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Russia, 1917–91: From Lenin to Yeltsin

Government, 1953–85

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Recall questions on the succession struggle, the Secret Speech, Khrushchev's reorganisations, his removal in 1964, and stability of cadres under Brezhnev.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

Who launched de-Stalinisation and how?

Key term

What phrase describes the political mood under Brezhnev after 1964?

Key term

What is meant by 'stability of cadres' under Brezhnev?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who launched de-Stalinisation and how?

    Model answer

    Khrushchev, in his 1956 'Secret Speech' denouncing Stalin's crimes.

  2. 2

    What phrase describes the political mood under Brezhnev after 1964?

    Model answer

    The 'era of stagnation' — a return to stability with little reform.

  3. 3

    How was the succession to Stalin resolved?

    Model answer

    By collective leadership, then a struggle in which Beria was arrested and shot in 1953 and Khrushchev outmanoeuvred Malenkov and the Anti-Party Group by 1957.

  4. 4

    Who was Alexei Kosygin?

    Model answer

    Soviet Premier from 1964 to 1980, who shared power with Brezhnev in the collective leadership and sponsored the limited economic reform of 1965.

  5. 5

    What were the effects of the Secret Speech?

    Model answer

    Millions were released from the camps and some victims rehabilitated, but it also encouraged unrest in Poland and the Hungarian rising, which was crushed.

  6. 6

    What administrative reforms did Khrushchev attempt?

    Model answer

    He decentralised industrial management to regional councils and split the party apparatus into industrial and agricultural wings, which disrupted careers and made him many enemies.

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