Nikita Khrushchev

1. Nikita Khrushchev • Born 15 April 1894 in Kalinkova, Russia of peasant extraction • Moved to Yuzovka, Ukraine in 1904 for better economic opportunities as a metalworker • Frustrated and severely limited education but clever nonetheless, possessing a natural mechanical aptitude • Energetic and talkative but did not drink or smoke • Entered politics in 1915 through local trade unions but did not join the Bolshevik Party until 1918 • Served in various political positions within a local Red Army division from 1919 to 1921 • Transferred to Moscow in 1930 and climbed the political ladder as a loyal, non-threatening associate of Stalin, culminating in appointment to the Politburo by 1939

2. Nikita Khrushchev, cont. • Served as a political commissar in Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War, eventually rising to lieutenant general • Became increasingly close to Stalin and usually executed his orders unthinkingly • Joined with L. Kanagovich, N. Bulganin, G. Malenkov, V. Molotov to depose L. Beria after Stalin dies in March 1953 • Became party leader in September 1953 • Delivered a speech, On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, at the 20th Party Congress on 25 February 1956 • Eventually ousted and punished his rivals, becoming premier at the end of March 1958

9. The Soviet Union under Khrushchev • Political reforms • Began the release and rehabilitation of political prisoners from the Gulag, although many would continue to suffer some form of persecution • Partially relaxed restrictions on freedom of expression, leading to a renaissance in the Soviet humanities and an influx of American popular culture • Economic reforms • Expanded urban housing to meet chronic shortages caused by rapid industrialization and improve the image of Soviet life • Launched the Virgin Lands Campaign in the Caucuses to increase farmland • Attempted to reform heavy industry by replacing industrial ministries with regional economic councils

10. The Soviet Union under Khrushchev, cont. • Technological achievements • Continued industrialization • Military modernization • Introduction of MiG jet fighters and next-generation Tu-series long-range bombers • H-bomb and ICBMs developed and deployed • Space exploration • First satellite, Sputnik 1 (4 October 1957) • First animal, Laika (3 November 1957) • First lunar landing, Luna 2 (12 September 1959) • First man, Y. Gagarin (14 April 1961) • First woman, V. Tereshkova (16 June 1963) • First spacewalk, A. Leonov (18 March 1965)

11. The Soviet Union under Khrushchev, cont. • Failure of economic reforms • Urban housing remained scarce and shoddily built • Virgin Lands Campaign performed inconsistently due to soil erosion and chronic drought • Industrial output decreased due to erratic reorganization • Unrest among allies • Hungarian Revolution erupted from 23 October to 10 November 1956 • Construction of the Berlin Wall began on 12-13 August 1961 • Sino-Soviet relations collapsed in July 1963 • Escalation of Cold War tensions • Warsaw Pact founded on 1 May 1955 to counter the threat of NATO • U-2 Spy Plane Incident of May 1960 • Cuban Missile Crisis of 14-28 October 1962 • Ousted from power on 14 October 1964

20. Postwar European Development • Immediate conditions following World War II • Widespread urban devastation, especially in Germany • Increased rationing of supplies • Unemployment and housing shortages increases with military demobilization • Steps to economic revitalization • Communist participation in coalition government ends as relations with the Soviet Union worsen • Victory at the polls for labor and social democratic parties promising to rebuild and create jobs • Gradual decolonization in Africa and Asia • United States begins to invest heavily in Western Europe through its Marshall Plan

21. Postwar European Development, cont. • European economic renaissance • Unprecedented economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s attributed to mixed economies • Conservative acceptance and support of the welfare state • Greater international cooperation in trade • European Coal and Steel Community (Treaty of Paris, 18 April 1951) eliminates trade tariffs on coal and steel between member states • European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome, 25 March 1957) expands free trade among member states

22. Leonid Brezhnev • Born 19 December 1906 in Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine of urban extraction • Educated in land management and metallurgy, leading to a brief career as an engineer in local iron and steel industries • Entered politics rather late, joining the Komsomol in 1923 but not the Communist Party until 1931 • Described by many contemporaries as aloof and introspective in his youth • Drafted into the Red Army in 1935 as a political commissar in a tank company, eventually serving under N. Khrushchev while at the Ukrainian front in 1941 and becoming his political protégé • Served in various regional projects and political offices until 1952, when he was appointed to the Central Committee • Supported Khrushchev and his 1954 coup, becoming president in May 1960 for his service

23. Leonid Brezhnev, cont. • Khrushchev's increasingly erratic administration, embarrassing behavior, and poor economic performance diminished his power • Outwardly supported Khrushchev and his de-Stalinization but joined a conspiracy with A. Mikoyan and A. Kosygin to depose him • Khrushchev removed from office on 14 October 1964 while on holiday and then recalled to Moscow to be dismissed in person • Became secretary-general at the 23rd Party Congress in March 1966, wherein he telegraphed the tenor of his leadership by renaming the Presidium as the Politburo, as it had been under Stalin • Appointed Y. Andropov as head of the KGB in May 1967 and restored much of the power it lost since Stalin died

26. Two Views of Brezhnev

27. The Soviet Union under Brezhnev • Political retrenchment • Restored and expanded restrictions on freedom of expression, stimulating the development of samizdat literature • Forbade criticism of Stalin or Stalinism and lionized the Great Patriotic War • Cultivated a cult of personality comparable in some ways to the one created by Stalin • Invasion of Czechoslovakia • Alexander Dubcek created "socialism with a human face" through limited democratization, giving rise to the "Prague Spring" of 1968 • Soviet forces invaded Czechoslovakia on 21 August 1968 after Dubcek refused to cease and desist • Brezhnev Doctrine: Warsaw Pact states are allowed sovereignty insofar as it does not threaten local Communist power or the integrity of the Eastern Bloc

28. The Soviet Union under Brezhnev, cont. • Détente declared • Signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) on nuclear weapons in May 1972 • Signed the Helsinki Accords in December 1975, declaring that the Soviets would respect human rights in the Warsaw Pact in exchange for recognition of its hegemony and current borders • Signed SALT II in June 1979 but the United States failed to ratify it after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December • Economic and social stagnation • Ignored economic problems inherited from unreformed industry and collectivized farming • Shortages in durable and luxury goods despite relative wage stability • Oppression of dissidents and Jews desiring to emigrate, or refuseniks (< Russ. otkaznik) • Soaring crime and substance abuse rates • Widespread cynicism for Brezhnev and his regime