Khruschev

Rise to power Following Stalin’s death in March 1953, a collective leadership emerged (as had happened after Lenin’s death) – Malenkov (Soviet Premier) – Molotov (Foreign Secretary) – Bulganin (Deputy Premier) – Khrushchev (Party Secretary) Many of the contenders for leader feared Beria would use his influence in the MVD (secret police) as a base for a power bid Khrushchev was able to counter this with the Red Army as the Generals disliked Beria for his role in the purges of the 1930s. Khrushchev had distanced himself from the army purges and played a leading role in the Great Patriotic War.

In June 1953, troops supporting Khrushchev surrounded Beria’s apartment, preventing MVD intervention. Beria was then tried and shot This was one of the last political shooting after Stalin’s bloodletting, a sign early on that Khrushchev represented a thaw in Soviet restrictions. Malenkov argued that better relations with the outside world should be improved and embarked on a process of raising Soviet living standards, whilst neglecting heavy industry. Malenkov won little support from these changes and did not have the strong personality Khrushchev possessed Khrushchev was, as Party Secretary the leader and had far more influence politically than Malenkov

Khrushchev weakened Malenkov’s position through criticism of government ministers and their policies. He also travelled around Russia and heard the grievances of the localities, which no leader had done before. By 1955 he had established a strong power base In the same year, Malenkov resigned after successive falls in grain production caused by his routing of Russia’s finances into living conditions He was replaced as Premier by Bulganin, who never rivalled Khrushchev’s power

In 1956 Khrushchev felt able to launch a violent attack on Stalin’s character and record All of the high ranking members had survived the oppressive years of Stalin’s regime and therefore found this attack hard to take Opposition to Khrushchev then began to grow, particularly amongst those who had lost their positions after Khrushchev’s reorganisation of the party Khrushchev was seen as a threat as he was removing jobs from those in the Communist Party. Plans were therefore made to remove him from power After a visit abroad, one such attack came, during which it was claimed that Khrushchev had gone too far in his process of de-Stalinisation and was responsible for anti-Soviet revolts in Poland and Hungary

The Politburo voted by seven votes to four for his dismissal as party secretary, but Khrushchev would only accept the vote if it was backed by the Party Central Committee Khrushchev had his supporters flown from all over Russia to Moscow to vote, which backed Khrushchev Molotov and Malenkov were accused of forming an anti party group and resigned from their posts

Khrushchev now took steps to stop the army from becoming a threat He accused Marshall Zhukov of creating his own cult of the individual, he was then forced to retire and was replaced by Marshall Malinovsky Only Bulganin stood in Khrushchev’s path to power. He was denounced as a supporter of the anti-Party group and resigned in March 1958 Khrushchev was now in overall command of the Party and therefore Russia

The situation facing Khrushchev Like Stalin, he had to remove rivals. Beria was shot, other rivals lost influence and were demoted Stalinist error had left huge scars across the country and Khrushchev needed to dismantle this repressive system but not end the control the party had Like Alexander II, Khrushchev needed to make reforms, but he had to deal with discontent with the party and to create a more modern economy Like Stalin he had struggled for power but unlike other leaders he had struggled and worked in industry, he knew what it was like for his people.

De-Stalinisation Khrushchev started the process of destroying Stalin’s reputation with his secret report in February 1956, but there were signs before this The press were less complimentary of his achievements, and Malenkov’s reforms suggested Stalin had not done enough for the Russian people Khrushchev took these criticisms to a new level, exposing the errors and crimes Stalin had committed against the party and accusing him of ‘flagrant abuses of power’

Khrushchev quoted the names of innocent members of the party who had died needlessly and individual examples of violence were reported The speech was met with shock and was not made public to the people until 1989, but many key communists leaked details to the western press Khrushchev also attacked Stalin’s foreign policies and criticised his actions in war and in the introduction of the cult of Stalin Khrushchev blamed all the mistakes in Soviet history since the 1930s on Stalin’s lust for power

Khrushchev wanted to blacken Stalin’s name but not criticise the communist party Attacking Stalin created a huge danger of disruption in the communist party and the Soviet Union in general

The aims of De-Stalinisation To justify the introduction of more progressive economic measures in the USSR To make co-existence with the West easier To absolve Khrushchev from Stalin’s errors De-Stalinisation was never intended to liberate Soviet society Although some were released from the Gulags and censorship was relaxed, these were gestures Khrushchev was always certain to accuse Stalin of crimes against the party, not against the Soviet people. Khrushchev believed that without de-Stalinisation, reform of the USSR would be impossible