Khrushchev

How far did de-Stalinisation represent a genuine break from the past?
(p96-97 Revision Book, p21-24 and p45 textbook and further research!)
It did (historians and evidence) It did not (historians and evidence)

IMMEDIATELY post-S’s death  reorganization Dismissed rebellious politicians AT WILL

of political structure + disposal of S sympathisers
 Presidium:  10 members only
 1956: 1/3 Central Comm members = new
o 1/2 secs replaced regionally + locally
 Zhukov: passing military reforms w/o K’s approval
 Sent Kaganovich to manage cement factory
 Sent Malenkov to hydroelectric plant in Kazakh
 Assassinated Beria for being complicit in Stalinist
regime

Move to COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP One-leader state still intact

 Power in hands of a GROUP; X individual  LIKE A2!!!
 Malenkov: favoured consumerism +  Liberalised  but ultimately still X far from
westernization  CONFLICTS W K authoritarian
 MVD = party control; X individual
Denounced S: speech at 20th party congress ‘The Anti-Party Group
Cult of the Individual and its Consequences’  Opposed K  tried to abolish his role
(SECRET SPEECH!!) o Molotov + Kaganovich + Malenkov
 S X accepted by L as genuine leader o K: only CC can do that  removed them
 1941: USSR X prepared for war from Presidium
 Committed unforgivable crimes vs ppl
 Misdemeanors vs ‘outsiders’  eg. Speech caused outcry from senior party members 
Assassination of Hungarian revolutionary members still w S?
leader Bela Kun
 away from extreme repression Order maintained through MVD:
 Release political prisoners from labour camps - Used physical force when necessary  tanks sent
o Syzsitertasin to Hungary in 1956 to suppress Nagy regime
 LESS censorship  publication of works that
criticized S: Pasternak, Ehrenburg etc
o 1950s: 65,000 books/year
 X2 VS Lenin
o 1959: 135,000 libraries
 8000mill books
 X10 VS N2
o Newspapers: 60mill readership
 BETTER LITERACY?

 Erosion of cult of personality:

o Pictures + statues of S removed from
public places;
o Stalingrad  Volgograd
o 22nd party congress: S’s body removed
 from Lenin mausoleum
 Resisted using violence to deal w unrest;
MVD mostly peaceful
To what extent were the economic and social reforms made by Khrushchev a failure?
Failed 
Agricultural reforms
- Offered peasants little incentives  X fully
effective management of admin
- Raise in price of food (due to wanting to
incentivize peasants) made urban ppl 
- 1962 – 1963:  HARVESTS bc weather
o Riots in countryside + towns
o Budyenni Locomotive in
Novocherkassk  KGB killed 23 ppl
Virgin Land Campaign – its failure  downfall?
 FLAWED – ‘virgin’ land was often not very
fertile
 Lacked appropriate methods:
o Land overused; X attention to crop
rotation (LACKED TECHNIQUE??)
o X prevent soil erosion  regions near
central Asia = wind storms
o Rushed – X properly implement bc
rushing
 Long term: productivity + production 
o 1963: grain production 140  107mill
 Bc drought (lacked finesse?)
Social reform – education
 Still restrictive  rewrote history books to
reflect de-Stalinisation (PROPO!!!!)
(p98 Revision Book, plus textbook and further research!)
Succeeded 
Agricultural reforms – structural
- Merged smaller collective farms  increased
production through state farms
- Ministry of Agriculture  advisory role; X involved
in planning & implementing
- Abolished MTS  peasants more freedom?
Agricultural – incentivizing production
 Raised prices for state procurements
 Reduced amount of state procurements
 Reduced tax
 Provision of electricity to rural areas 
Virgin Land Campaign  increase cultivated land
 TO INCREASE CONSUMER GOODS! – cereal
 +70mill acres of land  wheat production in 10+
years
 Urban ppl: food requirements FINALLY met
Social reform – education
 Secondary schools  back to vocational model
 Created specialist academies; correspondence
courses
Social reform – urban
 7-hour working day (AS OPPOSED TO S: 8 hours)
 Some improvement in overcrowding; housing
program x2 (eased shortage) & X communal living
 How effectively did Khrushchev deal with the challenges posed by the Cold War?
(p100 Revision Book, plus textbook and further research!)
- Inspirational and innovative (trying to promote peace coexistence) OR erratic and impulsive (not
consistent enough)
- Conclusion:
Effective (historians and evidence) Ineffective (historians and evidence)

Secret Speech – stated there was only two ways
to manage foreign policy with the west:
 Peaceful co-existence
 Most destructive war in history
 Seen as an attempt to to create a more
peaceful and secure war
Risky policy  led to higher tensions
 Berlin Wall = oppressive measure; worsened
relations w West
 ‘Iron Curtain’

Supported signing of the Austrian State Treaty
(May 1955)
 Signified that Russia was willing to co-
operate with the west over dealing with
Austria’s claims for independence
Policy of ‘Peaceful co-existence’ led to
nationalities demanding more freedom
 Hungary 1956 – tanks sent in to crush the
uprising
 Budapest uprising ruthlessly suppressed =
gained Khrushchev support
Criticized for being too ‘peaceful’
 Peaceful coexistence = stray from hardline comm
 U-turn from ideal of spreading internationally
 Chinese comm esp critical (Mao = ‘too soft!)  led
to withdrawal of military support when Chinese
needed it (worsened relations?)
1956 Hungarian crisis = disastrous
 Put back de-stalin bc of cruel squashing
 Comm parties in West lost influence and members
 Weakened overall Soviet influence; in both Eastern
EU and West
 ‘Poor advertisement’ of communism

1961 Khrushchev proposed to the American gov
that the west should come out of Berlin
 Promoted by the increasing number of
E.Germans trying to flee to Western sector
 Kennedy refused = Khrushchev supported
the construction of the Berlin Wall
 Bold move to prevent further
embarrassment to communist leaders in
E.Germany
Failure to effectively deal with Cuban Missile Crisis
 Took Kennedy to brink of war; seen as provoker
and almost started nuclear war
 BUT ALSO: seen as weak by Russians bc he backed
down and agreed to withdraw missiles;  main
reason for his fall?
 Criticized from both sides

Cuban Missile Crisis

 K forced Kennedy to compromise rather
testing Khrushchev and sending forces into
Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro
 ‘Hotline’ telephone link developed between
Moscow and Washington – allowed for
quicker, more direct way of resolving
disputes to avoid another incident like the
Cuban Missile Crisis
= strengthened co-existence policy.