The Government under Khrushchev Flashcards
Stalin left behind a major _____ problem
political
What political problem did Stalin leave behind?
Stalin’s power was personal, it was independent of the Party or the state
Upon his death, there was a power vacuum, which threatened to cause chaos within the government
What is a power vacuum?
When someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has replaced them
The situation can occur when a government has no identifiable central power or authority
he physical analogy suggests that in a power vacuum, other forces will tend to “rush in” to fill the vacuum as soon as it is created
Stalin’s power was personal, it was independent of the Party or the state - how did Malenkov and Khrushchev attempt to address this?
Malenkov and Khrushchev attempted to address this by shifting the balance of power away from the leader to the state and party
How did Beria reform the Gulag system?
March 1953, he introduced an amnesty for non-political prisoners who were serving short sentences
The amnesty was extended in April to some “counter-revolutionaries”
A Party commission was set up in May to investigate past executions
A Party commission was set up in May to investigate past executions. The Commission rehabilitated ____ communists who had been executed on the based of forced ____________
4620
confessions
MVD
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
The MVD was established as the successor to the NKVD in 1946
Beria and the MVD
One way in which the new generation of leaders attempted to empower the Party and state was to reduce and restrict the power of the MVD, Stalin’s weapon against the power of the Party and the state
The MVD lost a great deal of its ________ power due to Beria’s reforms
economic
Which reforms led to the loss of a great deal of the MVD’s economic power?
The MVD had used Gulag labour to construct factories and power stations, as well as to mine precious metals including gold
These projects were terminated
Prison labour was no longer used
As a result of the reforms introduced by Beria the Gulag system population dropped from ___ million in 1953 to ___ million in ____
2.4
1.6
1956
Under Stalin the republics had been dominated by central Soviet institutions
In June 1953, Beria introduced two measures that were designed to make republic governments more representatives
He introduced a measure that required all senior Party officials to speak the language of the republic that they worked in
He ordered that all official publications should be available in the languages of the republics as well as in Russian
Beria’s fall
Khrushchev and Malenkov organised a plot to arrest and execute Beria
At a meeting of the Presidium in June 1953, Khrushchev accused Beria of handing Soviet secrets to the British government
Beria was arrested, tried and executed
From mid-1953 to the end of 1954 Khrushchev and Malenkov effectively rules as a…
duumvirate
One of Khrushchev’s first attempts at reform involved replacing…
Stalin’s supporters with his own
Khrushchev used his position as Secretary of the Central Committee to replace senior officials throughout the Party - provide evidence to substantiate this point
Between 1953-56, Khrushchev replaced around ½ of the regional Party secretaries and 44% of the Central Committee
Khrushchev used his position as Secretary of the Central Committee to replace senior officials throughout the Party - why is this significant?
In so doing, he secured his position within the Party by filling the top levels of the Part with people who were loyal to him
Khrushchev’s anti-bureaucracy campaign changed the proportion of Soviet industry controlled by central government from…
68 per cent to 44 per cent
Khrushchev and Malenkov were united in the desire to end important aspects of Stalin’s rule. Both men wanted to…
“humanise Communism”
“humanise Communism”
They wanted to end terror and enhance the lives of Soviet citizens by improving living standards
