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OVERVIEW
In this lesson we examine:• Context and perspectives of post-war
socialism• Motives for reform• Effects of change in the USSR and beyond• New attempts to change• Events leading towards the collapse of
the Soviet Union
Post-war Russia
Context Question: During Operation Barbarossa, many citizens of the USSR initially supported the German invasion. What was the likelihood that Stalin would loosen his totalitarian rule after WWII?
• 14.5 million soldiers were dead and over 7 million civilian killed
• 17,000 cities and 70,000 villages were destroyed
• 7 million horses and 17 million cattle lost• Factories converted entirely to war
production and not consumer goods
Compared to the other Allies, the Soviet Union bore the greatest losses against Nazi Germany
Post-war Russia
• To maintain territorial security through spheres of influence
• To continue political purges – 100,000 people continued to be purged for every year after 1945 until Stalin’s death in 1953
What were some of Stalin’s major domestic and foreign policy
decisions?
Despite the devastation of war, why did Stalin maintain the state terror apparatus? What was his
purpose?
Post-war Russia
Context Question: Prior to WWII, what was the nature of the relationship between the USSR and the West?
Post-war Russia
Western Capitalism• Class-based society• Dominance by corporate greed• Inequality for women and minorities• Unequal distribution of wealth
Eastern Communism•Class-less society
•State-controlled economy•Equality for all citizens
•More equal distribution of wealth
How did the Soviets view themselves in theory and in
reality?
Marxist Vision
Class-less societyState-controlled economy
Equality for all citizensMore equal distribution of
wealth
Stalinist Reality
The party and the peopleBureaucratic in-efficiency
Purges and gulagsPoverty and the lack of
consumer goods
How was Stalin able to maintain the perception of fulfilling the
Marxist vision despite its extreme differences from reality? What
might have happened had reform not been pushed forward after his
death?
De-Stalinization
• Denounced Stalin’s purges and leader cult at the 20th Party Congress in 1956
• Restored reputation of disgraced politicians (except Trotsky)
• Released 8-9 million political prisoners• Shut down the NKVD (interior security police)• De-centralized agricultural and regional
planning• Called for “peaceful co-existence” with the
West
With no clear successor after Stalin’s death, a
brief power struggle resulted in Nikita
Khrushchev’s takeover as prime minister of the
government and also party secretary. He
established a mandate for reform
What were the possible benefits of removing the Stalinist
elements from the state?
• Increased consumer goods were produced, like refrigerators and televisions
• Wages stagnated and housing was limited• Virgin Lands Project attempted to expand
farming in agriculturally difficult areas – it failed to yield significant output
• Political dissent rose up against the Party and the government within the state and
in Eastern Europe
What were some of the short-term results of Khrushchev’s
reforms?
What had the process of de-Stalinization revealed to the Party
leadership about the danger of reform?
• After the perceived defeat in the Cuban Missile Crisis and continued lack of progress in the domestic economy, Khrushchev was forced to step down in 1964
• Under Brezhnev and Kosygin, censorship returned and the KGB was created
• Some degree of central planning also returned
What were the long-term responses to Khrushchev’s
reforms?
Challenges to Soviet control
Context Question: What was the typical priority of needs for societies in the 20th century?
Poland• Wladislaw Gomulka built an
alliance with the Roman Catholic Church
• Protests put down in 1956• Khrushchev warned Gomulka
with a visit• Reforms continued
After WWII, eastern European countries that had been liberated by the Red Army elected or were dominated by local Communist parties. In Eastern Europe, the response to Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization was dramatic and some satellite states attempted
reform and moderation
Challenges to Soviet control
Hungary• Open revolt in 1956 by
students and intellectuals• Soviet troops invade
Hungary• Imre Nagy arrested and
executed in 1958• The Soviets brought in
Janos Kadar to take control
Challenges to Soviet control
Why was Poland treated differently than Hungary?
Czechoslovakia • Alexander Dubcek began “socialism with a human
face”• “Prague Spring” of 1968: guaranteed freedom of
speech, press, assembly, and religion• Multi-national Warsaw Pact force invaded the country
• Dubcek was replaced by Gustav Husak
In comparison to Poland and Hungary, why might
Czechoslovakia have been more inclined towards Western-style
democratic changes?
Challenges to Soviet control
Yugoslavia• Liberated by Josef
Tito rather than by Soviet forces
• Became non-aligned (joined neither NATO nor Warsaw Pact)
• Built strong trade ties with the West
Some countries which were not liberated by the Red Army
became communist as a result of their resistance movements. How was Yugoslavia different from the
other Eastern Bloc countries?
What major factor allowed states like Yugoslavia to avoid direct
Soviet control?
Challenges to Soviet control
The coming of change
• Major domestic and economic reform did not occur under Brezhnev and Kosygin. Kosygin resigned in 1980 and Brezhnev died in 1982.
• Yuri Andropov took over but died in 1984.
• Konstantin Chernenko took over but died in only 13 months.
• Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Party in March 1985.
“novoye mneniya”
new thinking
Increased communicatio
n with Western powers
Increased arms
reduction
What relationship existed between Western economic
progress in the US and Europe and Gorbachev’s push for reform?
What were Gorbachev’s three major programs for reform?
“glasnost”openness
Allowed free speech and open
debate in newspapers,
discussions and gatherings
Allowed publication of facts about
Stalinist regime
“perestroika”restructuring
Allowed limited free enterprise
Attempted to reform state enterprises
towards greater efficiency
Created an elected legislature
The coming of change
The chain reaction
As the brutality and problems of the Soviet system became more
obvious, what dichotomy emerged?
Did the western powers face a similar dichotomy? Why or why
not?
Glasnost/PerestroikaFree discussionFree enterpriseLimited elections
Soviet SystemParty’s monopoly of power
Established state controlOne-party state
Poland – Communists lose power after free elections in 1989
East Germany – dissolved in mid-1990 after free elections
Czechoslovakia – Communist government steps down in Nov 1989; country divides in 1993
Hungary – Communists lose in free elections of 1990
Rumania – Ceausescu’s totalitarian regime collapses in late 1989
Bulgaria – Communists lose in free elections of 1990
Yugoslavia – Country dissolves into smaller states from Dec 1990 to June 1991
Albania – Free elections take place in Mar 1991
What factors likely made Albania different from the other former
Communist regimes?
Eastern European countries began to replace or overthrow
their communist regimes without intervention by the Soviet Union
The beginning of the end
• Gorbachev’s plans met with limited economic success, resulting in lower GDP and shortages of food and consumer goods
• As Eastern European countries replaced their communist governments, the USSR dissolved COMECON and the Warsaw Pact alliance
• Republics within the USSR, like Lithuania and Georgia, began to break away
Gorbachev’s leadership was untenable as he was surrounded by reformists and conservatives.
How was he stuck ‘between a rock and hard place’?
Why was Gorbachev not willing to use force to solve the USSR’s
problems? Why were the reformers unwilling to work with the government towards slower
changes?
Reformists wanted more widespread
reforms than Gorbachev was willing to offer
Conservatives wanted Gorbachev to return central power and
use military force to bring back the
secessionist republics and other satellite
states
The beginning of the end
• An attempted coup led by hard-liners, such as Gorbachev’s prime minister, vice-president, defense minister and KGB chief started on August 19, 1991
• Boris Yeltsin led pro-democracy crowds to protest in front of the parliament buildings; the army withdrew and the coup leaders surrendered
• Gorbachev was forced to step down over the crisis and Yeltsin took over the transitional government which dissolved the USSR in Dec 1991.
The beginning of the end
SUMMARY QUESTIONS
• What factors led to de-Stalinization? • What were the effects of de-Stalinization?• Why were some Eastern European states
treated differently than others?• What was the effect of “glasnost” and
“perestroika?”• How did the defeat of communism abroad
lead to the ultimate collapse of the USSR?
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