Khrushchev

Berlin Wall

- 13th August 1961 - East German building workers sealed the border between East and West Berlin - 17-18th August 1961 - East German building workers began constructing the Berlin Wall

Cuban Missile Crisis

- 16th October 1962 - Kennedy was shown aerial photographs of missile launch sites on Cuba - 20th October - ExComm voted in favour of a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the arrival of any more Soviet missiles (act of brinkmanship) - warned Khrushchev that any missile attack launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on US by USSR - 24th October - Soviet ships turned back in the face of the US naval blockade

Five year plans

- 1959 - 6th 5 year plan introduced in 1956 was abandoned in favour of 7 year plan (1959-65) - intended to expand the manufacture of chemicals, fertilisers and level of production of consumer goods - Customer goods increased and some improvement of standard of living - remained to lag behind western world - USSR 1966: 5 cars (1955 - 2), 171 radios (1955 - 66), 40 refrigerators (1955 - 4) per thousand people - US 1966: 398 cars, 1300 radios, 293 refrigerators per thousand people - Tripled state pension - 30 roubles a month

U-2 incident

- 1959 - Khrushchev met Eisenhower in US - plans made to call a major summit conference in Paris in 1960 - however 2 weeks before this meeting was due to begin, US U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory - May 1960 - U-2 plane piloted by Gary Powers shot down - Khrushchev described flight as an 'aggressive act' and decided to place issue before UN Security Council - Khrushchev refused to attend a summit conference in Paris as planned and withdrew earlier invitation for Eisenhower to visit USSR - 1962 - Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy Colonel Rudolf Abel

Khrushchev's letters

- 26th October - Khrushchev sent his first letter proposing the withdrawal of Soviet missiles in exchange for a promise by the US not to invade Cuba - 27th October - Khrushchev's second letter attached a further condition (decommissioning of US Jupiter missiles from Turkey) to the removal of Soviet missiles/ U-2 shot down over Cuba/ Robert Kennedy met Dobrynin. He said that the US would publicly issue a non-invasion guarantee. The Jupiters would also be withdrawn in secret from Turkey within six months

Outcome of Cuban Missile Crisis

- 28th October 1962 - Khrushchev cabled Washington to confirm Soviet acceptance of the deal - November - U-2 photographs showed workers bulldozing missile sites in Cuba - April 1963 - US Jupiters dismantled in Turkey - Hot Line established between Moscow and Washington - direct means of communication between leaders - Khrushchev and Kennedy agreed to sign SALT treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) which banned the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, outer space and under the sea - This was a trial of strength between Khrushchev and Kennedy - Kennedy's firmness enhanced his prestige in US while Khrushchev faced criticism in USSR for backing down in face of US threats (however Khrushchev's actions saved the world from the possibility of nuclear war!)

De-Stalinisation

- After Khrushchev's speech there were riots in some gulgas and he received mass personal appeals from party members who had been wrongly convicted and from friends and families of other victims - Caused release of thousands of prisoners from gulags (added to strong reaction against Stalin and Stalinism) - Statues and portraits of leader pulled down and tows and cities named in his honour were given new titles - Stalin's body removed from its placed of honour next to Lenin in Red Square mausoleum and buried in an ordinary cemetery plot

Economic policies

- Agriculture: Virgin Lands Scheme, Failure of Virgin Lands Scheme, Merging of collective farms - Industry: Industrial ministries, Five year plans, Housing shortage - Science and Technology: Science, Space race

Anti-religious campaign

- During Stalin's latter years there was relaxed policy towards religion however Khrushchev led a vitriolic campaign against religion and renewed victimisation of the clergy and churchgoers - 1960-4 - number of Russian Orthodox Church monasteries and convents greatly reduced and virtually all seminaries (schools in preparation for becoming a member of the church) closed - Number of churches fell from 20,000 1960 - 8000 1964 - many turned into museums or community centres - Limited authority and influence of priests - those who protested were arrested and imprisoned - Instances of children being removed from families so they weren't influenced by religious beliefs of parent - Atheism introduced as a subject in the school curriculum and it became difficult for those with religious beliefs to enter further education/gain promotion in government employment

Remaining repression

- However there was a limit to freedom of expression - Jewish poet Pasternak was criticised for novel Doctor Zhivago - completed in 1955, didn't appear in USSR until 1988 - Pravda described books as 'a weed on Soviet soil' - 1958 Pasternak was refused permission to travel abroad to collect Nobel Peace Prize - Noticeable increase in lawlessness and anti-social behaviour - Russian Jews not able to emigrate and settle in Israel

Hungarian Revolution

- Hungary had been under oppressive rule of Rakosi since 1945 - refused any relaxation in policies/limit activities of secret police - 1953 - Rakosi was removed from office and replaced by reformer Nagy - Nagy promised to give priority to improving living standards however after 2 years unpopular Rakosi was forced back into power - 1956 - poor harvests, shortages of food and fuel - students took to the streets of Budapest and dismantled statue of Stalin - Khrushchev gave way to pressure and allowed Nagy back in power - Further demonstrations demanding further reforms, release of political prisoners and Hungarian withdrawal from Warsaw Pact - Khrushchev sent Soviet tanks into Budapest causing full-scale uprising, savage street fighting - Over 20,000 Hungarians were killed - During the uprising, 200,000 Hungarians took advantage of open frontiers with West and sought asylum - Khrushchev's decision made him unpopular - Soviet embassies were flooded with angry crowds, thousands of communists resigned in protest

Reform Communism

- Intended to moderate and humanise the Soviet system by improving living standards and making life easier for Russians - greater personal freedoms - able to freely express feelings, read foreign literature, listen to overseas radio stations Eg. Composer Solzhenitsyn (long time prisoner in gulags) was released, books from western authors appeared in Russian bookshops

Failure of Virgin Lands Scheme

- Khrushchev was unrealistic - Russian grasslands wouldn't be able to produce grain like US land - much land was unsuitable to cultivate grain - Badly planned scheme - due to enthusiasm much was undertaken with undue haste and inadequate forward planning - After the first year, many regions became arid and subject to wind erosion - Much of the land was liable to drought - Inadequate amount of fertilisers available - Inefficient preparations made to house young people - Severe living and working conditions caused despondency - young people began to long for comforts of urban life and moved back

Peaceful co-existence

- Khrushchev's approach differed from Stalin's as he looked for détente some relaxation between East-West relations - put forward own theory of 'peaceful co-existence' - Stalin on the contrary supported the traditional view that war between capitalist and communist powers was inevitable - 'Indeed there are only two ways: either peaceful co-existence or the most destructive war in history. There is no third way.'

Influence of West

- Limited number of Soviets were allowed to travel abroad however foreign tourist agencies did arrange for foreign tourists to visit USSR - Cultural and sporting events with capitalist countries - Moscow State Circus, Ballet Companies, football teams - changes in attitude made it harder to prevent Soviets from being influenced by Western culture eg. styles of dress and popular music

Industrial ministries

- May 1957 - Extended policy of decentralisation by abolishing Moscow-base ministries and replacing them with with ministries largely independent of central control and free to regulate industrial activity within an area (sovnarkhoz) - Ministries were intended to allow local Party leaders to have a greater say in the running of Soviet industry - These new ministries replaced Gosplan and became responsible for managing Soviet economy - This was positive as gosplan didn't take into account the size of the factory and the amount of workers (targets weren't based from feedback on the ground) - However sovnarkhoz undermined senior gosplan party workers - regional planning committees start competing with one another (working against each other) - disaster

Space race

- Oct 1957 - USSR launched first artificial satellite into space - Sputnik designed by Korolev - he was one of the thousands of scientist intellectuals who Stalin sent to labour camps in 1930s - released and rehabilitated by Khrushchev - became country's leading rocket designer - 1957 - Launch of Sputnik II - took dog Laika into space - spacecraft not equipped to re-enter earth's atmosphere and Laika died - 12 April 1961 - Yuri Gagarin became first man in space - 16 June 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova became first woman in space - However it has been revealed that the Soviet space programme was blighted with numerous disasters that claimed the lives of many

Criticism of Khrushchev's policies

- Overbearing attitude often offended senior party members - often declined advice and was inclined to make arbitrary decisions - Attempt to decentralise structure of party was unpopular - many officials disliked his idea of granting autonomy to local party leaders and Regional Economic Councils - weakened Party's control of economy - Agricultural polices led to a shortfall of foodstuff. USSR had to import grain from US and Canada - humiliating - Decision to promote production of consumer goods upset those who thought he was failing to give adequate priority to further industrial development - Offended military by wanting to reduce expenditure on conventional weapons and concentrate on nuclear weapons - Disapproval of handling of Cuban Missile Crisis and held responsible for weakening relations with China

Polish problems

- Poland was strongly nationalist and had a predominantly Roman Catholic population - Ruled by Gomulka who stated he wanted Poland to follow an independent road to socialism than Soviet way - was removed from office and imprisoned - After Stalin's death, Gomulka returned to power and released political prisoners - 1956 - serious riots broke out in Poznan as workers protested against their low wages and living standards - Soviet tanks used to clear the streets

Legal code

- Precise rules for every person or trail - Got rid of gulags - abolished arbitrary arrest and internment - Violent interrogation and torture abolished (but still can be subjected to psychological torture)

Foreign Policy

- Pro-communist: Warsaw Pact, Yugoslavia relations - Peaceful co-existence: Peaceful co-existence, Suez crisis, Khrushchev's letters, Outcomes of Cuban Missile Crisis - Self-interest: Khrushchev's ultimatum, Vienna Summit, Berlin Wall - Anti-US: U-2 incident, Belgian arms shipment to Cuba exploded, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, - Other foreign relations: Polish problems, Hungarian Revolution, Relations with China

Relations with China

- Progressive deterioration in the relationship between USSR and China - Main reason was difference in ideology - Khrushchev intended to revise Stalin's communist policies (Feb 1956 speech at 20th Party Conference) - Mao was against the Stalin denunciation - Mao insisted that the ultimate aim of communism was world revolution and an all out war against capitalist imperialists - considered Khrushchev's policy of peaceful co-existence to be revisionist and a betrayal of the true principles of Marxist-Leninism - Mao continued to see US as the main enemy - Mao was unimpressed with Khrushchev's handling of Cuban Missile Crisis - Khrushchev refused to discuss settlement of disputed regions along Russo-Chinese border or support China's border dispute with India - USSR refused to provide China with atomic weapons/assist with nuclear programme

Social Policies

- Reforming Communism: Reform Communism, Influence of West, Remaining repression, De-Stalinisation - Religion: Anti-religious campaign - Criminal offences: Legal code

Housing shortage

- Stalin had been focusing on industry - Khrushchev determined to deal with house shortage and problem of homelessness - 1950's started prioritising housing - 15 million new flats built in a few years - however caused increase in crime due to cramped conditions - However Khrushchev's ideas often seemed simple, but were actually more complex than he relised

Resignation

- Suslov (party theorist - in charge of party's official ideological lines) - hated Khrushchev, pro Stalinist - formed an alliance with Leonid Brezhnev (Secretary of the Central Committee) - who had been brought into the party and promoted by Khrushchev - Khrushchev had been on holiday and received an urgent phone call asking him to go back to Moscow. - In politburo Suslov reads out a statement accusing Khrushchev of incompetence "hair-brained schemes, hasty conclusions, rash decisions and actions based on wishful thinking" eg. Cuban Missile Crisis, Virgin Lands Scheme - Suslov recommends that Khrushchev resigns from all his posts - Khrushchev asks who is going to defend him - no one was prepared to speak in favour of Khrushchev - so he accepted and resigned - he said that if they had tried to out Stalin, they would have been killed - shows changes in USSR - Khrushchev placed in internal exile

Science

- USSR recruited German technicians to work on scientific projects - 1965 - USSR possessed over 4700 scientific establishments and employed more scientists than any other country

Merging of collective farms

- Virgin Lands Scheme (1954) before he fully came into power - other agricultural policies more successful - Merged together collective farms (kolkhozes) into state farms (sovkhozes) - workers on sovkhozes enjoyed benefits eg. received guaranteed, fixed wages - Sovkhozes meant that those working on private plots no longer had to make compulsory deliveries to the State - living standards of rural workers improved considerably - Decentralised the Soviet system of agriculture by granting greater autonomy to local Party administrators - allowed sovkhozes to purchase their own agricultural machinery, freed state farms from their dependence on the Motor Transport Stations

Virgin Lands Scheme

1954 - Khrushchev proposed Virgin Land Scheme intended to resolve USSR chronic food shortages. - Aim - to develop previously uncultivated areas of USSR so that they would rival US in grain production. Planned to cultivate over 28 million hectares of new and previously unused 'virgin and idle' lands beyond the Urals of Siberia and Kazakhstan - Tens of thousands of young people encourage to go east and participate in plan - prospect of regular employment and of guaranteed wages motivated - Organised into state farms - 1954-1958 - some success - grain production increased from 81 to 144 million tonnes

Yugoslavia relations

1955 - Khrushchev tried to resolve Soviet rift with Yugoslavia - Traveled to Belgrade to apologise to Tito for Stalin's earlier behaviour. - Tito showed no willingness to return to Moscow communism

Rule 25

1961 - Party members getting older (all 80 odd and still in charge wwaaatt) - Khrushchev believed this was bad for communism! So introduced rule 25 - Communist officials must only serve 3 terms - then stand down (this didn't include general secretary) - Khrushchev wanted young people - Bad reaction from this rule as many didn't want to retire - liked having power and influence

Khrushchev's speech at 20th Party Conference

Feb 1956 - Khrushchev addressed a report 'On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences' at a closed session of 20th Congress in Moscow to 1500 delegates - speech took everyone by surprise - Launched an attack on Stalin accusing him of abuse of power, acts of brutality and developing his own cult of personality - said there were unnecessary mass arrests and unjustified executions and millions were still suffering in gulags - Stalin's conduct caused 'tremendous harm to our country and to the cause of socialist progress' - Blamed Stalin for murder of Kirov, called for rehabilitation of Trotsky and others who had been eliminated - He took care to blame Stalin for the betrayal of Leninist principles not the Party - Proposed revisionist policies

Bay of Pigs

April 1961 - 1400 invasion force landed at Bay of Pigs and was easily overcome, surrendered to Cubans, 14 rescued) (Contrary to CIA expectations, Castro was popular, no appetite for counter-revolution

Vienna Summit

June 1961 - Kennedy and Khrushchev met at the Vienna Summit (first meeting) Khrushchev demanded an immediate settlement to the Berlin problem Kennedy refused and meeting achieved nothing

Belgian arms shipment to Cuba exploded

March 1960 - Belgian arms shipment to Cuba exploded - Castro was convinced it was an act of US sabotage Eisenhower approved plans for an invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro expatriates trained by the CIA - Khrushchev threatened to use nuclear weapons against US if they invaded Cuba

Warsaw Pact

May 1955 - USSR set up Easter European Mutual Assistance Treaty - USSR response to NATO (April 1949) - Members: USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania - Members promised to assist any member faced by an armed attack by a foreign power - unified military command under Soviet commander-in-chief and armies agreed to take part in joint manoeuvres annually

Suez crisis

November 1956 - Nasser (Egyptian prime minister) nationalised British-owned Suez Canal Company France sided with Britain and was keen to bring Nasser down since he was supplying aid to Algerian nationalists fighting against French US proposed an international agreement governing use of the Canal GB and France prepared a military operation with Israel to regain Suez Canal zone - Israel invaded Sinai desert, 5th November - GB bombed egyptian airfields, dropping of Gb & Fr paratroopers US sponsored a UN resolution supported by USSR for immediate cease-fire

Khrushcehv's ultimatum

November 1958 - Khrushchev stated 'all of Berlin lies in the territory of the GDR. Western powers no longer have any legal, moral or political basis for their continued occupation of West Berlin.' - Demanded that within 6 months West Berlin should become a demilitarised, free city - Western powers ignored Khrushchev - East Germany's communist authorities continued to impose unpopular measures eg. forced collectivisation of land and increased norms for works which lead to an even greater exodus of country - 1960 - 199,000 East German refugees seeking asylum in West - First 6 months of 1961 - 207,000 refugees seeking asylum in West - Brain drain - high proportion of highly qualified and professional people leaving