Effects of the Cold War Successes and Failures of

Socialism

OVERVIEW

In this lesson we examine:• Context and perspectives of post-war

socialism• Motives for reform• Effects of change in the USSR and beyond• New attempts to change• Events leading towards the collapse of

the Soviet Union

Post-war Russia

Context Question: During Operation Barbarossa, many citizens of the USSR initially supported the German invasion. What was the likelihood that Stalin would loosen his totalitarian rule after WWII?

• 14.5 million soldiers were dead and over 7 million civilian killed

• 17,000 cities and 70,000 villages were destroyed

• 7 million horses and 17 million cattle lost• Factories converted entirely to war

production and not consumer goods

Compared to the other Allies, the Soviet Union bore the greatest losses against Nazi Germany

Post-war Russia

• To maintain territorial security through spheres of influence

• To continue political purges – 100,000 people continued to be purged for every year after 1945 until Stalin’s death in 1953

What were some of Stalin’s major domestic and foreign policy

decisions?

Despite the devastation of war, why did Stalin maintain the state terror apparatus? What was his

purpose?

Post-war Russia

Context Question: Prior to WWII, what was the nature of the relationship between the USSR and the West?

Post-war Russia

Western Capitalism• Class-based society• Dominance by corporate greed• Inequality for women and minorities• Unequal distribution of wealth

Eastern Communism•Class-less society

•State-controlled economy•Equality for all citizens

•More equal distribution of wealth

How did the Soviets view themselves in theory and in

reality?

Marxist Vision

Class-less societyState-controlled economy

Equality for all citizensMore equal distribution of

wealth

Stalinist Reality

The party and the peopleBureaucratic in-efficiency

Purges and gulagsPoverty and the lack of

consumer goods

How was Stalin able to maintain the perception of fulfilling the

Marxist vision despite its extreme differences from reality? What

might have happened had reform not been pushed forward after his

death?

De-Stalinization

• Denounced Stalin’s purges and leader cult at the 20th Party Congress in 1956

• Restored reputation of disgraced politicians (except Trotsky)

• Released 8-9 million political prisoners• Shut down the NKVD (interior security police)• De-centralized agricultural and regional

planning• Called for “peaceful co-existence” with the

West

With no clear successor after Stalin’s death, a

brief power struggle resulted in Nikita

Khrushchev’s takeover as prime minister of the

government and also party secretary. He

established a mandate for reform

What were the possible benefits of removing the Stalinist

elements from the state?

• Increased consumer goods were produced, like refrigerators and televisions

• Wages stagnated and housing was limited• Virgin Lands Project attempted to expand

farming in agriculturally difficult areas – it failed to yield significant output

• Political dissent rose up against the Party and the government within the state and

in Eastern Europe

What were some of the short-term results of Khrushchev’s

reforms?

What had the process of de-Stalinization revealed to the Party

leadership about the danger of reform?

• After the perceived defeat in the Cuban Missile Crisis and continued lack of progress in the domestic economy, Khrushchev was forced to step down in 1964

• Under Brezhnev and Kosygin, censorship returned and the KGB was created

• Some degree of central planning also returned

What were the long-term responses to Khrushchev’s

reforms?

Challenges to Soviet control

Context Question: What was the typical priority of needs for societies in the 20th century?

Poland• Wladislaw Gomulka built an

alliance with the Roman Catholic Church

• Protests put down in 1956• Khrushchev warned Gomulka

with a visit• Reforms continued

After WWII, eastern European countries that had been liberated by the Red Army elected or were dominated by local Communist parties. In Eastern Europe, the response to Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization was dramatic and some satellite states attempted

reform and moderation

Challenges to Soviet control

Hungary• Open revolt in 1956 by

students and intellectuals• Soviet troops invade

Hungary• Imre Nagy arrested and

executed in 1958• The Soviets brought in

Janos Kadar to take control

Challenges to Soviet control

Why was Poland treated differently than Hungary?

Czechoslovakia • Alexander Dubcek began “socialism with a human

face”• “Prague Spring” of 1968: guaranteed freedom of

speech, press, assembly, and religion• Multi-national Warsaw Pact force invaded the country

• Dubcek was replaced by Gustav Husak

In comparison to Poland and Hungary, why might

Czechoslovakia have been more inclined towards Western-style

democratic changes?

Challenges to Soviet control

Yugoslavia• Liberated by Josef

Tito rather than by Soviet forces

• Became non-aligned (joined neither NATO nor Warsaw Pact)

• Built strong trade ties with the West

Some countries which were not liberated by the Red Army

became communist as a result of their resistance movements. How was Yugoslavia different from the

other Eastern Bloc countries?

What major factor allowed states like Yugoslavia to avoid direct

Soviet control?

Challenges to Soviet control

The coming of change

• Major domestic and economic reform did not occur under Brezhnev and Kosygin. Kosygin resigned in 1980 and Brezhnev died in 1982.

• Yuri Andropov took over but died in 1984.

• Konstantin Chernenko took over but died in only 13 months.

• Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Party in March 1985.

“novoye mneniya”

new thinking

Increased communicatio

n with Western powers

Increased arms

reduction

What relationship existed between Western economic

progress in the US and Europe and Gorbachev’s push for reform?

What were Gorbachev’s three major programs for reform?

“glasnost”openness

Allowed free speech and open

debate in newspapers,

discussions and gatherings

Allowed publication of facts about

Stalinist regime

“perestroika”restructuring

Allowed limited free enterprise

Attempted to reform state enterprises

towards greater efficiency

Created an elected legislature

The coming of change

The chain reaction

As the brutality and problems of the Soviet system became more

obvious, what dichotomy emerged?

Did the western powers face a similar dichotomy? Why or why

not?

Glasnost/PerestroikaFree discussionFree enterpriseLimited elections

Soviet SystemParty’s monopoly of power

Established state controlOne-party state

Poland – Communists lose power after free elections in 1989

East Germany – dissolved in mid-1990 after free elections

Czechoslovakia – Communist government steps down in Nov 1989; country divides in 1993

Hungary – Communists lose in free elections of 1990

Rumania – Ceausescu’s totalitarian regime collapses in late 1989

Bulgaria – Communists lose in free elections of 1990

Yugoslavia – Country dissolves into smaller states from Dec 1990 to June 1991

Albania – Free elections take place in Mar 1991

What factors likely made Albania different from the other former

Communist regimes?

Eastern European countries began to replace or overthrow

their communist regimes without intervention by the Soviet Union

The beginning of the end

• Gorbachev’s plans met with limited economic success, resulting in lower GDP and shortages of food and consumer goods

• As Eastern European countries replaced their communist governments, the USSR dissolved COMECON and the Warsaw Pact alliance

• Republics within the USSR, like Lithuania and Georgia, began to break away

Gorbachev’s leadership was untenable as he was surrounded by reformists and conservatives.

How was he stuck ‘between a rock and hard place’?

Why was Gorbachev not willing to use force to solve the USSR’s

problems? Why were the reformers unwilling to work with the government towards slower

changes?

Reformists wanted more widespread

reforms than Gorbachev was willing to offer

Conservatives wanted Gorbachev to return central power and

use military force to bring back the

secessionist republics and other satellite

states

The beginning of the end

• An attempted coup led by hard-liners, such as Gorbachev’s prime minister, vice-president, defense minister and KGB chief started on August 19, 1991

• Boris Yeltsin led pro-democracy crowds to protest in front of the parliament buildings; the army withdrew and the coup leaders surrendered

• Gorbachev was forced to step down over the crisis and Yeltsin took over the transitional government which dissolved the USSR in Dec 1991.

The beginning of the end

SUMMARY QUESTIONS

• What factors led to de-Stalinization? • What were the effects of de-Stalinization?• Why were some Eastern European states

treated differently than others?• What was the effect of “glasnost” and

“perestroika?”• How did the defeat of communism abroad

lead to the ultimate collapse of the USSR?