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After Stalin

After Stalin. 1952-53 : start of a new phase in the Cold War Nov. 1952: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower is elected US President with a commitment to victory in the Cold War First hydrogen bomb tested by the US Stalin considers a new world war inevitable.

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After Stalin

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  1. After Stalin

  2. 1952-53: start of a new phase in the Cold War • Nov. 1952: • Gen. Dwight Eisenhower is elected US President with a commitment to victory in the Cold War • First hydrogen bomb tested by the US • Stalin considers a new world war inevitable

  3. 1949: Celebrating Stalin’s 70th birthday, Molotov delivering report

  4. American soldiers in the Korean War

  5. Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as US President

  6. March 1953: • Stalin dies, a new leadership emerges in the Kremlin. It proclaims the goal of peaceful coexistence • Release of GULAG prisoners begins • May 1953: • The war in Korea continues. Pres. Eisenhower approves a military plan for winning in Korea which includes use of atom bombs • July: Armistice signed in Korea

  7. Moscow, March 1953: Stalin’s funeral

  8. Survivors (L to R): Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Premier Nikolai Bulganin, Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Geneva, 1955

  9. STALIN’S LEGACY • The USSR is a superpower: major resources which can be used in various ways: • to promote revolution • to seek peaceful coexistence with the West Did Moscow need to choose? • How viable is the Soviet system – in Russia and abroad? Issue of reform and liberalization • The Global Left and the USSR: what should be the Soviet role?

  10. The paradox of Stalin’s legacy. He left his successors: • Huge positions of strength • An unviable system. • Traditions of Machiavellian pragmatism: the end justifies the means. But what is the end? Defence of the Motherland? Prevention of a new world war? Victory of communism worldwide? Making socialist societies livable? Interests of the state? Perpetuation of bureaucratic rule? All of the above?

  11. POST-STALIN RATIONALIZATION OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • Dismantle some elements of the totalitarian system • Work to end the Korean War • Relaxation of tensions with the West • Steps toward arms control • Development of ties with newly independent states in the Third World • Expand influence with the Global Left

  12. A WIDE VARIETY OF MEANS AVAILABLE • Military power • Alliances with other communist states in Europe and Asia (Warsaw Pact, USSR-China) • Active diplomacy vis-a-vis the West, the Third World (including economic assistance), in the UN • Cultivation of ties with various left-wing forces and movements • Propaganda (more effective with de-Stalinization)

  13. ROLE OF IDEOLOGY • Khrushchev’s conviction: the global revolutionary process continues leading to ultimate victory of communism over capitalism • How will communism win? By creating better conditions of life for working people: Peaceful competition between the two social systems, struggle for people’s minds and hearts • Meanwhile. the two systems can and must avoid war and promote mutual cooperation

  14. A stronger commitment to the Global Left • Support of non-alignment in the Global South • Issues in Eastern Europe • Relations with China

  15. February 1956, 20th Party Congress: • Exposing and condemning Stalin’s rule of terror • War is not inevitable: proclaiming peaceful coexistence between East and West as a realistic policy • Socialism means improvement of the people’s living conditions • Khrushchev establishes his primacy in the leadership

  16. Khrushchev spoke for 5 hours at the 20th Congress

  17. As Khrushchev was exposing Stalin’s crimes at the Congress, someone in the audience asked: • “If you knew about these mass repressions, why did you keep silent? • Khrushchev responded: • “Who said this?” • There was no answer. • “So, you keep your mouth shut, eh? Well, I kept mine shut, too.”

  18. Poland, October 1956: reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka comes to power

  19. Imre Nagy, reformer at the head of the Hungarian Communist Party, 1956

  20. Hungary, October 1956: Overthrowing Stalinism

  21. The Hungarian Revolution, 1956

  22. Hungarian revolutionaries in Budapest

  23. Soviet troops move in to save the Communist regime

  24. Aftermath of street battle in Budapest

  25. "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in" – K to Western Ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow, Nov. 1956 K in Yugoslavia, August 1963: "I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you,” – He was referring to the Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism”, based on the concluding statement in Chapter 1 of the Communist Manifesto: "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable".

  26. June 1957: Minister of Defence Zhukov acted decisively to prevent an attempt by Stalinists to oust Khrushchev

  27. After the 1957 plot against K. collapsed, one of the plotters, Lazar Kaganovich, phoned K. and asked: “What are you going to do to us, Nikita? Send to the camps? K. “Why don’t you just go and screw yourselves!” and hung up A MAJOR CHANGE OF RULES OF POWER

  28. The Space Era starts on Oct.4, 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, Soviet-made Earth satellite

  29. In September 1959, the Soviets were the first to put a space probe, Luna-2, on the Moon

  30. Sergei Korolev, head of the Soviet space program

  31. In 1957, Moscow opens to the world: International Festival of Youth and Students, Russians welcoming American participants

  32. Summer 1959: US National Exhibition in Moscow. Vice President Nixon showing K. a typical American kitchen

  33. The Kitchen Debate

  34. Khrushchev and Nixon, press-conference in Moscow, July 1959: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HqOrAakco&feature=related

  35. Sept – Oct. 1959 • History’s first visit by a top Russian leader to America • K. on arrival: "I have not come to the United States to learn anything about America." • In fact, he spent two weeks travelling across the country, seeking to learn as much as he could • – and came away profoundly impressed

  36. K. arrived in a brand new Soviet superliner, Tu-114

  37. Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bomber patrolling over the Arctic, 2008

  38. K goes on a “peace offensive”: Proposes a program for general and complete disarmament

  39. Iowa

  40. Hollywood Hollywood

  41. With Shirley McLaine: “Yes, you can… Can-Can!”

  42. The next day, K. branded the show as “decadent capitalist pornography”, adding: • “A human face is more beautiful than a human backside."

  43. 400 Hollywood celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, accepted invitation to dine with Khrushchev; a few, including Ronald Reagan and Bing Crosby, declined

  44. Spiros Skouros, President of 20th Century Fox and Khrushchev: extolling the virtues of democracy, each in his own way

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