THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA

SUCCESSION AFTER STALIN  No clear successor  Collective leadership: Malenkov, Molotov, Beria  Eventually, NIKITA KRUSHCHEV would emerge on top Georgii Malenkov Vyacheslav Molotov Lavrenti Beria

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA SUCCESSION AFTER STALIN  Power struggle linked to policy debate  Beria wanted far-reaching reform  Economic reform was major concern  First big move = rehabilitation of “Doctors’ Plot” victims

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA SUCCESSION AFTER STALIN  Khrushchev plots against Beria  Rallies political & military leaders to his side  Then moves against Malenkov  Khrushchev firmly in control of Party by end 1954

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA KHRUSHCHEV IN POWER  From working class background  Joined Bolsheviks during Revolution  Rose up through ranks, headed party in Moscow  Got close to Stalin

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA KHRUSHCHEV IN POWER  First Priority = Improving economy & standard of living  Loosened strict Stalinist controls  Ended terror  Began releasing political prisoners from Gulags

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA DE-STALINIZATION  Rehabilitation of purge victims  Greater openness in intellectual & cultural life  Liberalization of economic policies  At least small degree of political change

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA DE-STALINIZATION  20 th Party Congress: Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech”  Denounced aspects of Stalin’s rule  But did not criticize socialism

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA DE-STALINIZATION  Effects of “Secret Speech”  Could no longer hold political prisoners  Uproar in international communist community  Reverberations in Party “anti-party” group

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA DE-STALINIZATION  22 nd Party Congress  Khrushchev broadened attack to include colleagues  Removal of Stalin’s body from mausoleum

THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA THE “THAW”  Greater freedom of expression for artists & intellectuals  Some correction of historical falsification  Some opening of society  But retained censorship & control; socialist realism Ilya Ehrenburg, “The Thaw”