A-Level Edexcel History – USSR Study
Guide Test Papers with Actual Detailed
Answers 2026 Updated.
When did Khrushchev give his 'secret speech'? - Answer 1956
What did the speech say should happen? - Answer 1) Return to the legality of Lenin.
2) Give more power to organization at regional level.
3) Two million political prisoners released.
4) Regular meetings of the presidium and central committee.
How was terror used under Khrushchev? - Answer Through de-Stalinization - Secret police
brought under party control, Secret police lost control over labour camps, heavy punishments
remain for corruption, Secret police still watching the general population.
What was the Secret Police called under Khrushchev? - Answer KGB
Who were the dissidents? - Answer 1) Intellectuals - Professions who complained about
restrictions on their freedom of professional practice.
2) Political - Concerns with abuses of human rights that broke Soviet law and internal
agreements.
3) Nationalists - Groups of different national dissent called for greater status for their own
languages and culture and some even independence from the USSR.
4) Religious - Baptists, Catholics, Jews faced restrictions on worship and religious practice.
What actions were taken against the dissidents? - Answer Houses were searched and items
were confiscated and arrests could follow. Dissidents were put into psychiatric hospitals until
they were 'cured' meaning they had changed their views on the state. Patients were treated
with electric shocks. Some dissidents were sent into internal exile.
What law was passed in 1960 to do with the treatment of dissidents? - Answer A law that
limited the power of the KGB and the limited the use of night-time interrogations.
, 3) Leader would have to consult the Party on all decisions.
4) However, there was no return to widespread terror that was seen under Stalin.
How did Stalin implement terror on the Party? - Answer He carried out show trials. For
example, The Trial of the Sixteen where Zinoviev and Kamenev were dragged from prison and
accused of working with agents of Trotsky to undermine the state. Under pressure from the
NKVD, they confessed to crimes they couldn't have possibly committed.
Explain Khrushchev's investment in Agriculture. - Answer In 1955, to increase productivity,
industrial collectives were given greater powers to make decisions at local level. The MTS were
abolished. However, they were replaced with a system that expected each collective to buy its
own machinery. Collectives were increased in size and there was a rapid increase in
mechanisation, fertilisers and irrigation.
When was the Virgin Land Scheme introduced? - Answer 1954
What was the Virgin Land Scheme? - Answer It encouraged the opening up of new areas to
agricultural production. Six million acres of land were brought under cultivation (used for crops)
with considerable investment.
What was the first sign of the Virgin Land Scheme failing? - Answer In 1959, the target for
grain production in Kazakhstan failed to be met.
What was the impact on agriculture under Khrushchev? - Answer The income of farmers
doubled between 1952 and 1958, but still remained far below those of industrial workers.
Between 1953 and 1958, food production increased by 51%.
What was agriculture like under Brezhnev? - Answer There was a deliberate move away from
Khrushchev's approach of trying to find quick solutions. The Virgin Land Scheme was dropped.
Heavy investment in agriculture remained and allowed peasants to have bigger private plots.
What was the impact of agriculture under Brezhnev? - Answer There was a steady rise in
overall production accompanied by a steady decline in workers productivity. A brigade system
was established which meant that peasants could decide how profit was used. However, it
encouraged a return to family farming leading to it being abolished.
When did Khrushchev launch his anti-religious campaign? - Answer 1958
Guide Test Papers with Actual Detailed
Answers 2026 Updated.
When did Khrushchev give his 'secret speech'? - Answer 1956
What did the speech say should happen? - Answer 1) Return to the legality of Lenin.
2) Give more power to organization at regional level.
3) Two million political prisoners released.
4) Regular meetings of the presidium and central committee.
How was terror used under Khrushchev? - Answer Through de-Stalinization - Secret police
brought under party control, Secret police lost control over labour camps, heavy punishments
remain for corruption, Secret police still watching the general population.
What was the Secret Police called under Khrushchev? - Answer KGB
Who were the dissidents? - Answer 1) Intellectuals - Professions who complained about
restrictions on their freedom of professional practice.
2) Political - Concerns with abuses of human rights that broke Soviet law and internal
agreements.
3) Nationalists - Groups of different national dissent called for greater status for their own
languages and culture and some even independence from the USSR.
4) Religious - Baptists, Catholics, Jews faced restrictions on worship and religious practice.
What actions were taken against the dissidents? - Answer Houses were searched and items
were confiscated and arrests could follow. Dissidents were put into psychiatric hospitals until
they were 'cured' meaning they had changed their views on the state. Patients were treated
with electric shocks. Some dissidents were sent into internal exile.
What law was passed in 1960 to do with the treatment of dissidents? - Answer A law that
limited the power of the KGB and the limited the use of night-time interrogations.
, 3) Leader would have to consult the Party on all decisions.
4) However, there was no return to widespread terror that was seen under Stalin.
How did Stalin implement terror on the Party? - Answer He carried out show trials. For
example, The Trial of the Sixteen where Zinoviev and Kamenev were dragged from prison and
accused of working with agents of Trotsky to undermine the state. Under pressure from the
NKVD, they confessed to crimes they couldn't have possibly committed.
Explain Khrushchev's investment in Agriculture. - Answer In 1955, to increase productivity,
industrial collectives were given greater powers to make decisions at local level. The MTS were
abolished. However, they were replaced with a system that expected each collective to buy its
own machinery. Collectives were increased in size and there was a rapid increase in
mechanisation, fertilisers and irrigation.
When was the Virgin Land Scheme introduced? - Answer 1954
What was the Virgin Land Scheme? - Answer It encouraged the opening up of new areas to
agricultural production. Six million acres of land were brought under cultivation (used for crops)
with considerable investment.
What was the first sign of the Virgin Land Scheme failing? - Answer In 1959, the target for
grain production in Kazakhstan failed to be met.
What was the impact on agriculture under Khrushchev? - Answer The income of farmers
doubled between 1952 and 1958, but still remained far below those of industrial workers.
Between 1953 and 1958, food production increased by 51%.
What was agriculture like under Brezhnev? - Answer There was a deliberate move away from
Khrushchev's approach of trying to find quick solutions. The Virgin Land Scheme was dropped.
Heavy investment in agriculture remained and allowed peasants to have bigger private plots.
What was the impact of agriculture under Brezhnev? - Answer There was a steady rise in
overall production accompanied by a steady decline in workers productivity. A brigade system
was established which meant that peasants could decide how profit was used. However, it
encouraged a return to family farming leading to it being abolished.
When did Khrushchev launch his anti-religious campaign? - Answer 1958
