The Global War 1955-63
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Emerged victorious in the power struggle which followed upon the
death of Stalin in 1953:
- He arranged for the execution of Beria (after accusing him to be a
British agent), claiming to be ‘shocked by his sinister, two-faced
scheming hypocrisy’.
- He expelled Malenkov from the Central Committee of the Communist
Party, after stealing his ideas on the New Course.
- Sponsored the build-up of the Soviet nuclear and space programmes.
- Agricultural policy was a failure, and the USSR was forced to import
wheat from Canada and the USA.
- Deposed by Leonid Brezhnev in October 1964, a year after the
humiliation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
What did others think of Khrushchev?
- Khrushchev's rough manners, bad grammar, and heavy drinking
caused many Western journalists and diplomats to underestimate him.
But despite his rough edges, he had a keen mind and a ruthless grasp
of power politics. - Nixon, 1959
- ‘Hurricane Nikita’ - 1960
- ‘Nicky Blue Eyes’
- ‘Corncob Nikita’
- ‘Butcher of the Ukraine’ - Late 1940s
- The Chinese criticised Khrushchev as a “psalm-singing buffoon” who
underestimated the nature of Western imperialism. (1960)
- Khrushchev is undoubtedly a clever man; either a dangerous one or a
man who will be valuable to the cause of peace. It is impossible to
know yet whether he is playing a part or being genuine. - Morrison
(autobiography), 1960
- Poland- Gomulka came to power in October 1956.
- Hungary- Imre Nagy came to power in October 1956.
AIMS: Domestic Policy
- To consolidate power.
- To begin a process of controlled liberalisation - signalled by the ‘Secret
Speech’ of 25th February 1956.
- To shift resources away from heavy industry and the armed forces
towards light industry, and thereby improve living standards.
- To cut down on corruption, distribute power more effectively to the
regions, and make planning mechanisms more responsive to actual
needs.
- To change the political culture of the USSR by freeing-up channels of
communication and reducing the power of the security services; to
significantly reduce the number of political prisoners in the gulags.
- To overcome the deficiencies of the collectivised agriculture system by
bringing new lands into cultivation and introducing new crops (the
Virgin lands scheme).
,AIMS: Foreign Policy
- Khrushchev pursued a policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’, to defuse
military tensions with the West and consolidate leadership over the
communist bloc.
- Summit diplomacy.
- Rebuild relations with Tito’s Yugoslavia.
- In April 1956 Cominform was dissolved, thus removing the direct
control the Soviet Union had over Eastern European Communists.
- Ensure that West Germany did not rearm and pose a threat again
(Warsaw Pact).
- To develop the USSR’s nuclear capability and match the USA’s
capability, so that spending on conventional forces could be reduced.
- To defuse international tensions, and to avoid provoking the USA.
- To enhance Soviet prestige in the Third World.
The death of Stalin
- Stalin’s death was met with great relief in the West where he was seen
as the dominant factor in the development of the Cold War.
- Stalin’s death was seen as a determining factor in the development of
the ‘thaw’.
- Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Allilyeva, in Twenty Letters to a Friend
(1967): ‘All-powerful as he was, he was impotent in the face of the
frightful system that had grown up around him like a huge honeycomb
and he was helpless either to destroy it or to bring it under his control’.
- Whether it was Stalin who controlled Soviet foreign policy in his final
years or not, the initiative was running away from the Soviet Union in
1948-9. The failure of the Soviet blockade of Berlin, the formation of
NATO and the defection of Yugoslavia from Cominform were all failures
for Stalin’s foreign policy. Thus, his death in 1953 provided the
opportunity for the new Soviet leadership to change its approach to the
West.
Beria
- Within the Soviet Politburo, Laventii Beria, the long-serving head of the
secret police, took the initiative and offered the West a proposal for a
reunified, neutral Germany, arguing that ‘All we want is a peaceful
Germany and it makes no difference to us whether it is socialist or not’.
- Beria’s motives may have been to distance himself from Stalin’s
policies, or to merely impress his colleagues in the Politburo, but on
both accounts he failed.
- Beria’s association with the less pleasant aspects of Stalin’s policies
was too much for the other members of the Politburo and he was
arrested within months. Absurdly accused of being a British agent, he
was later executed. An opportunity to end the division of Germany was
therefore lost.
Malenkov’s ‘New Course’
,- With the removal of Beria, Soviet foreign policy fell into the control of
Georgi Malenkov who, with Khrushchev and Bulganin, formed a
Collective Leadership.
- Malenkov was able and intelligent and recognised the limitations of a
hard-line approach of confrontation towards the West. He therefore
decided to embark on a ‘New Course’.
- Malenkov believed that war between capitalism and communism was
no longer inevitable and therefore resources could be directed away
from arms and heavy industry and towards consumer goods and
raising living standards in the USSR.
- This approach did not mark an end of conflict between capitalism and
communism, merely a belief that, as the collapse of capitalism was
inevitable, there was no need to engage in war to ensure its demise.
- Malenkov’s ‘New Course’ was criticised by Khrushchev during his
struggle for power, yet after Malenkov was removed from the position
of Prime Minister in 1955, Khrushchev was to adopt and adapt the ‘New
Course’.
Khrushchev and Peaceful Coexistence
- Building on the ‘New Course’, Khrushchev articulated a new approach
towards the West which became known as peaceful coexistence.
- As Khrushchev accepted the Marxist belief that the downfall of
capitalism was inevitable, peaceful coexistence was the best way of
conducting relations in the meantime.
- With nuclear war too dangerous to contemplate, the two systems
would have to accept the existence of the other in the short term.
- As Khrushchev was to make clear, ‘There are only two ways – either
peaceful coexistence or the most destructive war in history. There is
no third way’. Khrushchev developed this approach between 1955 and
1957. By June 1957 he was established firmly as the leader of the
Soviet Union and was able to pursue this policy.
Limits to peaceful coexistence
- Khrushchev had red lines when it came to peaceful coexistence.
- He intended to carry on with military and technological developments
and continued to ‘compete’ in the Cold War.
- He would not allow any developments which would threaten the
security or national interests of either the Soviet Union directly, or the
Eastern Bloc.
The Secret Speech, 25th February 1956
- The text of Khrushchev’s speech was circulated throughout Eastern
Europe and by June 1956 it had reached the US State Department. The
speech had profound implications for stability in the Eastern bloc, and
uprisings occurred in both Poland and Hungary soon after the speech
was delivered.
- The secret speech implied de-Stalinisation and improved relations.
The impact of the Secret Speech
, - In a secret speech in Feb 1956 (which had reached the US State
department by June), Khrushchev promised to end Stalinism
throughout the entire Soviet sphere of influence.
- He openly criticised Stalin’s ‘intolerance, brutality and his abuse of
power’ against ‘individuals who had not committed any crimes against
the Party or the Soviet Union’.
- Khrushchev released many prisoners who had been locked up during
Stalin’s purges. He also closed down Cominform, called Stalin a ‘wicked
tyrant’ and dismissed some of Stalin’s most trusted ministers such as
Molotov.
Yugoslavia
- May 1955- Khrushchev and Bulganin visited Belgrade, and blamed
Stalin for the break in relations in 1948.
- June 1956- After talks in Moscow, Khrushchev and Tito issued a
communique in which they agreed that ‘the path of socialist
development differed in various countries and conditions, that the
multiplicity of forms of socialist development tends to strengthen
socialism and that any tendency of imposing one’s opinions on the
ways and forms of socialist development is alien to both.’
How had Poland become communist?
- The communists weakened the Peasant Party led by Mikolajczyk (PM in
exile) by merging with the Polish socialists in Jan 1947 and then
became the dominant group.
- Some Polish communists were not fully pro-Soviet. Deputy PM
Gomulka believed that as Poland had fought for their own liberation, so
they should be able to determine their own future.
- In 1948 Gomulka was replaced by Boleslaw Bierut, a compliant
Stalinist, and later expelled from the Communist Party in 1951.
The Polish Rising: 28th June- 19th October 1956
- In March 1956 Bierut died, and Khrushchev nominated Edward Ochab
to implement de-Stalinisation.
- Rioting broke out in Poznan demanding lower food prices, better
working conditions and an end to Communism, and on 28th June
workers went on strike in protest at wage cuts and poor working
conditions.
- In October 1956 the Poles elected Gomulka, whom Stalin had purged,
as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party.
- Khrushchev objected, the Poles threatened to fight – and Khrushchev,
faced with losing his route through to East Germany, backed down.
- Beijing had also shown support towards the Polish Communist Party
which discouraged Khrushchev from using force.
- Khrushchev conceded that Gomulka could remain, provided that Poland
did nothing to threaten local communist rule or the unity of the Soviet
Bloc.
Consequences:
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)
Emerged victorious in the power struggle which followed upon the
death of Stalin in 1953:
- He arranged for the execution of Beria (after accusing him to be a
British agent), claiming to be ‘shocked by his sinister, two-faced
scheming hypocrisy’.
- He expelled Malenkov from the Central Committee of the Communist
Party, after stealing his ideas on the New Course.
- Sponsored the build-up of the Soviet nuclear and space programmes.
- Agricultural policy was a failure, and the USSR was forced to import
wheat from Canada and the USA.
- Deposed by Leonid Brezhnev in October 1964, a year after the
humiliation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
What did others think of Khrushchev?
- Khrushchev's rough manners, bad grammar, and heavy drinking
caused many Western journalists and diplomats to underestimate him.
But despite his rough edges, he had a keen mind and a ruthless grasp
of power politics. - Nixon, 1959
- ‘Hurricane Nikita’ - 1960
- ‘Nicky Blue Eyes’
- ‘Corncob Nikita’
- ‘Butcher of the Ukraine’ - Late 1940s
- The Chinese criticised Khrushchev as a “psalm-singing buffoon” who
underestimated the nature of Western imperialism. (1960)
- Khrushchev is undoubtedly a clever man; either a dangerous one or a
man who will be valuable to the cause of peace. It is impossible to
know yet whether he is playing a part or being genuine. - Morrison
(autobiography), 1960
- Poland- Gomulka came to power in October 1956.
- Hungary- Imre Nagy came to power in October 1956.
AIMS: Domestic Policy
- To consolidate power.
- To begin a process of controlled liberalisation - signalled by the ‘Secret
Speech’ of 25th February 1956.
- To shift resources away from heavy industry and the armed forces
towards light industry, and thereby improve living standards.
- To cut down on corruption, distribute power more effectively to the
regions, and make planning mechanisms more responsive to actual
needs.
- To change the political culture of the USSR by freeing-up channels of
communication and reducing the power of the security services; to
significantly reduce the number of political prisoners in the gulags.
- To overcome the deficiencies of the collectivised agriculture system by
bringing new lands into cultivation and introducing new crops (the
Virgin lands scheme).
,AIMS: Foreign Policy
- Khrushchev pursued a policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’, to defuse
military tensions with the West and consolidate leadership over the
communist bloc.
- Summit diplomacy.
- Rebuild relations with Tito’s Yugoslavia.
- In April 1956 Cominform was dissolved, thus removing the direct
control the Soviet Union had over Eastern European Communists.
- Ensure that West Germany did not rearm and pose a threat again
(Warsaw Pact).
- To develop the USSR’s nuclear capability and match the USA’s
capability, so that spending on conventional forces could be reduced.
- To defuse international tensions, and to avoid provoking the USA.
- To enhance Soviet prestige in the Third World.
The death of Stalin
- Stalin’s death was met with great relief in the West where he was seen
as the dominant factor in the development of the Cold War.
- Stalin’s death was seen as a determining factor in the development of
the ‘thaw’.
- Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Allilyeva, in Twenty Letters to a Friend
(1967): ‘All-powerful as he was, he was impotent in the face of the
frightful system that had grown up around him like a huge honeycomb
and he was helpless either to destroy it or to bring it under his control’.
- Whether it was Stalin who controlled Soviet foreign policy in his final
years or not, the initiative was running away from the Soviet Union in
1948-9. The failure of the Soviet blockade of Berlin, the formation of
NATO and the defection of Yugoslavia from Cominform were all failures
for Stalin’s foreign policy. Thus, his death in 1953 provided the
opportunity for the new Soviet leadership to change its approach to the
West.
Beria
- Within the Soviet Politburo, Laventii Beria, the long-serving head of the
secret police, took the initiative and offered the West a proposal for a
reunified, neutral Germany, arguing that ‘All we want is a peaceful
Germany and it makes no difference to us whether it is socialist or not’.
- Beria’s motives may have been to distance himself from Stalin’s
policies, or to merely impress his colleagues in the Politburo, but on
both accounts he failed.
- Beria’s association with the less pleasant aspects of Stalin’s policies
was too much for the other members of the Politburo and he was
arrested within months. Absurdly accused of being a British agent, he
was later executed. An opportunity to end the division of Germany was
therefore lost.
Malenkov’s ‘New Course’
,- With the removal of Beria, Soviet foreign policy fell into the control of
Georgi Malenkov who, with Khrushchev and Bulganin, formed a
Collective Leadership.
- Malenkov was able and intelligent and recognised the limitations of a
hard-line approach of confrontation towards the West. He therefore
decided to embark on a ‘New Course’.
- Malenkov believed that war between capitalism and communism was
no longer inevitable and therefore resources could be directed away
from arms and heavy industry and towards consumer goods and
raising living standards in the USSR.
- This approach did not mark an end of conflict between capitalism and
communism, merely a belief that, as the collapse of capitalism was
inevitable, there was no need to engage in war to ensure its demise.
- Malenkov’s ‘New Course’ was criticised by Khrushchev during his
struggle for power, yet after Malenkov was removed from the position
of Prime Minister in 1955, Khrushchev was to adopt and adapt the ‘New
Course’.
Khrushchev and Peaceful Coexistence
- Building on the ‘New Course’, Khrushchev articulated a new approach
towards the West which became known as peaceful coexistence.
- As Khrushchev accepted the Marxist belief that the downfall of
capitalism was inevitable, peaceful coexistence was the best way of
conducting relations in the meantime.
- With nuclear war too dangerous to contemplate, the two systems
would have to accept the existence of the other in the short term.
- As Khrushchev was to make clear, ‘There are only two ways – either
peaceful coexistence or the most destructive war in history. There is
no third way’. Khrushchev developed this approach between 1955 and
1957. By June 1957 he was established firmly as the leader of the
Soviet Union and was able to pursue this policy.
Limits to peaceful coexistence
- Khrushchev had red lines when it came to peaceful coexistence.
- He intended to carry on with military and technological developments
and continued to ‘compete’ in the Cold War.
- He would not allow any developments which would threaten the
security or national interests of either the Soviet Union directly, or the
Eastern Bloc.
The Secret Speech, 25th February 1956
- The text of Khrushchev’s speech was circulated throughout Eastern
Europe and by June 1956 it had reached the US State Department. The
speech had profound implications for stability in the Eastern bloc, and
uprisings occurred in both Poland and Hungary soon after the speech
was delivered.
- The secret speech implied de-Stalinisation and improved relations.
The impact of the Secret Speech
, - In a secret speech in Feb 1956 (which had reached the US State
department by June), Khrushchev promised to end Stalinism
throughout the entire Soviet sphere of influence.
- He openly criticised Stalin’s ‘intolerance, brutality and his abuse of
power’ against ‘individuals who had not committed any crimes against
the Party or the Soviet Union’.
- Khrushchev released many prisoners who had been locked up during
Stalin’s purges. He also closed down Cominform, called Stalin a ‘wicked
tyrant’ and dismissed some of Stalin’s most trusted ministers such as
Molotov.
Yugoslavia
- May 1955- Khrushchev and Bulganin visited Belgrade, and blamed
Stalin for the break in relations in 1948.
- June 1956- After talks in Moscow, Khrushchev and Tito issued a
communique in which they agreed that ‘the path of socialist
development differed in various countries and conditions, that the
multiplicity of forms of socialist development tends to strengthen
socialism and that any tendency of imposing one’s opinions on the
ways and forms of socialist development is alien to both.’
How had Poland become communist?
- The communists weakened the Peasant Party led by Mikolajczyk (PM in
exile) by merging with the Polish socialists in Jan 1947 and then
became the dominant group.
- Some Polish communists were not fully pro-Soviet. Deputy PM
Gomulka believed that as Poland had fought for their own liberation, so
they should be able to determine their own future.
- In 1948 Gomulka was replaced by Boleslaw Bierut, a compliant
Stalinist, and later expelled from the Communist Party in 1951.
The Polish Rising: 28th June- 19th October 1956
- In March 1956 Bierut died, and Khrushchev nominated Edward Ochab
to implement de-Stalinisation.
- Rioting broke out in Poznan demanding lower food prices, better
working conditions and an end to Communism, and on 28th June
workers went on strike in protest at wage cuts and poor working
conditions.
- In October 1956 the Poles elected Gomulka, whom Stalin had purged,
as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party.
- Khrushchev objected, the Poles threatened to fight – and Khrushchev,
faced with losing his route through to East Germany, backed down.
- Beijing had also shown support towards the Polish Communist Party
which discouraged Khrushchev from using force.
- Khrushchev conceded that Gomulka could remain, provided that Poland
did nothing to threaten local communist rule or the unity of the Soviet
Bloc.
Consequences:
