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... creamy be dismissed and that Khrushchev take his place. The Ukrainians refused. Molotov suggested that the Ukrainians should go to Moscow to discuss the matter with the Soviet Central Committee and they agreed. Once in Moscow they were seen by Stalin, Molotov and Kaganovich.
It is not known what went on at the meeting, but soon afterwards Koiser disappeared, and Khrushchev was announced to be his successor as First Secretary of the Ukraine. As well as Koiser, most senior Party officials from the Ukraine also disappeared at this time. Khrushchev's take over of the Ukraine is the most blatantly Stalinist episode in his career. In it we see a man who had accepted total ruthlessness as a legitimate political weapon. [We see a man] who partly from ignorance, and partly from a deep, if crude faith that appeared to justify any means, was ready to tolerate the large scale murder and arrest of critics and supposed opponents. It was this purge that labeled Khrushchev as Butcher of the Ukraine. The Ukraine in 1938 accounted for 55 per cent of the total pig iron produced in the Soviet Union.
It produced 35 per cent of the steel and over half of its total coal production. It had an estimated population of 40 million, so for Khrushchev to be given control of it was a sign of Stalin's confidence in him as a Stalinist and an administrator. His main task in the Ukraine was to restore its agriculture, which was catastrophically low due to effects of collectivization. By 1935, after two harvests under his control, Khrushchev declared the grain problem solved and went on to launch an offensive against the wretched state of livestock farming. Moscow approved of his work and he was launched as an agricultural expert on a national scale. The Pravda published his speeches at greater length that other senior members and he was allowed to take credit for the important new system of incentive payments to farmers first tried in the Ukraine and then applied to the rest of the country.
His growth in stature as a national figure was matched by the promotion to candidate member of the Politburo in 1938, and full membership a year later. During World War II, Khrushchev was responsible for the amalgamation into the Ukraine of territory annexed by the Soviet Union from both Poland and Romania. He was made senior member of the War Council, Southwest Directorate following the German invasion of 1941, and was responsible in this capacity for the representation of the Partys highest level at the front. It was also during the war that the first personal conflicts between Khrushchev and Stalin took place. Stalin's indecision and unpreparedness at the outset of hostilities did not sit well with Khrushchev, whose Ukraine was the first SSR to bear the brunt of the German offensive. From a point almost immediately following the liberation by Soviet troops of Kiev in 1943, Khrushchev was heavily involved in the restoration of the Ukraine after its devastation at German hands.
This was the second occasion on which Khrushchev found himself rebuilding after war, but in this case of course, the rebuilding to be done was on a much larger scale than previously. The war had not only destroyed the Ukraine which he had worked so hard to restore; it also took his eldest son who was killed in action as a fighter pilot. The fact that Khrushchev was entrusted by Stalin with the positions of both Ukrainian Party leader and Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed near wars end, was another major mark of the latter's confidence in his ability to effectively manage the reconstruction of the Ukraine. In 1949, Stalin summoned Khrushchev to Moscow as head of the Party organization and, at the same time, to include him in the Central Committee secretariat. For the three following years, Khrushchev would be closer to Stalin then ever before.
It is believed that Stalin did this for no reason other than to counterbalance Melenkov, who after the death of Zhdanov had acquired too much power. Soon after his arrival in Moscow it was apparent that Khrushchev had upset the balance of power in the party leadership to the detriment of Melenkov. Apart from Stalin, they were the most powerful members by far in the five-man secretariat, which looked after the day to day running of the Party. On March 4 th 1953, Stalin died from a stroke and the news two days later caused as much disbelief as relief among the Soviet Leadership.
The death of Stalin and liquidation of Beria, brought Malenkov's rivalry with Khrushchev to a critical point with the advantages lying with Melenkov. On March 7 th it was announced that he was to be Prime Minister as well as senior Party Secretariat. Seven days later, since the majority of senior politicians were in fact Khrushchev's allies, the Soviet leaders forced Melenkov of his position and Khrushchev took control of the Party. Not long afterward, Melenkov resigned from the premiership but kept his seat on the Party Presidium. Khrushchev's term of office was marked by the reorganization and reformation of almost every facet of life in the Soviet Union.
Political reforms initiated by Khrushchev included a massive de Stalinist campaign, as a result of which the heavy repression of the Soviet People came largely to an end. Melenkov, Molotov, Kaganovich, and Shepilov formed the Anti-Party Group and attempted to oust Khrushchev. But Khrushchev was too popular in the Central Committee and they decided not to side with the Anti-Party Group. Shortly after, Zhukov was removed, Bulganin was pensioned off, Molotov was appointed Ambassador to Outer Mongolia, Sheplev received a teaching job and Kaganovich and Melenkov were both assigned to remote industrial enterprises. Key members of the secret police organization known as the MVD were ousted from their offices; the organization itself was broken up, and finally reconstituted as the KGB, a body put under the direct control of the Party so as to be impossible to use as a tool of personal power. This was accompanied by the mass release of political prisoners from labour camps (most to go straight to the Virgin Land scheme as volunteers) and their re introduction into civilian life, and the easing of political repression of the people.
At Khrushchev's order, the secret police were forbidden to run impromptu trials, arrest people without basis, and generally terrorize the populace as they had done under Stalin. Agricultural reforms included the consolidation of collective farms to be more efficient, and numerous reductions in taxes and other hindrances to both state and independent production. Workers in the agricultural industries then had much greater impetus to increase their production, as by doing so they would ensure surpluses, which they could now use to increase their standard of living. Industry and education systems were also reorganized by Khrushchev in attempts to increase productivity in all sectors. He enjoyed the success of the Sputnik in 1957, and bountiful harvest of 58. Khrushchev challenged the West in Berlin and he involved himself in such places the Congo, Indonesia, and Cuba.
He risked losing his alliance with Mao Tse-tung, which would have split the communist world in two. He visited the United States and called for peace at Camp David. And later, he traveled to New York to embrace Castro and to pound his shoe at the United Nations. In his frustration [at his] failure to produce a world triumph, one which would, among other things dispel a political storm at home, he resorted to his greatest gamble and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in Cuba. In the end, Khrushchev's reforms did not prove successful in many respects however, and it was this fact that led to his downfall.
The single most important factor in the events which led up to Khrushchev's fall in the autumn of 1964 was the failure of the Soviet economy to sustain its remarkable performance of the mid- 1950 s. Khrushchev failed to meet his economic goals, one of which was the goal to outproduce the United States by 1970. Agriculture, consumer goods, and heavy industry were all below predicted levels. In the case of agriculture, the predicted increase in farm production was seventy percent but in reality it only rose by 1. 7 percent, which wasnt even enough to keep up with the growing population.
The failure of Khrushchev's Seven-Year Plan wasnt the only problem that Khrushchev had to deal with. The U 2 affair and the Paris Summit put an end to his radical schemes for cutting defence costs. Eventually, as numerous plans put forth by Khrushchev failed to reach their performance goals, and as others failed outright, the number of Khrushchev's detractors began to grow. The invasion of Hungary and the Cuban Missile crisis added to his unpopularity. All these factors resulted in the inevitable ousting of Khrushchev on the 13 th of October 1964. Khrushchev retired and lived the rest of his life in peace with his family until his death from a heart attack on September 11, 1971, at the age of 78.
In the end, Khrushchev will be remembered as a skilled administrator, but somewhat unlucky and ineffective reformer. During his tenure as general secretary of the Ukrainian Party, the standards of living were raised, industrial and agricultural outputs were increased, and every effort was made to de-Stalinist and better social programs throughout the USSR. As leader of the national Communist Party however, many of his policies failed to achieve the effects he intended, to the detriment of his personal power, and in some cases, the heightening of tensions between east and west. Nonetheless, the unforeseen effects of these policies were extremely significant, and it is as a result of them that Khrushchev will be remembered. Bibliography: Bibliography 1. Filter, Donald.
The Khruschev Era De-Stalinization and the Limits of Reform in the USSR, 1958 - 1964. London, England: The MacMillan Press Ltd. , 1993. 2. Franklin, Mark. Khruschev. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. , 1966. 3. Kellen, Konrad.
Khruschev A Political Portrait. New York, U. S. A. : Fredrick A.
Praeger, Inc. , 1962. 4. Khruschev, Sergei. Khruschev on Khruschev An Inside Account of the Man and His Era. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. 5. Linden, Carl A.
Khruschev and the Soviet Leadership 1957 - 1964. Baltimore, Maryland, U. S. A. : The John Hopkins Press, 1966. 6. McCauley, Martin. Khruschev and Khruschevism.
London, England: The MacMillan Press Ltd. , 1987. 7. McNeal, Robert H. The Bolshevik Tradition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U. S.
A. : Prentice-Hall, Inc. , 1975. 8. Werth, Alexander. Russia under Khruschev. Westport, Connecticut, U. S. A. : Greenwood Press, 1961.
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Research essay sample on Soviet Union Prime Minister
