After Stalin

1952-53: start of a new phase in the Cold War Nov. 1952:

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower is elected US President with a commitment to victory in the Cold War

First hydrogen bomb tested by the US Stalin considers a new world war inevitable

1949: Celebrating Stalin’s 70th birthday, Molotov delivering report

American soldiers in the Korean War

Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as US President

March 1953: Stalin dies, a new leadership emerges in the Kremlin. It

proclaims the goal of peaceful coexistence Release of GULAG prisoners begins

May 1953: The war in Korea continues. Pres. Eisenhower approves

a military plan for winning in Korea which includes use of atom bombs

July: Armistice signed in Korea

Moscow, March 1953: Stalin’s funeral

Survivors (L to R): Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Premier Nikolai Bulganin, Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Geneva, 1955

STALIN’S LEGACY

The USSR is a superpower: major resources which can be used in various ways:

to promote revolution to seek peaceful coexistence with the West

Did Moscow need to choose? How viable is the Soviet system – in Russia and abroad?

Issue of reform and liberalization The Global Left and the USSR: what should be the Soviet

role?

The paradox of Stalin’s legacy. He left his successors: Huge positions of strength An unviable system. Traditions of Machiavellian pragmatism: the end

justifies the means. But what is the end?Defence of the Motherland?Prevention of a new world war?Victory of communism worldwide?Making socialist societies livable?Interests of the state?Perpetuation of bureaucratic rule?All of the above?

POST-STALIN RATIONALIZATION

OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY

Dismantle some elements of the totalitarian system Work to end the Korean War Relaxation of tensions with the West Steps toward arms control Development of ties with newly independent states in

the Third World Expand influence with the Global Left

A WIDE VARIETY OF MEANS AVAILABLE

Military power Alliances with other communist states in Europe and

Asia (Warsaw Pact, USSR-China) Active diplomacy vis-a-vis the West, the Third World

(including economic assistance), in the UN Cultivation of ties with various left-wing forces and

movements Propaganda (more effective with de-Stalinization)

ROLE OF IDEOLOGY Khrushchev’s conviction: the global revolutionary

process continues leading to ultimate victory of communism over capitalism

How will communism win? By creating better conditions of life for working people: Peaceful competition between the two social systems, struggle for people’s minds and hearts

Meanwhile. the two systems can and must avoid war and promote mutual cooperation

A stronger commitment to the Global Left Support of non-alignment in the Global South Issues in Eastern Europe Relations with China

February 1956, 20th Party Congress: Exposing and condemning Stalin’s rule of terror War is not inevitable: proclaiming peaceful coexistence

between East and West as a realistic policy Socialism means improvement of the people’s living

conditions Khrushchev establishes his primacy in the leadership

Khrushchev spoke for 5 hours at the 20th Congress

As Khrushchev was exposing Stalin’s crimes at the Congress, someone in the audience asked: “If you knew about these mass repressions, why did you keep

silent? Khrushchev responded:

“Who said this?” There was no answer.

“So, you keep your mouth shut, eh? Well, I kept mine shut, too.”

Poland, October 1956: reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka comes to power

Imre Nagy, reformer at the head of the Hungarian Communist Party, 1956

Hungary, October 1956: Overthrowing Stalinism

The Hungarian Revolution, 1956

Hungarian revolutionaries in Budapest

Soviet troops move in to save the Communist regime

Aftermath of street battle in Budapest

"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in" – K to Western Ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow, Nov. 1956K in Yugoslavia, August 1963:"I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you,” – He was referring to the Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism”, based on the concluding statement in Chapter 1 of the Communist Manifesto: "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable".

June 1957: Minister of Defence Zhukov acted decisively to prevent an attempt by Stalinists to oust Khrushchev

After the 1957 plot against K. collapsed, one of the plotters, Lazar Kaganovich, phoned K. and asked: “What are you going to do to us, Nikita? Send to the camps? K. “Why don’t you just go and screw yourselves!” and hung upA MAJOR CHANGE OF RULES OF POWER

The Space Era starts on Oct.4, 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, Soviet-made Earth satellite

In September 1959, the Soviets were the first to put a space probe, Luna-2, on the Moon

Sergei Korolev, head of the Soviet space program

In 1957, Moscow opens to the world: International Festival of Youth and Students, Russians welcoming American participants

Summer 1959: US National Exhibition in Moscow. Vice President Nixon showing K. a typical American kitchen

The Kitchen Debate

Khrushchev and Nixon, press-conference in Moscow, July 1959:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HqOrAakco&feature=related

Sept – Oct. 1959 History’s first visit by a top Russian leader to America K. on arrival: "I have not come to the United States to learn

anything about America." In fact, he spent two weeks travelling across the country,

seeking to learn as much as he could – and came away profoundly impressed

K. arrived in a brand new Soviet superliner, Tu-114

Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bomber patrolling over the Arctic, 2008

K goes on a “peace offensive”:Proposes a program for general and complete disarmament

Iowa

Hollywood

Hollywood

With Shirley McLaine: “Yes, you can… Can-Can!”

The next day, K. branded the show as “decadent capitalist pornography”, adding:

“A human face is more beautiful than a human backside."

400 Hollywood celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, accepted invitation to dine with Khrushchev; a few, including Ronald Reagan and Bing Crosby, declined

Spiros Skouros, President of 20th Century Fox and Khrushchev: extolling the virtues of democracy, each in his own way

Pittsburgh

Back in Moscow, K. mused among his close confidants: “They have already built communism in America…”

Extolling virtues of corn to comrades

The Mao challenge Khrushchev needs a strong relationship with Communist

China to back him up in his foreign policy From mid-1950s, he orders massive assistance to China in

all areas This includes China’s nuclear program But Mao moves into an increasingly hostile posture – in a

huge irony, as K. gave him much more than Stalin would ever agree K’s anti-totalitarian reforms threaten Mao’s own grip on

power and Stalinist policies Mao is wary of K’s rapprochement with the West

K. on Mao: “Old rubber”. Mao on K.: “Rotten egg” (in Chinese, one of the most offensive epithets)

In 1960-61, the frictions and tensions explode in an open political conflict

Mao openly charges K. with betrayal of the world revolution K. terminates the Soviet assistance program Mao begins unofficial contacts with the Americans In Moscow, K’s China policy is viewed by his critics as a

disaster

1960 Presidential election campaign in the US Eisenhower seeks to show that relations with

Russia are improving In May, Ike and K are planning to hold a summit in

Paris and agree on a number of steps to improve relations

Francis Gary Powers

Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane

This type of missile shot down Powers on May 1, 1960

K examining the U2’s debris

Powers testifying at his trial in Moscow

JFK attacks the Republicans America is losing the Cold War because of the

Republicans: Falling behind in economic growth Falling behind in military power Ineffective in the struggle for the Third World

JFK would go on the offensive against communism to win

History’s first televised debate: JFK vs. Richard Nixon, Sept 26, 1960: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrcRKqLSRw

Real balance of power: Huge superiority on the US side

US surrounds USSR with military bases, alliances and nuclear weapons

It is ready to start nuclear war on a moment’s notice But the Soviets now have intercontinental ballistic missiles

– nuclear deterrent JFK charges “a missile gap” Using K’s bravado against Republicans Urging overthrow of Fidel Castro

But K. still preferred JFK Not only because he detested Nixon More importantly -

Because JFK would usher in changes, new thinking which would allow to bring East-West tensions down

Because he was a reformer like K himself So, K refused to help Nixon become President (the RB-47

incident)

Kennedy in a July 1959 private conversation: “I don’t think there’s any magic solution to solve or really

ease East-West at the present time… The magic power really is the desire of everyone to be independent and every nation to be independent. That’s the basic force which is really, I think, the strong force on our side. That’s the magic power, and that’s what’s going to screw the Russians ultimately.”

(Michael Beschloss, The Crisis Years, p.19)

In a campaign speech, Sept. 1960: The enemy is the communist system itself – implacable,

insatiable, unceasing in its drive for world domination… This is not a struggle for supremacy of arms alone. It is also a struggle for supremacy between two conflicting ideologies: freedom under God versus ruthless, godless tyranny”

(Michael Beschloss, The Crisis Years, p.23)

JFK’s inaugural address is reprinted in full in Pravda

Then K gives a speech: imperialism is retreating, socialism is winning, war is impossible, revolution is rising in the Third World

JFK: “Being President would be the best job in the world if it weren’t for the Russians… You never know what those bastards are up to”

(Beschloss, p.11)

Ask not

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter outer space

May 25, 1961: Announcing the Apollo Program: “Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”