De-Stalinization
Although many of his ideas did not bring
the expected results, Nikita Khrushchev
policies of de-Stalinization were
politically wise. He went against many of
Stalin’s tyrannical policies
and gave the people a much greater sense of
freedom. In the process known as
"de-Stalinization", legal procedures were
restored, some greater degree of
meaningful public controversy was permitted,
forced labor camps were closed
and the secret police tactics of Stalin’s era
were erased. Stalin’s method of
personal rule was replaced by group rule and
more orderly processes of
government, the terror apparatus was largely
dismantled, the economy was
notably modernized and foreign policy was conducted
with much greater
diplomatic initiative and flexibility. There was free
political discussion, a
standard forty-hour work week where people were free to
change jobs, better
government planning on production, and eased travel
restrictions over the
"Iron Curtain". In the process of de-Stalinization the
cities that were once
named in honor of Stalin were given new names or returned
to their old
names1. The statues and pictures of Stalin were destroyed and
letters were
sent to families of those who were killed in battle, which
criticized
Stalin’s weak leadership during the time of the war. Stalin’s
grave was
vandalized during this process, and Khrushchev gained approval from
the West.
These policies were used to erase the past and ease the minds of those
who
suffered under the dictator2. Khrushchev worked to denounce his
former
leaders doings and clean up the image of the nation on a worldwide
scale.
Khrushchev worked hard to be agreeable with the majority of people
he ruled. He
sought to contrast his own present policies with the extremities
of Stalinism,
and therefore restore public confidence in the Soviet system.3
Perhaps the most
notable example of de-Stalinization was where Khrushchev
denounced Stalin and
criticized the dictator along with those who agreed with
his views. These views
which murdered so many Russian Citizens. At the 20th
All-Union Party Congress
(1956) where Khrushchev delivered a "secret" report
on "The Personality
Cult and Its Consequences," bitterly denouncing the
rule, policies, and
personality of Stalin.4 The speech was supposedly kept a
secret so that the
Capitalist media would not receive word of it and gain
an edge over the
Communists if they knew of the problems occurring within
the party. Khrushchev
accused Stalin of being responsible for mass murders
and deportations, the
German invasion during World War II (1939-1945),
and the USSR's break with
Yugoslavia. During this period the public was
given a say in the government,
even though an extremely minor one, and the
judicial system eased it's
aggressiveness allowing a defendant a better
chance of defending themselves.
This was called The Associates Credit
Card ServicesThe Associates Credit Card
Services thaw, which meant the
relaxation of police terror, the release of
hundreds of thousands from labor
camps, and the relaxation of censorship. A new
policy of economy was brought
in known as "New Course". Khrushchev concerned
himself with bettering the
troubles of the individual, attempting to increase
the supply of food and
making goods such as home appliances, making automobiles
somewhat available,
and providing more housing. A new policy of efficiency and
quality control
was brought in. Leadership was somewhat decentralized to allow
common
managers and directors more power to run their production units. It
helped to
balance the agriculture and increase food production so there were
less food
shortages. Machine and Tractor Stations (MTSs) were set up in the
countryside
with skilled mechanics employed to provide and service
agricultural
machinery. The districts were allowed to decide on what crops to
plant and when,
rather than being directed from the center. Quotas for
compulsory sale to the
state were eased. Thousands of young people and Party
workers were dispatched as
labor and supervisory personnel to do the job.
Also Khrushchev initiated the
Virgin Lands Program in 1953, introducing
intensive irrigation to increase
arable land and thus raise food production
bringing into cultivation 32 million
acres of previously uncultivated land in
Kazakhstan and southwestern Siberia.
85,000,000 additional acres of land
were under cultivation by 1956.. All these
measures were identified with
Khrushchev, who evidently took over agricultural
policy from Malenkov in
September 1953. In January 1955 Khrushchev demanded that
around seventy
million acres be planted in corn for fodder in order to increase
livestock
production. The resulting cornfields, on flat and hilly country, in
cold and
warm regions, earned him the nickname of kukuruzchik (''the
corn
enthusiast''). Soil erosion and unpredictable weather wiped out whole
harvests,
and by the mid-1960s sandstorms became a serious problem. Despite
everything,
the project of expanding agriculture into the virgin lands
succeeded, and to
this day form a major part of the region’s grain sources.
In 1954, the virgin
lands provided 37 million tons of the country’s 85
million tons of grain. In
1956, 63m of a total of 125m tons; in 1962, 56m
of a total of 140m; in 1963, 38m
of 108m; in 1964, 66m of 152m. Khrushchev
wanted a "peaceful
coexistence" between the US and the Soviet Union, and met
with the American
leadership on several occasions. He cancelled a summit
meeting in Paris when an
American plane was shot down while spying on the
Soviet Union. It helped the
war-battered nation avoid further war with the
West. Most importantly, he
proclaimed the necessity of coexistence with the
west and declared that a
nuclear war would mean he end of both capitalism and
socialism. In relations
with the west, Khrushchev’s tenure was marked by
sudden shifts and a series of
high stakes crises such as the U2 affair, the
building of the Berlin Wall and
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through it all he
consistently maintained the need for"peaceful coexistence" in the nuclear age.5
He toured the United States in
1959 and met with President Eisenhower at
Camp David, thus helping to ameliorate
the international tensions created by
his threat to sign a separate peace with
East Germany. Thousands of
settlers were brought in from European Russia7. The
Geneva Summit of 1955
among Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United
States, and the
Camp David Summit of 1959 between Eisenhower and Khrushchev
raised hopes of a
more cooperative spirit between East and West. Khrushchev
explained the
doctrine of ‘peaceful co-existence’ to a reception at the
Albanian
Embassy in April 1957, in this way: ‘In our relations with the
capitalist
countries we steadfastly adhere to Lenin’s principle of peaceful
coexistence.
... ‘We shall never take up arms to force the ideas of communism
upon
anybody. We do not need to do that, for the ideas of communism express
the
vital interests of the popular masses. Our ideas, the ideas of communism
have
such great vitality that no weapon can destroy them, that not even the
nuclear
weapon can hold up the development of these progressive ideas. Our
ideas will
capture the minds of mankind. The attempts of the imperialist to
arrest the
spread of the ideas of communism by force of arms are doomed to
failure. ..."8
Or, as Khrushchev explained the policy to the Supreme
Soviet on 31 October 1959:
‘The Soviet Union and all the socialist countries
have opened up for humanity
the road for a socialist development without war
on the basis of peaceful
collaboration. The conflict between the two systems
must and can be resolved by
peaceful means ... Coexistence is something real,
flowing from the existing
world situation of human society ... Several
well-known personalities, and in
the first place President Eisenhower, want
to find ways of reinforcing peace’9
Under his direction the soviets made
great advances in the science, particularly
in nuclear energy and space
exploration. During the Khrushchev period there was
an all-out program to
increase the production of energy.10 Between 1954 and
1965, electrical
power generation grew from 150m Mw to 507m Mw, oil from 53m
tons to 347m
tons, coal from 347m tons to 578m tons.11 At the same time, steel
production
was increased from 41m tons to 91m tons. There was also a sharp turn
to the
development of science and technology. Soviet science had almost died in
the
early 1930s as a result of Stalin’s policy of dictation of the ‘line’
in
science, which had wiped out whole branches of science, and left others
in
the realm of pseudo-science. In the interval, the bare minimum of
scientific
research required for military purposes had been carried out in
the labor
camps.12 Very significant resources were now provided to science,
including
fundamental research. Living standards improved markedly during
Khrushchev’s
period. More and more people were able to receive tertiary
education, although
this was generally available either after working for a
number of years, or at
night school. More freedom of movement between jobs
was allowed.13 Pensions were
increased, with a qualifying age of 65 for men,
60 for women, but available for
men with 25 years seniority in their job, 20
years for women, substantially
better than in the West. Additional pension
rights were granted to bureaucrats,
police and scientific researchers.14 The
length of the working week was reduced
by two hours and maternity leave
extended from 70 to 112 days. Between 1953 and
1964 the area of housing
space was doubled, although it still remained in very
short supply, and less
on average than the minimum prescribed by US prison
regulations at the time.
The minimum wage was doubled, although social service
professionals remained
among the lowest paid.15 From the excitement of the
Khrushchev era, with
his remonstrations at the UN, demagogic speeches, the
confrontations, the
spectacular achievements in space, the huge new
hydroelectric schemes, the
colonization of the virgin lands and decentralization
of planning, Stalinism
moved into the dull grayness of decline16. Although
Khrushchev was
peacefully removed from office by a ‘triumvirate’ in October
1964 and
many of his plans failed, his initial goal was reached. That night
he
returned home and exclaimed, "Well, that’s it. I’m retired now.
Perhaps
the most important thing I did was just this – that they were able to
get rid
of me simply by voting, whereas Stalin would have had them all
arrested".