Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

A

De-Stalinization

Then, in a startling move at the 20th Party Congress, held in Moscow February 14-25, 1956, several Communist leaders denounced Stalin and repudiated much that he represented. The most violent attack was made by Khrushchev, who condemned Stalin for having replaced the collective leadership proper to Marxism with a cult of himself, which had generated disastrous consequences for the USSR. Khrushchev charged that Stalin had been guilty of “mass arrests and deportations of many thousands of people, execution without trial and without normal investigation...of honest and innocent Communists”; that he had not prepared adequate defences against the German invasion of June 1941, and that he had then mishandled the war effort, causing the needless deaths of “hundreds of thousands of our soldiers”; that he had been “sickly suspicious” of his colleagues and that he “evidently had plans to finish off the old members of the Politburo”; that he had been responsible for the break with Yugoslavia and had jeopardized “peaceful relations with other nations”.

The attacks on Stalin profoundly shocked many Communists in the USSR and throughout the world. In the de-Stalinization campaign, portraits were removed from public places, institutions and localities bearing his name were renamed, and textbooks were rewritten to deflate his reputation.

B

Khrushchev's Ascendancy

The struggle for power finally resulted in the triumph of Khrushchev in 1957. He succeeded in ousting Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich, and others. When Bulganin was forced to resign in 1958, Khrushchev stepped into the premiership, continuing his party secretaryship, and collective leadership appeared to have ended. By the time of the 21st Party Congress in 1961, Khrushchev was in complete ascendancy, the centre of a new personality cult. He repeated some of his earlier denunciations of the old dictator, had Stalin's body removed from the mausoleum where it had rested beside that of Lenin, and demanded that the Stalinists who had opposed him in 1957 be expelled from the party. In the following years some of the extreme anti-Stalinism was softened, and Stalin was allowed some credit for building the Communist party and for the victory in World War II.

C

Khrushchev's Fall

Leonid I. Brezhnev, who in 1960 had succeeded the 79-year-old Voroshilov as president, was also assigned to the party secretariat in 1963. In July 1964, at Khrushchev's proposal, Brezhnev was relieved of the presidency to give full time to party work. Anastas I. Mikoyan, a veteran party functionary, became president. In the autumn of that year, Khrushchev was especially ebullient and full of plans after extensive travel in and beyond the USSR. Then, suddenly, in October, he was toppled—relieved both of his party secretaryship and the premiership. The reasons for his ousting may have included unsatisfactory progress in agriculture and industry, and such foreign policy disasters as the Cuban crisis in 1962 and the failure of Soviet efforts since 1959 to obtain West Berlin. Some discrediting of the deposed leader followed, but nothing comparable with de-Stalinization. Some of his closest colleagues were also removed from office.

D

Brezhnev Gains Power

Following the precedent for succession established when Stalin died, the power was divided. Brezhnev was appointed to the party secretaryship, and Aleksey N. Kosygin became premier. During the next five years these men apparently worked together as a team. Nikolay V. Podgorny was president from 1965 to 1977. By the 1970s, however, while the appearance of collective leadership was retained, Brezhnev had won pre-eminence. In 1976 he was reappointed Communist party general secretary, and after Podgorny was removed, he also became president in 1977. A new constitution was promulgated in 1977. Shortly after Brezhnev died, late in 1982, he was succeeded as general secretary of the party by Yuri Andropov, former head of the Soviet secret police (KGB).

V

Economic Developments

Soviet economic development after World War II followed lines worked out in 5-year plans and a 7-year plan (1959-1965), although the plans were sometimes not announced in full until they had been operating for a year or two.