Government Under Khrushchev Flashcards
What was destalinization
When Khrushchev openly criticised Stalin’s cult of personality and actions
What were key features Khrushchev reintroduced
- Regular meetings of presidium and central committee resumed
- Moves were made to decentralise decision making by giving more power to regional levels
- Less punishments e.g govt officials no longer placed under prison for failing to meet targets
What did Krushehv do to the Secret Police
Bring them under party control; they could no longer be used by an individual to further their own interests
What did Khrushchev do with prisoners
Release two million political prisoners, but process was often slow and 4% of those who appealed had been returned to civilian life 1955
What did Krushchev do in media to stop destalinisation
Plans to make Stalin museum scrapped. Annual Stalin prizes cancelled and removed quotes from Stalin from the newspapers
What did Khrushchev do to reverse centralisation
2
In 1957, he launched a plan to devolve power industrial planning to 105 local economic councils, or Sovnarkhoz
Khrushchev also gave more powers to the Presidium and the Central Committee.
How can Khrushchev be seen as a hypocrite
Held many important postions (First Secretary and Prime minister). Strong power but could be dismissed by a vote in central commitee
However point to the destalinisation
Govt never publicly rejected legacy, therefore was able to be revived under Brezhnev
Destalinization was never completed as K refused to publicly denounce the former leader and therefore his reputation intact
How much did of industry was lost by central government by decentrilization.
Consequently, the proportion of industry run by central government fell from 68% to 44% under Khrushchev.
However point to Krushchev’s terror
in place for corruption and extreme criticism of the Party e.g fearful of Beria, he was arrested, accused of being a British spy and executed.
What did Khrushchev do to get pals in politburo
used position as Secretary of the Central Committee to replace Stalin’s supporters with his own.
He replaced around 44% of the Central Committee. E.g Molotov
How was Khrushchev similar/ different to Stalin when getting pals in power
Process of filling the government with their supporters was essentially the same.
However, he did limit the amount of time that officials were able to stay in their positions to only three years.
Key facts about use of Terror under Krushchev
- release of one million prisoners from labour camps.
- set up a Party Commission to investigate past executions.
- pardoned over 4,000 communists that had been
executed as a result of forced confessions.
What does reduction of terror show in Krushchevs action
- reduction of terror can be seen in the way that Khrushchev was challenged by his rivals during
his leadership and the way that he responded to these challenges.
For example, in 1960, the Central Committee demanded his resignation, which he accepted. Khrushchev himself commented that, ‘Stalin would have had them shot.’
How can it be seen that destalinization was a failure
Government never publicly rejected legacy or admitted extent of Stalin’s crimes. Nonetheless, Khrushchev succeeded in ending use of terror against party
