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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. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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
2015: Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bomber firing a cruise missile
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.”