Transcript Khruschev Era and De-Stalinization

Johnny Dengler and Karl
Hottmann
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1917- Khruschev joined the Bolsheviks
and fought for the Red Army
After the war he received Marxist
training at a technical college.
1939- He became a full member of the
Politburo (chief executive body of the
Communist Party)
He was extremely loyal to Stalin during
this time and during WWII he helped
organize defense in Ukraine and helped
relocate heavy industry into the interior
of Russia.
1953- Stalin died and Khruschev tried to
become the leader.
Khruschev became the first secretary of
the Communist Party
1955- Khruschev had the real power in
the Soviet Union, instead of Malenkov.
 Symbolic
start- Physicians who were
charged with conspiring to murder high
ranking officials were released and the
frame-up was exposed.
 Secret police power was taken
 Inmates in concentration camps were
released.
 “New Course” empasized production of
consumer goods and got rid of forced
delivery from peasants.
 Stalin was not mentioned in public
 Many
of Stalin’s policies and
principles were criticized.
 20th Congress of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union
• Khruschev’s “secret speech” explained
to delegates the many miscarriages of
justice and victimzation of comrades
by Stalin.
• Exposed Stalin’s faults during WWII.
• Didn’t mention Stalin’s non-communist
victims
Speech and De-Stalinization could lead to more
change than Khruschev was willing to permit.
 June-October 1956- Riots in Poland forced
Khruschev to agree to change in the Polish
Communist leadership.
 Full forced revolt against communist party and
Soviets in Hungary.
 Hungary sought to become a neutral nation
 Soviet military intervened and thousands of
Hungarians were killed or fled.
 After the revolution, other Soviet leaders sought
to remove Khruschev from office.
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US military was proving to be much stronger than
Soviets
 Khruschev needed a way to balance the military
power
 US invaded Cuba in 1961, so Khruschev and Castro
came up with a plan to solve both of their problems.
 In the Spring of 1962, the Soviet placed medium and
intermediate range missiles in Cuba.
 In mid-October, the US discovered the missiles.
 The two nations were on the brink of a nuclear war.
 Khrushcev agreed to remove missiles and US
promised not to invade Cuba and removed missiles
from Turkey.
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 After
the missile crisis, Khruschev was
vulnerable.
 Khruschev’s new reforms caused confusion
and gave him less support.
 He brought on more De-Stalinization at the
end of his rule, renaming public places
named aft Stalin such as Stalingrad.
 In the fall of 1964, his closest aids plotted
against him
 October 1964- Khruschev was taken out of
power.
 Was
Khrushcev an overall good or bad
leader?
• Did his mistakes outweigh his De-Stalinzation
efforts in the nation?
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