Political Authority 1945-53

Question 1

What was High Stalinism?

Answer 1

The years 1945-53 were Stalin’s authority over state, party and COP were at their pinnacle. His leadership was undisputed, and he was presiding over a world superpower.

Question 2

Directly following the war ending, what were Stalin’s immediate political moves?

Answer 2

Wartime institutions dismantled, and GKO dissolved. Military hierarchy downgraded as Stalin took role of Minister of Defence, replacing Zhukov who was sent to Odessa and lost his CC position.

Question 3

What was Stalin displeased about, following the war?

Answer 3

Increased Party membership made the Party unwieldy and unreliable, while the reputation of Soviet military was left too high.

Question 4

How did Stalin play off Malenkov and Zhdanov?

Answer 4

Zhdanov challenged Malenkov’s position as Party Secretary and won, launching the Zhdanovschina. After, Zhdanov favoured a Berlin Blockade while Malenkov argued for a more moderate path. Malenkov reappointed Party Secretary and Zhdanov demoted.

Question 5

How did Stalin exert direct central authority?

Answer 5

He relied on his private secretariat to bypass both government and Party.

Question 6

How was the Party weakened?

Answer 6

Party congresses not held 1939-1952, and only 6 CC meetings convened. Politburo relegated to an advisory body, waiting on Stalin’s official line from ad-hoc gatherings he held.

Question 7

How did Party Recruitment change post-war?

Answer 7

Had 7 million members, Komsomol had 16 million. New members recruited from administrative ranks, rather than peasants. Ideological level of members raised.

Question 8

How did the Party change post-war?

Answer 8

The new men who dominated local politics accepted the Party as a way of life, and were cautious and careful in politics and personal life. They received official policy rather than formulating it and became faceless bureaucrats unwilling to act without Stalin’s backing. Stalin had reduced it to a chain of command rather than a dynamic Party it used to be.

Question 9

What was the Zhdanovschina?

Answer 9

Zhdanov’s cultural purge in 1946. This was due to increased Westernisation, so this movement stressed conformity to socialist ideals and promoted the COP.

Question 10

How did the Zhdanovschina begin?

Answer 10

The purge of the Adventures of the Monkey, written by Zoshchenko - condemned due to the anti-Soviet monkey. Pasternak condemned due to apolitical poems and there was a general purge of the Union of Soviet writers.

Question 11

How was Shostakovich persecuted?

Answer 11

He was accused of ‘rootless cosmopolitanism’ and accused of anti-socialist works. His income was severely curtailed and forced to compose Stalinist pieces. He was forced to make public recantations to continue working.

Question 12

How were films affected by the Zhdanovschina?

Answer 12

Films that denigrated Western commercialism, conveyed Western treachery or extolled Russian achievements favoured.

Question 13

How did the Zhdanovschina target Jews?

Answer 13

Jewish drama and literary critics disappeared and the last Jewish newspaper closed down, and Nazi-describing pieces ignored Jews.

Question 14

How was education affected by the Zhdanovschina?

Answer 14

He restated his support for Lysenko’s ideas, and the sciences were governed by Marxist principles. Stalin was involved in debates of what language would be spoken and he favoured Russian. He published books on economic theory which were not challenged.

Question 15

How was Western influence blocked?

Answer 15

Non-communist foreign papers unobtainable, foreign radios jammed and only a few approved books translated.

Question 16

Why was there a revival of terror?

Answer 16

Stalin demanded excessive isolationism, out of concern for national security but also a fear of ideological contamination. Stalin’s harsh treatment of returning POW shows this and even relatives of those who visited abroad suspected.

Question 17

How was the NKVD excessively vigilant?

Answer 17

A careless word or brief contact with a foreigner was worth imprisonment and people were encouraged to criticise acquaintances again. In 1947 a law passed outlawing hotels and marriages to foreigners, and Restaurants and embassies watched for Soviet girls who met foreign men.

Question 18

How was the NKVD changed?

Answer 18

It was reorganised under 2 ministries, the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) who controlled domestic security and the MGB (Ministry of State Security) took charge of counter-intelligence and espionage.

Question 19

How many wartime survivors were sent to the labour camps?

Answer 19

12 million.

Question 20

How did Stalin deal with those who had fallen out of his favour?

Answer 20

Removing them from history - writing them out of textbooks and airbrushing them out of photos.

Question 21

What was the ‘Leningrad Case 1949’?

Answer 21

He took a stand against the Leningrad Party who had shown independence in views and actions, some of whom had been promoted under Zhdanov. Several leading officials arrested, including Gosplan Head Voznesensky.

Question 22

How did Anti-Semitism change post-war?

Answer 22

Stalin favoured the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine but when Israel became pro-USA he changed, fearing all Jews were potential enemies. When the Israeli-USA ambassador Golda Meir came to Russia she was cheered by Jews wherever she went.

Question 23

What was the Mingrelian Case 1951?

Answer 23

A purge in Georgia, against the followers of Lavrenti Beria. They were accused of collaboration with Western powers and was aimed at weakening Beria’s authority.

Question 24

What was the Doctors Plot 1952?

Answer 24

Lydia Timashuk wrote to Stalin 2 days before Zhdanov’s death, accusing 9 doctors of failing to treat him professionally. In 1952 Stalin reopened the file and accused them of a conspiracy to murder Zhdanov, blaming the Jews in professional fields trying to harm the USSR.

Question 25

How did the Doctors Plot turn into a Jewish purge?

Answer 25

Stalin made Igantiev obtain confessions, with hundreds of doctors tortured. Thousands of ordinary Jews deported to labour camps in Siberia, and Anti-Jewish hysteria was whipped up, so non-Jews feared to enter hospitals and shunned Jewish professionals.

Question 26

What was the impact of the Doctors Plot?

Answer 26

The 9 doctors were condemned and sentenced to execution but Stalin died before this could be carried out - the Presidium would have been pleased as Stalin seemed poised for another Party purge.

Question 27

What was responsible for his increasing paranoia in the post-war years?

Answer 27

A mild stroke in 1946, since his reclusiveness and irrationality seemed incongruent with his previous personality, but it is also likely that these were just old traits that came out with old age.

Question 28

How did Stalin build on his reputation as a Saviour of Russia in wartime?

Answer 28

He was god-like, portrayed as the worlds greatest living genius, equally superior in all intellectual areas. This was cultivated in all forms of media, and it became customary for the first and last paragraphs of any piece to be dedicated to Stalin’s greatness.

Question 29

How was Stalin still seen as a ‘man of the people’?

Answer 29

Despite not having visited a peasant village in 25 years, he was portrayed as a man of the people who knew what everyone was thinking and doing, and on his 70th newspapers were given over to him entirely.

Question 30

What was established in Stalin’s name to counter Western awards?

Answer 30

The Stalin Awards, intending to counter the Nobel Prizes.

Question 31

What happened at a Party Congress in October 1952?

Answer 31

His subordinates, Malenkov and Khrushchev delivered the main speeches. Stalin’s request to be relieved of his position as Party Secretary due to his advanced age was rejected due to suspicion that this was a test, and Khrushchev announced the Politburo to be replaced by an enlarged Presidium.