Government Under Khrushchev

• Who were the potential successors to Stalin?

  Answers:

  • Khrushchev
  • Malenkov
  • Beria
  • Bulganin
  • Molotov
  • Kaganovich
• Why was there not an immediate successor to Stalin?

  Answers:

  • Stalin had not nominated an heir, and he had not written anything like Lenin's 'Testament' to suggest his views.
  • There was also no process for deciding a new leader in the Communist style of government.
  • It was too dangerous during Stalin's lifetime for possible successors to position themselves for the succession.
  • All potential successors were seemingly equal, since the six men were members of the Politburo at Stalin's death.
• How was Khrushchev able to emerge as the new leader of the USSR and triumph in the power struggle?

  Answers:

  • He had been able to build up a considerable power base in the party after his appointment as Party Secretary in September 1953.
  • He used this party base and support from Zhukov to defeat an attempted coup organised by Malenkov, Molotov, and Kaganovich.
• When was the Secret Speech?

  24th February 1956
• What were the motives behind the Secret Speech?

  Answers:

  • Some time in 1954-1955, Khrushchev had become aware of the full extent of the crimes that had been committed under his predecessor, and he seemed to have been genuinely shocked.
• What were the motives behind the Secret Speech (card two)?

  Answers:

  • Gulag survivors were also returning en masse, which meant that the facts could no longer be kept secret anyhow.
  • It meant that previous excesses and errors could be so conveniently blamed on Stalin, while the system of rule he had established was to continue relatively unchanged.
  • It would throw discredit on Malenkov, Voroshilov, and other opponents in the Kremlin.
• What did Khrushchev say in the Secret Speech?

  Answers:

  • He quoted from Lenin's 'Testament', in which he had warned of Stalin's character defects and urged his removal as Secretary General.
  • The assassination of Kirov in 1934, Khrushchev implied, had been Stalin's own handiwork, as had been the totally unjustified mass repressions that followed.
• What did Khrushchev say in the Secret Speech (card two)?

  Answers:

  • Party officials had also been forced to confess to imaginary crimes by cruel and inhuman tortures. Appeal for mercy by the innocent victims had gone unheeded.
  • There had been 383 blacklists, each containing the names of thousands of party, soviet, Komsomol, military, and economic workers, all of whom had been shot. These cases were now being reviewed under Khrushchev and many declared void due to falsified evidence.
  • He was also scathing about Stalin's vaunted reputation as war leader.
• What did Khrushchev say in the Secret Speech (card three)?

  Answers:

  • Khrushchev also criticised Stalin as an authority on scientific, economic, and ideological matters.
  • He told his audience that Stalin had personally edited his biography to augment praise for his accomplishments, and had caused costly monuments to be erected to his glory at a time where people were living in log cabins.
  • Khrushchev concluded by observing that the party had to eliminate the cult of the invididual.
  • However, he was selective in his indictment of Stalin. He made no reference to any wrongdoing before 1934.
• What did Khrushchev not say in the Secret Speech?

  Answers:

  • Khrushchev did not mention the suffering endured by non-party people during the Terror- only some of the deported national minorities.
  • Moreover, he offered no convincing explanation how Leninist rule, purportedly so progressive, could have degenerated into such an odious tyranny.
  • He substituted new myths for old ones as a way of legitimising the party's continuing monopoly on power and information.
• Was the Secret Speech actually secret?

  Answers:

  • No.
  • It had been discussed with members of the Presidium before it was given.
  • Copies were sent to all CPSU organisations and read to party leaders of the satellite states.
  • From here, copies were smuggled abroad and published in the Western press.
• What did De-Stalinisation represent?

  Answers:

  • A thaw in the attitude of state to individuals, as they would be allowed more personal freedom. The state would not seek to watch and regulate their every action.
  • A recognition that the authority of the state needed to rest on consensus, so there needed to be an improvement in living standards.
  • An end to the extremes of the Stalinist state, like the use of terror. Khrushchev referred to this as 'socialist legality.'
  • More access to Western influences, though access was still restricted by the state.
  • Attacks on the physical reminders of Stalin.
• Which essentials of the Stalinist state remained in place during Khrushchev's rule?

  Answers:

  • The command economy.
  • The one-party state.
  • The state's monopoly over ideology and information.
• How was De-Stalinisation a risky strategy?

  Answers:

  • Khrushchev risked alienating large elements of the Party who had been loyal to Stalin and did not want to upset the status quo.
  • By attacking Stalin, Khrushchev opened the way for criticism to be made of those Stalin had appointed. (This is why the Secret Speech had focused on Stalin's personal behaviour, not his policies).
  • De-Stalinisation also had the potential to unleash protest against the regime and pressure for reform. It threatened the Party's control over political and economic orthodoxy.
• How was intellectual freedom improved under Khrushchev?

  Answers:

  • There was no insistence on strict social realism.
  • Soviet citizens were allowed to listen to Shostakovich, foreign radio, read foreign literature, and watch foreign films.
  • The writer Solzhenitsyn was allowed to publish a book which criticised life in the gulags. Other writers were also rehabilitated, like Bulgakov, whose novel critiqued the cultural restrictions imposed by the Stalinist state.
  • The Soviet literary journal, Novy Mir, published articles which attacked social realism.
  • Foreigners were encouraged to visit.
• How did the attack on Stalin continue under de-Stalinisation policies?

  Answers:

  • Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.
  • Streets named after Stalin were re-named.
  • Statues and pictures of Stalin were removed, and in 1961, Stalin was removed from the Mausoleum in the Red Square.
• What were the limits on intellectual freedom under Khrushchev?

  Answers:

  • Khrushchev banned booms which criticised the Bolshevik Revolution or the party himself, such as 'Not By Bread Alone' and 'Dr Zhivago.'
  • There was a renewed attack on the church and organised religion. By 1964, the number of monasteries and convents had been reduced from 64 to 10. The number of churches dropped from 22,000 in 1958 to 7500 in 1964. Seminaries for training priests were shut down. Islam was also persecuted.
• What were the limits on intellectual freedom under Khrushchev (card two)?

  Answers:

  • There was less freedom in the writing of history. Stalin's 'Short Course' was removed, but its replacement was by no means a true version of events, skating over the impacts of collectivisation and the terror, and refusing to rehabilitate old Bolsheviks (like Trotsky).
  • Historians who tried to challenge the official line was censored.
  • Many writers also had to censor themselves since they all had to belong to the Union of Soviet writers.
• How did natural sciences develop under Khrushchev?

  Answers:

  • Sputnik I, the first artificial earth satellite was launched in October 1957.
  • Sputnik II, another satellite that was launched in October-November 1957.
  • In 1961, Yuri Gagarin made the first manned space flight.
  • However, the real motivation behind these endeavours was military- the drive for more powerful missiles. This did not represent real scientific freedom.
• How did Poland react to the Secret Speech?

  Answers:

  • In Poland, there were strikes and protests. The Polish communist party sided with the workers and appointed a new leader, Gomulka, who had been imprisoned under Stalin.
  • Khrushchev, accompanied by some of the Presidium, flew to Poland to order him to back down, and Soviet troops moved towards the Polish border.
  • Gomulka stood up to the Soviet delegation and they returned back to the USSR, allowing Poland to introduce its own brand of communism.
  • However, once Gomulka was in control, protest faded and Poland remained loyal to the USSR.
• How did Hungary react to the Secret Speech?

  Answers:

  • On the 23rd October 1956, a huge demonstration in Budapest smashed a statue of Stalin.
  • The Hungarian party was losing control; its leader, Rakosi (a Stalinist) was deeply unpopular.
  • A leading Hungarian communist reformer, Imre Nagy, stood up to Rakosi and the Soviets, but this time, Soviet troops entered Hungary and crushed the protest.
  • Nagy was arrested and executed. He was replaced by a leader loyal to the USSR, Janos Kadar.
• How did the government change immediately after Stalin's death?

  Answers:

  • An emergency meeting of Sovnarkom, the Central Committee, and the Supreme Soviet was held when Stalin died, and it was decided to reduce the size of the Presidium to 9.
  • Malenkov was appointed as Prime Minister and also as secretary to the Central Committee. However, it was decided that he should not be head of party and head of government since he would then be too powerful.
  • The role of secretary to the party was given to Khrushchev.
• How did the Presidium move against Beria after Stalin's death?

  Answer:

  • The idea was that the USSR would now be run by a collective leadership.
  • The Presidium declared Beria an enemy of the party and people, and evidence was brought before the Central Committee, allowing them to expel him from the party and put him on trial in December 1953.
  • He was subsequently executed (he was the last leading Soviet politician to be despatched in this way).
• How was the period from 1953-1957 one of collective leadership?

  Answers:

  • It was fraught with disputes and debate over policy issues.
  • Malenkov came under increasing pressure from Khrushchev and was replaced as Prime Minister by Bulganin in 1955.
  • Malenkov became minister for power stations instead.
  • When Khrushchev seized the initiative in 1956 with the Secret Speech, he was motivated by a desire to challenge his rivals.
• Which of Khrushchev's political opponents formed the Triumvirate?

  Molotov, Malenkov, and Kaganovich.
• When was the Anti-Party Coup?

  1957
• What took place in the Anti-Party Coup?

  Answers:

  • The Triumvirate accused Khrushchev of incompetence over the Hungarian Uprising and of developing a cult of personality.
  • Khrushchev was subsequently summoned to a meeting of the Presidium where it was proposed that the office of First Secretary of the Party (to which he had been elected in 1953) be abolished, and Khrushchev be demoted to Minister of Agriculture.
• How did Khrushchev respond to the Anti-Party Coup?

  Answers:

  • He insisted that such a decision could only be taken by the full Presidium, including candidate members, and then had to be voted on by the Central Committee who had elected him.
  • As he had considerable support in the party, he was able to defeat the motion and remained as First Secretary of the Party.
• What were the impacts of the Anti-Party Coup?

  Answers:

  • Molotov was demoted to being the ambassador to Outer Mongolia, Kaganovich was made manager of a cement works in Sverdlovsk, and Malenkov was sent to manage a power station in Central Asia.
  • Khrushchev replaced Bulganin as Prime Minister in March 1958, and his rise to power was complete.
• How did party membership increase between 1952 and 1965?

  It grew from 6.8 million to 11.8 million.
• How did Khrushchev reform party membership?

  Answers:

  • He wanted people to be attracted by the privileges and opportunities that party membership could confer since Khrushchev's decentralisation of the economy gave more power to the party in the regions.
  • Party members also became more educated. New members were able to see the flaws in the party and economy system, but were more interested in problem solving and government than they were in ideology.
  • Party members rarely criticised policy directly, but applied techniques of passive resistance. They were concerned to protect their privileges.
• Why was party reform difficult for Khrushchev?

  Answers:

  • Positions in the party created access to goods and services so people protected their positions and used patronage to ensure support.
  • This meant they had little reason to change the status quo.
• Between 1953 and 1956, how many republic and party secretaries were replaced?

  45 out of 84.
• In 1956, how many candidate members of the Central Committee were replaced?

  One third of the full members and 50% of the candidate members were replaced.
• Between 1960 and 1961, how many regional secretaries were replaced?

  55 out of 114.
• Why did Khrushchev replace lots of party personnel?

  Answers:

  • To boost his own power. The new members appointed to the Central Committee provided vital to Khrushchev when he was defending himself against the Anti-Party Coup of 1957.
  • However, since these high-ranking positions carried with them significant privileges, and, perhaps, more importantly the opportunity to build up local economic and political power base, the replacement of personnel caused a great deal of resentment.
• When did Khrushchev introduce compulsory rotation of jobs?

  1961
• What did the job rotations under Khrushchev entail?

  Answers:

  • It meant that between one half to one quarter of party jobs had to be renewed at each regular election.
  • The most frequent rotations were at the bottom of the party.
  • Although this was a genuine attempt at democratisation, the policy caused instability and resentment.
  • The whole idea was dropped in 1966 in the interests of granting officials security of tenure. This served to promote stagnation in the party.
• How did Khrushchev attempt to reform the Party Congress?

  Answers:

  • A four year rota was introduced and stuck to. This is in comparison to Stalin, where the Party Congress was supposed to meet under 3 years, but in reality, there was a 19-year gap between the 18th Congress of 1939 and the 19th in 1952.
  • While Khrushchev's reforms seemed more democratic on the surface, in reality, the Party Congress did little more than rubber stamp party policy. Those speaking had to have their scripts approved in advance by party leadership.
• How did Khrushchev attempt to reform the Central Committee?

  Answers:

  • These meetings also increased, to a maximum of 6 in 1958.
  • The size of the committee also increased from 125 in 1952, to 175 in 1961.
  • The Central Committee exercised decisive influence in supporting Khrushchev in the 1957 coup, but its large numbers made it an unwieldy body, and it simply served on the whole to confirm the legitimacy of decisions made by the Presidium.
  • However, proceedings of the Central Committee were published which made it more open than before.