The Late-Stalinist Period, 1945-53 (Stalin died in March 1953)

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Mind Map on The Late-Stalinist Period, 1945-53 (Stalin died in March 1953), created by Monty Kirk on 05/15/2014.
Monty Kirk
Mind Map by Monty Kirk, updated more than 1 year ago
Monty Kirk
Created by Monty Kirk over 10 years ago
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The Late-Stalinist Period, 1945-53 (Stalin died in March 1953)
  1. Impact of the war on the USSR: about 20m dead (1/5 of pre-war population), huge economic burden, Stalin’s leadership unchallengeable, suppression of Soviet people, some lifting of restrictions (more flexible during war- e.g. Orthodox Church), developed sense of patriotism
    1. Stalin’s popularity: He was great leader who steered the USSR to victory in 4 long years of war and his leadership was unchallengeable and the ‘Cult of Personality’ reached new heights. However his paranoia reached new heights (e.g. war hero Marshal Zhukov was demoted as Stalin saw him as a political threat), massive celebrations for Stalin’s 70th birthday in 1949
      1. Stalin’s death in March 1953 was met with widespread hysteria (perhaps not genuine) and uncertainty over the future in a post-Stalin Russia
      2. Post-war Purges: Fresh wave of Purges occurred in some ways even more ruthless than in the 1930s. Society was subdued by the effects of war, lack of swift economic recovery and ruthlessness of regime. Continued mass deportations occurred as ‘punishment’ for sections of society siding with the enemy (e.g. Cossacks, Tartars, Volga Germans). Large numbers of returning Red Army soldiers were imprisoned straight into Gulags to prevent them ‘infecting’ society with their views or stories about their contact with the West at the end of the war. The Gulags camps had never been so full. Stalin undertook a fresh wave of Purges- ‘Leningrad Affair’ (1949), of Jews (1952) and the ‘Doctors’ Plot’ (1953)
        1. Leningrad Affair (1949): Leningrad was seen as a rival city to Moscow (murder of Kirov) and as an ‘independent state’ during the war. The Leningrad leader Zhdanov was seen as a successor to Stalin so he had him ‘removed’ (Zhdanov died mysteriously in 1948 see below) and following thousands of Leningrad party officials and intellectuals were executed or imprisoned)
          1. ‘Anti-Semitism and the ‘Doctors’ Plot’ (1952-53): Stalin had the leaders of the ‘Anti-Fascist Jewish Committee’ (which was set up during the war) shot. This culminated in the Doctors’ Plot where nine Kremlin doctors (6 Jewish) were arrested for the murder of Zhdanov and were claimed to have admitted to poisoning him, this was declared to have only been the tip of the iceberg (it was even claimed that Jewish doctors were purposely infecting people with viruses – 8,000 were arrested and could have led to another widespread purge but Stalin died in March 1953
        2. Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-50): undertaken on similar basis to earlier Five-Year Plans (e.g. target-setting etc). Emphasis on heavy industry to recover from devastation of war – there were considerable successes in this area (by 1950 output of heavy industry was 75% in excess of 1940 levels). Ordinary citizens saw little improvement in their lives due to limitations on the supply of food and consumer goods and this period was, for many, worse economically than during the 1930s. Agriculture suffered – return to famine in some parts in 1946
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