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How did Khrushchev use his position as Secretary of the Central Committee?
He used it to make personnel changes, by replacing senior officials throughout the party with his own supporters in order to secure his position within the party.
Between 1953 and 1956 Khrushchev replaced around half of the regional Party secretaries and 44% of the Central Committee with his loyal supporters.
How did Khrushchev restructure the government?
In mid-1954 he cut the number of central Soviet ministries from 55 to 25. This meant more economic power was devolved to the republic governments and the amount of soviet industry controlled by central government dropped from 68% to 44%.
What impact did the restructuring of the government have on Malenkov?
Malenkov lost the Premiership in February 1955 and Nikolai Bulganin, the new Premier, was one of Khrushchev’s key allies.
What did Stalin and Malenkov both want?
They were united in a desire to ‘humanise’ Communism. They wanted to end Stalin’s use of terror and enhance the lives of Soviet citizens by improving their standard of living. They were both Leninists who rejected Stalins cult of personality.
How did Khrushchev and Malenkov end Stalin’s ‘cult of personality’?
Plans to turn Stalin’s dacha into a museum celebrating his life were scrapped
The annual Stalin prizes were cancelled
For the first time since the 1930s there were no official celebrations of Stalin’s birthday
Newspapers which had traditionally been full of quotes from Stalin’s works, started quoting from Marx and Lenin
Why was criticising Stalin a huge risk?
Stalin was widely respected as a founder of the Soviet system. Therefore by criticising Stalin they risked undermining the authority of the Soviet Union and Communism. Also many senior Communists still respected Stalin.
When was the Secret Speech?
On the night of 25th February 1956, a day after the 20th party congress officially finished.
What were Khrushchev’s main criticisms of Stalin?
His cult of personality→ He argued that Stalin had abandoned collective leadership and set himself up as dictator
Without the input of the party Stalin made serious mistakes such a purging the Red Army immediately prior to WW2
Stalin committed many crime such as during the terror when he ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people
Khrushchev revealed the scale of terror and quoted the criticism of Stalin in Lenin’s Testament
What was significantly not criticised in Khrushchev’s secret speech?
Stalin’s policy of industrialisation or collectivisation or any aspect of communist ideology.
What was the impact of the secret speech on some of the delegates?
Some of the delegates were so horrified they suffered heart attacks during Khrushchev’s speech. Others apparently took their own lives after learning the true scale of Stalin’s crimes.
How was the secret speech leaked?
Printed copies were sent to senior Communists across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. One of these was leaked to the West and with the help of the CIA it was printed in the New York Times.
What was set up in May 1954 in order to help end terror?
Khrushchev and Malenkov set up a special commission to review the cases of political prisoners who had been sent to the Gulags.
What happened in the first year of the special commission being set up?
Progress was slow and only 4620 of the 113,739 political prisoners were released.
What happened with the special commission after the secret speech?
The process escalated and in June 1956 51,439 prisoners were released.
What impact did the Secret Speech have in Hungary? How did Khrushchev deal with this?
A revolution occurred in Hungary and a new prime minister was elected. After the new government ended its military alliance with the Soviet Union, Khrushchev ordered Soviet troops to crush the revolution.
What happened at Moscow State University?
There were student demonstrations in favour of multi-party democracy in 1957.
What were moderates and Stalinists in the Party saying?
They argued that de-stalinisation had destabilised the government and they accused Khrushchev of reforming too fast.
What happened in June 1957?
The Central Committee issued a statement to the Party revising Khrushchev’s speech
What happened in October 1957?
The editors of the Soviet magazine ‘Questions of History’ were disciplined for publishing revelations about Stalin’s terror.
What happened in Mid-December of 1957?
Khrushchev secretly authorised the establishment of a Special Commission to suppress anti-communist activities.
What did Khrushchev say in his New Year’s Eve speech marking the end of 1957?
He acknowledged that all communists were ‘Stalinists’.
What were the aims of Khrushchev’s political reforms in 1957?
To reduce the size and power of the central party.
What were the two measures Khrushchev introduced in 1957?
He allowed the expansion of party membership which made it more democratic as a greater proportion of its members were workers of peasants
He introduced fixed terms for senior Communist to ensure they were replaced regularly
How did Khrushchev de-centralise the party?
He abolished some of the central ministries that oversaw the economy and devolved power to 105 newly created economic councils. He moved the Ministry of Agriculture away from Moscow to make it ‘closer to the fields’.
What was the impact of de-centralisation on some party officials?
Some were demoted, lost their jobs or were forced to move away from Moscow.
When did a majority Presidium led by Malenkov vote to replace Khrushchev?
June 1957
How did Khrushchev survive the attempt to overthrow him?
Khrushchev argued that the decision to replace him could only be taken by the Central Committee -where Khrushchev had a majority support.
Why was the way Khrushchev dealt with his opponents significant?
It made it clear that the power of the Party leader depended on the support of the Central Committee
When was the twenty-second party congress?
October 1961
What happened at the twenty-second party congress?
It introduced Khrushchev’s final major political reforms e.g. the radical party reform
It restarted the process of de-Stalinisation and Khrushchev accused Stalin of being involved in Kirov’s murder and the congress voted to remove Stalin’s body from public display.
What was the radical party reform?
The introduction of fixed terms for all jobs within the party including a fixed 16 year term for Central Committee members
How did Khrushchev’s 1962 reforms split the Party?
In the new structure one half of the Party was put in charge of agriculture and the other industry, this went right to the top of the party with the central committee being divided into industrial and agricultural bureaus.
What was the impact of Khrushchev’s reforms?
Members of the party were unhappy and his economic reforms failed to boost economic growth.
There were concerns that Khrushchev’s foreign policy was rash and dangerous.
What happened in June 1964?
Senior figures in the Presidium began plotting Khrushchev’s overthrow and in October Khrushchev was invited to a meeting where he was criticised for mishandling the economy, foreign policy and creating his own cult of personality.
The plotters had the backing of the the majority of the Central Committee and as a result Khrushchev retired.
What happened to Khrushchev after he was removed from power?
He retired and the soviet media put out a story that he had stepped down due to poor health. He was given a pension and lived under guard for the remaining 7 years of his life. This was very different to other members of the party who were shot or publicly humiliated.
What were Khrushchev’s achievements?
He ended the use of political terror against party officials
He ended Stalin’s system of personal rule
Why did some aspects of Stalinism live on?
The government never publicly rejected his legacy or admitted the extent of Stalin’s crimes.
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