Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Cold War and The USSR after Stalin
- The Death of Stalin, March 1953
- By 1953, Stalin had imposed his system of
control across the satellite states of East Europe
- This was part of consolidation Soviet domination and
consolidating the USSR's position in the Cold War
- However, on the international stage, Stalin's
final years were marked by a number of
foreign policy failures, including:
- Berlin Blockade 1948-1949
- formation of NATO 1949
- Yugoslavia's defection from COMINFORM
- Stalin's death provided the new Soviet leadership with
the change to pursue more constructive domestic and
foreign policies
- Also raised the possibility of a new superpower
relationship and a relaxation of Cold War tensions.
- De-Stalinisation
- De-Stalinisation is the process, begun by
the Soviet leader ship in 1953, of moving
away from Stalin's policies
- Following Stalin's death, The politburo endorsed the
collective leadership of Malenkov, Molotov, Bulganin and
Khrushchev to prevent another period of one man rule
- 1953-1955 the collective leadership attempted to
reform the Stalinist Soviet system by:
- ending 'personality cult' politics
- Reforming the Secret Police (renamed the KGB)
- Arresting and executing Beria (1953) the feared head of
the secret police - the other leaders were worried that he
wanted to be Stalin's hard-line successor
- Following a 'new course' in economic
policy - placed greater emphasis on the
production of consumer goods
- Khrushchev's Secret Speech 1956
- 20th Party Conference Feb 1956, witnessed the high
point of Destalinisation
- At a closed session of the gathering, K denounced
Stalin's reign of terror in a 'secret' speech which lasted for
6 hours.
- Stalin was attacked for
- Promoting a cult of personality
- Using purges and persecution to
consolidate his personal rule
- reducing the Comm party to a compliant body,
which endorsed his absolute control
- Impact
- US - regarded as a sign that real change was
taking place in the USSR.
- Among the people of the satellite states -
created an expectation of reform
- De-Stalinisation had the potential to affect the
USSR's foreign policy and was therefore
significant for the development of the Cold War
- Khrushchev's secret speech was not intended to
remain secret
- Copies of text were offered to Soviet
officials and foreign Communist parties.
- CIA also quickly obtained a printed version of the speech.
- Published in Western press in June 1956.
- Although heavily critical of Stalin, K did not condemn
- The one-party state
- The centralised economic system
- The collectivisation of Agriculture
- The existence of the secret police