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To what extent were the key features of post-Second World War Stalinism…
To what extent were the key features of post-Second World War Stalinism still in place at
the time of Khrushchev’s overthrow in 1964?
What was Post-War Stalinism, or 'High Stalinism'?
Industry:
- In Industry, the centrally planned economy was back in force. 85% of investment was devoted to heavy industry and capital goods, including armaments.
- There was an aim, which turned out to just be rhetoric, that Stalin wanted the output of consumer goods to increase and living standards improve. To achieve this, the population was mobilised to help reconstruct the country.
- In Leningrad, for example, workers had to contribute an extra 30 hours a month on top of their 8-hour working days. Citizens not working had to put in 60 hour months, and students even had to commit 10 hours per month.
- Extra Labour was provided from prisoners of war (approximately 2 million) and inmates of labour camps (approx 2.5 million). Few survived the minning for uranium for atom bombs.
- Overall, however, the results were impressive. There was huge growth in heavy industry, factories and mines were re-built and re-opened at fast rates. The Dnieper dam was back in operation generating electricity by 1947.
Agriculture:
- Agriculture was in a terrible state at the end of the war.
- Stalin initiated a major drive in 1946 to tighten discipline of the peasants and reduce war-time trends such as the expansion of private plots.
- Delivery targets and taxes were raised to all-time highs. New taxes were invented, for example, a tax for each fruit tree a peasant household had on their land.
- Stalin reduced the number of collective farms (kolkhoz) by nearly two-thirds by the end of 1952. This was mainly to increase production, but also to increase party control.
- NOTE: A year after Stalin's death, pay for workers on collective farms remained lower than one-sixth of the earnings of the average factory worker.
More Stalinism...
The Politburo & The Party:
- The Communist Party was not significant in initiating policies. Its main role was co-ordinating economic activity, supervise government agencies and chose their personnel.
- Stalin preferred to rule informally, sending out orders via telegram and convening small groups to discuss key policy issues. The Politburo rarely met and the first party congress wasn't called until 1952.
- During the Second World War, party membership grew from 4 to 6 million. New members meant they didn't know about any tradition or revolutionary history, meaning they would follow directives without question, meaning Lenin was more in control of his party membership than ever.
The Leningrad Affair 1949:
- Zhdanov, a member of the Politburo, died suddently in 1948 of a heart attack. He was a heavy drinker.
- A savage purge of the Leningrad Party organisation was engineered by Beria and Malenkov.
- Two senior party members, Voznesensky and Kuznetsov (two people tipped to be Stalin's successor's) were arrested, tried in secret and executed.
Continued Purges:
- 1951 Stalin ordered the arrests of a number of Mingrelian Party and government officials in Georgia, accused of being involved in a nationalist plot. Beria was a Mingrelian, and he was the one to carry out the purge on them.
The Doctor's Plot:
- In January 1953, Pravda announced that 13 doctors, most of whom were Jewish and treated top party officials, were accused of conspiring with the USA and killing Zhdanov, along with other high-ranking officials.
- Stalin intended to execute them all. Confessions were obtained from torture, and two of the doctors died this way. The rest, however, were saved by Stalin's death.
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