CW - 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

  • A power struggles 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 the reduction of power of the secret police and the gradual closure of forced labor camps.
  • Agriculture in bad shape.
  • Shortages of consumer goods.
  • Hard work and initiative are in decline due to poor living conditions.

 

De-Stalinization

  • At the 20th Party Congress, in 1956, Khrushchev took a startling initiative against hard-liners by denouncing Stalin's crimes in a closed session.
  • His secret anti-Stalin speech is probably the 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 Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) - portrays in grim detail life in Stalinist concentration camps (Solzhenitsyn 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 the 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 feelings at bay.

 

Hungarian Uprising, 1956

  • A Case for Intervention Should foreign nations intervene?Students and workers in Budapest installed a liberal Communist reformer, Imre Nagy as the 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; the 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 the 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

  • In 1949, Communists in China led by Mao Zedong won the Chinese revolution.
  • Establish "The Peoples Republic of China" ("Red China").

 

Korean War: 1950-1953

  • After WWII, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel: the North was communist, and the 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.

 

The 1950s

The hydrogen bomb was developed by the U.S. in 1952 & by the USSR in 1953; the 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 the 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.

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

 

Cold War in the 1960s

U-2 incident: U.S. spy plane shot down over USSR.

  • Khrushchev demanded an apology from Eisenhower; Eisenhower refused.
  • The promising Paris Summit in 1960 between Khrushchev and Eisenhower was aborted.

Photograph of German soldiers building the Berlin WallBerlin Wall built in 1961.

  • 2 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin between 1949-1961; the Soviets are frustrated.
  • Khrushchev threatened President Kennedy: USSR would sign a peace treaty with East Germany which would then control access to Berlin; the Soviets would protect East Germany's right to control flow into Berlin.
  • The Berlin Wall was built instead of enforcing an ultimatum to the U.S.; ended future crises over Berlin.

 

Cuba

  • Cuba became a communist country in 1959 under the leadership of Fidel Castro.
  • Quickly became an ally of the Soviet Union.
  • Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961: U.S.-trained Cuban exiles tried unsuccessfully to invade Cuba.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: U.S. demanded Soviets remove their newly installed nuclear missiles from Cuba.
  • The Crisis became the closest USSR and US came to nuclear war.
  • The U.S. placed a blockade (naval quarantine) on any further missiles into Cuba, resulting a in 13-day standoff.
  • Khrushchev agreed to remove missiles in return for the U.S. removing its missiles from Turkey and vowing not to invade Cuba in the future.

This Crisis weakened Khrushchev and contributed to his downfall in 1964.

 

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 1963

  • Khrushchev, Kennedy, & Britain signed a historic treaty banning atmospheric testing in an attempt to reduce Cold War tensions.
  • France refused to sign (was in the process of developing its own nuclear weapons program).
  • China became a nuclear power in 1964 leading to its estrangement from the Soviet Union.

 

Fall of Khrushchev, 1964

  • His cold war foreign policies were erratic & ultimately unsuccessful (Berlin, Cuban Missile Crisis).
  • Expensive space and armaments programs postponed any significant industrial shift to consumer goods.
  • The most important reason for his fall → agricultural projects backfired.
  • The resurgence of conservative Stalinists led to the quiet removal of Khrushchev in October, 1964.

Leonid Brezhnev became the new General Secretary (1964-1982).

  • Beginning in 1964, USSR began a period of stagnation and limited re-Stalinization.
  • Massive arms buildup started in response to the humiliation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • USSR avoided direct confrontation with the U.S. and seemed more committed to peaceful coexistence than Khrushchev had been.

 

Soviet Bloc since 1968

  • The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia was the crucial event of the Brezhnev era.
  • Intense conservatism of the Soviet ruling elite determined to maintain the status quo in the Soviet bloc.
  • The dictatorship was collective rather than personal—through the Politburo.
  • Celebrated nonconformists as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is permanently expelled from the country.

 

 

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