THE SOVIET UNION FROM STALIN TO KHRUSHCHEV Soviet Union makes rapid recovery after the war Emphasis on industrial production and export goods Soviets workers 1. low pay 2. poor housing 3. few consumer goods

STALIN’S POLICIES Removed all opposition to his rule Undisputed master of the USSR In 1946 an anti-intellectual campaign = all literary and scientific work must conform to Stalinism “the Doctor’s Plot” – beginnings of a new Stalinist purge in 1953 Stalin dies in March 1953

NIKITA SERGEYEVICH KHRUSHCHEV Terror+

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV Becomes leader of USSR after death of Stalin Begins policy of de-Stalinization = “The Thaw” Speech to the Twentieth Party Congress – Khrushchev denounces the crimes of Stalin Limited degree of intellectual freedom is allow – ex. ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH by Alexander Solzhenitsyn Reduces the power of the secret police and closes some of the Siberian prison camps Uprising in Hungary causes a limiting of the de-Stalinization campaign

KHRUSHCHEV’S ECONOMIC POLICIES Attempt at more emphasis on light industry and consumer goods Attempt to increase ag. Production east of the Urals  fails Increased military spending Beginning of long continuous decline in the industrial growth rate “Virgin Lands” propaganda poster

THE DOWNFALL OF KHRUSHCHEV Clownish and obnoxious personality make him unpopular with party leaders Attempts to limit privileges of higher party bureaucracy  unpopular Failure of agricultural policies Soviet defeat/embarrassment in Cuban Missile Crisis Khrushchev is voted out by the Politburo and forced into retirement in 1964

Leonid Brezhnev replaces Khrushchev as leader of the Soviet Union Khrushchev put up little resistance, and that night called his friend and Presidium colleague Anastas Mikoyan, and told him, “I'm old and tired. Let them cope by themselves. I've done the main thing. Could anyone have dreamed of telling Stalin that he didn't suit us anymore and suggesting he retire? Not even a wet spot would have remained where we had been standing. Now everything is different. The fear is gone, and we can talk as equals. That's my contribution. I won't put up a fight.”

EASTERN EUROPE – BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN Between 1945-1948 one party communist regimes are established in EAST GERMANY BULGARIA ROMANIA POLAND HUNGARY CZECHOSLOVAKIA

YUGOSLAVIA – THE EXCEPTION IN EASTERN EUROPE Yugoslavia establishes a communist regime which is relatively independent of the USSR JOSIP BROZ “TITO” = founder of communist Yugoslavia

UPHEAVAL IN E. EUROPE – THE STRUGGLE OF THE CAPTIVE NATIONS POLAND 1956 a. reform efforts arise after de-stalinization b. polish leader Gomulka declares Poland will pursue its own path to socialism c. fearing Soviet intervention Poland agrees to remain loyal to Warsaw Pact 2. HUNGARY 1956 a. Imre Nagy declares Hungarian independence and free elections b. Soviets invade and crush the Hungarian revolt 3. CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1968 a. Alexander Dubcek becomes new communist leader in 1968 b. Dubcek begins reform program to create “communism with a human face” c. PRAGUE SPRING = reform period in 1968 under Dubcek d. aug. 1968 Soviet tanks invade and crush the Prague Spring

REVOLT IN EASTERN EUROPE HUNGARIAN REVOLT CRUSHING THE PRAGUE SPRING