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Stalin after WW2
How much did WW2 change RussiaHow much did WW2 change Russia and Stalin’s dictatorship?
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USSR and the WestUSSR and the West
Continuity• Stalin distrusted the West
Change• With Germany gone, USSR was
more directly in conflict withand capitalism.• The NKVD played a key role
more directly in conflict with the West.
• Once USSR tested first nuclear b b (1949) b th idin hunting down any foreign
“contamination”.
bomb (1949) both sides threatened each other with MAD.USA t M h ll Pl• USA set up Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine and NATO; USSR formed Warsaw Pact, Comintern and CominformComintern and Cominform.
• Korean War (1950) gave both sides a real conflict.
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EconomyEconomy
Continuity• Stalin continued to use 5YPs to
i h
Change• By 1950, economy overall was
stronger than ever usingorganise the economy.• Army remained the largest
expenditure with 100
stronger than ever, using captured machinery from E Europe.
• M t t b tpdivisions.• War working weeks (6 days of
12 hours) retained
• Many targets were beaten.• Workers were worse off –
rouble devalued by 90% by 1947 i l12 hours) retained.
• Women remained a significant part of work force.
1947 so savings were useless.• 1946 drought hit the country,
and with many strong workers f i t i• Targets and Stakhanovites
returned.gone, a famine set in.
• Consumer goods were in short supply.
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Economyy1938 1940 1945 1950
TARGET1950 ACTUAL
Farm production (million of tonnes)
‐ 100 60 127 99
Coal (millions of tonnes) 130 166 149 250 261( )
Oil (millions of tonnes) 31 31 19 35 38
Steel (millions of tonnes) 16 18 12 25 27
Leather footwear (millions of pairs)
‐ 211 63 240 203
Electricity (billion kWh) ‐ 48 43 82 91Electricity (billion kWh) 48 43 82 91
During the war production dropped, but then increased. The targets set by Gosplan were hightargets set by Gosplan were high.Look at the planned targets and actual output by 1950. Some were met, others significantly failed., g yOf the successes and failures, which would be most significant in directly affecting the average Soviet Citizen?
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PoliticsPolitics
Continuity• Stalin was still in charge of
Change• Stalin’s power was now
the Party.• The Party still ran the
beyond challenge. He made all major decisions.
• The Politburo and Centralcountry. • The Politburo and Central Committee only met once between 1947 and 1952.
• BUT Stalin himself retired from the limelight. He only appeared occasionally andappeared occasionally and gave one significant speech after 1948.
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Censorship and controlCensorship and control
Continuity• Censorship
i d
Change• Stalin was more suspicious than ever – his
d ht h “ i h ”remained.• The NKVD
were still
daughter says he “saw enemies everywhere”.• Friends and family, as well as other political
leaders were arrested. Molotov’s wife, the h d f G l d b f h C linvolved in
creating fear.• Socialist
head of Gosplan and members of the Central Committee were all tried and punished.
• In 1953, 2.5 million were in labour camps.• Socialist
Realism standards
i d
• Even artists, like Shostakovich, who had been popular during the war were banned from working.
remained (art, music, etc).
• It was made a crime to listen to foreign radio.• The army senior command were demoted.• Talk at 19th Congress 1952 and “Doctor’s Plot”• Talk at 19th Congress 1952 and Doctor s Plot
1953 seem to have hinted at a new series of purges.
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Having loosened some control in the St li b k t dwar, Stalin came back stronger and more severe than before.more severe than before.
There are two ways of interpreting this:this:
1) Stalin, confident in his control of Russia andcontrol of Russia and
vindicated by success in the war, was ready and
2) The government felt weak and threatened and were desperately trying toable to be even stricter in
control.
were desperately trying to reassert control over Russia and Stalin also struggled to ggassert control over his Party.
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In 1953, Stalin died of a stroke. Ironically, it is generally accepted that the very atmosphere of fear which protected his position was what prevented anyone from looking for him, after which they could have
found him and perhaps got him to medical attention.
Although the unit ends in 1953, you should know that a power struggle followed, which was won in 1956 by
Nikita Khrushchev.
One of Khrushchev’s first actions was to introduce De‐Stalinisation, a policy of systematically removing Stalin
from Russian society.