ALL FLASHCARDS

• When did Khrushchev give his 'secret speech'?

  1956
• What did the speech say should happen?


  1) Return to the legality of Lenin.

  2) Give more power to organisation at regional level.

  3) Two million political prisoners released.

  4) Regular meetings of the presidium and central committee.
• How was terror used under Khrushchev?


  Through de-Stalinisation - Secret police brought under party control, Secret police lost control over labour camps, heavy punishments remain for corruption, Secret police still watching the general population.
• What was the Secret Police called under Khrushchev?

  KGB
• Who were the dissidents?


  1) Intellectuals - Professions who complained about restrictions on their freedom of professional practice.

  2) Political - Concerns with abuses of human rights that broke Soviet law and internal agreements.

  3) Nationalists - Groups of different national dissent called for greater status for their own languages and culture and some even independence from the USSR.

  4) Religious - Baptists, Catholics, Jews faced restrictions on worship and religious practice.
• What actions were taken against the dissidents?


  Houses were searched and items were confiscated and arrests could follow. Dissidents were put into psychiatric hospitals until they were 'cured' meaning they had changed their views on the state. Patients were treated with electric shocks. Some dissidents were sent into internal exile.
• What law was passed in 1960 to do with the treatment of dissidents?


  A law that limited the power of the KGB and the limited the use of night-time interrogations.
• What was Brezhnev's approach to Government?


  Brezhnev quickly reversed those aspects of de-Stalinisation.

  1) The division of the Party into agricultural and industrial sections was dropped.

  2) Limits on tenure were dropped.

  3) Leader would have to consult the Party on all decisions.

  4) However, there was no return to widespread terror that was seen under Stalin.
• How did Stalin implement terror on the Party?


  He carried out show trials. For example, The Trial of the Sixteen where Zinoviev and Kamenev were dragged from prison and accused of working with agents of Trotsky to undermine the state. Under pressure from the NKVD, they confessed to crimes they couldn't have possibly committed.
• Explain Khrushchev's investment in Agriculture.

  In 1955, to increase productivity, industrial collectives were given greater powers to make decisions at local level. The MTS were abolished. However, they were replaced with a system that expected each collective to buy its own machinery. Collectives were increased in size and there was a rapid increase in mechanisation, fertilisers and irrigation.
• When was the Virgin Land Scheme introduced?

  1954
• What was the Virgin Land Scheme?

  It encouraged the opening up of new areas to agricultural production. Six million acres of land were brought under cultivation (used for crops) with considerable investment.
• What was the first sign of the Virgin Land Scheme failing?

  In 1959, the target for grain production in Kazakhstan failed to be met.
• What was the impact on agriculture under Khrushchev?


  The income of farmers doubled between 1952 and 1958, but still remained far below those of industrial workers. Between 1953 and 1958, food production increased by 51%.
• What was agriculture like under Brezhnev?


  There was a deliberate move away from Khrushchev's approach of trying to find quick solutions. The Virgin Land Scheme was dropped. Heavy investment in agriculture remained and allowed peasants to have bigger private plots.
• What was the impact of agriculture under Brezhnev?


  There was a steady rise in overall production accompanied by a steady decline in workers productivity. A brigade system was established which meant that peasants could decide how profit was used. However, it encouraged a return to family farming leading to it being abolished.
• When did Khrushchev launch his anti-religious campaign?

  1958
• What was Khrushchev's campaign towards religion?


  Khrushchev was anti-religious and pursued a programme of active repression. Khrushchev launched a harsh anti-religious campaign. The role of the priest was limited to a spiritual advice role only. Priests were dismissed on the grounds they were no longer needed. Baptists and Jews also suffered from severe restrictions to their right to worship.
• How many churches were closed by 1962?

  10,000
• What were Brezhnev's actions towards the Church?


  Active persecution of the Church declined. The Church was allowed to operate within its defined limits. The Orthodox Church was expected to support Soviet Policy, especially social policy where the Church could provide support for the poor. If you refused you could be punished by imprisonment. Jews and Baptists were treated less tolerantly. Prayer meetings were broken up and members were dismissed from their jobs.
• What was the result of religious policy?


  In the 1980s, 25% of the population were said to have believed in God and far fewer actually engaged in active worship.
• When did Khrushchev create the education law and what did it do?

  1959 and it made education compulsory for 7-15 year olds.
• How did Khrushchev try and improve the access to education?

  Doubled the number of schools.
• What education did 16-19 year olds have to do under Khrushchev?

  Vocational training.
• Why was there opposition to vocational schools?


  The Party saw them as restricting the availability of an academic education for the children of the Party elite.
• How many schools complied with Government regulation?

  65%
• When did Brezhnev end vocational training?

  Between 1964 and 1966.
• What did Brezhnev abandon?

  Compulsory secondary education.
• What did Brezhnev replace compulsory education with?

  A target that 100% of students would be in school by 1970.
• Did Brezhnev reach the 1970 target?


  By 1976, 60% students had finished secondary education.
• How many University students were there in 1980?

  6 million.
• Did Lenin have a cult of personality?


  He didn't approve of it, but it grew. For example, photos of Lenin were associated with, e.g. 'Leader of the Revolutionary Proletariat'.
• What decree was passed in 1917 and why?


  Lenin banned all non-socialist newspapers and he saw them as mouthpieces of the bourgeoise.
• How many newspapers had been shut down by 1921?

  2000
• What was the Pravda newspaper?

  Newspaper of the Communist Party, meaning 'truth'.
• How were newspapers made widely available?


  Newspapers were cheap to buy. Copies were posted on boards along pavements and at workplaces.
• What was established in January 1918?


  The power to censor press. If journalists and editors committed crimes they could be punished by the Cheka.
• What was established to distribute news?


  The All Russian Telegraph Agency (ROTSA).
• Why was a cult of personality used?


  To reinforce the powers of individual leaders and detach them from the collective leadership exercised, in theory, by the politburo.
• What was Stalin's cult of personality like?


  Stalin was presented as Lenin's closet colleague, a hero of the civil war and the saviour of the Revolution. The town 'Tsaritsyn' was renamed 'Stalingrad'. The slogan 'Stalin is the Lenin of today' was used by Party members. Portraits of Stalin presented him as the 'big hero'. He was presented in military uniform with workers and peasants to represent him as one of the everyday Soviet. Records of speeches were produced and distributed to the far reaches of the Soviet Union. Statues were erected in most cities and towns.