The Government of the Soviet Union (based on the 1936 constitution)

Stalin and power

Introduction

·      Stalin and Bukharin dominant, Bukharin still had significant support

·      1953 Stalin sole leader

·      Policies helped eliminate rivals but other factors important later

Ban on factions

·      Bukharin scared of being accused of factionalism so didn’t argue grain 1928

·      Stalin published disagreements

·      Stalin got Zinoviev and Kamenev to accuse Bukharin of factionalism (or the other way round???)

·      November 1929 expelled from the party

NEP

·      Capitalist economy elements. NEP men unpopular so Stain used it to discredit Bukharin

·      NEP not industrialise fast enough

·      Once Trotsky gone take charge of left

·      Used to bring in Five Year Plan

·      Also linked to faction ban Bukharin scared to speak out

Stalin

·      1941 Stalin chair of Sovnarkom

·      After war – divide and rule

Terror

·      Murder of Kirov – start most terror / purges

·      Show trials eliminated rivals

·      Lower level of party purges

·      Suspended during war

·      Restarted after war

·      Leningrad 1949

·      Mingrelian Affair 1951

·      Doctors plot 1953

·      Links to ban on factions? – had excuse to remove opposition

Second World War

·      Terror reduced

·      Stalin ‘war hero’

·      Propaganda

·      1941 Sovnarkom

·      Need for efficiency

·      State defense committee set up

·      All secured position

Conclusion

·      1921 increase domination, eliminate opposition and ideological orthodoxy

·      Use of terror crucial to maintain power

Was Stalin’s power total?

·      Stalin couldn’t know everything – he had to prioritise

·      Politburo didn’t just agree still some debate e.g. Ryutin was sent to10 years labour rather than execution after he denounced Stalin

Relationship between the Party and the State

·      The relationship was vague and never defined – Stalin used this to his advantage

·      Stalin was essentially in power from 1928 but he only became the chair f the Sovnarkom. The government was largely inneficiant in the 1930’s but war meant there was a need for strong, organised government. In order to better coordinate the two Stalin took leading positions in both the State and the Party

·      Mass terror was ended, Stalin allowed the State to gain power and he created the State Defense Committee (GKO) that was responcible for defense, military production and overseeing the economy

·      What Lenin had called commissars became ministers and the Politburo became the Council of Ministers and later the Presidium

Khrushchev's failures and achievements

Khrushchev's failures

• Failed economy

Foreign policy

• Height of Cold War - Cuban missile crisis, Berlin wall
• Khrushchev repeatedly backed down

Never publicly rejected or criticised Stalin

• Secret speech remained secret

Achievements

Ending of mass terror

• Sacked not murdered

More spread out/ democratic

• E.g. secret speech revised by central committee beforehand

Democratisation of the Party

Khrushchev

Reaction to problems

• Retreat
• Questions of history disciplined for publishing details about terror
• December 1957 - special commission set up and headed by Brezhnev to suppress anti-communism
• New Year's Eve 1957 - speech in which Khrushchev said that "all communists are Stalinists"

Anti-Party group

• June 1957 - Presidium voted to replace Khrushchev but only Central Committee could replace him and he had majority there so he survived
• Opponents sacked
• March 1958 - Khrushchev became Prime Minister

What does it show?

• Not willing to use terror
• Needed central committee to survive

Khrushchev's fall

• Plot in the presidium - accused of creating a dangerous foreign policy and failed economic policy
• Supported by the Central committee
• Khrushchev "retired due to ill health" - given a pension, guards, a luxury car

Problems with De-Stalinisation

Going too far

• Had to be careful not to alienate loyal Stalinists
• Delegates had heart attacks during speech
• People committing suicide after

Not far enough

• Hungary 1956 - rebellion crushed using Soviet troops
• Student demonstrations for multiparty democracy at Moscow State University in 1957 were crushed

Khrushchev's aims

Goals

• End Mass terror
• Continue Lenin's mission
• Rebuild the Party

Methods

• De-Stalinisation
• Democratisation and decentralisation
• Party reforms

Outcomes

• Instability

How far did Khrushchev's Government differ from Stalin's?

Problems in 1953

• Stalin died - leaderless
• Cold War - tensions between USSR and USA
• Poor living conditions
• Shortages of consumer goods e.g. shoes
• People trying to leave
• Housing shortages
• Basic food not much variety
• Reduced population after war

How did he take power?

The contenders for power were

• Georgy Malenkov - he was said to be Stalin's choice of successor. After his death he became Premier of the Soviet Union, the leader of the Soviet Government
• Lavrentiy Beria - leader of Stalin's political police
• Nikita Khrushchev - he was a well liked member of the Politburo and on Stalin's death was appointed Secretary of the Central Committee

The Beria reforms set out to give more power to the Party and the State by restricting the power of the MVD

Beria's rivals were worried that he might use the MVD against them. So in June 1953 at a meeting of the Presidium Beria was arrested and executed. A plot organised by Malenkov and Khrushchev

From mid-1953 to the end of 1954 Khrushchev and Malenkov ruled as a dummvirate. Although they were working together there was still a struggle for power between them. 

Khrushchev used his position as Secretary of the general committee to introduce his supporters in the place of Stalinist Senior officials. Between 1953 and 1956 half of the regional Party secretaries had been replaced by Khrushchev and 44% of the Central committee

Next Khrushchev set out to weaken the State as it was Malenkov's power base.