Khrushchev's coming to power took place in 1953, a few months after the death of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Joseph Stalin. He entered the history of the Soviet state with his reforms, to which there is an ambiguous attitude among experts. The period of his reign is usually called the "thaw", while he became the only leader of the USSR who was forcibly removed from his post. Nikita Sergeevich led the country for 11 years. In this article, we will talk about the circumstances that led him to the leadership of the Soviet Union, and about the main reforms.
Death of Stalin
It is obvious to everyone that Khrushchev's coming to power would have been impossible if Joseph Stalin had not died on March 5, 1953. The fact that the Generalissimo is close to the end, it became known in the middle of the day. The division of the inheritance of his entouragestarted the day before. After Stalin's death, few people believed in Khrushchev's coming to power, as there were many other strong players.
It was decided not to transfer the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee to anyone, but to single out the first of the secretaries of the Central Committee. It was in this position that Khrushchev led the country after coming to power.
Immediately after Stalin's death, Malenkov was appointed first secretary. He also headed the Council of Ministers. Beria, Molotov, Kaganovich and Bulganin became his deputies. As a result, Beria, who at the same time headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Malenkov, who combined economic and party leadership, had the strongest starting positions.
Conspiracy against Beria
Beria was the first to take action. He decided to enlist the support of the population by announcing an amnesty on March 27 for all those who received a sentence of less than 5 years. True, political prisoners were not released, as well as those who were convicted under the law on the protection of public and state security. Mostly criminals were on the loose. He was also active in matters of foreign and domestic policy.
The omnipotence of the Minister of the Interior alerted rivals. A conspiracy was organized. It is not known for certain who initiated it - Khrushchev or Malenkov. However, on June 26, Beria was arrested right during a meeting of the Central Committee. A few weeks later, an official statement was released, which claimed that Beria was an enemy of the people and an English spy. Already in December he was shot.
Struggle for power
After the overthrow of a strong competitor, the main confrontation unfolded between Khrushchev and Malenkov. Everyone began to come up with popular reform proposals. The first step was taken by Malenkov, who in July called for material support for the peasants. As a result, the government significantly raised the purchase prices for milk and meat - by 2 and 5.5 times, respectively. Taxes have been cut in rural areas.
Soon Khrushchev managed to seize the initiative. The coming to power of this particular politician became more and more real. Nikita Sergeevich appropriated the peasant slogans of Malenkov. At the September congress, he came up with essentially the same initiatives, but on his own behalf.
In the year Khrushchev came to power, he was secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. It turned out that two politicians competed, one of which relied on the party apparatus, and the other on economic bodies. It was obvious that victory depended on which bureaucracy was stronger (government or party), which of the competitors could enlist more support.
Telling briefly about Khrushchev's coming to power, it is necessary to mention the return of "envelopes" for party workers to them. These were semi-official awards for loy alty, they were introduced under Stalin. The amount of the monthly payment was arbitrary, but in any case it was a tangible increase. By returning them, Khrushchev won the allegiance of the party apparatus. "Envelopes" had been canceled by Malenkov three months earlier. Nikita Sergeevich not only restored them, but also reimbursed the difference for three months,until they were paid.
As a result, at the September plenum, the post of First Secretary was given to Nikita Sergeevich. These are the factors that contributed to Khrushchev's rise to power. It happened on September 7th. This was the date Khrushchev came to power. The reign of the hero of our article lasted for 11 years.
Massacre of opponents
Given the circumstances of Khrushchev's coming to power, it is obvious that he could not be calm about his place. Already at the beginning of 1955, Malenkov was sharply criticized at the plenum of the Central Committee. He was accused of reviving the ideas of Rykov and Bukharin under the pretext of developing light industry. Moreover, at that plenum, Malenkov himself repented, admitting that he was not ready for such a high position. On February 8, Bulganin replaced him at the head of the government. So Nikita Sergeevich finally got his main opponent out of the way.
Remembering how Khrushchev came to power, what reprisals were prepared for Beria, we can conclude that it is not surprising that he did not calm down until he deprived his main rival of influence.
In fact, with these actions, he repeated what Stalin did in the 20s, proving the key role of the party nomenklatura in the country. He managed to win by supporting the party bureaucracy of a stronger rival, who did not make obvious mistakes.
Having eliminated opponents, he began to pursue his own political course. The coming to power and rule of N. S. Khrushchev became a symbol of the "thaw", since it was he who in 1956 read out a report on the debunking of Stalin's personality cult. Already in March this conceptappeared in official government communications, but was initially used casually. He spoke about "Lenin's testament", which proposed to remove Stalin from the post of General Secretary, the falsification of criminal cases in the 30s, and torture. The report was sustained in the spirit of Lenin's precepts. At the same time, Khrushchev did not question the socialist essence of the state. The fight against the Zinovievites, Trotskyites, and the rightists was recognized as necessary.
Rehab
Recognition of erroneous repressions in the 30s allowed for large-scale rehabilitation. This was the first important step in Khrushchev's rise to power. Some political prisoners were released, but the persecution of dissidents continued.
There are precedents when party members who raised questions about the underlying causes of the cult of personality were arrested right at the meeting of the cells. Repressions were carried out against those who denied the existence of socialism in the USSR. In 1957, a group of students and teachers from Moscow State University were arrested for distributing anti-Soviet leaflets among the workers of one of their Moscow factories. They received sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years.
The debunking of the cult of personality brought Khrushchev certain problems from Stalin's apologists. A week after the report, demonstrations took place in defense of the Generalissimo in Georgia, which the troops had to disperse. Were killed. In addition, the direct participants in these repressions, deprived of power by Khrushchev, felt the threat. The danger persisted due to the fact that they were not sent toresigned, but kept posts in the leadership of the country.
In 1957, there was an attempt at revenge, known as the "anti-party group" conspiracy. While the First Secretary was in Finland, the Presidium of the Central Committee decided on his resignation. The core of the conspirators was Malenkov, Molotov and Kaganovich, who secured the support of the majority in the presidium. However, Khrushchev found out about the coup in time, and immediately returned to Moscow, insisting on the convocation of the entire Central Committee, declaring that the presidium had no right to resolve such issues separately. He was supported by Zhukov and KGB chairman Serov. Members of the Central Committee were quickly delivered to the capital on military aircraft. For them, this meant an increase in role and political weight, so they voted against the rioters. The conspirators were fired or substantially demoted within a year. In March 1958, Khrushchev himself assumed the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers, like Stalin, he has since combined the highest government and party posts. Since then, he no longer listened to criticism and other people's opinions. Because of this, his policy was later called voluntarist.
Against religion
The coming to power of Khrushchev was marked by numerous reforms. Of course, the most significant was the debunking of the cult of personality, but it is worth paying attention to other transformations.
In 1954-1956, an anti-religious campaign was carried out. Khrushchev made an attempt to finally reduce the influence of the church on the population of the country. Experts do not see merit in it, noting that it did not bring practicallyno results. Believers still continued to hang icons at home and attend church. Khrushchev lost the opposition to the church influence of the power of the general secretary. This negatively affected his authority among the population.
Market elements in the economy
In 1957, the gradual introduction of market elements into the socialist model of the economy began. This allowed us to turn towards consumers and expand the market.
Relations have improved with some countries that preferred a market economy model. However, in the long run, the reform led to the termination of payments on bonds, which deprived the population of savings. In addition, it led to higher prices for many goods.
Social reforms
From 1957 to 1965, social reforms continued in the country. The working day was reduced to seven hours, and wages were raised. All over the country, apartments began to be distributed, immediately called "Khrushchev".
At the same time, an increase in the housing stock did not mean the emergence of property rights. There was no talk of privatizing square meters. In addition, the reforms were not consistent, which led to protests among workers.
School transformations
Reform in education was carried out in 1958. The former model of education was abolished and labor schools were introduced instead.
High school was abandoned in favor of compulsory 8th grade education followed by three years of labor school. This was the desire to bring the school closer to real life. On thepractice, this led to a decrease in academic performance. The involvement of the intelligentsia in working professions again led to protests. In 1966, the reform was abolished.
Personnel changes
The party structure was also reformed. More young personnel began to be attracted to work.
However, they could not count on career growth. In addition, the concept of "irremovability of personnel" appeared, when the same person could hold some position until the end of his life.
Results of the Board
It is worth noting that Khrushchev repeatedly changed his policy during his leadership of the country. If the beginning of his reign is associated with a "thaw", then by the beginning of the 60s a full-scale crisis began in the country.
Most of the reforms were not completed. The economic crisis was also caused by the inconsistency of the reforms. Khrushchev simultaneously sought to preserve the socialist model, while at the same time bringing the country closer to democratic Western norms.
The party leadership and ordinary citizens were indignant at the illogicality of the policy.
Resignation
In October 1964, the Plenum of the Central Committee, convened in the absence of Nikita Sergeevich, relieved him of his post while he was resting in Pitsunda. According to the official wording, for he alth reasons. The very next day he was removed from his post as head of the Soviet government.
Leonid Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev in the leadership of the country. Nikita Sergeevich was retired, formally remaining a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the same time fromactual participation in any work, he was suspended.
In 1971, he died of a heart attack at the age of 77. Few people in the country's leadership were surprised by Khrushchev's resignation, since the feeling of the need for change was felt everywhere. However, Brezhnev's coming to power did not lead the country to the desired results. In the future, the state was in for a social and economic crisis.
