ‘The adventures of a monkey’ as ‘anti-Soviet’
What is ‘Socialist Realism’?
Idealsied, realistic socialist art movement and revealed what socialist life WOULD become
What happened to Shostakovich?
Denounced as a ‘rootless cosmopolitan’
When was the Presidium established?
1952 - in the October Party Congress
Who was Geogri Malenkov?
- a part of defence council in the war
- 1946 appointed as deputy Prime Minister
- 1946 full member of Presidium
- exercise brief period of leadership 1953
Who was Nikita Khrushchev?
- worked for the Party in Kiev
- 1935 organised building of Moscow underground
- during the war assisted in military operation at Kursk
- entered Politburo in 1939
- 1953 became Party Secretary
Who was Lavrenti Beria?
- career in the secret police
- replaced Yezhov as head of NKVD 1938
- politburo member 1946
When was the Leningrad Case?
1949
What was the Leningrad Case?
Purge against the ‘Leningrad party’ with officials arrested - some executed
How was anti-Semitism revived?
- the creation of the Israel state made USSR pro Palestine
- Golda Meir - Israeli ambassador in 1948
- Jewish wives of politburo members were arrested (Molotov’s wife)
What was the Mingrelian case in 1951-1952
- a purge in Georgia
- directed against the followers of Beria
- aimed at weakening the authority of Beria
When was The Doctor’s Plot?
1952
What was the Doctor’s Plot?
- 1948 accusation against 9 doctors concerning the death of Zhdanov
- file reopened in 1952
- Jews were convicted of misusing their medical profession to harm USSR
- 9 doctors were condemned and sentenced to execution
When did Stalin die?
March 1953
What happened to the NKVD after the war?
Strengthened and reorganised
What was the NKVD reorganised into?
Under two separate ministries:
- internal affairs
- state security
How many wartime survivors were sent to labour camps?
12 million
Who could be singled out?
All - the party, police, procuracy, colleagues and friends
