History A-level Edexcel - Russia, 1917-1991: from Lenin to Yeltsin - Theme 1:1c

Power struggle after Stalin's death (1953-56)

- Stalin left no testament

- at first, collective leadership formed (Beria, Malenkov and Khrushchev)

- Beria reduced use of terror - amnesty issued (27 March 1953) releasing prisoners, gulags economic projects terminated, Doctors' plot denounced

- June 1953, Beria arrested and executed

- Sep 1953, Khrushchev became First Secretary of Communist Party

- Khrushchev had outmanoeuvred opponents by 1956

Georgy Malenkov

- rumoured to be Stalin's choice for successor

- replaced Stalin as Premier of Soviet Union

- powerbase was soviet state

Lavrentiy Beria

- head of NKVD

- implemented Stalin's terror

- deputy Premier

- powerbase was NKVD

Nikita Khrushchev

- Secretary of Central Committee after Stalin's death

- no state role

- powerbase was party

- popular member of Politburo

Beria's reforms: the republics (June 1953)

- all senior Party officials had to speak language of republic they worked in

- official publication should be available in languages of republics

Khrushchev's beliefs

- Lenin's revolutionary goals

- mass commitment to revolution central to future of communism

- De-Stalinisation

- peaceful coexistence with West

- focus on agricultural and consumer goods

- decentralising some aspects of economic planning

- anti-bureacracy

Khrushchev's aims

- regenerate Soviet Union

- create society of plenty, end poverty+inequality

- encourage greater public participation in politics and greater dynamism in party

- create humane form of socialism - free from threat of terror

- move away from Stalinist form of communism

Khrushchev's early reforms - personnel changes

- replaced Stalin's supporters and senior officials with his own

- this secured his position within party

Khrushchev's early reforms - anti-bureaucracy campaign

- designed to weaken state

- devolving power from government to republican governments - attack on Malenkov's powerbase

- cut soviet ministries

The 'Secret Speech' (25th February 1956)

Khrushchev criticises Stalin's use of terror, cult of personality, economic mistakes, quoted critique of Stalin in Lenin's Testament at 20th Party Congress

- did not criticise Stalin's policy of industrialisation/collectivisation

De-stalinisation aims

- humanise communism

- end Stalin's use of terror

- improve soviet citizens' standard of living

- enrich soviet culture

- end 'Cult of personality'

- shift focus from Stalin as heroic leader to achievements of party and people

- improve relations with other communist states

- modernise USSR

- encourage openness and criticism within limits

De-stalinisation (1956)

- focused on Stalin and not soviet system itself

- plans to turn Stalin's dacha into museum scrapped

- annual Stalin prizes cancelled

- no official Stalin birthday celebrations

- newspapers started quoting Marx and Lenin

- regular meetings of presidium and central committee

- decision making decentralised

- more power given to organisations at regional level

- party/government officials didn't face prison for failing to meet targets

- secret police under party control

- secret police lost control over labour camps

- many political prisoners released

- cultural thaw

Problems of de-stalisation

- communist parties in Hungary and Poland began own de-stalisation causing unrest

- unrest in Soviet Union as legitimacy of communist rule questioned due to leak information on Stalin's crimes --> student demonstrations

Khrushchev's reforms (1957) - democratisation

- aimed to increase workers' participation in government

- expansion of party membership

- fixed terms for senior communists

- abolished some central ministries

De-stalinisation continued (1961)

- Stalin accused of being involved in Kirov's murder

- Stalin's body removed from Lenin's mausoleum 1961

- major purge of local secretaries

- 1962 - party divided into agricultural and industrial departments

- 3 year limit to length party officials could serve

Consequences of de-stalinisation - to what extent was it successful?

- ended use of political terror against party officials

- weakened Stalin's cult of personality

- greater cultural freedom

- ended Stalin's system of personal rule

- Stalin's legacy never publicly rejected and extent of his crimes never admitted --> Bezhnev revived cult of Stalin

Crisis of 1957

-emergence of 'Anti-Party group' as decentralisation of decision making led to threat to reduce power of party officials.

- opposition of Malenkov and Molotov- asked presidium for Khrushchev to resign but rejected by Central Committee

- Molotov and Malenkov not executed but stripped of senior positions

-March 1958- Khrushchev became prime minister and First Secretary

Significance of Crisis of 1957

- demonstrated senior communist wouldn't use political terror against each other

- recognised power of party leaders depended on support of Central Committee

- strengthened Khrushchev's position as leader

Downfall of Khrushchev (1964) - causes

- economic mistakes

- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

- erratic behaviour - banged shoe on desk repeatedly in UN debate (1960)

- bad harvest in 1963

- concerns that his foreign policy was dangerous

- lacked coherent plan and inconsistent

- impulsive, made unrealistic promises

Downfall of Krushchev (1964)

Central Committee dismissed him from his post, given a pension and lived under guard for rest of life

- very fact he could be sacked from position showed impact

Brezhnev's ascent to power

- replaced Khrushchev as general secretary

- sidelined opponents to power

- affable and mediocre personality

Brezhnev's aims

- focus on stability and restoration

- economic growth without reform

- strengthen soviet power abroad

- avoid political liberalisation

Brezhnev's beliefs

- rejected use of mass terror

- collective leadership

- communist orthodoxy (Marxist-Lenin)

- believed revolutionary transformation had been achieved (1917-30) so just needed to keep going

Brezhnev's policies - reversing Khrushchev's key reforms

- dropped agricultural and industrial sections of party

- removed limits on tenure of office

- collective leadership and 'trust in cadres'

- re-established all-union ministries

- subjectivism - decisions consulted with party

- Soviet Constitution (1977) - citizens could criticise incompetent party secretaries, mature socialism, party superior over state

- rejected use of mass terror

Brezhnev and Kosygin's pact (1964-70)

- two top gov jobs couldn't be occupied by same person

- divided key posts in gov equally between supporters of each

- ensured party and state officials kept jobs for long periods to limit patronage opportunities

Consequences of Brezhnev's leadership

- stagnation

- corruption

- increased repression

- expansion of soviet influence

Consequences of Brezhnev's leadership - stagnation (1970-85)

- party leadership developed into oligarchy

- believed revolutionary transformation had been achieved by 1930 and so just had to keep going on course

- Brezhnev's old colleagues promoted

- little incentive to work as few promotion opportunities

- lack of innovation and change due to promotion system

- gerontocracy - senior party officials mainly old

Consequences of Brezhnev's leadership - stagnation (1970-85) - gerontocracy

- generation gap between government and society

- senior officials often ill and unable to do jobs

Consequences of Brezhnev's leadership - corruption

- promotion system allowed corruption to go unnoticed (e.g. 'cotton affair')

- nepotism

- goods sold on black market

Andropov (Nov 1982 - Feb 1984)

- aimed to target corruption but lacked charm and too-ill to follow through

- believed SU needed to become more disciplined

- abandoned 'stability of cadres policy'

- introduced small-scale economic reforms focusing on labour discipline

- corruption campaign attacking senior figures and media exposes of corrupt officials

- suppression of dissidents

- result of leadership is promotion of younger generation of party officials

- Gorbachev recommended as successor

Chernenko (Feb 1984- March 1985)

- poor health so little role and achievement in government

- Gorbachev led meetings on his behalf