HIST 236 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Lavrentiy Beria, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Post-Stalinist Power Struggle
Stalin died on March 5, 1953
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This sent the country into a period of mourning and uncertainty
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The Soviet Union was technically goverened by a collective
leadership after Stalin's death
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Three main contenders for sole leadership emerged:
Lavrenty Beria
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Georgy Malenkov
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Nikita Krushchev
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Lies next to Lenin in the mausoleum
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Lavrenty Beria
Beria was from Georgie
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He made his career in the NKVD
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After Stalin's death he initiated liberalizing reforms, including letting
people out of the gulag
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Other members of the central leadership grew concerned and had
him arrested
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He was tried for treason, terrorism, and counterrevolutionary
activity and executed by the end of 1953
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Lets Molotov's wife out of the gulag (she was Jewish and supportive
of Zionist policies)
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People who had been purged start to be brought back from the
gulag starting in the 1950s
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Georgy Malenkov
Many presumed he was next in line because he assumed Stalin's
position as the General Secretary in the Politburo
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He was a career politician and was seen as a political moderate
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He launched reforms to improve living standards, including
agricultural reforms and increasing consumer industry
These reforms brought him into conflict with Krushchev (in
particular about the economy)
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Nikita Khrushchev
He came from a poor peasant Ukrainian background
He benefitted from the opportunity for social mobility after
the revolution
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He was a communist party official in both Ukraine and Moscow
He was leader of Ukraine during the war
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He was called back to Moscow to head up the communist party
there again after the war
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Krushchev's Secret Speech
Krushchev launched a coup d'etat at the Twentieth Party Congress
when he openly criticized Stalin
He was a dictator who branded anyone who disagreed with
him an enemy of the people
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He purged honest communists
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He had made fatal errors during war
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Stalin had taken the Soviet Union off the Leninist path by
resorting to violence when it was no longer necessary
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The Anti-Party Group
Malenkov, along with other top leaders tried to oust Khrushchev
from power in 1957
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He outmaneuvered them and had them branded as anti-party
traitors
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They were expelled from the party and demoted but were not
executed
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Khrushchev was now firmly in charge
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The members were sent to different countries to try and disperse
the group
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The Thaw
The secret speech led to liberalizing reforms in society, the economy
and culture
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Many were released from the gulag or allowed them to return
home from exile
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Censorship was relaxed
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The Soviet Union opened up to the outside world
Foreigners came to Moscow to visit, study, etc.
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Writers start to explore the theme of repression
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People talk about being a prisoner of war, etc. because they were
not allowed to during the Stalin era
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Possible for Soviet citizens to travel abroad
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Improving Living Standards
At the Twentieth Party Congress, Khrushchev promised to more
folly meet the population's growing material needs
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The government launched a series of reforms to:
Pensions and wages
Aimed at Soviet people after the war
§
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Production of consumer goods
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Housing (private apartments)
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Starting to export goods to the Soviet Union in exchange for oil, etc.
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They are in the Cold War during the time
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Khrushchev says the USSR is going to catch up and over take the
West
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Sees a very big bump in living standards
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Agricultural and Economic Reforms
Khrushchev placed new priority on the peasantry and agriculture
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He launched a corn growing campaign
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He launched a campaign to develop the Virgin Lands in Central Asia
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He decentralized the economy under the sovnarkhoz reform
allowing more freedom to local authorities
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Communism in a Lifetime
In 1961, Khrushchev declared that communism would be built in 20
years
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The Moral Code of the Builders of Communism was to guide Soviet
citizens' development and behaviour toward this end
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He aggressively attacked economic crime and social parasitism
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The state became less repressive but more intrusive
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The Demise of Khrushchev
Serious problems persisted in spite of reforms: bad harvests,
economic slowdown, etc.
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Khrushchev grew increasingly unpopular as living standards declined
In 1962, the Soviet government killed civilians in
Novocherkassk who protested price increased and lower
wages and covered it up
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Khrushchev refused to acknowledge obvious problems
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He was forced out of government and into retirement in October
1964
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Starts to restrict the amount of private livestock and private land for
the peasants
This creates a massive foot shortage in the country
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Lecture 23 -De-Stalinization and the Thaw
Monday, March 26, 2018
10:52 AM
Document Summary
This sent the country into a period of mourning and uncertainty. The soviet union was technically goverened by a collective leadership after stalin"s death. After stalin"s death he initiated liberalizing reforms, including letting people out of the gulag. Other members of the central leadership grew concerned and had him arrested. He was tried for treason, terrorism, and counterrevolutionary activity and executed by the end of 1953. Lets molotov"s wife out of the gulag (she was jewish and supportive of zionist policies) People who had been purged start to be brought back from the gulag starting in the 1950s. Many presumed he was next in line because he assumed stalin"s position as the general secretary in the politburo. He was a career politician and was seen as a political moderate. He launched reforms to improve living standards, including agricultural reforms and increasing consumer industry. These reforms brought him into conflict with krushchev (in.
