High Stalinism + The Revival of Terror

• Most Soviet people made huge sacrifices in the hope for a better future. These hopes were dashed.
• USA became Russia's new enemy post-war. Russia had to prepare for the Cold War.
• Reform didn't take place in Russia after 1945. Russia was sealed off from the West.
• Censorship increased in Russia. The force of the NKVD was strengthened.
• Stalin's rule appeared to be stronger after victory in war. He still feared rivals.
• Stalin abolished the State Defence Committee. High-ranking army generals were demoted.
• Zhukov was posted far away from Moscow because Stalin saw him as a rival.
• Stalin made himself Defence Minister. He became more suspicious of those around him.
• Stalin dispensed with the Central Committee and the Politburo.
• The first post-war party congress was in 1952. Stalin relied on private advisers to bypass his party and assert authority.
• Stalin revived terror as a political weapon. This didn't reach pre-war levels.
• Thousands of people were executed for "counter-revolutionary" activities. The "Leningrad Affair" and the "Doctor's Plot" were the more significant purges.
• Stalin turned on the Leningrad Party organisation in 1949. The organisation's leaders showed independence and solidarity.
• 2 leaders of the Leningrad Party were seen as successors of Stalin. Stalin shot these people.
• The Cold War bred an intense fear of foreigners. Soviet citizens could be arrested for contact with a foreigner.
• Stalin was particularly fearful of Jews. 2 million lived in the Soviet Union.
• Stalin supported the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. He became afraid of Jewish support when it turned out to be pro-American.
• Stalin falsely announced that Kremlin doctors tired to kill him and others in 1952. 7 out of 9 of these "white-coated assassins" were Jewish.
• Hundreds of Kremlin doctors were arrested. They were tortured into confessions.]
• Thousands of Jews were deported after they were forced into making false confession. They entered labour camps.
• Anti-Semitism was hyped up by Stalin and the press. Stalin died at the height of the hype on 5 March 1953.