Essay on DeStalinization

Under a backdrop of systematic fear and terror, the Stalinist juggernaut flourished. Stalin’s purges, otherwise known as the “Great Terror”, grew from his obsession and desire for sole dictatorship, marking a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. “The purges did not merely remove potential enemies. They also raised up a new ruling elite which Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable.” (Historian David Christian, 1994). While Stalin purged virtually all his potential enemies, he not only profited from removing his long-term opponents, but in doing so, also caused fear in future ones. This created a party that had virtually no opposition, a new ruling elite that would be

It was designed to industrialise the USSR in the shortest possible time and, in the process, to expedite the collectivisation of farms. The plan was ruthlessly applied and focused on heavy industries, in particular the development of iron and steel, machine-tools, electric power and transport. Stalin justified these measures when speaking in a statement made in 1931 by saying, "We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we shall be crushed."" (My essay "Compare and contrast the economic policies of Lenin and Stalin and evaluate their success")

Destalinization was a political reform launched by Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress, otherwise known as the secret speech. The main components of the reforms were changing or removing prominent institutions that had helped Stalin remain in power; the Stalinist political system, political party members that had supported him (beginning with the arrest and subsequent execution of political rival Lavrentiy Beria) and the removal of the Gulag labour camp system.

The following primary source analysis is from Nikita Khrushchev’s speech delivered to the 20th congress of the Communist party of the USSR in Moscow on February 25 1956. In the speech Khrushchev heavily criticized the role played by the deceased Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and in particular the great purge of the communist parties at the end of the 1930s. He accused Stalin of constructing a leadership personality cult and still claiming to follow the beliefs of the communist party. Khrushchev’s primary objective was to turn back the communist party to follow Leninist communist ideals instead of the former Stalinist ideals, and to also gain further control of the communist party against other competitors.

His reforms were argued that they were not in the best interest for the Soviet Union. Gorbachev had barely skimmed the service of the ongoing issues with the economy. His intention was to improve the economic model of the USSR and not to try to turn it into a liberal government. His goals were to dismantle the Soviet Union appalling government and help the collapsing economy. It was not in his plan to destroy Russia. The citizens did not know how to respond to freedom. The country has been under Stalin’s totalitarian state for so long that they don’t know how else to act. People were scared because all they have ever known was to be watched and told what to do. Now the citizens have freedom to speak freely on what they think about the government and they don’t know how to do this. The reform had become more complicated than he anticipated as Gorbachev addressed in his speech. He was able to accomplish the elimination of a totalitarian system and pushed the Russian government into a better country. It did not happen overnight and it was hard work but the ultimate goal was to make peace with the surrounding nations, free the people, help the economy get back on their feet. Gorbachev’s reforms were a positive push in the right direction for the Russian government and people. It was his push and openness to change the way USSR felt about the West and the West to feel better about the USSR. It was his powerful leadership

The Soviet Union believed in elitism. Elitism is the rule by a group of individuals who possess a disproportionate amount of political power. Majoritarian politics, the complete opposite of elitism, was not permitted in the Soviet Union. Citizens were not allowed to express their thoughts and worked under strict orders. Stalin had potential enemies executed or sent to forced labor camps. Even though these actions are inhumane, it is still considered a legitimate use of power. Since Stalin was a dictator, he could easily change and control the law. His dictator status gave him the authority to use his political power in any way and at any time. In fact, it could also be said that he was the law, and hence the legitimacy of his use of

Although the collapse of the Soviet Union caught many scholars and politicians off guard, the Soviet empire had shown signs of deterioration since the late 1960s. Although the stability of the system couldn’t be questioned, the rigidity of the system hindered the readjustment in crucial sectors, necessary to adapt to the rapidly changing world. One of the first attempts to update the system and rid it from the excesses of its last rule, came with the ascension of Khrushchev to power. In the 20th Party Congress he established his idiosyncratic position that put a clear end to the Stalinist era. The “secret speech” sent a powerful

After the Russian Revolution, there was a lot of confusion on how to establish institutions strong enough to rebuild and hold the state and society together. An issue with Marxism is that it is is not a theory of governance, rather a theory of how to bring a socialist regime into power—hence explaining the lack of guidance. At this time, Lenin took control. But after his death, the Russians were once again faced with appointing a leader to direct them. The domestic and international conditions in which the Soviet Union found itself, the legacy of Leninist ideology and organization, and Stalin’s overall character were all factors that helped determine the policies Stalin adopted.

The policies of Stalin affected the Soviet Union in many ways. Here are one of the many ways.

The first waves of change started with Khrushchev’s Secret Speech. In February, 1956, Nikita Khrushchev, then leader of the Soviet Union, made a speech during the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, openly condemning his iconic predecessor, Stalin. Khrushchev tells the Congress,

The policy of De-Stalinisation is what fundamentally caused all the other problems for Khrushchev as it angered the Party and

Anyone tried to revolt against his regime would be punished. For example, Because of anti-government views, many churches were deprived of the legal rights and subjected to repression and oppression. In 1925, the Patriarch was imprisoned and killed by an order of the government of Stalin government. Later, when the new Patriarch used a new system that approved the rule of Stalin.

But make public his speech wasn’t part of his plan, his speech was for the communist party, that’s why he didn’t mention his disapproval of the persecution of non-communist. His speech was named “Stalin’s second funeral” since it reconsidered everything Stalin supported, Khrushchev, on the other had advocated a new policy of peaceful coexistence. After his speech protester took the streets in the soviet satellites of Poland and Hungary, the Polish revolt was resolved peacefully, unlike the Hungarian which was suppressed with tropes and tanks a cost the life of 2,500 Hungarians. In his domestic front, Khrushchev tried to increase agricultural work and raise living standards. He also reduced the power of the Soviet Union’s feared secret police, released many political prisoners, relaxed artistic censorship, opened up more of the country to foreign visitors and inaugurated the space age in 1957 with the launch of the satellite

de-Stalinization campaign launched by the speech, the release of political prisoners, which had begun in 1953, was stepped up and some of Stalin’s victims were posthumously rehabilitated. Khrushchev later intensified his campaign against Stalin at the Twenty-Second Party Congress in 1961, winning approval to remove Stalin’s body from the Lenin Mausoleum. De-Stalinization encouraged many in artistic and intellectual circles to speak out against the abuses of the former regime. Although Khrushchev’s tolerance of creative works wavered during his years of leadership, the new cultural period, known as the "thaw", represented a clear break with the repression of the arts under Stalin.

Stalin had plenty of reasons as to why he was starting this great purge; one reason for the purge was to remove the opposition, specifically being Stalin's rival (the Old Bolsheviks) mainly for power. Another reason for Stalin starting the purge was to firmly establish that an aroma of fear in