During the time that Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union, he industrialized the country, transformed the agricultural system, and helped to defeat Germany in World War II. However, Stalin also crushed individual freedom and increased his power through police terror (and all the while he managed to maintain a 100% approval rating, ha ha). After he died, his brutal tactics were brought to light, sometimes by political followers such as Nikita Khrushchev, the new head of the Communist Party after the death of Stalin. In 1956, Khrushchev stunned the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party when he delivered the following report that I would like you to read (you can read it by clicking here) attacking Stalin as a man of “sickly suspicion.”After reading excerpts from Khrushchev’s speech, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: Why do you think Khrushchev delivered this devastating attack on the former leader in the Soviet Union? What objectives do you feel he may be trying to achieve through this? How does he contrast the decisions of Lenin with decisions of Stalin? How does Khrushchev criticize Stalin’s policies in the Great Patriotic War (aka World War II)? How does he criticize Stalin’s domestic policies after the war? How might this speech have signaled the beginning of a new Soviet era? Were such policies of de-Stalinization short-lived? Why in your opinion? Your thoughts…
6 comments:
Nikita Kruschev most likely realized that when Stalin died his institutions would face challenges and his crimes would be objected. Kruschev took matters into his own hands by intitiating De-Stalinization. Kruchev clearly had different views on how communism and socialism should be implemented than Stalin did. He compares Stalin to Lenin by stating that Lenin only used severe methods when necessary, while Stalin used severe methods all the time, consumed by "sickly suspicion". Kruschev states that Stalin knew that German invasion was a possibility, but failed to act. He states there are documents in which Stalin was warned by Churchill. He says Stalin used the war to show "Stalin's genius" in which the Russians were turned on the offensive during Stalingrad. He states this is was all a scheme and that Russians could have been more prepared if it weren't for Stalin's absolute power. Stalin's domestic policies are: what Stalin likes goes, what makes Stalin uncomfortable is deposed of or beaten. This is seen in the "Affair of the Doctor-Plotters". De-Stalinization gave the possibility of greater personal freedom, but not political representation. This was short lived because of the 1956 Soviet-condemned Hungarian independence movement and the Prague Spring episode in Czechoslovakia. Kruschev would have justified this by stating severe methods were necessary.
Have you ever heard the song "Better Days" by Supertramp? I am convinced it is the Season 5 theme song.
velhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nmPZgkt2D4&feature=PlayList&p=7DCFBDA7C326578D&index=7&playnext=7&playnext_from=PL
HA!
in os tibi Stalin! In your face!
This was definitely a good speech to get ppl on your side, I'll bet most were captivated as soon as Khrushchev began calling out Stalin. That was probably why he gave the speech in the first place, to get everyone who hated Stalin (a LOT of ppl i'm sure) on his side. Khrushchev supports Lenin's decisions as being needed and necessary at the time. As far as WW2 goes, he criticizes Stalin's paranoia and stupidity in believing Hitler would keep his word. After the war Stalin went on another rampage thinking aeveryone was against him, a lot like the Red Scare. He even thought all the doctors were against him (?). It'll be awesome to see where this goes.
P.S. Yay! i can post again!
YAY! Cold War week day 2!
I think he is saying this in order to get popular support. HE says that Stalin was leader with many mistakes and very violent person.
Khrushchev is obviously going to bash Stalin since he knew that no one actually liked him. Therefore, the best way to stay in power is to do the opposite of what the people hate, that being anti-Stalin. Objectives: as aforementioned, stay in power. He's keeping the one-party system, so he still wants to be in control, but keep the people on his side. Khruschchev says that Stalin is constantly using extreme methods, while Lenin brought only the "drastic times call for drastic measures" and not any other time.
He says that Stalin only used severe methods when they were neccessary because the Communists were not in charge yet, but Lenin used them when they werent necessary. He says that Germany's attack was not a surprise, because Hitler made public many times that he hated Communism. He says that Churchill warned Stalin that Germany was going to attack the Soviets. He says the army was not armed enough. He says after the war that Stalin got too paranoid.
i think it's very clear that Krushchev realized the mistakes made in the past, and he has like, opposite ideas on how things should be run. the thing i liked most about this speech was the fct that i could read it and understand what was going on. teehee.
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