An industrial Powerhouse
- With massive effort and another 5-year plan, the USSR had dramatically recovered by 1950
- Growth, however, was in the heavy industry and military might, not for consumers
- Thermonuclear weapons, MIG fighter jets, Sputnik, but no houses
Stalin
- continued his brutal campaign and by the 1950’s controlled 9 mill in Serbia using the KGB
- Punished even close associates who were loyal in his mania
The Rise and Fall of Nikita Khrushchev
- Was tough and willing to compromise (as in Cuba)
- “We will crush you, but lets talk about it”
- Tried to revive the Russian economy by loosening government controls on it.
- Tried to fix the Russian agricultural sector to be self-sufficient by opening up new lands and encouraging profit
- Had to deal with the Communist Party, who did not like these ideas.
- However the slow growth of agriculture and military spending slowed the economic growth of the USSR by 50% in 1964
Destalinization
Failures in foreign policy led to his removal (by VOTE) in 1964
The Brezhnev Years, 1964-1982
- Had to deal with the same issues as the man he overthrew, party politics and pressure from the bureaucracy, military and KGB
- He was not reform-minded and actually enjoyed the pleasures of office and “capitalist” wealth
A Controlled Society
- Reincorporated the control of the country to the government
- Cut back on freedom of press/speech and was repressive until Gorbachev, with the state controlling all news
- Not much different from when the tsar was in power, so accepted
A Stagnant Economy
- Under Brezhnev the economy declined to 3-4% growth in the 70s
- Grain production increases also stopped in the 70s
- The real cause was a lack of initiative for hard work in the form of higher pay
Soviet production was about ½ as much as in capitalist systems
- There was no competition and therefore no need for good quality; just a quota for the month.
- Led to poor goods at the end of the month and a lack of goods altogether.
- Many took to illegal “capitalist” jobs for pay under the table or to producing goods and selling them on their own
- This accounted for maybe 1/3 of the economy
Technology
also suffered and only in military was it comparable to the West, also from lack of competition and with the best scientists going into military production/development
even with oil
, the USSR may have had the most, could not get in in frozen Siberia and ship it out
aging leadership
Brezhnev and the Politburo feared change and change did not come from him or his successors until Gorbachev in 1985
USSR installed puppet communist governments
- in Eastern Europe to buffer against the West and to take advantage of them
- the same type of industrial military plans as the USSR and fell behind.
- same brutal tactics of control
Berlin 1953
revolts in E. Berlin
Poland 1956
- unrest
- Poles elected a more compromise leader Wadyslaw Gomulka, but under Soviet influence he was allowed to reform internally, but still remained a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact
- Relaxed religious restrictions and ended forced collectivization of farms
The Hungarian Uprising
Policies of Hungarian Communist Rakosi were brutal
New leader Nagy
- tried to take the same approach as in Poland; reform and remain loyal
- He had the Soviet’s troops withdraw.
- There was talk about the United States intervening, because they kept advocating E. European countries to throw off the USSR.
- However Eisenhower was not able to assist.
- When he agreed to free elections the USSR put troops back into Hungary
- He fled and was replaced with a Pro-USSR leader and Nagy was arrested and executed
Czechoslovakia
remained under Communist rule through Stalin’s handpicked leader Novotny until 1968
Alexander Dubcek
- Socialism with a human face with relaxation on freedom of speech, travel and press
- Relaxed economic restrictions and control on society
- Whole thing called the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
- Warsaw Pact members participated to suppress reform, along with the USSR, in August 1968 when some Czech’s wanted a withdrawal from Warsaw pact
- Replaced by hard core Communist Husak
- Brezhnev Doctrine: “… we believe that a decisive rebuff of the anti- Communist forces … [is] not only your task but ours as well.”
- Justified intervention and future intervention for communism
Walter Ulbricht
- Made E. Germany a faithful satellite of USSR, but lagged behind its Western partner
- Many left East Germany for the better West (maybe 3 million or 1/5 of the population)
Eric Honecker
- Hard-line communist-ruled for 18 years and built E Germany into the best USSR satellite.
- Used Stasi, secret police, to have the most authoritarian regime that had the biggest police state
Berlin Wall 1963
walled of E. Berlin from West
Communism is supposed to be…
- equal
- didnt happen in USSR
Cultural Expression
- Boris Pasternak wrote Doctor Zhivago
- It criticized the Bolshevik Revolution and he won the Nobel Prize but wasn’t allowed to accept it because of that
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn won N. Prize in 1970 for pointing out crimes of Soviet Russia and was expelled.
- Less strict in E. Europe, but not much
Social Changed in E. Europe
- Industrialization and standard of living did improve, though not compared to West
- Less agriculture, more income and consumer goods
- Social mobility and education also increased to take new technology jobs
- Marxist dream NOT a reality
Women in the Soviet BLoc
- Women did not have it as well as in the West
- Women had no power in politics
- More jobs, but for less money and no leadership and still mothers at home (double shift),
- housing shortages
Perestroika: restructuring the economy
Free market and private property on a limited basis, but needed to change society too
Glasnost
-openness to discuss issues and problems
-News was more open and culture allowed, including western in nature and openness in religion
-Elections, the release of dissenters from prison and a Soviet parliament convened in 1989 (1st since 1918)
-Gorbachev allowed other parties in 1990
He became president in March 1990
Eastern Europe
From Soviet Satellites to Sovereign Nations
The Republics secede
- Lithuania led the way in March 1990
- Many had no power even under Tsar.
Ukraine declares independence
1991 and 14 other republics followed
Dec. 25, 1991
- Russia declared the USSR done and Gorbachev resigned
- USSR was done
The New Russia: From Empire to Nation
- Yeltsin tried to turn Russia into a democratic capitalist nation
- Corruption and inequality and crime increased
- The Putin Era took over in 1999 and has tried to strengthen Russia and himself. (Former KGB agent)
Russia under the New Tsar
Has bypassed Russian constitution and kept power, switching from President to Prime Minister and back to the president.