Khrushchev depth study

Khrushchev's background

• Peasant origins

• Worked for Communist Party in the early 1930s

• Entered Politburo in 1939

• 1947 chosen to supervise agricultural production

Who were his competitors?

• Molotov

• Malenvok

• Beria

What are the 2 issues he has when becomes leader and how does he fix them?

1. Need to dominate the Politburo and eliminate rivals

• Beria executed

• Demoted other rivals e.g. Malenkov

2. Need to dismantle a repressive system but keep control of the Party

• Destaliniation

What are the changes he makes to the style of ruling?

• Decreased repression e.g. Gulags dismantled

• 1958 decreased power of the police

• Decreased 'icon' status of leader

• Gave zemstvo increased authority

What are the changes he makes to the Party?

• Introduced the Presidium (strengthened version of Politburo)

• 1962 divided Party between rural and urban areas

What did Khrushchev want to change about industry?

Decentralisation

What plans did Khrushchev used to try develop industry?

1. 6th Five Year Plan in 1956

2. Seven Year Plan started 1961

Describe the 6th Five Year Plan 1956:

• Targets over-optimistic

• Abandoned after two years

• Important step in moving the economy towards decentralisation eg: USSR divided into 105 economic regions (1957)

Describe the year Plan 1961:

• Commercial flights (cheap enough for peasants to go to to city + back to sell produce + still make profit)

• Focus was to boost living standards eg: 40 hour week + 40% wage rise

• Expansion of chemical industry eg: fertilisers

• Increased consumer goods (1→77 washing machines per 1000 1955-65)

• Greater exploitation of USSR's resources eg: natural gas, oil

• Electrified trains

• Building power stations

• Space race

Results of his industrial changes:

• System abandoned in 1965

• Heavy spending on armaments + space race distorted the economy

• 2% growth in consumer industries

• Industrial growth fell from 10% in 1950s to 7.4% in 1964

What are the 5 things Khrushchev introduced for agriculture?

1. Increasing efficiency

2. Increasing production through incentives + better farming techniques

3. Cultivation of new land

4. New crops

5. Agrocities

How did Khrushchev increase agriculture efficiency?

• Ministry of Agriculture → became an advisory body (decentralisation)

• State farms - Aimed to increase size of collective farms

How did Khrushchev increase production through incentives?

• Grain prices increased

• Taxes decreased

How did Khrushchev increase production through better farming techniques?

Peasants could buy from the Machine Tractor Stations

How did Khrushchev cultivate new lands?

Virgin Land Scheme

• Cultivate grazing lands in western Siberia + northern Kazakhstan that hadn't been previously ploughed

• First scheme in 1953 successful → cultivated area expanded

How did Khrushchev produce new crops?

After visiting USA in 1959, encouraged production of maize

How did Khrushchev use agrocities?

• Huge collective farms/towns

• Attempt to replicate urban conditions of work and living on the land for greater efficiency

Successes of Khrushchev's agricultural policies

How did cereal production change?

1952 = 82 million tonnes vs 1961 = 132 million tonnes

Successes of Khrushchev's agricultural policies

How did meat production change?

1952 = 5.2 million tonnes vs 1961 = 63 million tonnes

Successes of Khrushchev's agricultural policies

How did milk production change?

1952 = 36 million tonnes vs 1961 = 63 million tonnes

Successes of Khrushchev's agricultural policies

What did the Virgin Land Scheme achieve?

At first: produced 50% of grain of USSR + exports

What were the limitations of Khrushchev's agricultural policies?

• New pricing system proved a failure as state officials kept altering the prices

• Frustrations at low prices the state paid for products

• VLS = land worked so intensively → land erosion + soil became infertile → had to import

Progress of living standards under Khrushchev

• 40 hour working week

• 40% wage increase

• Privileges

• Trade unions given more responsibility

• Widely available education

• Improvements in medicine

Limitations of living standards under Khrushchev

• Privileges for Party members remain in non-wage payments eg: holidays

• Quality of consumer goods and housing remained poor compared to developed world

  • Supermarkets introduced, BUT used abacuses instead of cash registers

  • Housing for ‘agro-cities’ = built cheaply + quickly → poor standard → led to poor sanitation

Progress of culture under Khrushchev

• Allowed western media (eg: radio)

• Cultural + sports tours arranged

• Tourism encouraged (most W → R)

Limitations of culture under Khrushchev:

• Limited amount of people allowed to travel abroad

• Youths access to western media + festival of youth → brought petty vandalism + hooliganism + less support of gov

• Khrushchev disliked modernism in art + literature

Limitations of religion under Khrushchev:

• Revived the socialist campaign against the Churches (both Orthodox and others)

• Atheism brought into school curriculum

• Children were banned from church services from 1961

• Mass closures of monasteries

Progress of NMs under Khrushchev:

• Destalinisation

  • Withdrew Soviet troops from parts of Austria in 1955

  • Agreed to some Polish demands for Stalinist politicians to stand down in Poland

  • More freedom of speech → can criticise Stalin

Limitations of NMs under Khrushchev:

• Couldn’t criticise the gov

• 1956 Hungarian uprising crushed - dashed hopes of destalinisation in terms of free speech

• No effort made to allow independence for minorities

• 1961 Party Congress, Party doctrine said the aim was assimilation and a common language

• Jews not allowed their own schools

• Didn't allow Soviet Jews to migrate to Israel

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Germany - positives

Berlin Wall:

• Stabilised politics

• Stopped the brain drain (~2 mill skilled workers lost) = no economic collapse

• K celebrated for his bold stance

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Germany - negatives

Resorting to a wall:

• Failed to create a neutral Germany

• Failed to make communism appealing

• Repression undermines his destalinisation from 1956 speech

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Hungary - positives

• Remained in Warsaw Pact

• Rebellion squashed → firm stance supported by other Eastern bloc members

• Some freedoms for Hungary

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Hungary - negatives

• Use of tanks + 30,000 undermines destalinisation

• Undermined international reputation of K and communism abroad

• Hungary threatened to leave WP

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Cuban Missile Crisis - positives

• Missiles removed from Turkey

• Communism maintained in Cuba

• Diplomacy settled the issue = hot line telephone

• SALT 1963 start of talks to reduce nuclear weapons

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Cuban Missile Crisis - negatives

• Turkish missiles removed in secret

• Brinkmanship → bad for peaceful co-existence

• K seen to back down to Kennedy - bad propaganda for K

Policy of peaceful co-existence: China - negatives

• Peaceful coexistence not supported by China

• Destalinisation awkward as Mao had his own 'cult of personality'

• Anti-secret speech → China was trying to take over as world leader of Communism

• Loss of an ally eg: K refused to help China with troops vs Taiwan

Policy of peaceful co-existence: Space Race - positives

• Boosted USSR's rep-Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin

• Caught up to the west

Why was Beria removed in June 1953?

• One of Khrushchev's rivals

• Eager to separate from Stalinist policies

• K, Malenkov put together an anti-Beria campaign saying he did anti-state activities

• Beria tried and executed in secret → NOT A BREAK FROM STALINISM → also used tactics to get rid of opposition

Why did Malenkov's reform ideas mean he had to go in Feb 1955?

Wanted to:

• Reduce peasant tax

• Change how collective farms were run

In Feb 1955, Malenkov found himself to be isolated and was forced to step down as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (basically Sovnarkom). He took the new position as Minister of Power Stations - STILL IN POLITICS, STILL ALIVE, DIFFERENT TO STALIN

Why did the Presidium vote against K in 1957?

• Angered by abolition of central economic ministries which weakened their power

• Thought leadership had become too assertive

• Bad initiatives across foreign and domestic policies

Who was part of the anti-party group?

• Voroshilov

• Molotov

• Kaganovich

How did K remove the Anti-party group?

• Expelled from Central Committee for opposing party policy + involvement in 1930s purges

• Condemned for them for factionalism

• K helped by Zhukov

• Given lesser jobs away from Moscow → DIFFERENT TO STALIN - STILL ALIVE, STILL IN POLITICS (ALTHOUGH LESSER)

Who did K share leadership w/ until 1958?

Bulganin

Why was Zhukov removed in the summer of 1957?

• Had become more assertive with a big reputation and ego

• Introduced military reforms w/o consulting Party - seen as direct threat to Party

• Dismissed from Presidium and Central Committee

• K launched smear campaign → DIFF METHODS TO STALIN TO GAIN SOLE POWER

How did K gain sole leadership?

• March 1958 → Bulganin = accused of encouraging the anti-party group → forced to step down

• Left Khrushchev as General Secretary of the Party → two top jobs in the Party + Gov = combined again - SOLE LEADER (DIFF TO STALIN, LESS ILLEGAL MEANS)

Reasons for K's fall: industry

Decision to promote production of consumer goods offended those who thought he was giving inadequate attention to heavy goods

Reasons for K's fall: agriculture

Failure of VLS and the shortfall in food supplies seen as his personal responsibility

Reasons for K's fall: military

Offended military by wanting to reduce expenditure on conventional weapons and concentrate on nuclear arms

Reasons for K's fall: foreign policy

• Widespread disapproval of his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis

• Blamed for poor relations with China

Reasons for K's fall: decentralisation

• Granting autonomy to local Party leaders and regional economic councils upset central Party members who lost control

• 1962 split the party between parallel hierarchies of agriculture and industry

Reasons for K's fall: personal/style of rule

Accused of:

• 'one-man style' of ruling

• lacked expertise

• over-bearing attitude

• Having ‘hare-brained schemes’