Khrushchev: Government
- Created by: hattie.ie
- Created on: 02-04-18 14:09
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- Khrushchev: Government
- Early reforms and the power struggle
- Beria
- Reduced the power of the secret police
- To make him not look like he was going to use terror to seize power
- 1953: Khrushchev and Malenkov arrange his arrest and execution
- Accused of being a British spy
- The secret police was brought under Party control
- Reduced the power of the secret police
- Malenkov
- Khrushchev increased Party power over the state to ensure he overpowered Malenkov
- Khrushchev used his roll as First Secretary of the Central Committee to bring in members loyal to him
- 1956: He had replaced nearly half of the Central Committee with his old associates from the Ukraine and Moscow
- Power was decentralised to the republics to weaken state bureaucracy further
- Weakened Malenkov
- Party membership
- Increased from 6.9 million (1954) to 11 million (1964)
- Made it seem more democratic
- Increased from 6.9 million (1954) to 11 million (1964)
- Fixed terms introduced for senior communists
- Made sure that they were replaced regularly
- Reduced the personal power that people could collect
- 1961: Two thirds of regional party secretaries had been replaced
- Beria
- The Secret Speech (February, 1956)
- Criticised Stalin
- The personality cult
- Blunders during the war
- E.g. Purging the Red Army just before WWII
- Stalin's responsibility for the Great Terror
- Stalin's personal dictatorship
- Revealed Lenin's criticisms of Stalin in his Testament
- Aims
- To blame Stalin for all atrocities to maintain support for Communism
- To gain the freedom to institute his own changes and reforms
- To remove blame for the purges from himself
- Criticised Stalin
- Attempt to overthrow Khrushchev (1957)
- Stalinists in the Party argued that his reforms had destabilized the Soviet government
- Responsible for recent anti-Soviet revolts in Poland and Hungary
- June, 1957: A majority in the Presidium, led by Malenkov, voted to replace him
- Khrushchev argues that it could only be decided by the Central Committee
- Where he had a majority
- Khrushchev argues that it could only be decided by the Central Committee
- Khrushchev survived and fired his opponents
- Impact
- Demonstrated that senior Communists would no longer use political terror against each other
- Would instead use popular support
- Recognised that the power of the Party leader depended on the support of the Central Committee
- Collective leadership
- Demonstrated that senior Communists would no longer use political terror against each other
- Stalinists in the Party argued that his reforms had destabilized the Soviet government
- De-Stalinisation and ending terror
- 1958: New criminal code
- Evidence, witnesses, and confessions were now essential to convict someone
- Prisoners could now receive and sent mail
- KGB
- New organisation of the secret police
- They lost control over the gulags which they used for slave labour in mining and construction projects
- They were brought under Party control
- 1960: 2 million political prisoners were released
- Far fewer people were arrested or executed than under Stalin
- Terror
- Khrushchev ended the use of political terror against Party officials
- His enemies were fired but not imprisoned or executed
- Khrushchev could retire with a pension instead of being tried or executed
- Khrushchev ended the use of political terror against Party officials
- Power
- Khrushchev ended Stalin's system of personal rule
- The crisis of 1957 showed that he was subject to the support of the Central Committee
- Khrushchev's overthrow in 1964 demonstrated how far the Party's power was independent of the leader
- Khrushchev ended Stalin's system of personal rule
- Stalin
- Many statues of Stalin were removed
- Cities like Stalino and Stalingrad were changed back to their old names (Donetsk and Volgograd)
- There were no official celebrations of Stalin's birthday
- Stalin's quotes and ideas were no longer shown as equal to Lenin's or Marx's
- Stalin was accused of Kirov's murder
- Stalin's body was removed from Red Square
- Previously considered dissident works were allowed to be published
- E.g. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- 1958: New criminal code
- Later government reforms
- 1961: Rule 25
- Limited the time in office for Party members
- 1962: Party division
- Split into agricultural and industrial departments
- Reduced the power of Party officials
- Boosted economic growths
- Split into agricultural and industrial departments
- 1961: Rule 25
- Limitations of de-Stalinisation
- The secret police was reorganised but not disbanded or reformed
- The gulags were not closed and 750,000 remained imprisoned
- Reintroduction of the death penalty for serious economic crimes
- Punishment for corruption and criticism of the Party
- Khrushchev's reforms did nothing to alter the fundamental foundations of the one party state and the central economic planning of Lenin and Stalin
- He was still prepared to use violence against protesters
- Use of repression against reform movements and uprising in the satellite states
- E.g. Hungary and Poland (1956)
- Use of repression against reform movements and uprising in the satellite states
- Khrushchev's fall from power (1964)
- Why?
- He was criticised for mishandling the economy and foreign policy
- His political reforms had created discontent within the Party
- Many officials had been demoted, lost their jobs, or had to move away from Moscow
- The plotters against Khrushchev had the backing of the Central Committee
- Khrushchev "retired due to ill-health" and was given a pension and other luxuries
- Why?
- Early reforms and the power struggle
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