Tightening of the political regime after the war. Tightening of the political regime after the Great Patriotic War. Tightening of the regime and the apogee of the personality cult of J.V. Stalin

Post-war tightening of the Stalinist regime

The victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War led to the triumph of the Stalinist totalitarian regime both in the international arena and within the country. The imaginary emancipation in people's minds and critical sentiments among young people were quickly and harshly suppressed. The ideologists of Stalinism instilled and strengthened in the mass consciousness of Soviet people the idea of ​​the USSR as a fortress besieged by enemies, where there should be no dissent, personal comfort and personal freedom - everything should be subordinated to the interests of the state.

By 1950 ᴦ. in the Soviet Union there were about 5.5 million prisoners, exiles and special prisoners. In the post-war years, the process of merging the party and state apparatus intensified, Stalin’s personal power increased. The most important state decisions were made by him alone or in a narrow circle of his associates (L. P. Beria, A. A. Zhdanov, G. M. Malenkov, N. S. Khrushchev). The threat of physical violence loomed over Stalin's closest circle: V. M. Molotov, A. I. Mikoyan, K. E. Voroshilov. Stalin often did not inform either the Politburo, the Communist Party, or the government about his decisions. The statutory deadlines for convening party congresses and plenums of the Central Committee were not observed. Mass repressions, persecutions, bans, etc. continued.

Since the end of 1946 ᴦ. a campaign of struggle against the “pernicious influence of the West” began. This was manifested in the Decree of the Supreme Council of the USSR “On the prohibition of marriages between citizens of the USSR and foreigners,” in the attribution of Soviet priority in all fields of science and technology, and in the fight against “rootless cosmopolitans.” The latter acquired a pronounced anti-Semitic overtones. In 1948-1952. The process of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC), created during the war years to mobilize the forces of the international Jewish diaspora to fight fascism, took place. Actor S. Mikhoels, one of the leaders of the JAC, was killed by state security agents; most members of this organization were accused of anti-Soviet propaganda, espionage and shot. In 1952-1953. a “business of doctors” was created - the largest physicians serving the Kremlin leaders. The doctors were accused of “criminal methods of treatment” with the aim of killing prominent figures of the party and state. The “case” was closed immediately after Stalin’s death.

The policy of repression continued against entire peoples accused of high treason, for which they were evicted from their homes.

At the end of the 40s. Terror again fell on part of the country's top leadership. The group of G. M. Malenkov, pushed out of power by A. A. Zhdanov, who relied on Leningrad party functionaries, after the death of the latter, organized the “Leningrad affair” (1949-1952). During the investigation, Chairman of the State Planning Committee N.A. Voznesensky, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Lieutenant General A.A. Kuznetsov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR M.I. Rodionov and others were shot, and 200 employees of the apparatus were repressed.

At the end of his life, the Soviet dictator was obviously preparing for a major shake-up in the top echelon of power. This is evidenced by the decisions of the 19th Party Congress, at which representatives of the Stalinist guard were subjected to crushing criticism, and many young party workers who were nominated at the end of the 30s.

Post-war tightening of the Stalinist regime - concept and types. Classification and features of the category “Post-war tightening of the Stalinist regime” 2017, 2018.


Tightening of the political regime after the war

1. Social and political life of the country

The end of the Great Patriotic War had a significant impact on the socio-political development of society. Over the course of three and a half years, about 8.5 million former soldiers were demobilized from the army and returned to civilian life. Over 4 million repatriates returned to their homeland - prisoners of war, residents of occupied areas driven into captivity. Having endured the incredible hardships of wartime, the population expected improved working and living conditions and positive changes in society. As in previous years, for the majority these hopes were associated with the name of I.V. Stalin. In 1946-1947 On behalf of Stalin, drafts of a new Constitution of the USSR and the Program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) were developed.

The constitutional project provided for some development of democratic principles in the life of society. Thus, simultaneously with the recognition of the state form of ownership as the dominant one, the existence of small peasant farming based on personal labor was allowed. During the discussion of the draft Constitution in the republican party and economic structures, wishes were expressed for the decentralization of economic life. Proposals were made to expand the economic independence of local management organizations.

It was proposed to supplement the draft Program of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks with a provision on limiting the terms of elective party work, etc. However, all proposals were rejected, and subsequently work on the draft documents ceased. The tasks of the recovery period were solved under the conditions of the command-bureaucratic system that had developed in previous years. The development of all legislative acts and resolutions, then formally approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, was carried out in the highest party authorities. Management of all spheres of social life was concentrated in the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee. Here the plans for the activities of the Supreme Council were determined, candidates for the positions of ministers and their deputies were considered, and the senior command staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR was approved.

Post-war difficulties economic development, manifested in a serious condition agriculture, in the everyday hardships of the population, demanded the development of ways out of this situation. However, the attention of state leaders was directed not so much to the development of effective measures to boost the economy, but to the search for specific “culprits” for its unsatisfactory development. Thus, disruptions in the production of aviation equipment were explained by “sabotage” on the part of the industry management. In 1946, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the case of these “saboteurs” was specifically considered (“the case of Shakhurin, Novikov, etc.”). At the turn of the 40s and 50s, the leaders of the Politburo discussed the “cases” of persons allegedly involved in sabotage in the automobile industry in the Moscow healthcare system. The fabrication of cases of “enemies of the people” continued.

In 1949, the leaders of the Leningrad party organization were accused of creating an anti-party group and carrying out sabotage work (the “Leningrad affair”). The accused were party leaders, Soviet and government workers. The organizers of the non-existent anti-party group were sentenced to death, several people were sentenced to death. long periods imprisonment. A lawsuit was initiated about a Mingrelian nationalist organization allegedly operating in Georgia, which aimed to eliminate Soviet power in the republic. Based on falsified materials, a number of party workers and thousands of citizens were repressed. All participants in these processes were subsequently rehabilitated.

In 1952, the so-called “doctors’ case” was fabricated. A group of prominent medical specialists who treated prominent government officials was accused of involvement in an espionage organization and the intention to commit terrorist acts against the country's leaders. The hopes of the intelligentsia for the development and strengthening of contacts with other countries did not materialize, although the Yalta and Potsdam conferences discussed comprehensive post-war cooperation. The country's leadership has taken a course towards "tightening the screws" in relation to the intelligentsia. In 1946-1948. Several resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were adopted on cultural issues.

In March 1946, a decree was issued “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”; the work of M. Zoshchenko and A. Akhmatova was subjected to merciless criticism. At the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, where this issue was discussed, Stalin stated that the magazine in the USSR “is not a private enterprise”; it does not have the right to adapt to the tastes of people “who do not want to recognize our system.” “Whoever doesn’t want to rebuild, for example Zoshchenko,” Stalin specified, “let him get the hell out.” The country's main ideologist at that time, Zhdanov, speaking in Leningrad to explain the resolution, called Zoshchenko a “non-Soviet writer.” As for A. Akhmatova, according to Zhdanov, she could give nothing “except harm” to Soviet youth. After the defeat of the Leningrad writers, they took up theater, cinema, and music. Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Party were adopted accordingly “On the repertoire of drama theaters and measures to improve it”, “On the film “Big Life”, “On Muradeli’s opera “The Great Friendship”, etc.

The resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on cultural issues were a vivid example of gross administrative interference in culture and command leadership in this area. The relationship between the state and the church remained difficult in the post-war period. On the one hand, religious organizations have significantly strengthened their influence in a fairly short period of time. From 1944 to 1948 from Orthodox believers in government bodies More than 23 thousand applications were received to open churches and parishes. The need of people to observe religious rituals has also become more noticeable. The Russian Orthodox Church has again regained its high authority in the Orthodox world. In the post-war years, two contradictory policies were closely intertwined in Soviet society: towards the actual strengthening of the repressive role of the state and towards formal democratization. political system.

The latter manifested itself in the following forms. In the fall of 1945, immediately after the defeat of militaristic Japan in the USSR, the state of emergency was lifted and the State Defense Committee, an extra-constitutional body of power that concentrated dictatorial powers in its hands, was abolished. In 1946-1948. re-elections of councils at all levels were held and the deputy corps, formed back in 1937-1939, was renewed.

The first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the new, second convocation took place in March 1946. It approved the 4th five-year plan and adopted a law transforming the Council of People's Commissars into the Council of Ministers of the USSR (which corresponded to the names generally accepted in world practice). Finally, in 1949-1952. Congresses of public and socio-political organizations of the USSR resumed after a long break. Thus, in 1949, the X Congress of Trade Unions and the XI Congress of the Komsomol took place (17 and 13 years after the previous ones, respectively). And in 1952, the 19th Party Congress took place, the last congress at which Stalin was present. The congress decided to rename the CPSU (b) to the CPSU.

2. Tightening of the regime of Stalin’s personal power in the post-war period

During these years, the regime of his personal power reached its apogee. " Short course history of the CPSU (b)" and "Brief biography of I.V. Stalin,” in the writing of which he himself took part, turned into a set of immutable truths that all citizens of the country had to study without questioning. Every statement of Stalin was turned into dogma, and the slightest doubt about his infallibility was severely punished. Stalin was credited with all the credit for the real and imaginary achievements of the country and the party, which set the goal of building socialism.

In 1946 - 1950 The circulation of his works was the largest. Architects, sculptors, painters, poets, and composers competed for the right to perpetuate his name. The celebration of the 70th anniversary in 1949 gave the “leader of all countries and peoples” the features of an earthly god. Songs about him were sung on the radio from morning to evening. His wisdom and greatness were praised by the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, which gave the cult a divine aura. In the minds of Soviet people, Stalin also merged with the image of the winner. In June 1945, he was awarded the title of Generalissimo, which since Peter the Great's time meant the highest degree of military merit. Worshiping him is identified with patriotism. The image of Stalin “eclipses” the party, it fades into the background, and such mechanisms of its activities as holding congresses, plenums, and Politburo meetings lose their significance.

In fact, the “statutory norms of party life” were dying out. The highest body of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Congress, did not meet from March 1939 to October 1952. The Central Committee also ceased to function (from 1945 to 1952, only two of its plenums were held). Even the Politburo, in essence, also lost its importance. It turned from a permanent collegial body into a meeting of a narrow circle of the “leader’s” associates, convened from time to time at his will. Decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee were made, as a rule, on the basis of absentee polls, and minutes of meetings were not kept at all. In the top leadership of the party during this period, the principle of election was in fact absent. The overwhelming majority of members and candidates for membership of the party's Central Committee were co-opted. The same situation developed at lower levels of the party structure.

True, the lower the level, the more democracy there was, or rather, its appearance. Meetings were regularly held in the primary party organizations, which in most cases only approved the decisions of higher party bodies. Real power in the party was exercised by liberated party workers who were members of party committees at various levels. Party committees from district committees to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were a rigid hierarchical structure that carried out directives issued from above. Changes in the composition of party committees were agreed upon by higher authorities. A significant event in the life of the party in the post-war period was the 19th Congress of the CPSU(b). It began its work on October 5, 1952.

The size of the party by this time was about 6 million members and about 900 thousand candidates. More than half of the communists were accepted into the party during and after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The agenda of the congress included primarily economic issues: summing up the restoration of the national economy destroyed by the war and approving directives for a new five-year development plan for 1951 - 1955. The theoretical justification for the prospects for the country’s economic development was the work of I.V. Stalin’s “Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR”, published in September 1952. The Congress amended the Party Charter and decided to rename the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to the Communist Party Soviet Union(CPSU). To revise the Party Program that had been in force since 1919, which, according to the congress, was basically implemented, a special commission was elected, which was supposed to draw up a new Program of the CPSU.

However, the activities of this commission were soon terminated. At the plenum of the Central Committee that took place after the 19th Congress, at the suggestion of Stalin, instead of the previous Politburo, an expanded Presidium was formed consisting of 25 members and 11 candidates, among which, along with the old comrades-in-arms of the “leader of the peoples,” many new young party functionaries were introduced. The Secretariat of the Central Committee was also significantly updated and increased to 10 people. Thus, Stalin seemed to “dissolve” his associates among the new party leadership, which undoubtedly indicated his intention to remove them from power. The Bureau of the Presidium, consisting of 9 people, was also elected at the plenum. However, from the members of the Bureau, Stalin singled out the leading “five”, which, besides him, included G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, N.S. Khrushchev and N.A. Bulganin. After the end of the war, constitutional bodies were restored.

According to the Constitution of 1936, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was established as the highest all-Union body of state power, the first elections to which took place in December 1937. Since the term of office of the deputies had long expired, new elections were held in March 1946. However, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was not actually supreme body authorities, he only formalized the decisions made by the party leadership of the country in the form of decrees. At the sessions of the Supreme Council 1946-1954. The deputies mainly unanimously approved the country's budgets and reports on their implementation, and also unanimously approved the decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, the powers and competence of which for 1938 -1948. significantly expanded and supplemented.

The Presidium consisted mainly of secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and members of its Politburo. In addition to interpreting laws, issuing decrees, dissolving the chambers of the Supreme Council and calling new elections, the Presidium received the right to declare martial law in the country, grant USSR citizenship and allow withdrawal from it. And since 1948, the Presidium could denounce international treaties of the USSR, establish orders and medals, establish honorary titles of the USSR and military ranks. One example of the activities of the Presidium is its adoption in 1950 and 1954. decrees on the partial restoration of the death penalty, abolished in 1947 by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. One of the functions of the Presidium was control over the work of the reporting bodies: the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General. Not a single issue could be raised for discussion by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and its Presidium without the order of I.V. Stalin.

Gradually, the work of the country's highest legislative body lost even the appearance of observing constitutional norms; sessions were convened irregularly, from time to time. The anarchy of Soviet bodies and the decline of their role and importance were also observed at the level of local Soviets of Working People's Deputies. Party bodies replaced their activities, the timing of elections and the order of sessions, the reporting of the Soviets were violated. Critical remarks by deputies about the work of enterprises or institutions remained without consequences. Issues that required collegial consideration at sessions were resolved by executive and administrative bodies - executive committees of the Soviets, their departments and departments that managed sectors of the national economy and culture. Deputies reported to voters only during the next re-election, thus violating the main declared principle of the work of the Councils - openness and accountability.

There was no alternative in the elections; their results were always predetermined in advance and agreed upon with the party leadership at the appropriate level. In 1946-1947 On behalf of Stalin, drafts of a new Constitution of the USSR and the Program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) were developed. They provided for some development of democratic principles along the path of building communism. However, due to political intrigues in the upper echelons of power, work on these projects was soon curtailed. During the war years, the merger of the party and state apparatus became even more pronounced, and the style of leadership changed. Party and government workers were mainly engaged in administrative and organizational work, the success of which depended on the implementation production plans and coherence of work of various structures. This led to an increase in the role of the executive branch.

In accordance with the law of March 15, 1946, the highest executive and administrative body - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the People's Commissariats were transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR and ministries. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1946-1953. was still I.V. Stalin. On official occasions he was called "Head of the Soviet State". Party leadership of the activities of the state administration apparatus was manifested in the adoption of joint resolutions of the Party Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers on the most important issues, and since the absolute majority of ministers were members or candidate members of the Central Committee, disagreements did not arise between the government and the Party Central Committee. The central sectoral bodies of government were the ministries transformed in 1946 from the People's Commissariats, headed by members of the government. They carried out executive and administrative activities, led certain sectors of the national economy and culture.

The main ministries were: foreign affairs, armed forces (in 1950-1953 - military and naval), finance, internal affairs, state security, state control, heavy, transport and construction engineering, instrument making, machine tool manufacturing, ministry of fuel industry and energy, as well as medical, forestry, chemical, light, fish, food industry, building materials, five central departments of transport and communications, domestic and foreign trade, and, finally, five ministries that managed the country’s agriculture. If in 1945 there were 25 industrial people's commissariats, then already in 1947 there were 34 ministries in this area. The post-war period was characterized by repeated reorganizations, mergers, and divisions of ministries, mainly industrial ones. This was due to the specialization of industry, which led to the disaggregation of ministries and the swelling of their apparatus. In March 1953, a general reorganization of the Union ministries was carried out: instead of 24, II enlarged departments remained, their staffs were reduced.

Along with the ministries, there were planning and supply bodies: the State Planning Commission (Gosplan), the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply of the National Economy (Gossnab), the State Committee for the Introduction of Advanced Technology into the National Economy (Gostekhnika), etc. The strengthening of the command and administrative system was manifested intensifying mass repression. The authoritarian regime needed to constantly intensify and maintain a climate of mutual distrust and a search for internal enemies within the party-administrative apparatus itself. There were several reasons for this.

Firstly, the struggle for power among Stalin’s inner circle played a huge role. In this fight, any means were used, including fabrication of criminal cases. For example, the “Leningrad case” fabricated in 1949 is associated with the names of I.V.’s closest associates. Stalin - G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, M.F. Shkiryatov, V.S. Abakumov and others. It contributed to the elimination of some of the young party members and government workers who rose to leadership positions during the war and in the early post-war years. Hundreds of people became victims of the “case,” including members of the Politburo, the Organizing Bureau and the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. On October 1, 1950, the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, with the knowledge and approval of Stalin, sentenced Academician N.A. to death. Voznesensky - member of the Politburo, deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee; A.A. Kuznetsov - member of the Organizing Bureau, secretary of the Central Committee, head (together with A.A. Zhdanov) of the defense of Leningrad during the war; M.I. Rodionov - member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR; P.S. Popkov - candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee and city party committee; Ya.F. Kapustin - second secretary of the Leningrad city party committee; P.G. Lazutin - Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee.

All those convicted were charged with creating an anti-party group, with subversive activities aimed at turning the Leningrad party organization into a support for the fight against the party and its Central Committee. Secondly, during the war years the independence and responsibility of local leaders increased. The transition to peaceful life was accompanied by the center's desire to suppress any initiative and establish petty guardianship. For example, all the leaders of the regional and city party committees, district party organizations of Leningrad and the region, almost all Soviet and government officials promoted after the war from Leningrad to leadership positions in the central party and Soviet apparatus, and in other regional organizations of the CPSU were subjected to repression in the “Leningrad case”. (b). Only in Leningrad in 1949 - 1952. More than 2 thousand communists were released from work.

After the massacre of the “central group” in 1950, trials took place in different regions countries. The “case” became increasingly widespread, the “Smolninsky District Case”, “Dzerzhinsky District Case”, etc. appeared. The situation changed with the death of Stalin, and already on April 30, 1954. Supreme Court The USSR rehabilitated some of those convicted in the “Leningrad case”. The “Mingrelian affair”, which dealt a blow to the Georgian party organization in 1951, developed according to the same well-established scheme. It was based on the version of the existence of a “Mingrelo-nationalist group” in Georgia, associated with the Parisian center of Georgian emigration and aiming to eliminate Soviet power in Georgia. Many leading party and Soviet workers were removed from their positions and arrested, and thousands of innocent people were subjected to repression.

Thirdly, the victory over fascism sharpened the Soviet people's sense of national and personal dignity and changed the moral and psychological atmosphere in society. People no longer wanted to be obedient “cogs” in a huge mechanism. This contradicted the essence of the functioning of a totalitarian state. Through repression it tried to regain ideological control over society. The struggle for the minds of Soviet people in the late 1940s. unfolded under the sign of the struggle against cosmopolitanism and sycophancy before the achievements of Western culture. Representatives of the intelligentsia were declared cosmopolitans, in whose activities one could notice “admiration for everything Western.” The fight against cosmopolitanism resulted in a large-scale propaganda campaign. It especially affected historical science.

Many famous Soviet scientists (I.I. Mints, I.M. Razgon, etc.) were accused of distorting the history of Soviet society, of belittling the role of the USSR in the world historical process. All this was accompanied by administrative measures and “workings” by famous scientists. The Party Central Committee held similar “discussions” on issues of philosophy, political economy and linguistics. A.A. Zhdanov, “the main ideologist of the party,” called on Soviet scientists to “lead the fight against the corrupt and vile bourgeois ideology.” The ideological pressure on the intelligentsia in the late 1940s was called “Zhdanovshchina” after its organizer.

In 1946-1948. A number of resolutions of the Central Committee on issues of literature and art were adopted. In August 1946, a decree “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” was issued. In it, the work of A.A. was subjected to offensive criticism. Akhmatova and M.M. Zoshchenko. The reason for it was the publication in the magazine “Murzilka” of a story by M.M. Zoshchenko’s “The Adventures of a Monkey”, later reprinted by the literary magazine “Zvezda”. The work of these authors was considered incompatible with the socialist worldview, and political accusations were made against them. The fate of many cultural figures was also heavily affected by such decisions of the Party Central Committee as “On the repertoire of drama theaters”, “On the film “Big Life”, “On the opera “The Great Friendship” by V. Muradeli” and others. Administrative interference in the creative activities of representatives of culture , political assessments artistic creativity contributed to the strengthening of the authoritarian regime.

3. Ideological campaigns and repressions of the second half of the 40s - early 50s

Throughout the 40-80s, the orientation of society towards building communism as main goal development was maintained. This does not mean that no changes occurred in the official ideology, but they were of a private nature and did not affect its main conclusions and provisions. At the same time, it gradually increased inverse relationship theories and practices: if earlier social reality was constructed in accordance with ideological ideas, then in the last stages of the existence of the Soviet system, socio-economic and political realities forced the development of corresponding theoretical structures.

Thus, at the end of the 60s, when the inconsistency of the third party program, which promised to build communism in 20 years, became obvious, the concept of a “developed socialist society” was developed. It oriented society towards a much longer, gradual movement towards communism. The war with Nazi Germany required extreme mobilization, extreme effort of all forces to defend the country. Under these conditions, the government for the first time used not only its traditional class slogans, calling for the defense of the gains of socialism, but also national-patriotic ones.

The war with Germany was declared a holy war in defense of the Fatherland, for the first time the unequivocally negative assessments of the pre-revolutionary history of Russia changed, and propaganda of the traditions of Russian military art and the victories of Russian weapons began. To expand its social support, especially in the countryside, the authorities considered it necessary to rely not only on national traditions, but also on the religious feelings of people. This led to a softening of state policy towards the church. And finally, during the war years, for the first time, universal, national-state interests were placed on an equal footing with class ones, and the possibility of successful cooperation between states with different socio-political systems was demonstrated. Assessing the effectiveness of political leadership during the war, some historians come to the conclusion that the Soviet system suffered a crushing defeat and was unable to timely find optimal solutions to the problems facing the country.

Indeed, the defeats of 1941-1942 were the result of mistakes and miscalculations of pre-war policy. However, the conclusion about the complete failure of the system is questionable. The political regime had a contradictory impact on the situation in those years. At first, society seemed to be reaping the results of the ineffectiveness of the system in a very complex pre-war situation, which required the simultaneous solution of several problems on the basis of a balanced analysis, i.e. something that was unusual for the Soviet political system. During the war years, the situation became simpler, and a single goal of society emerged - the salvation of the Fatherland.

The Soviet system, which initially developed as a system for the implementation of one or very few goals recognized as socially significant, turned out to be quite effective during the war years, making it possible to quickly concentrate society's efforts on solving military problems. For a while, the gap between the government and the people disappeared. The system's desire to protect itself coincided with the interests of the people, and the more energetically the government fought for its gains. The combination of popular impulse and the organizing power of the leadership was the main condition for victory. It seriously strengthened the authority of Stalin, the Communist Party, and the entire system as a whole, not only within the country, but also in the world.

Reflecting on this, the philosopher G. Fedotov wrote: “Our ancestors, communicating with foreigners, should have blushed for their autocracy and their serfdom. If they had met everywhere the same servile attitude towards the Russian Tsar that Europe and America show towards Stalin, it would not have occurred to them to think about the shortcomings in their home.” Front-line writer F. Abramov accurately conveyed the mood of those years: “Intoxicated by victory, arrogant, we decided that our system was ideal, and not only did not improve it, but, on the contrary, began to dogmatize it even more.” The victory brought the spirit of freedom, but at the same time created psychological mechanisms that blocked its further development.

The authorities began to solve the problems of restoring the economy and establishing a normal peaceful life in conditions of a high level of trust from the people. However, the “people-power” community that had gradually emerged during the war years began to split. This happened as a complex of “deceived hopes” was formed from below and signs of a crisis in the ruling elite were indicated. The latter manifested itself in the fact that in the changed conditions the authorities tried to preserve the previous forms and methods of management, designed for extreme conditions. But since the war had already ended, the authorities were forced to artificially create an atmosphere of emergency, again playing the card of a military threat, organizing a series of propaganda campaigns that whipped up suspicion, mistrust, and forced them to look for internal enemies. The Cold War and the fight against “adulation” to the West erased the results of cooperation with the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

A new round of repression began, which was stopped only by the death of Stalin. The period of the 50-60s was an extremely difficult and dramatic period in the development of Soviet society. At this time, attempts were made to update different sides public life. The need for change was obvious to the new leadership, but the ruling elite believed that only partial reforms were needed that would eliminate negative phenomena in the economy, socio-political, and cultural spheres.

The viability of the Soviet system as a whole was not questioned; the goal (building communism) remained unchanged. Hence the half-heartedness and inconsistency in carrying out reforms. The Soviet leaders of the 50-60s - N. Khrushchev, G. Malenkov, V. Molotov - belonged to that generation of Soviet leaders whose worldview was formed during the years of the civil war; they formed the backbone of the “Stalinist guard”. In the 60-70s, the key role in the management of Soviet society, determining the nature and pace of its development, passed to the “new class” - the class of managers. After Khrushchev's removal from power, this social group was finally formed as a powerful political force.

Having great benefits and powers, the top layer of party and economic functionaries was deprived of personal security until the mid-50s, fearing for their fate and career. Stalin, through repression and handouts, kept the nomenklatura in check and blocked its desire to finally transform power into property. After his death, the ruling elite is freed from fear for their lives and gains stability. The main part of the apparatus of the 60-80s were people who began their careers after the repressions of the 30s. They were not fanatics of the socialist idea; Marxist ideology was just familiar rhetoric for them.

In an effort to stabilize, the Soviet leadership in the 70-80s embarked on the path of curtailing criticism of Stalinism, believing that further deepening of this topic would create difficulties in the internal political life of the country. The theoretical attitude of party ideologists to consider the Soviet political system completely identical social order, and any attempts to update it to be interpreted as an attempt on socialism did not allow changes to be made in the political system during the years of Brezhnev’s rule.

With the completion of the process of formation of the nomenklatura system, the communist party actually loses its elite status, although formally it remains the core of the political system, moreover, the conclusion is drawn about the “increase in the leadership role of the party.” In fact, real power was concentrated in the executive bodies of the party, in the hands of the nomenklatura. The ruling elite has become closed social group, interested in maintaining their own power, and not in solving pressing public problems. The control system became more and more cumbersome, clumsy, and ineffective. For example, during the Brezhnev twenty years, the number of all-Union and republican ministers increased from 29 to 160. The closed nature of the Soviet system, undemocratic nature, lack of feedback between the government and the people gave rise to a deep crisis, and then decomposition.

Ideological repression. The intelligentsia especially caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet leadership. It was a force capable of pointing out to society the need to transform the existing system. The authorities decided to strengthen ideological and political control over the intelligentsia, which was weakly exercised during the war. Since the summer of 1946, a broad ideological attack launched by the Soviet leadership allegedly against those who idealized the capitalist way of life and worshiped the West. Any free thinking that did not fit within the framework of communist ideology was considered a hostile, bourgeois ideology, unacceptable for a Soviet citizen.

The beginning of ideological repression in fiction and art was the decision made by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1946 regarding the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”. The editors of these magazines were accused of publishing apolitical, unprincipled and ideologically harmful works. The works of the writer Mikhail Zoshchenko and the poetess Anna Akhmatova were especially attacked. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, which always dutifully and diligently followed the instructions of Moscow, held a meeting in the same year of 1946 with the participation of the editorial board of the Mnatobi magazine and the leadership of the Writers' Union of Georgia.

It is clear that the meeting “revealed” in the work of the magazine “Mnatobi” the same “errors and shortcomings” that were pointed out in the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” and decided to “transform” the work of the magazine. The Georgian leadership exactly repeated the decisions adopted in Moscow and immediately began the search for “vices” in Georgian reality. Ideological repression also penetrated into science. At that time, a peculiar phenomenon dominated - creative discussions, during which the Soviet leadership imposed its, for the most part, anti-scientific views. During such discussions, Georgian researchers also suffered a heavy blow. The henchmen of communist ideology treated Georgian scientists with distrust. They accused them of trying to instill bourgeois ideology and nationalism.

Political repression. Political repressions of the 50s of the XX century were directed primarily against the intelligentsia. And this was no accident. The Georgian intelligentsia always aroused distrust among the Soviet leadership and therefore it was suspicious of it, considering it the bearer of the ideology of bourgeois “nationalism”, i.e. a force hostile to Soviet power. The Georgian intelligentsia did not escape political reprisals in the post-war years, when national-patriotic feelings raged especially strongly within them. They were arrested on the slightest charge of participation in the “nationalist” movement. The investigation was carried out for closed doors(sometimes there was no investigation at all). Often the identity of the convicted person was not disclosed and kept secret.

In 1948, 11 students of Tbilisi State University were arrested. 9 of them were convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. These were: Dzhidzhadze Shota, Meladze Aleko, Tsintsadze Zhores (George), Zaldastanishvili Tengiz, Pachkoria Otia, Magularia Givi and others. Their guilt was that they fought against the Soviet occupation regime. The authorities tried in every possible way to weaken the national movement and suppressed any manifestation of anti-Sovietism on the part of the Georgian intelligentsia. The government saw a particularly dangerous force in creating an “undesirable atmosphere” in former prisoners of war who had returned from abroad and in relatives of emigrants. These people had information about life in the West and could tell others, their loved ones and acquaintances about it.

At the end of 1951, a plan was secretly developed to evict these people from Georgia. The “undesirable elements” also included completely innocent people. The eviction operation was carried out in one night - December 25, 1951. About 20 thousand people, including women, old people and children, were herded into specially prepared railway trains stationed in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Sukhumi and Batumi, and sent to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Some of these people died on the way, the other part - in Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and the survivors received the right to return to their homeland only in 1954. The majority of those forcibly resettled were intellectuals and members of their families. All of them were assigned to work on collective and state farms as ordinary workers and employees. At the end of 1951, the so-called The “Mingrelian case”, which has not been fully disclosed to this day. This case was fabricated on the initiative of Joseph Stalin and with his direct participation.

IN recent years During his reign, Stalin watched with suspicion Lavrenti Beria, who was uncontrollably striving for power, and decided to get him out of the way, so there is an assumption that the “Mingrelian affair” was specially prepared against Beria. A lot has been compiled false accusations in relation to a group of executives of Megrelian origin. In addition to “Mingrelian nationalism,” they were charged with attempting to secede Georgia from the Soviet Union and join Turkey, as well as in connection with foreign intelligence. The following were taken under arrest: Mikhail Baramia, Nino Zhvania, Alexander Mirtskhulava and other party workers of Megrelian origin.

The Georgian public was well aware that the so-called. The “Mingrelian affair” is a provocation, but under the conditions of a total dictatorship no one dared to express their protest out loud. The events that took place in the early 50s once again showed that the political, economic, social and cultural situation of the country requires radical changes.

political post-war Stalin repression

List of used literature

1. Volkogonov D.A. Triumph and tragedy: a political portrait of I.V. Stalin. \\ Book. 2. Part 2, M. 1989

2. Volkglnov D.A. Seven Kremlin leaders. \\ Book. 1. M. 1995

3. Zhukov Yu.N. The struggle for power in the leadership of the GCC in 1945-1952. \\ Questions of History, 1995, No. 1

4. Zubkov E.Yu. After the war: Malenkov, Khrushchev and the “thaw” \\ History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, decisions. M. 1991

5. Popov V.P. The peasantry and the state (1945-1953). Paris. 1992

6. Reiman M. Post-war rivalry in the Soviet political leadership. \\ Questions of history. 2003. No. 3. P. 24-40.

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Tightening of the political regime after the war

2. Tightening of the regime of Stalin’s personal power in the post-war period

During these years, the regime of his personal power reached its apogee. “A short course on the history of the CPSU (b)” and “A short biography of I.V. Stalin,” in the writing of which he himself took part, turned into a set of immutable truths that all citizens of the country had to study without questioning. Every statement of Stalin was turned into dogma, and the slightest doubt about his infallibility was severely punished. Stalin was credited with all the credit for the real and imaginary achievements of the country and the party, which set the goal of building socialism.

In 1946 - 1950 The circulation of his works was the largest. Architects, sculptors, painters, poets, and composers competed for the right to perpetuate his name. The celebration of the 70th anniversary in 1949 gave the “leader of all countries and peoples” the features of an earthly god. Songs about him were sung on the radio from morning to evening. His wisdom and greatness were praised by the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, which gave the cult a divine aura. In the minds of Soviet people, Stalin also merged with the image of the winner. In June 1945, he was awarded the title of Generalissimo, which since Peter the Great's time meant the highest degree of military merit. Worshiping him is identified with patriotism. The image of Stalin “eclipses” the party, it fades into the background, and such mechanisms of its activities as holding congresses, plenums, and Politburo meetings lose their significance.

In fact, the “statutory norms of party life” were dying out. The highest body of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Congress, did not meet from March 1939 to October 1952. The Central Committee also ceased to function (from 1945 to 1952, only two of its plenums were held). Even the Politburo, in essence, also lost its importance. It turned from a permanent collegial body into a meeting of a narrow circle of the “leader’s” associates, convened from time to time at his will. Decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee were made, as a rule, on the basis of absentee polls, and minutes of meetings were not kept at all. In the top leadership of the party during this period, the principle of election was in fact absent. The overwhelming majority of members and candidates for membership of the party's Central Committee were co-opted. The same situation developed at lower levels of the party structure.

True, the lower the level, the more democracy there was, or rather, its appearance. Meetings were regularly held in the primary party organizations, which in most cases only approved the decisions of higher party bodies. Real power in the party was exercised by liberated party workers who were members of party committees at various levels. Party committees from district committees to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were a rigid hierarchical structure that carried out directives issued from above. Changes in the composition of party committees were agreed upon by higher authorities. A significant event in the life of the party in the post-war period was the 19th Congress of the CPSU(b). It began its work on October 5, 1952.

The size of the party by this time was about 6 million members and about 900 thousand candidates. More than half of the communists were accepted into the party during and after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The agenda of the congress included primarily economic issues: summing up the restoration of the national economy destroyed by the war and approving directives for a new five-year development plan for 1951 - 1955. The theoretical justification for the prospects for the country’s economic development was the work of I.V. Stalin's "Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR", published in September 1952. The Congress amended the Party Charter and decided to rename the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). To revise the Party Program that had been in force since 1919, which, according to the congress, was basically implemented, a special commission was elected, which was supposed to draw up a new Program of the CPSU.

However, the activities of this commission were soon terminated. At the plenum of the Central Committee that took place after the 19th Congress, at the suggestion of Stalin, instead of the previous Politburo, an expanded Presidium was formed consisting of 25 members and 11 candidates, among which, along with the old comrades-in-arms of the “leader of the peoples,” many new young party functionaries were introduced. The Secretariat of the Central Committee was also significantly updated and increased to 10 people. Thus, Stalin seemed to “dissolve” his associates among the new party leadership, which undoubtedly indicated his intention to remove them from power. The Bureau of the Presidium, consisting of 9 people, was also elected at the plenum. However, from the members of the Bureau, Stalin singled out the leading “five”, which, besides him, included G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, N.S. Khrushchev and N.A. Bulganin. After the end of the war, constitutional bodies were restored.

According to the Constitution of 1936, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was established as the highest all-Union body of state power, the first elections to which took place in December 1937. Since the term of office of the deputies had long expired, new elections were held in March 1946. However, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was not actually the highest authority; it only formalized the decisions made by the country's party leadership in the form of decrees. At the sessions of the Supreme Council 1946-1954. The deputies mainly unanimously approved the country's budgets and reports on their implementation, and also unanimously approved the decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, the powers and competence of which for 1938 -1948. significantly expanded and supplemented.

The Presidium consisted mainly of secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and members of its Politburo. In addition to interpreting laws, issuing decrees, dissolving the chambers of the Supreme Council and calling new elections, the Presidium received the right to declare martial law in the country, grant USSR citizenship and allow withdrawal from it. And since 1948, the Presidium could denounce international treaties of the USSR, establish orders and medals, establish honorary titles of the USSR and military ranks. One example of the activities of the Presidium is its adoption in 1950 and 1954. decrees on the partial restoration of the death penalty, abolished in 1947 by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. One of the functions of the Presidium was control over the work of the reporting bodies: the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General. Not a single issue could be raised for discussion by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and its Presidium without the order of I.V. Stalin.

Gradually, the work of the country's highest legislative body lost even the appearance of observing constitutional norms; sessions were convened irregularly, from time to time. The anarchy of Soviet bodies and the decline of their role and importance were also observed at the level of local Soviets of Working People's Deputies. Party bodies replaced their activities, the timing of elections and the order of sessions, the reporting of the Soviets were violated. Critical remarks by deputies about the work of enterprises or institutions remained without consequences. Issues that required collegial consideration at sessions were resolved by executive and administrative bodies - executive committees of the Soviets, their departments and departments that managed sectors of the national economy and culture. Deputies reported to voters only during the next re-election, thus violating the main declared principle of the work of the Councils - openness and accountability.

There was no alternative in the elections; their results were always predetermined in advance and agreed upon with the party leadership at the appropriate level. In 1946-1947 On behalf of Stalin, drafts of a new Constitution of the USSR and the Program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) were developed. They provided for some development of democratic principles along the path of building communism. However, due to political intrigues in the upper echelons of power, work on these projects was soon curtailed. During the war years, the merger of the party and state apparatus became even more pronounced, and the style of leadership changed. Party and government workers were mainly engaged in administrative and organizational work, the success of which depended on the implementation of production plans and the coherence of the work of various structures. This led to an increase in the role of the executive branch.

In accordance with the law of March 15, 1946, the highest executive and administrative body - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the People's Commissariats were transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR and ministries. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1946-1953. was still I.V. Stalin. On official occasions he was called "Head of the Soviet State". Party leadership of the activities of the state administration apparatus was manifested in the adoption of joint resolutions of the Party Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers on the most important issues, and since the absolute majority of ministers were members or candidate members of the Central Committee, disagreements did not arise between the government and the Party Central Committee. The central sectoral bodies of government were the ministries transformed in 1946 from the People's Commissariats, headed by members of the government. They carried out executive and administrative activities, led certain sectors of the national economy and culture.

The main ministries were: foreign affairs, armed forces (in 1950-1953 - military and naval), finance, internal affairs, state security, state control, heavy, transport and construction engineering, instrument making, machine tool manufacturing, ministry of fuel industry and energy, as well as medical, forestry, chemical, light, fishing, food industries, building materials, five central departments of transport and communications, domestic and foreign trade and, finally, five ministries that managed the country’s agriculture. If in 1945 there were 25 industrial people's commissariats, then already in 1947 there were 34 ministries in this area. The post-war period was characterized by repeated reorganizations, mergers, and divisions of ministries, mainly industrial ones. This was due to the specialization of industry, which led to the disaggregation of ministries and the swelling of their apparatus. In March 1953, a general reorganization of the Union ministries was carried out: instead of 24, II enlarged departments remained, their staffs were reduced.

Along with the ministries, there were planning and supply bodies: the State Planning Commission (Gosplan), the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply of the National Economy (Gossnab), the State Committee for the Introduction of Advanced Technology into the National Economy (Gostekhnika), etc. The strengthening of the command and administrative system was manifested intensifying mass repression. The authoritarian regime needed to constantly intensify and maintain a climate of mutual distrust and a search for internal enemies within the party-administrative apparatus itself. There were several reasons for this.

Firstly, the struggle for power among Stalin’s inner circle played a huge role. In this fight, any means were used, including fabrication of criminal cases. For example, the “Leningrad case” fabricated in 1949 is associated with the names of I.V.’s closest associates. Stalin - G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, M.F. Shkiryatov, V.S. Abakumov and others. It contributed to the elimination of some of the young party and government workers who were promoted to leadership positions during the war and in the early post-war years. Hundreds of people became victims of the “case,” including members of the Politburo, the Organizing Bureau and the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. On October 1, 1950, the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, with the knowledge and approval of Stalin, sentenced Academician N.A. to death. Voznesensky - member of the Politburo, deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee; A.A. Kuznetsov - member of the Organizing Bureau, secretary of the Central Committee, head (together with A.A. Zhdanov) of the defense of Leningrad during the war; M.I. Rodionov - member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR; P.S. Popkov - candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee and city party committee; Ya.F. Kapustin - second secretary of the Leningrad city party committee; P.G. Lazutin - Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee.

All those convicted were charged with creating an anti-party group, with subversive activities aimed at turning the Leningrad party organization into a support for the fight against the party and its Central Committee. Secondly, during the war years the independence and responsibility of local leaders increased. The transition to peaceful life was accompanied by the center's desire to suppress any initiative and establish petty guardianship. For example, all the leaders of the regional and city party committees, district party organizations of Leningrad and the region, almost all Soviet and government officials promoted after the war from Leningrad to leadership positions in the central party and Soviet apparatus, and in other regional organizations of the CPSU were subjected to repression in the “Leningrad case”. (b). Only in Leningrad in 1949 - 1952. More than 2 thousand communists were released from work.

After the massacre of the “central group” in 1950, trials took place in various regions of the country. The “case” became increasingly widespread, the “Smolninsky District Case”, “Dzerzhinsky District Case”, etc. appeared. The situation was changed by the death of Stalin, and already on April 30, 1954, the Supreme Court of the USSR rehabilitated some of those convicted in the “Leningrad Case”. The “Mingrelian affair”, which dealt a blow to the Georgian party organization in 1951, developed according to the same well-established scheme. It was based on the version of the existence of a “Mingrelo-nationalist group” in Georgia, associated with the Parisian center of Georgian emigration and aiming to eliminate Soviet power in Georgia. Many leading party and Soviet workers were removed from their positions and arrested, and thousands of innocent people were subjected to repression.

Thirdly, the victory over fascism sharpened the Soviet people's sense of national and personal dignity and changed the moral and psychological atmosphere in society. People no longer wanted to be obedient “cogs” in a huge mechanism. This contradicted the essence of the functioning of a totalitarian state. Through repression it tried to regain ideological control over society. The struggle for the minds of Soviet people in the late 1940s. unfolded under the sign of the struggle against cosmopolitanism and sycophancy before the achievements of Western culture. Representatives of the intelligentsia were declared cosmopolitans, in whose activities one could notice “admiration for everything Western.” The fight against cosmopolitanism resulted in a large-scale propaganda campaign. It especially affected historical science.

Many famous Soviet scientists (I.I. Mints, I.M. Razgon, etc.) were accused of distorting the history of Soviet society, of belittling the role of the USSR in the world historical process. All this was accompanied by administrative measures and “workings” by famous scientists. The Party Central Committee held similar “discussions” on issues of philosophy, political economy and linguistics. A.A. Zhdanov, “the main ideologist of the party,” called on Soviet scientists to “lead the fight against the corrupt and vile bourgeois ideology.” The ideological pressure on the intelligentsia in the late 1940s was called “Zhdanovshchina” after its organizer.

In 1946-1948. A number of resolutions of the Central Committee on issues of literature and art were adopted. In August 1946, a decree “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” was issued. In it, the work of A.A. was subjected to offensive criticism. Akhmatova and M.M. Zoshchenko. The reason for it was the publication in the magazine “Murzilka” of a story by M.M. Zoshchenko’s “The Adventures of a Monkey”, later reprinted by the literary magazine “Zvezda”. The work of these authors was considered incompatible with the socialist worldview, and political accusations were made against them. The fate of many cultural figures was also heavily affected by such decisions of the Party Central Committee as “On the repertoire of drama theaters”, “On the film “Big Life”, “On the opera “The Great Friendship” by V. Muradeli” and others. Administrative interference in the creative activities of representatives of culture , political assessments of artistic creativity contributed to the strengthening of the authoritarian regime.

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The “Mingrelian case” was fabricated in Georgia. A number of leading officials were accused of nationalism, collaboration with foreign intelligence services, etc. Authoritative military leaders whom Stalin feared were subjected to prosecution and disgrace: Marshal G.K. Zhukov, Air Marshal A.A. Novikov, Admiral fleet N.G. Kuznetsov and many others. In 1949 ᴦ. Almost the entire leadership of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was repressed and accused of having connections with British and Israeli intelligence. An anti-Semitic campaign was launched, which reached its climax at the end of 1952 - beginning of 1953. in connection with "The Doctors' Case" The Stalinist regime needed to create an enduring “image of the enemy.” The machinations of “enemies” explained the problems within the country and the extreme importance of isolation from the outside world. The Stalinist system of power was restored in full. The apogee of Stalinism was the celebration of Stalin's 70th birthday in 1949. (In recent years, it has been documented that Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was actually born on December 6 (18), 1878, and not on December 9 (21), 1879, as was believed for a long time.) In spiritual life after 1945. Another “taming of the intelligentsia” began, the revival of a strict ideological dictate was called “Zhdanovshchina” after the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) A. A. Zhdanov. In 1946-1952. A number of party directive decisions gave devastating assessments of the work of the poet A. A. Akhmatova, satirist M. M. Zoshchenko, film director S. M. Eisenstein, composer D. D. Shostakovich and other recognized masters of Russian artistic culture. Among the accusations were admiration of the West (“adulation”, “cosmopolitanism”), “denigration” of the historical past and incorrect presentation of the present, deviation from “socialist realism” towards “formalism”, etc. Disgraced creators were persecuted.

During the “discussions” on issues of philosophy, natural science, and linguistics, promising scientific directions died out, many scientists were subjected to repression, and false scientists came to the fore (T. D. Lysenko). Genetics and cybernetics were officially considered “the corrupt girls of American imperialism.” The political regime sought to prevent any “revolution in the minds,” which was fraught with dangerous consequences. In social, material and everyday terms, the life of the majority of Soviet people, especially peasants, remained difficult. Vacations and regular days off were restored, but the labor regime remained strict. The abolition of the card system had its source in increasing tax pressure on the village. The decline in prices brought the situation to pre-war levels. With the help of monetary reform, significant cash. Housing was built slowly. The privileged position of the nomenklatura was maintained. Death of Stalin on March 5, 1953. a significant part of the population greeted it with fear: “as if it would get worse.”

USSR in the post-war decades

Difficulties of post-war reconstruction; restoration of the national economy and liquidation of the US nuclear monopoly

The consequences of more than four years of war were severe. In the USSR, according to the calculations of a special commission, 1,710 cities, over 70 thousand villages and hamlets, about 32 thousand industrial enterprises, 84 thousand schools, technical schools, universities, research institutes, 98 thousand collective farms, etc. were destroyed. The First World War and the Civil War, material damage was estimated at 1/4 national wealth. During the Great Patriotic War, 1/3 of the national wealth was lost. Even as the war continued, the restoration of the national economy and the establishment of a peaceful life began in the liberated territories.

The restoration of the national economy was complicated by large losses of the population, especially men, the enormous scale of destruction, and the need to allocate huge funds to Creation atomic weapons and maintaining defense capability. In 1946-1950 was carried out fourth five year plan, Destroyed cities, industry, transport, and agriculture were quickly restored. 8.5 million people were demobilized from the army. As a result of repatriation, over 5.2 million people returned to the USSR from concentration camps and forced labor. Many of them had their rights restricted and ended up in special settlements, working in the most difficult conditions. During restoration work the labor of prisoners of war was used, as well as captured equipment received as reparations.

After the Great Patriotic War, economic recovery took place under slightly different conditions than after the end of Civil War. The regions in the European part of the USSR that suffered during the war were assisted by the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia, which increased their potential. The absolute predominance of the socialist structure and the presence of a rigid command and administrative system made it possible to transfer available human and material resources to the required areas.

Through the heroic labor of one and the same generation of Soviet people in years fourth five year plan(1946-1950) the national economy was restored and, according to official data, many indicators of 1940 were surpassed. In 1949, the USSR tested an atomic bomb, which was of great importance for strengthening the international prestige and security of the country, taking into account the obvious threats from the US leadership.

The defeat of fascism became a triumph not only of the Soviet people, but also of its leader, Stalin. The cult of Stalin's personality in the last years of his reign permeated all spheres of social life. The victorious outcome of the war for a long time obscured for the majority of the population all the mistakes and miscalculations made on the eve of and during the war.



In the economic sphere, strict centralization and an administrative-command leadership style have been preserved. The responsibility of the director corps for the results of production activities has increased, and accordingly the powers of superiors of all ranks in relation to subordinates have expanded.

The collective farm system was restored to its previous form and implemented in the Baltic states, in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. The transfer of funds from agriculture to other sectors of the economy continued. Personal farms of collective farmers were subject to excessive taxes. In 1946, drought struck Ukraine, Moldova, the Right Bank of the Lower and Middle Volga, the Rostov region, and the Central Black Earth zone.

There have also been changes in the political sphere. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR resumed its work. Congresses of trade unions, the Komsomol, and a number of public organizations were held. At the end In 1952, the XIX Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was held, at which it was renamed CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union). People's Commissariats in 1946 were renamed ministries. Decision-making still remained the prerogative of Stalin, who suspected even his closest associates of seeking to remove him from power and was preparing a “second personnel revolution.”

In 1949 it was fabricated “ Leningrad affair". A large group of party, Soviet and economic workers were accused of treason, of intending to turn the Leningrad party organization into a support for the fight against the Central Committee, etc. The death penalty, abolished after the end of the war, was restored. In the “Leningrad Case”, 214 people were convicted at various trials, 23 of them were shot, the rest were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and exile. Over 2 thousand people were expelled from the CPSU(b) or transferred from Leningrad to other regions of the country.

The “Mingrelian case” was fabricated in Georgia. Accusations of nationalism, collaboration with foreign intelligence services, etc. were brought against a number of leading officials. Authoritative military leaders whom Stalin feared were subjected to prosecution and disgrace: Marshal G.K. Zhukov, Air Marshal A.A. Novikov, Fleet Admiral N G. Kuznetsov and many others. In 1949, almost the entire leadership of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, which was accused of having connections with British and Israeli intelligence, was repressed. An anti-Semitic campaign was launched, which reached its climax at the end of 1952 - beginning of 1953. in connection with "The Doctors' Case" The Stalinist regime needed to create an enduring “image of the enemy.” The machinations of “enemies” explained the problems within the country and the need for isolation from the outside world. The Stalinist system of power was restored in full. The apogee of Stalinism was the celebration of Stalin’s 70th birthday in 1949 (In recent years, it has been documented that Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was actually born on December 6 (18), 1878, and not on December 9 (21), 1879, as was believed for a long time .) In spiritual life, after 1945, another “taming of the intelligentsia” began, a revival of strict ideological dictate, which was called “Zhdanovism” after the name of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) A. A. Zhdanov. In 1946-1952. A number of party directive decisions gave devastating assessments of the work of the poet A. A. Akhmatova, satirist M. M. Zoshchenko, film director S. M. Eisenstein, composer D. D. Shostakovich and other recognized masters of Russian artistic culture. Among the accusations were admiration of the West (“adulation”, “cosmopolitanism”), “denigration” of the historical past and incorrect presentation of the present, deviation from “socialist realism” towards “formalism”, etc. Disgraced creators were persecuted.

During the “discussions” on issues of philosophy, natural science, and linguistics, promising scientific directions died out, many scientists were subjected to repression, and false scientists came to the fore (T. D. Lysenko). Genetics and cybernetics were officially considered “the corrupt girls of American imperialism.” The political regime sought to prevent any “revolution in the minds,” which was fraught with dangerous consequences. In social, material and everyday terms, the life of the majority of Soviet people, especially peasants, remained difficult. Vacations and regular days off were restored, but the labor regime remained strict. The abolition of the card system had its source in increasing tax pressure on the village. The decline in prices brought the situation to pre-war levels. With the help of monetary reform, significant funds were withdrawn from the population. Housing was built slowly. The privileged position of the nomenklatura was maintained. The death of Stalin on March 5, 1953 was greeted by a significant part of the population with fear: “as if things would get worse.”



 
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