NEW LEADERS
Malenkov
Molotov
Beria
• Politburo announces that
they would rule country
together
• Three men emerged as
most powerful individuals
on Politburo
– George Malenkov
• General Secretary of
CP and prime minister
– Laurentii Beria
• Head of the KGB
– V. Molotov
• Politburo member
since 1926 and foreign
minister
EVOLUTION OF LEADERSHIP
• On March 15, 1953 Malenkov
resigns as General Secretary
– Replaced by Nikita Khrushchev
• In summer of 1953, Beria is
arrested and shot
• In February 1955, Malenkov resigns
as prime minister
– Replaced by Nicholas Bulganin
• By early 1955, control of Soviet
Union had evolved into the hands
of two men
– Khrushchev (head of CP)
– Bulganin (head of government)
• Molotov only a peripheral
factor
• Zhukov brought back as
Minister of Defense
Khrushchev and Bulganin
KHRUSHCHEV’S ANTI-STALIN
SPEECH
• At 20th Party Congress in February
1956, Khrushchev publicly
denounced Stalin as cruel, irrational,
and bloodthirsty tyrant who
destroyed the lives of many innocent
people
– Blamed Stalin for defeats in early
years of WWII
• Decades of virtual Stalin worship
reversed in one speech
– Reason appears to have been
related to internal power struggle
that was still going on
• Was aimed at “Old Stalinists:
like Malenkov and Molotov who
were more guilty by
association with Stalin than
relatively newer leaders
KHRUSHCHEV SUPREME
• Khrushchev removes five “Old
Stalinists” from Politburo and
all government jobs
– Including Malenkov and
Molotov
• Increased number of seats on
Politburo and added new men
he could trust
– Including Leonid Breshnev
• Forced Bulganin to resign as
prime minister and replaced
him himself
• Khrushchev now had control
of party and government at
age 64
VIRGIN LAND PROGRAM
• Plan to bring vast
uncultivated areas in Urals,
Siberia, and Central Asia into
production
• Called for plowing 32 million
acres of virgin land in 1954
and 74 million acres in 1955
• Land was to be organized
into collective farms devoted
solely to the production of
grain
CORN PROGRAM
• Cultivation of 69 million acres
of corn as animal feed in order
to increase livestock
production
• Sent agricultural delegation to
U.S. and invited American
experts to Russia in order to
learn “the secret of corn”
– American experts criticized
collective farms and led to
changes
• Cash bonuses to farm
workers
• Tax exemption for farms
• Compulsory delivery
quotas abolished
• Farmers given some say
in planning production
BIG PROBLEMS
• Combination of dust storms, late
frosts, cold summer, and heavy rains
made 1960 harvest extraordinarily bad
– Khrushchev admitted to serious
shortages in grain and livestock
and blamed it on outmoded
administrative structures,
incompetent officials, and pilfering
on collective farms
– Initiated new reforms and promised
that every citizen would have the
food they needed by 1980
• Harvest failures continued and
Khrushchev lost support within the CP
– Kept on promising that things
would improve but they never did
• Despite fact that 350 million
acres of new land had been put
into cultivation
BIRTH OF THE “SPACE RACE”
• Achievements in space technology
were impressive
– Sputnik I launched in October
1957
– Sputnik II (with dog on board)
launched in November 1957
– Major Yuri Gagarin orbits earth
in Vostok I on April 12, 1961
• 17 orbits for Vostok II in 1961
• 64 orbits for Vostok III in 1962
• 82 orbits for Vostok IV in 1963
• Ignites “Space Race” with U.S.
INDUSTRY
• Made some progress in increasing
consumer products
– G.U.M. department store opened
in Moscow in 1957
• But tried to do too much too fast
– Military spending and space
program consumed too many
financial resources to
adequately fund other industries
• Sixth Five-Year Plan (1956-1960)
had to be abandoned in two years
when it became clear it would fail
– Unobtainable goals based on
Khrushchev’s obsession with
catching up with the U.S.
• Khrushchev tied his prestige to
economic development and lost
support when his programs failed
KHRUSHCHEV’S FOREIGN
POLICY
• Soviet foreign policy under
Khrushchev had three key
aspects
– Economic, military, and
political penetration of key
countries in Asia, Latin
America, and Africa
– Pushing U.S. into defensive
position through threat of
nuclear war
– Establishing Soviet Union as
firm leader of international
communism
• Setbacks in all these areas hurt
Khrushchev’s reputation and
support
INDONESIA
Sukharno
• In 1958, Soviet Union and Indonesia
expanded contacts
– Khrushchev visited President
Sukharno in 1960
– Provided 250 million dollars in
loans, sophisticated military
equipment, trained Indonesian
economic and military specialists
– Constructed roads, factories, and a
nuclear reactor
– In response to aid, Sukharno
adopted increasingly hostile stance
towards U.S. and began to favor
Indonesian CP
• CIA organizes overthrow of Sukharno
in 1964 and installed pro-American
government
– Thousands murdered in process
THE CONGO
Patrice Lumumba
• Khrushchev gives support to
Patrice Lumumba (leftist prime
minister)
– Use him as wedge to
establish Soviet influence in
Congo
• Plan backfires
– Lumumba is fired and Soviet
ambassador expelled by
anti-communist elements
– Lumumba puts together
army and starts civil war
– UN intervenes to prevent
Lumumba from seizing
control of country
• Lumumba eventually killed and
Khrushchev then makes ass of
himself and backs down before
threats by U.S.
U-2 INCIDENT
• Khrushchev and President
Eisenhower of U.S. schedule
summit meeting for May 1960
Francis Gary Powers
and U-2 plane
• On May 1, 1960, Soviets shoot
down U-2 spy plane over Soviet
Union
– Pilot Francis Gary Powers
publicly admits he had been
on spy mission shortly after
Eisenhower claimed he was
not
• Summit meeting cancelled
KHRUSHCHEV AND KENNEDY
• New president of U.S.,
John F. Kennedy, and
Khrushchev hold summit
meeting in June 1961
– Nothing really
accomplished
– Khrushchev gets
impression that
Kennedy was to young
and inexperienced to be
an effective leader and
that he would back
down if faced with a
crisis
THE BERLIN WALL
• Soviets build concrete wall
between East and West Berlin
– To prevent East Germans
from escaping to west
• U.S. unable to come up with
firm policy to deal with Soviets
over Berlin
– Encouraged Khrushchev to
push harder
– In September 1961, he
announces that Soviet
Union will resume
atmospheric atomic tests
• Clearly meant as threat to
U.S.
• Rest of world begins to
question Khrushchev’s
sanity
CASTRO
• Fidel Castro overthrew Batista regime
in Cuba in 1959
• Castro’s regime became increasingly
radical and relationship with U.S.
deteriorated
Get a Room!
• Khrushchev took advantage of
situation and began to implant
influence in Cuba
– Visited country
– Arranged trade agreement
– Arranged $100 million loan
– Agreed to equip Cuban army with
Soviet weapons
– Promised to aid Cuba if attacked by
U.S.
FATEFUL DECISION
Che Guevera
Raul
Castro
• U.S becomes increasingly hostile to Cuba
– Cuts of diplomatic and economic relations
– Sponsors invasion of island by anti-Castro
exiles in 1961
• Raul Castro and Che Guevera visit Moscow in
1962
– Trip results in agreement to sent Soviet
military technicians and nuclear missiles to
Cuba
• Reasons?
– To defend Cuba from another American
attack
– Bargaining chip to get U.S. to remove its
missiles from Turkey
– Inexpensive way to reduce U.S. superiority
in nuclear weapons
– Khrushchev believed Kennedy would only
ineffectively protest at UN and he could
therefore demonstrate American weakness
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS,
OCTOBER 1962
• U.S. discovers missile
bases before they are
completed and demands
their removal
– Places naval blockade
around Cuba
– World on brink of
nuclear war
• Khrushchev backs down
and agrees to dismantle
bases after a week of
extreme tension
RAMIFICATIONS
• Most statesmen had formerly
believed that Khrushchev was not as
afraid of nuclear war as American
leaders
– Cuban missile crisis shattered
this myth
– Began gradual improvement in
Soviet-American relations
• Khrushchev looked like a fool
– Had bullied U.S. with threat of
nuclear war for years but when
push came to shove, he backed
down
– Prestige suffered a terrible blow
from which it never recovered
COMMUNIST CHINA
• Chinese communists, led
by Mao Zedong, gained
control of China in 1949
– Strains with Soviet
Union right from start
– Until June 1960, strains
were impersonal and
ideological
• Over inevitability of
war with West, the
issue of peaceful
coexistence, and
leadership of
communist world
DETERIORATION OF
RELATIONS
• Khrushchev levels bitter criticism of
China in June 1960
– Accused Mao of Stalinist behavior,
called him “ultra-leftist,” “ultradogmatist,” and a “left-revisionist”
– Claimed Mao was ignorant of
modern warfare and for being
unrealistic
• Mao accuses Khrushchev of “smear
campaign,” of trying to undermine
Chinese prestige, and of secretly
supporting American imperialism
• Things go downhill from there
– Soviet technicians withdrawn from
China in late 1960
– China wins Albania over as
satellite state
UNITY OF COMMUNIST WORLD
DESTROYED
• Dispute erupts over ownership
to Amur Basin
– Insults escalate
– China works to block Soviet
influence in Africa and to
repair relations with
formerly hostile countries
such as France
– Soviet Union works to win
allegiance of as many
communist countries as
possible
• Unity of communist world
destroyed and Khrushchev
was held responsible
FALL OF KHRUSHCHEV
• Combination of factors ultimately
brought Khrushchev down:
– Unresolved agricultural problems
– Unsuccessful economic policies
– Major foreign policy failures
– His own erratic and flamboyant
personality
• Announcement made on October 15,
1964 that Khrushchev would retire
because of “advanced age”
– Replaced by Leonid Breshnev as
General Secretary and Alexi
Kosygin as prime minister
– Khrushchev died in 1971
Brezhnev
Kosygin