Khrushchev and attempts to reform the Soviet system, 1956–61
The impetus to reform:
Khrushchev's personality and aims;
- From working class origins
- Compared himself to Pinya often (a shoemaker who whilst in prison has natural
leadership abilities despite others immediately believing him elected as a joke and
solved their problems)
- Malenkov appeared more likely to seize power due to his more educated background
- Khruschev was often underestimated by other party members due to his background,
lack of education, lack of manners and his energy.
- Khrushchev gained significant respect due to his unquestioning loyalty to Stalin and
becoming fully immersed in the purges, particularly world war two where he was
directly involved in defending Stalingrad. This earned him the respect and loyalty of
the army which was vital in the power struggle of the 1950s.
- Khrushchev's personality was less aligned towards reform and instead towards doing
whatever necessary to succeed.
- He could connect in a persuasive way with the masses particularly those of working
class however to the elite often came across crude, being forced to apologise after
one speech in 1955 for his poor delivery and mumbled observations.
-
his championing of the Party over bureaucratic conservatism;
- He held the key position of general secretary after taking it from Malenkov a few
weeks after Stalin's death. He then used this position to move his allies into similarly
powerful positions for example replacing Malenkov with Bulganin
- He used patronage in order to put his allies into positions of power inspiring young
ambitious officials to align themselves with Khruschev and as a result gain power
- Means how he empowered the party and made them side with his reforms (which
challenged bureaucratic conservatism as it prompted change)
discontent in the camps and the release of prisoners.
- According to Berias 1953 amnesty only 221,435 of the 2,526,402 prisoners in the
gulags were too dangerous to be released
- Berias death elicited large scale joy in the camps and many hoped the terror was
over prompting some prisoner strikes the largest being Kengir camp 1954
- Work began to rehabilitate the innocent. The process was long and by 1955 only 4%
of prisoners had been released
- The return of prisoners prompted to things
- A class that was more ready to question authority
- How could the government explain the wrongful imprisonment of so many?
- This led to ‘The secret speech’ 1956
De-Stalinisation: the speech to the Twentieth Party Congress 1956;
- It is estimated that by this point he held directly loyalty of ⅓ congress
- Aims
- In his memoir he claimed he wanted to end individuals fear of abuse of power
and oppression in order to progress towards true communism
, - It also provided a tactical opportunity to undermine his rivals as they either
had to back Khruschev or be condemned with Stalin's legacy
- Content:
- Stalin was guilty of abuse of power and lust for personal power
- Stalin was personally responsible for the purges with 70% of the party central
committee shot based on fabricated evidence or forced confessions
- Stalin's failures in foreign policy particularly yugoslavia and WW2
- The problems with Stalins ‘cult of personality’ destroying communist values
- Carefully constructed to cast suspicion on Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov
- The speech was met with divided reactions.
- Younger or less senior party members welcomed the speech (one of which
was gorbachev) as they could not be held responsible for the actions it was
condemning
- More senior members were less enthusiastic with reports of heart attacks and
suicides that ultimately strengthened Khruschevs power as he put his allies
into vacancies
- In Georgia (Stalin's home country) there were riots against Khrushchev
- Some people/ countries took their interpretations ‘too far’
- Hungarian uprising October 1956, their leader Nagy announced Hungary
would leave the Warsaw pact. Khruschev feared the collapse of the eastern
bloc so rolled tanks into hungary and 20,000 civilians were killed with Nagy
being taken to Moscow and executed
- Demands for civil rights also prompted Khruschev to send out a secret
circular in June 1956 ordering the arrest of individuals who took freedoms too
far
resistance in the party, including Molotov in 1957.
Beria:
- Many officials more scared of Beria than they had been of Stalin
- He had a strong claim as he was given the combined ministries of State Security and
Internal Affairs
- Khruschev organised a meeting and slandered Beria accusing him of being a spy
and at fault for all the mistakes of Stalin's rule
- Beria was put on trial, found guilty and murdered December 1953
Malenkov:
- Closely associated with Stalin as he was in charge of keeping a record of party
members
- Forced to resign in 1955 due to his close ties with Beria and abuse of power
- Was part of the ‘anti-party’ group 1957 which attempted to depose Khrushchev in
1957 and being unsuccessful were forced to resign and Malnkov sent to Siberia to
run a power station
Molotov:
- Formed a troika with Malenkov and Beria after Stalin's death but the two proceeded
to turn on Beria
- Held position of foreign minister after Stalims death until he had disagreements with
Khruschev in 1956 when he was made minister of state control and finally after
joining the anti-party group in 1957 he lost all his high party status and subsequently
served as ambassador to mongolia
The impetus to reform:
Khrushchev's personality and aims;
- From working class origins
- Compared himself to Pinya often (a shoemaker who whilst in prison has natural
leadership abilities despite others immediately believing him elected as a joke and
solved their problems)
- Malenkov appeared more likely to seize power due to his more educated background
- Khruschev was often underestimated by other party members due to his background,
lack of education, lack of manners and his energy.
- Khrushchev gained significant respect due to his unquestioning loyalty to Stalin and
becoming fully immersed in the purges, particularly world war two where he was
directly involved in defending Stalingrad. This earned him the respect and loyalty of
the army which was vital in the power struggle of the 1950s.
- Khrushchev's personality was less aligned towards reform and instead towards doing
whatever necessary to succeed.
- He could connect in a persuasive way with the masses particularly those of working
class however to the elite often came across crude, being forced to apologise after
one speech in 1955 for his poor delivery and mumbled observations.
-
his championing of the Party over bureaucratic conservatism;
- He held the key position of general secretary after taking it from Malenkov a few
weeks after Stalin's death. He then used this position to move his allies into similarly
powerful positions for example replacing Malenkov with Bulganin
- He used patronage in order to put his allies into positions of power inspiring young
ambitious officials to align themselves with Khruschev and as a result gain power
- Means how he empowered the party and made them side with his reforms (which
challenged bureaucratic conservatism as it prompted change)
discontent in the camps and the release of prisoners.
- According to Berias 1953 amnesty only 221,435 of the 2,526,402 prisoners in the
gulags were too dangerous to be released
- Berias death elicited large scale joy in the camps and many hoped the terror was
over prompting some prisoner strikes the largest being Kengir camp 1954
- Work began to rehabilitate the innocent. The process was long and by 1955 only 4%
of prisoners had been released
- The return of prisoners prompted to things
- A class that was more ready to question authority
- How could the government explain the wrongful imprisonment of so many?
- This led to ‘The secret speech’ 1956
De-Stalinisation: the speech to the Twentieth Party Congress 1956;
- It is estimated that by this point he held directly loyalty of ⅓ congress
- Aims
- In his memoir he claimed he wanted to end individuals fear of abuse of power
and oppression in order to progress towards true communism
, - It also provided a tactical opportunity to undermine his rivals as they either
had to back Khruschev or be condemned with Stalin's legacy
- Content:
- Stalin was guilty of abuse of power and lust for personal power
- Stalin was personally responsible for the purges with 70% of the party central
committee shot based on fabricated evidence or forced confessions
- Stalin's failures in foreign policy particularly yugoslavia and WW2
- The problems with Stalins ‘cult of personality’ destroying communist values
- Carefully constructed to cast suspicion on Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov
- The speech was met with divided reactions.
- Younger or less senior party members welcomed the speech (one of which
was gorbachev) as they could not be held responsible for the actions it was
condemning
- More senior members were less enthusiastic with reports of heart attacks and
suicides that ultimately strengthened Khruschevs power as he put his allies
into vacancies
- In Georgia (Stalin's home country) there were riots against Khrushchev
- Some people/ countries took their interpretations ‘too far’
- Hungarian uprising October 1956, their leader Nagy announced Hungary
would leave the Warsaw pact. Khruschev feared the collapse of the eastern
bloc so rolled tanks into hungary and 20,000 civilians were killed with Nagy
being taken to Moscow and executed
- Demands for civil rights also prompted Khruschev to send out a secret
circular in June 1956 ordering the arrest of individuals who took freedoms too
far
resistance in the party, including Molotov in 1957.
Beria:
- Many officials more scared of Beria than they had been of Stalin
- He had a strong claim as he was given the combined ministries of State Security and
Internal Affairs
- Khruschev organised a meeting and slandered Beria accusing him of being a spy
and at fault for all the mistakes of Stalin's rule
- Beria was put on trial, found guilty and murdered December 1953
Malenkov:
- Closely associated with Stalin as he was in charge of keeping a record of party
members
- Forced to resign in 1955 due to his close ties with Beria and abuse of power
- Was part of the ‘anti-party’ group 1957 which attempted to depose Khrushchev in
1957 and being unsuccessful were forced to resign and Malnkov sent to Siberia to
run a power station
Molotov:
- Formed a troika with Malenkov and Beria after Stalin's death but the two proceeded
to turn on Beria
- Held position of foreign minister after Stalims death until he had disagreements with
Khruschev in 1956 when he was made minister of state control and finally after
joining the anti-party group in 1957 he lost all his high party status and subsequently
served as ambassador to mongolia
