CWB - How much Destalinization is too much Destalinization?: The Khrushchev Years. (Lesson)

How much Destalinization is too much Destalinization?: The Khrushchev Years.

USSR under Nikita Khrushchev.

  • Power struggle emerged after Stalin died in 1953; Nikita Khrushchev emerged as a leader a few years later
  • Stalin's political heirs realized reforms were needed
  • Widespread fear and hatred of Stalin's political terror resulted in reduction of power of secret police and gradual closure of forced labor camps
  • Agriculture in bad shape
  • Shortages of consumer goods
  • Hard work and initiative in decline due to poor living conditions

 

de-Stalinization.

  • At the 20th Party Congress, in 1956, Khrushchev took startling initiative against hard-liners by denouncing Stalin's crimes in a closed session
  • His secret anti-Stalin speech is probably most influential statement in Russia since Lenin addressed the crowd upon arriving in April 1917 (Remember Lenin's Peace, Land, and Bread Speech?)
  • Gosplan: Resources shifted from heavy industry and the military toward consumer goods and agriculture – Centralized Economic Planning
  • Great changes in the arts (anti-Stalinist views tolerated) including the following:
    • Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago (1956) - Story of a pre-revolutionary intellectual who rejects the brutality of the revolution of 1917 and Stalinism; even as he is destroyed, he triumphs from his humanity and Christian spirit.
    • Aleksandr Solzenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) - portrays in grim detail life in Stalinist concentration camps (Solzenitsyn had been a prisoner)

De-Stalinization resulted in communist reformers and the masses seeking greater liberty and national independence.

 

Poland.

  • March 1956, riots resulted in release of more than 9000 political prisoners, including previously purged leader Wladyslaw Gomulka
  • Gomulka skillfully managed to win greater autonomy for Poland while keeping anti-Soviet feeling at bay

 

Hungarian Uprising, 1956.

  • A Case for Intervention Should foreign nations intervene? This is always a difficult question. In the event of the Hungarian Uprising, however, the failure of the United States to intervene effectively told Eastern Europe they were on their own. It became clear that the best course of action was to follow Soviet dictates while pushing for minor reforms. Students and workers in Budapest installed a liberal Communist reformer, Imre Nagy as new chief in October 1956
  • Hungarian nationalists staged huge demonstrations demanding non-communist parties be legalized; turned into armed rebellion and spread throughout the country
  • Many Hungarians hoped the U.S. would come in and help achieve Hungarian independence; U.S. chooses not to intervene
  • Soviet tanks and troops responded by invading Hungary and crushing the national democratic revolution
  • János Kádár takes over, installs firm communist rule
  • After Hungarian invasion, most eastern Europeans hoped for small domestic gains while obediently following USSR in foreign affairs

Khrushchev sought to prove communism was superior to capitalism and that the USSR would be the model communist state in the world; "we will bury you." Khrushchev began wooing new nations of Asia and Africa with promises and aid, even if they were not communist.

 

China.

  • 1949, Communists in China led by Mao Zedong win Chinese revolution
  • establish "Peoples Republic of China" ("Red China")

 

Korean War: 1950-1953.

  • After WWII, Korea divided at 38th parallel: north was communist, south was not
  • 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea (supported by Soviet resources)
  • UN (led by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur) sent forces to push back communists
  • Soviets boycott UN for U.S. refusal to allow "Red China" into UN Security Council
  • China sends hundreds of thousands of troops to push back UN forces
  • Result: cease-fire and border at 38th parallel restored; still in existence today

 

Hydrogen bomb developed by U.S. in 1952 & USSR in 1953: world now has two superpowers

Warsaw Pact (1955): Collective security organization of eastern bloc nations to counter NATO.

U.S. policy of "massive retaliation" between 1953-55

  • U.S. policy now is to help eastern European countries remove communism
  • U.S. vows to destroy USSR with nuclear weapons if it tries to expand
  • "brinkmanship"- the art of going to the brink of war to force the other side to back down

1958, relations sour with Khrushchev's ultimatum for Allies to leave Berlin: 6 month deadline passes without incident, extended indefinitely

 

 

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