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Communist Government in the USSR - Government 1953-85 - Coggle Diagram
Communist Government in the USSR - Government 1953-85
Changes in Leaders' Control of the State
struggle for power, 1953-56
removing opposition
Beria was involved in the fabrication of the so- called doctors' plot- was also unpopular with the army after his role in army purges
he was tried in secret and shot alongside six aides
Khrushchev cements power
began to push for a new farming policy to exploit 'virgin lands' in Kazakhistan and Siberia
there were also good harvests in 1954-55, which made his idea even more popular
Malenkov stood down as head of government
he was replaced by Bulganin, an ally of Khrushchev
K was also leader of the committee which organised Stalin's funeral - used this position to begin manipulating Stalin's legacy
Nikita Khrushchev
he was secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. this ended up being to his advantage - the party base had much more power than the formal government positions
there were so many changes to government positions between 1953-56 that he was left an influential figure. many newcomers owed him their position
seems to have held the least power immediately after Stalin's death - he was not made a minister
the secret speech
the speech was 20,000 words long
K accused Stalin of abusing his power, incluiding through his brutality and the cult of personality
24 feb 1956 : Khrushchev's main attempt to distance himself from Stalin was through the speech he gave at the Twentieth Party Congress
he used Lenin's testament to show that the dounder of the USSR had not wanted Stalin to be leader
Presidium of the central committee
they decided to reduce the size of Stalin's Praesidium of the Central Committee to ten members
of this group, the main rivals for power were Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev
Malenkov was made Chairman of the Council of Ministers
in this role he was head of the government
the Council of Minister, the supreme Soviet and the Central Committee met after Stalin's death
Beria had power over the police and security system as Minister of Internal Affairs
Krushchev's positioning
was not arguing got a complete liberalisation
the section to the speech was profound
there were riots in the gulags
the subsequent release of political prisoner also led to the renaming of Stalingrad as Volgograd
Stalin's body was Remo red from the mausoleum where Lenin lay
did not criticise everything - focused on Stalin's crimes after 1934
Krushchev's attempts to reform government
Khrushchev's weaknesses
June 1957: Malenkov, Molotov, Voroshilov and Bulganin attempted to overthrow Khrushchev
He was able to use his base support in the party to win a vote against the rebels
the secret speech hadn't given him popularity he had hoped for
Although he was trying to 'de-Stalinise' (if not liberalise) the USSR, his position was not entirely secure
national minorities
K's criticism of Stalin made groups who were unhappy with Soviet rule feel like they could rebel
In the satellite Soviet states, such as Hungary and Poland, this created a particular challenge
neither country wanted a communist government
1956: K used military force to put down protests in Hungary
led to 20,000 Hungarian and 1,500 Soviet casualties
in doing so, he re-affirmed his position as a 'Stalinist'
practical steps
released thousands of gulag prisoners
sents troops to deal with the protests in Tbilisi
twenty died and 60 injured
didn't want the impact of his speech to get out of control
Khrushchev's political legacy
there were still elements of his rule which were more liberal
allowed publication of of a book which was critical of the regime
having raised the hopes of reformers in the East and West alike, many thought the Cold War was thawing
a portrait of Stalin hung in his office long after the speech
showed where his ultimate political loyalties lay
Khrushchev's reforms
the secret speech created a new climate of criticism
portraits and busts of Stalin were destroyed
some now called Stalin an 'enemy of the people'
there were regional differences: in Georgia (Stalin's home|) four days of protests shook Tbilisi, the capital
impact of Khrushchev's claims during the 20th Congress was that the party was too monolithic - only one set of views was allowed
Stalin and Lenin had devoted 'deviationists', so few expressed any criticism of official policy
Cold War legacy
West was more confident in dealing with the USSR under K
but in practice, the biggest Cold War crises in Berlin and Cuba came under Khrushchev's rule
Stability and stagnation
political stagnation
aging and inefficiency
older officials became increasingly inefficient
were few opportunities for promotion - which was bad for motivating workers thus no incentive to work hard
corruption
with little opportunity to progress, some public officials turned to corruption
one way to do this was by selling goods
Brezhnev himself was involved in corruption with luxury goods
his daughter Galina Brezhneva was able to get hold of diamonds.
her lover smuggled the diamonds out of the SU
gerontocracy
people joked that the government had become a 'gerontocracy' - a ruling class by old people
1964-71: only 2 new members of the Politburo
its average age was 75 in 1982
govt officials stand in their jobs for many years, sometimes for life
young people did not take on government jobs, so the average age of state employees went up
no more revolution
the govt no longer had a utopian vision as it had done under the USSR's previous leaders
B no longer persuaded people to work hard to reach socialism
he only encouraged revolution in other countries
people were angry that corruption was such a big problem, even after socialism had supposedly been reached
Andropov and Chernenko
anti-corruption campaign
red army generals were the main target of the campaign
Minister of the Interior Nikolai Schelokov was also attacked
'stability of cadres' was ended
Andropov replaced many senior officials
Konstantin Chernenko
was also against reform
ruled for such a short time that he did very little as leader
Yuri Andropov
there was little attempt at reform during the period
he tried to bring corruption to an end
both men were close allies of B
after Brezhnev's death, he became leader of the SU alongside Konstantin Chernenko
stability under Brezhnev
stability of cadres
the policy of 'stability of cadres' discouraged many changes within the government
difficult to fire govt workers or move them around departments
this meant that Party members' jobs were very secure
restoration
decentralisation came to an end
All- Union, centralised ministries returned
under a policy of 'restoration', he rolled back some reforms
agricultural and industrial sections of the party were reunited
B decided that some of Khrushchev's reforms had not worked
there was no return to the terror of the Stalin years