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Essay - Opposition to Khrushchev from 1953-64 compared to Stalin
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Essay surrounding the opposition to Khrushchev in 1953 compared to Stalin in 1928-41.
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‘The opposition faced by Khrushchev in the years 1953-64 was far less than that faced by Stalin in theyears 1928-41’
Assess the validity of this view (25 marks)
The opposition faced by Khrushchev in the years 1953-64 was far less than that faced by Stalin in the years
1928-41 to an extent, as although Khrushchev was able to loosen the severely strict censorship that Stalin
imposed which in turn allowed cultural dissidents to rise, Stalin went to the extremes of purging his
supposed opposition, something which Khrushchev didn’t do. This only demonstrates the extent of Stalin’s
insecure nature and desperate need to win.
The Kirov Affair of 1934 demonstrates how insecure Stalin felt by supposed political opposition. During the
17th party congress he received 150 negative votes and his only two supporters were Molotov and
Kaganovich. Kirov, someone who was politically close to Stalin, and therefore unlikely to go against him,
made a speech which implied changes needed to be made, such as ending forcible grain seizures. Since
Kirov was close to Stalin, it is highly unlikely he wanted to do anything more than simply help Stalin and
make sure what he was doing to the country was for the best. However, since he got a standing ovation
with support, Stalin felt his positioned was threatened and Kirov was murdered in December 1934, along
with his bodyguard and some NKVD men on the grounds of a ‘Trotskyite-conspiracy’. Yagoda who was head
of the NKVD was now able to arrest and execute anyone found guilty of terrorist plotting which only
demonstrates the extent of threat Stalin felt – clearly he knew what he was doing was wrong or not widely
supported since he was to impose authoritarian rule – politicians only supported him out of fear of death
which shows the lack of true support and therefore internalised opposition he faced, thus resorting to
violence.
Khrushchev was able to quickly shut down opposition he had without resorting to violence, seen when he
was faced a majority vote of dismissal by the Presidium in 1957 when he was joint leader of USSR with
Bulganin. Instead of purging his opposition like Stalin did, he remained calm and instead got his supporters
to vote for him in Moscow and turned to the Marshal Zhukov and without them, it is very likely that
Khrushchev would’ve been dismissed. The anti-party group was subsequently outvoted and accused of
involvement in the 1930s purges. Although Khrushchev was able to not use violence to beat his political
opponents, it does show that he clearly felt threatened enough by them to remove them on such grounds
– he is bringing something up of around 20 years ago in order to secure his position which shows how
desperate je is to remove them from politics. It is evident that neither Stalin or Khrushchev felt they could
work alongside people with contrasting political views to themselves without fear of getting targeted or
removed, which only highlights their lack of real support.
Stalin’s opposition was worse than Khrushchev’s due to his purging of all old Bolshevik and political rivals
during the Great Purges of 1936-38, followed by the Yezhovshchina, 1937-38 where a quota system was
established to purge all opposition. Stalin’s paranoia was apparent through these extreme schemes which
probably stemmed due to the lack of support from his own wife who sympathised with his political
enemies; perhaps that was the root of his insecurities. During May/June 1937, eight senior military
commanders, including Tukhachevsky, who was called a war hero during World War one was now accused
of anti-Bolshevik plotting. The fact that Stalin had to trial these men in secret, out of the public eye only
highlights the extent of his opposition and lack of support – if he knew he was supported he wouldn’t be
secretive. The men were shot and branded as Trotsky-rightist anti-Soviet conspirators which only
emphasises how Stalin felt so threatened by the military – this was not a one-time act but consistent. He
didn’t have their support and clearly was never going to get it so his last option as to purge them and
replace them with those who supported him. This demonstrates how Stalin had worse opposition than
Khrushchev because Khrushchev looked for the military and Zhukov for support in the leadership struggle
– if he didn’t have their help, it is highly probable he wouldn’t have maintained his position. Khrushchev
was smart in knowing who to reward and favour.
Khrushchev was actually seen to get worse opposition than Stalin due to the use of censorship – Stalin
imposed far stricter and more extreme controls over what could be said/published. During Stalinist period,
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