The results of Stalin's rule speak for themselves. In order to devalue them, to form a negative assessment of the Stalin era in the public consciousness, fighters against totalitarianism, willy-nilly, have to escalate the horrors, attributing monstrous atrocities to Stalin.
At the liar's contest
In an accusatory rage, the writers of anti-Stalin horror stories seem to be competing to see who can tell the biggest lies, vying with each other to name the astronomical numbers of those killed at the hands of the “bloody tyrant.” Against their background, dissident Roy Medvedev, who limited himself to a “modest” figure of 40 million, looks like some kind of black sheep, a model of moderation and conscientiousness:
“Thus, the total number of victims of Stalinism reaches, according to my calculations, approximately 40 million people.”
And in fact, it is undignified. Another dissident, the son of the repressed Trotskyist revolutionary A.V. Antonov-Ovseenko, without a shadow of embarrassment, names twice the figure:
“These calculations are very, very approximate, but I am sure of one thing: the Stalinist regime bled the people dry, destroying more than 80 million of its best sons.”
Professional “rehabilitators” led by former member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Yakovlev are already talking about 100 million:
“According to the most conservative estimates of rehabilitation commission specialists, our country lost about 100 million people during the years of Stalin’s rule. This number includes not only the repressed themselves, but also members of their families doomed to death and even children who could have been born, but were never born.”
However, according to Yakovlev, the notorious 100 million includes not only direct “victims of the regime,” but also unborn children. But the writer Igor Bunich without hesitation claims that all these “100 million people were mercilessly exterminated.”
However, this is not the limit. The absolute record was set by Boris Nemtsov, who announced on November 7, 2003 in the “Freedom of Speech” program on the NTV channel about 150 million people allegedly lost by the Russian state after 1917.
Who are these fantastically ridiculous figures, eagerly replicated by the Russian and foreign media, intended for? For those who have forgotten how to think for themselves, who are accustomed to uncritically accepting on faith any nonsense coming from television screens.
It’s easy to see the absurdity of the multimillion-dollar numbers of “victims of repression.” It is enough to open any demographic directory and, picking up a calculator, make simple calculations. For those who are too lazy to do this, I will give a small illustrative example.
According to the population census conducted in January 1959, the population of the USSR was 208,827 thousand people. By the end of 1913, 159,153 thousand people lived within the same borders. It is easy to calculate that the average annual population growth of our country in the period from 1914 to 1959 was 0.60%.
Now let's see how the population of England, France and Germany grew in those same years - countries that also took an active part in both world wars.
So, the rate of population growth in the Stalinist USSR turned out to be almost one and a half times higher than in Western “democracies,” although for these states we excluded the extremely unfavorable demographic years of the 1st World War. Could this have happened if the “bloody Stalinist regime” had destroyed 150 million or at least 40 million inhabitants of our country? Of course no!
Archival documents say
To find out the true number of those executed under Stalin, it is not at all necessary to engage in fortune telling on coffee grounds. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the declassified documents. The most famous of them is a memo addressed to N. S. Khrushchev dated February 1, 1954:
"To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
Comrade Khrushchev N.S.
In connection with signals received by the CPSU Central Committee from a number of individuals about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, and the Special Meeting. By the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report:
According to data available from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the period from 1921 to the present, 3,777,380 people were convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Conference, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals, including:
Of the total number of those arrested, approximately, 2,900,000 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference, and 877,000 people were convicted by courts, military tribunals, the Special Collegium and the Military Collegium.
…
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"
As is clear from the document, in total, from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, on political charges, 642,980 people were sentenced to death, 2,369,220 to imprisonment, and 765,180 to exile. However, there are more detailed data on the number of those convicted
Thus, between 1921 and 1953, 815,639 people were sentenced to death. In total, in 1918–1953, 4,308,487 people were brought to criminal liability in cases of state security agencies, of which 835,194 were sentenced to capital punishment.
So, there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the report dated February 1, 1954. However, the difference is not too great - the numbers are of the same order.
In addition, it is quite possible that among those who received sentences on political charges there were a fair number of criminals. On one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which the above table was compiled, there is a pencil note:
“Total convicts for 1921–1938. - 2,944,879 people, of which 30% (1,062 thousand) are criminals"
In this case, the total number of “victims of repression” does not exceed three million. However, to finally clarify this issue, additional work with sources is necessary.
It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, of the 76 death sentences handed down by the Tyumen District Court in the first half of 1929, by January 1930, 46 had been changed or overturned by higher authorities, and of the remaining, only nine were carried out.
From July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production. However, then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years.
In 1934, there were 3,849 prisoners in NKVD camps who were sentenced to death and commuted to imprisonment. In 1935 there were 5671 such prisoners, in 1936 - 7303, in 1937 - 6239, in 1938 - 5926, in 1939 - 3425, in 1940 - 4037 people.
Number of prisoners
At first, the number of prisoners in forced labor camps (ITL) was relatively small. So, on January 1, 1930, it amounted to 179,000 people, on January 1, 1931 - 212,000, on January 1, 1932 - 268,700, on January 1, 1933 - 334,300, on January 1, 1934 - 510 307 people.
In addition to the ITL, there were correctional labor colonies (CLCs), where those sentenced to short terms were sent. Until the fall of 1938, the penitentiary complexes, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD of the USSR. Therefore, for the years 1935–1938, only joint statistics have been found so far. Since 1939, penal colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD of the USSR.
How much can you trust these numbers? All of them are taken from the internal reports of the NKVD - secret documents not intended for publication. In addition, these summary figures are quite consistent with the initial reports; they can be broken down monthly, as well as by individual camps:
Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190–195 million.
Thus, we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. On January 1, 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people - the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546 prisoners per 100 thousand population, 1.54%. This is the highest figure ever.
Let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of places of deprivation of liberty: jail - an approximate analogue of our temporary detention centers, in which those under investigation are kept, as well as convicts serving short sentences, and prison - the prison itself. At the end of 1999, there were 1,366,721 people in prisons and 687,973 in jails (see the website of the Bureau of Legal Statistics of the US Department of Justice), which gives a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million Therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.
Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself the protection of “human rights” on a global scale.
Moreover, this is a comparison of the peak number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR, which was also caused first by the civil and then by the Great Patriotic War. And among the so-called “victims of political repression” there will be a fair share of supporters of the white movement, collaborators, Hitler’s accomplices, members of the ROA, policemen, not to mention ordinary criminals.
There are calculations that compare the average number of prisoners over a period of several years.
The data on the number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR exactly coincides with the above. According to these data, it turns out that on average for the period from 1930 to 1940, there were 583 prisoners per 100,000 people, or 0.58%. Which is significantly less than the same figure in Russia and the USA in the 90s.
What is the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin? Of course, if you take a table with the annual number of prisoners and sum up the rows, as many anti-Sovietists do, the result will be incorrect, since most of them were sentenced to more than a year. Therefore, it should be assessed not by the amount of those imprisoned, but by the amount of those convicted, which was given above.
How many of the prisoners were “political”?
As we see, until 1942, the “repressed” made up no more than a third of the prisoners held in the Gulag camps. And only then their share increased, receiving a worthy “replenishment” in the person of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.
Prisoner mortality
Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.
In 1931, 7,283 people died in the ITL (3.03% of the average annual number), in 1932 - 13,197 (4.38%), in 1933 - 67,297 (15.94%), in 1934 - 26,295 prisoners (4.26%).
For 1953, data is provided for the first three months.
As we see, mortality in places of detention (especially in prisons) did not reach those fantastic values that denouncers like to talk about. But still its level is quite high. It increases especially strongly in the first years of the war. As was stated in the certificate of mortality according to the NKVD OITK for 1941, compiled by the acting. Head of the Sanitary Department of the Gulag NKVD I.K. Zitserman:
Basically, mortality began to increase sharply from September 1941, mainly due to the transfer of convicts from units located in the front-line areas: from the BBK and Vytegorlag to the OITK of the Vologda and Omsk regions, from the OITK of the Moldavian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Leningrad region. in OITK Kirov, Molotov and Sverdlovsk regions. As a rule, a significant part of the journey of several hundred kilometers before loading into wagons was carried out on foot. Along the way, they were not at all provided with the minimum necessary food products (they did not receive enough bread and even water); as a result of this confinement, the prisoners suffered severe exhaustion, a very large % of vitamin deficiency diseases, in particular pellagra, which caused significant mortality along the route and along arrival at the respective OITKs, which were not prepared to receive a significant number of replenishments. At the same time, the introduction of reduced food standards by 25–30% (order No. 648 and 0437) with an extended working day to 12 hours, and often the absence of basic food products, even at reduced standards, could not but affect the increase in morbidity and mortality
However, since 1944, mortality has decreased significantly. By the beginning of the 1950s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1%, and in prisons - below 0.5% per year.
Special camps
Let's say a few words about the notorious Special Camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special Prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “individuals who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special prisons were to be used for hard physical work.
As we see, the mortality rate of prisoners in special detention centers was only slightly higher than the mortality rate in ordinary correctional labor camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which the elite of the dissident intelligentsia were supposedly exterminated; moreover, the largest contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.
Notes:
1. Medvedev R. A. Tragic statistics // Arguments and facts. 1989, February 4–10. No. 5(434). P. 6. The well-known researcher of repression statistics V.N. Zemskov claims that Roy Medvedev immediately renounced his article: “Roy Medvedev himself even before the publication of my articles (meaning Zemskov’s articles in “Arguments and Facts” starting with no. 38 for 1989. - I.P.) placed in one of the issues of “Arguments and Facts” for 1989 an explanation that his article in No. 5 for the same year is invalid. Mr. Maksudov is probably not entirely aware of this story, otherwise he would hardly have undertaken to defend calculations that are far from the truth, which their author himself, having realized his mistake, publicly renounced” (Zemskov V.N. On the issue of the scale of repression in USSR // Sociological Research. 1995. No. 9. P. 121). However, in reality, Roy Medvedev did not even think of disavowing his publication. In No. 11 (440) for March 18–24, 1989, his answers to questions from a correspondent of “Arguments and Facts” were published, in which, confirming the “facts” stated in the previous article, Medvedev simply clarified that responsibility for the repressions was not the entire Communist Party as a whole, but only its leadership.
2. Antonov-Ovseenko A.V. Stalin without a mask. M., 1990. P. 506.
3. Mikhailova N. Underpants of counter-revolution // Premier. Vologda, 2002, July 24–30. No. 28(254). P. 10.
4. Bunich I. Sword of the President. M., 2004. P. 235.
5. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlanis. M., 1974. P. 23.
6. Ibid. P. 26.
7. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.2. D.450. L.30–65. Quote by: Dugin A.N. Stalinism: legends and facts // Word. 1990. No. 7. P. 26.
8. Mozokhin O. B. Cheka-OGPU Punishing sword of the dictatorship of the proletariat. M., 2004. P. 167.
9. Ibid. P. 169
10. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.1. D.4157. L.202. Quote by: Popov V.P. State terror in Soviet Russia. 1923–1953: sources and their interpretation // Domestic archives. 1992. No. 2. P. 29.
11. About the work of the Tyumen District Court. Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR of January 18, 1930 // Judicial practice of the RSFSR. 1930, February 28. No. 3. P. 4.
12. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 6. P. 15.
13. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.7.
14. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.1.
15. Number of prisoners in the correctional labor camp: 1935–1948 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.2; 1950 - Ibid. L.5; 1951 - Ibid. L.8; 1952 - Ibid. L.11; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.
In penal colonies and prisons (average for the month of January):. 1935 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L. 17; 1936 - Ibid. L. ZO; 1937 - Ibid. L.41; 1938 -Ibid. L.47.
In the ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.2ob; 1940 - Ibid. D.1155. L.30; 1941 - Ibid. L.34; 1942 - Ibid. L.38; 1943 - Ibid. L.42; 1944 - Ibid. L.76; 1945 - Ibid. L.77; 1946 - Ibid. L.78; 1947 - Ibid. L.79; 1948 - Ibid. L.80; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.Z; 1950 - Ibid. L.6; 1951 - Ibid. L.9; 1952 - Ibid. L. 14; 1953 - Ibid. L. 19.
In prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.1ob; 1940 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.6. L.67; 1941 - Ibid. L. 126; 1942 - Ibid. L.197; 1943 - Ibid. D.48. L.1; 1944 - Ibid. L.133; 1945 - Ibid. D.62. L.1; 1946 - Ibid. L. 107; 1947 - Ibid. L.216; 1948 - Ibid. D.91. L.1; 1949 - Ibid. L.64; 1950 - Ibid. L.123; 1951 - Ibid. L. 175; 1952 - Ibid. L.224; 1953 - Ibid. D.162.L.2ob.
16. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.20–22.
17. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlaisa. M., 1974. P. 23.
18. http://lenin-kerrigan.livejournal.com/518795.html | https://de.wikinews.org/wiki/Die_meisten_Gefangenen_weltweit_leben_in_US-Gef%C3%A4ngnissen
19. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.3.
20. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.26–27.
21. Dugin A. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990. No. 7. P. 5.
22. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 7. pp. 10–11.
23. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.1.
24. Ibid. L.53.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid. D. 1155. L.2.
27. Mortality in ITL: 1935–1947 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1948 - Ibid. D. 1190. L.36, 36v.; 1949 - Ibid. D. 1319. L.2, 2v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.5, 5v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.8, 8v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.11, 11v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.
Penal colonies and prisons: 1935–1036 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.52; 1937 - Ibid. L.44; 1938 - Ibid. L.50.
ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.60; 1940 - Ibid. L.70; 1941 - Ibid. D.2784. L.4ob, 6; 1942 - Ibid. L.21; 1943 - Ibid. D.2796. L.99; 1944 - Ibid. D.1155. L.76, 76ob.; 1945 - Ibid. L.77, 77ob.; 1946 - Ibid. L.78, 78ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.79, 79ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.80: 80rpm; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.3, 3v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.6, 6v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.9, 9v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.14, 14v.; 1953 - Ibid. L.19, 19v.
Prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.11. L.1ob.; 1940 - Ibid. L.2ob.; 1941 - Ibid. L. Goiter; 1942 - Ibid. L.4ob.; 1943 -Ibid., L.5ob.; 1944 - Ibid. L.6ob.; 1945 - Ibid. D.10. L.118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133; 1946 - Ibid. D.11. L.8ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.9ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.10ob.; 1949 - Ibid. L.11ob.; 1950 - Ibid. L.12ob.; 1951 - Ibid. L.1 3v.; 1952 - Ibid. D.118. L.238, 248, 258, 268, 278, 288, 298, 308, 318, 326ob., 328ob.; D.162. L.2ob.; 1953 - Ibid. D.162. L.4v., 6v., 8v.
28. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1181.L.1.
29. System of forced labor camps in the USSR, 1923–1960: Directory. M., 1998. P. 52.
30. Dugin A. N. Unknown GULAG: Documents and facts. M.: Nauka, 1999. P. 47.
31. 1952 - GARF.F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1319. L.11, 11 vol. 13, 13v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 18.
The crimes of rulers cannot be blamed on those over whom they rule; Governments are sometimes bandits, but peoples never are. V. Hugo.
After the villainous murder of S.M. Kirov, mass repressions began. On the evening of December 1, 1934, on the initiative of Stalin (without a decision of the Politburo - this was formalized by a poll only 2 days later), the following resolution was signed by the Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee, Enukidze.
1) Investigative authorities - to conduct cases of those accused of preparing or committing terrorist acts in an expedited manner;
2) Judicial authorities - not to delay the execution of capital sentences due to petitions for pardon from criminals of this category, since the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR does not consider it possible to accept such petitions for consideration;
3) The bodies of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs - to carry out the sentence of capital punishment in relation to criminals of the above categories immediately after the pronouncement of court sentences.
This resolution served as the basis for massive violations of socialist legality. In many falsified investigative cases, the accused were accused of “preparation” of terrorist acts, and this deprived the accused of any opportunity to verify their cases, even when at trial they renounced their forced “confessions” and convincingly refuted the charges.
It should be said that the circumstances surrounding the murder of Kirov still conceal a lot of incomprehensible and mysterious things and require the most thorough investigation. There is reason to think that the killer of Kirov, Nikolaev, was helped by someone from the people responsible for protecting Kirov. A month and a half before the murder, Nikolaev was arrested for suspicious behavior, but was released and not even searched. It is extremely suspicious that when a security officer assigned to Kirov in December 1934 was taken for interrogation, he was killed in a car “accident”, and none of the persons accompanying him were injured. After the murder of Kirov, the leading employees of the Leningrad NKVD were removed from work and subjected to very mild punishments, but in 1937 they were shot. It can be noted that they were shot in order to cover up the traces of the organizers of Kirov’s murder.
Mass repressions intensified sharply from the end of 1936 after a telegram from Stalin and Zhdanov from Sochi dated September 25, 1936, addressed to Kaganovich, Molotov and other members of the Politburo, which stated the following:
“We consider it absolutely necessary and urgent to appoint Comrade Yezhov to the post of People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs. Yagoda clearly failed to rise to the occasion of his task in exposing the Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc. The OGPU was 4 years late in this matter. Party workers and most regional representatives of the NKVD speak about this.” Khlevnyuk O.V., 1937: Stalin, the NKVD and Soviet society. - M.: Republic, 1992 - P.9..
It should be noted, by the way, that Stalin did not meet with party workers and therefore could not know their opinion. This Stalinist attitude that “the NKVD was 4 years late” with the use of mass repressions, that it was necessary to quickly “catch up” for lost time, directly pushed the NKVD workers to mass arrests and executions. Mass repressions were carried out at that time under the banner of the fight against Trotskyists.
In Stalin’s report at the February-March Plenum of the Central Committee of 1937, “On the shortcomings of party work and measures to eliminate Trotskyists and other double-dealers,” an attempt was made to theoretically substantiate the policy of mass repression under the pretext that “as we move forward towards socialism,” the class struggle should supposedly become more and more aggravated. At the same time, Stalin argued that this is what history teaches, and this is what Lenin teaches. In fact, Lenin pointed out that the use of revolutionary violence is caused by the need to suppress the resistance of the exploiting classes, and these instructions from Lenin related to the period when the exploiting classes existed and were strong. As soon as the political situation in the country improved, as soon as Rostov was captured by the Red Army in January 1920 and a major victory was won over Denikin, Lenin instructed Dzerzhinsky to abolish mass terror and to abolish the death penalty. Lenin justified this important political event of the Soviet government as follows in his report at the session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on February 2, 1920:
“Terror was imposed by the terrorism of the Entente, when all the peacefully powerful powers fell upon us in their hordes, stopping at nothing. We could not have held out even for two days if these attempts by the officers and White Guards had not been responded to in a merciless manner, and this meant terror, but this was imposed on us by the terrorist methods of the Entente. And as soon as we won a decisive victory, even before the end of the war, immediately after the capture of Rostov, we abandoned the use of the death penalty and thereby showed that we treat our own program as we promised. We say that the use of violence is caused by the task of suppressing the exploiters, suppressing the landowners and capitalists; When this is resolved, we will abandon all exceptional measures. We have proven this in practice."
Stalin retreated from these direct and clear program instructions from Lenin. After all the exploiting classes in our country had already been liquidated, and there were no serious grounds for the massive use of exceptional measures, for mass terror, Stalin oriented the party, oriented the NKVD organs towards mass terror.
From 1929 to 1953 alone, 19.5-2.2 million Soviet citizens became victims of Stalin's repressions. Of these, at least a third were sentenced to death or died in camps and exile. After the war, society in socio-political terms was not just “mothballed”, but acquired some new gloomy features of a bureaucratic, police nature. Stalin managed to combine the incongruous - to support in every possible way the external enthusiasm, the asceticism of people who believed that those same shining peaks were just around the corner, just beyond the nearest pass. And then there is the constant threat of individual or mass terror.
CONCLUSION
Stalin dictatorship repression
Since this period was too huge for a more detailed consideration, I highlighted the most prominent errors and shortcomings.
It should be noted that in Stalin’s activities, along with positive aspects, there were theoretical and political errors. Some traits of his character negatively affected the structure of our country. If in the first years of work without Lenin, Stalin took into account critical remarks addressed to him, then later he began to retreat from the Leninist principles of collective leadership and the norms of party life, and to overestimate his own merits in the successes of the party and the people. Gradually, the personality cult of Stalin developed, which entailed gross violations of socialist legality and caused serious harm to the activities of the party and the cause of communist construction.
Stalin loved secrets. Big and small. But most of all he adored the secrets of power. There were a lot of them. They were often creepy. His biggest secret was that he managed to become a symbol of socialism. Much positive that was born in society became a reality, primarily not thanks to, but in spite of Stalin.
The constant “secret” of influencing public consciousness was maintaining continuous tension in society. Stalin knew another “secret” of managing public consciousness: it is important to introduce myths, cliches, and legends into it, which are based not so much on rational knowledge as on faith. People were taught to believe in the absolute values of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Ritual meetings, manifestations, oaths made them part of the worldview. Confidence based on truth was replaced by faith. People believed in socialism, in the “leader”, in the fact that our society is the most perfect and advanced, in the sinlessness of power.
Stalin's life demonstrates that the lack of harmony between politics and morality always ultimately leads to collapse. The historical pendulum of events in our country raised Stalin to the highest point and lowered him to the lowest. A person who believes only in the power of violence can only move from one crime to another.
63) Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
The Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945) - a war between the USSR, Germany and its allies within World War II wars on the territory of the USSR and Germany. Germany attacked the USSR on June 22, 1941, with the expectation of a short military campaign, but the war dragged on for several years and ended in the complete defeat of Germany. The Great Patriotic War became the final stage of the Second World War.
Causes of the Great Patriotic War
After the defeat in First World War During the war, Germany was left in a difficult situation - the political situation was unstable, the economy was in a deep crisis. Around this time he came to power Hitler, who, thanks to his reforms in the economy, was able to quickly bring Germany out of the crisis and thereby win the trust of the authorities and the people. Having become the head of the country, Hitler began to pursue his policy, which was based on the idea of the superiority of the Germans over other races and peoples. Hitler not only wanted to take revenge for losing the First World War, but also to subjugate the whole world to his will. The result of his claims was a German attack on the Czech Republic and Poland, and then, within the framework of the outbreak of World War II, on other European countries.
Until 1941, there was a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR, but Hitler violated it by attacking the USSR. In order to conquer the Soviet Union, the German command developed a plan for a rapid attack that was supposed to bring victory within two months. Having seized the territories and wealth of the USSR, Hitler could enter into open confrontation with the United States for the right to world political domination.
The attack was swift, but did not bring the desired results - the Russian army offered stronger resistance than the Germans expected, and the war dragged on for many years.
Main periods of the Great Patriotic War
First period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) Within a year after Germany attacked the USSR, the German army was able to conquer significant territories, which included Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. After this, the troops moved inland with the goal of capturing Moscow and Leningrad, however, despite the failures of Russian soldiers at the beginning of the war, the Germans failed to take the capital. Leningrad was besieged, but the Germans were not allowed into the city. The battles for Moscow, Leningrad and Novgorod continued until 1942.
The period of radical change (1942 - 1943) The middle period of the war is so called due to the fact that it was at this time that Soviet troops were able to take the advantage in the war into their own hands and launch a counter-offensive. The German and Allied armies gradually began to retreat back to the western border, and many foreign legions were defeated and destroyed. Thanks to the fact that the entire industry of the USSR at that time worked for military needs, the Soviet army managed to significantly increase its weapons and provide worthy resistance. The USSR army turned from a defender into an attacker.
The final period of the war (1943 - 1945). During this period, the USSR began to recapture the lands occupied by the Germans and move towards Germany. Leningrad was liberated, Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia, Poland, and then into German territory. On May 8, Berlin was captured and German troops announced unconditional surrender. Hitler hanged himself after learning that the war was lost. War is over.
The main battles of the Great Patriotic War
Results and significance of the Great Patriotic War
Despite the fact that the main goal of the Great Patriotic War was defensive, in the end, Soviet troops went on the offensive and not only liberated their territories, but also destroyed the German army, took Berlin and stopped Hitler’s victorious march across Europe. The Great Patriotic War became the last stage of the Second World War.
Unfortunately, despite the victory, this war turned out to be ruinous for the USSR - the country's economy after the war was in a deep crisis, since industry worked exclusively for the military sector, most of the population was killed, and those who remained were starving.
However, for the USSR, victory in this war meant that the Union was now becoming a world superpower, which had the right to dictate its terms in the political arena.
64) Post-war reconstruction and further development of the national economy of the USSR
Difficulties of post-war reconstruction. In the first post-war years, the main task was to restore the destroyed national economy. The war caused enormous damage to the USSR economy: 1,710 cities and towns, more than 70 thousand villages and hamlets, 32 thousand industrial enterprises, 65 thousand km of railways, 98 thousand collective farms, 1876 state farms, 2890 MTS were destroyed, 27 million were killed. Soviet citizens.
The United States, according to the Marshall Plan, provided European countries with enormous financial assistance in economic recovery: from 1948 to 1951. European countries received $12.4 billion from the United States. The United States also offered financial assistance to the Soviet Union, but subject to their control over the spending of the funds provided. The Soviet government rejected this assistance under such conditions. The Soviet Union restored its economy using its own resources.
Already at the end of May 1945, the State Defense Committee decided to transfer part of the defense enterprises to the production of consumer goods. On June 23, 1945, the session of the Supreme Council adopted the Law on the demobilization of 13-age army personnel. Those demobilized were provided with a set of clothes and shoes, a one-time cash allowance, and local authorities had to find them jobs within a month. There have been changes in the structure of government bodies. In 1945, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was abolished. All economic management functions were concentrated in the hands of the Council of People's Commissars (since 1946 - the Council of Ministers of the USSR). At enterprises and institutions, normal work was resumed: the 8-hour working day and annual paid leave were restored. The state budget was revised, and allocations for the development of civilian sectors of the economy increased. The State Planning Committee prepared a 4-year plan for the restoration of the national economy for 1946-1950.
Restoration and development of industry.
In the industrial field, three major problems had to be solved:
demilitarize the economy;
restore destroyed enterprises;
carry out new construction.
The demilitarization of the economy was largely completed in 1946-1947. Some people's commissariats of the military industry (tank, mortar weapons, ammunition) were abolished. Instead, ministries of civil production (agricultural, transport engineering, etc.) were created. The difficulties of the transition of industry from military to peaceful production were quickly overcome, and already in October 1947, industrial output reached the average monthly level of 1940, and in 1948, the pre-war level of industrial output was exceeded by 18%, and in heavy industry by 30%.
The most important place in the restoration of industry was given to power plants as the energy basis of industrial areas. Huge funds were spent on the restoration of the largest power plant in Europe - the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. The colossal destruction was eliminated in a short time. Already in March 1947, the station produced its first current, and in 1950 it began operating at full capacity.
Among the priority recovery industries were the coal and metallurgical industries, primarily the Donbass mines and the country's metallurgical giants - Zaporizhstal and Azovstal. Already in 1950, coal production in the Donbass exceeded the level of 1940. The Donbass again became the most important coal basin in the country.
The construction of new industrial enterprises throughout the country has gained significant momentum. In total, during the years of the first post-war five-year plan, 6,200 large enterprises were built and those destroyed during the war were restored.
In the post-war period, the state paid special attention to the development of the defense industry, primarily the creation of atomic weapons. In 1948, a plutonium production reactor was built in the Chelyabinsk region, and by the fall of 1949, atomic weapons were created in the USSR. 4 years later (summer 1953), the first hydrogen bomb was tested in the USSR. At the end of the 40s. The USSR began to use nuclear energy to produce electricity: the construction of nuclear power plants began. The world's first nuclear power plant - Obninsk (near Moscow) came into operation in 1954.
In general, industry was restored by 1947. In general, the five-year plan for industrial output was fulfilled greatly in excess: instead of the planned growth of 48%, the volume of industrial output in 1950 exceeded the 1940 level by 73%.
Agriculture. The war caused particularly heavy damage to agriculture. Crop areas were greatly reduced, and the number of cattle was extremely low. The situation was complicated by a drought unprecedented in the last 50 years in 1946 in Ukraine, Moldova, the Lower Volga region, and the North Caucasus. In 1946, the average yield was 4.6 centners per hectare. The famine caused a massive exodus of population to the cities. In February 1947, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks considered the issue “On measures to boost agriculture in the post-war period.” The resolution outlined a program for the restoration and further development of agriculture.
During the years of the first five-year plan, 536 thousand tractors, 93 thousand grain combines, 845 thousand tractor plows, seeders, cultivators, and other agricultural equipment were sent to the villages. The number of machine operators in MTS on collective and state farms reached 1.4 million people. in 1950. Extensive work was carried out on rural electrification: in 1950, the capacity of rural power plants and electrical installations was three times greater than in 1940; 76% of state farms and 15% of collective farms used electricity.
In order to strengthen collective farms in the early 1950s. the consolidation of farms was carried out through the voluntary merger of small collective farms into larger ones. Instead of 254 thousand small collective farms in 1950, 93 thousand enlarged farms were created. This contributed to the improvement of agricultural production and more efficient use of technology.
At the same time, in the fall of 1946, the state launched a broad campaign against gardening and vegetable farming under the banner of squandering public lands and collective farm property. Personal subsidiary plots were cut back and heavily taxed. It got to the point of absurdity: every fruit tree was taxed. In the late 40s - early 50s. dispossession of personal farms and the creation of new collective farms were carried out in the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic republics, and Right Bank Moldova, annexed in 1939-1940. to the USSR. Mass collectivization was carried out in these areas.
Despite the measures taken, the situation in agriculture remained difficult. Agriculture could not meet the country's needs for food and agricultural raw materials. The socio-economic situation of the rural population also remained difficult. Payment for labor was purely symbolic; collective farmers were not entitled to pensions, they did not have passports, and they were not allowed to leave the village without permission from the authorities.
The 4th Five-Year Plan for agricultural development was not fulfilled. Feed, grain, and meat and dairy industries remained constant problems in agriculture. However, the level of agricultural production in 1950 reached pre-war levels. In 1947, the card system for food and industrial goods and monetary reform were abolished.
Socio-political and cultural life. In the post-war period, restoring the economy and establishing a peaceful life required enormous spiritual effort from the entire society. Meanwhile, the creative and scientific intelligentsia, by their nature gravitating towards expanding their creative contacts, hoped for the liberalization of life, the weakening of strict party-state control, and pinned hopes on the development and strengthening of cultural contacts with the United States and Western countries.
But the international situation changed dramatically immediately after the war. Instead of cooperation in the relations between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, confrontation began. The intelligentsia still hoped for expanded cooperation with the West. The leadership of the USSR set a course for “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, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”, in which the work of writers M. Zoshchenko and A. Akhmatova was criticized. At the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, where the issue of these magazines was discussed, JV Stalin said that a 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.” The work of other theater, film, and music figures was subjected to the same criticism.
In 1949, a broad campaign against cosmopolitanism and “adulation to the West” began in society. “Rootless cosmopolitans” were discovered in many cities, and the disclosure of creative pseudonyms became widespread.
The authorities began to explain the difficulties of post-war development and disruptions in certain types of production by the “sabotage” of the technical intelligentsia. Thus, “sabotage” was discovered in the production of aviation equipment (“The Case of Shakhurin, Novikov, etc.), the automobile industry (“On hostile elements at the ZIS”), and in the Moscow healthcare system (“On the situation in the MGB and sabotage in the medical field” The "doctors' case" (1952-1953) received great attention. A group of famous doctors, most of whom were Jewish, were accused of poisoning and hastening the death of people close to I.V. Stalin - A.A. Zhdanov, A.S. Shcherbakov, as well as, even before the war, M. Gorky and others. After the death of I.V. Stalin, most of them were released. In the "Leningrad case" (1949-1950), a number of leaders of the Leningrad party organization was accused of creating an anti-party group and carrying out sabotage work.Among them were A.A. Kuznetsov - Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, M.N. Rodionov - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.
In 1952, the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks took place, at which I.V. was last present. Stalin. At the congress, it was decided to rename the CPSU (b) to the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union).
On March 5, 1953, I.V. died. Stalin, whose death was greeted differently by the Soviet people.
65)Socio-political and cultural life
Post-war ideological campaigns and repression
During the war and immediately after it, the intelligentsia, primarily scientific and creative, hoped for the liberalization of public life and the weakening of strict party-state control. However, the international situation changed dramatically soon after the war. The Cold War began. Instead of cooperation, confrontation arose. The leadership of the USSR set a course for immediately “tightening the screws” in relation to the intelligentsia, which had somewhat weakened in the last years of the war. In 1946-1948. Several resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were adopted on cultural issues. We started with the Leningraders. The March 1946 resolution “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” subjected the work of M. Zoshchenko and A. Akhmatova to merciless criticism. At the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, where this issue was discussed, I.V. 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.” The country's main ideologist at that time, A.A. Zhdanov, speaking in Leningrad to explain the resolution, called Zoshchenko a “vulgarity,” a “non-Soviet writer.” After the defeat of the Leningrad writers, they took up theater, cinema, and music. Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Party “On the repertoire of drama theaters and measures to improve it”, “On the film “Big Life””, “On Muradeli’s opera “The Great Friendship””, etc. were adopted accordingly.
Science was also subjected to ideological destruction. The development of agriculture was negatively affected by the position of a group of scientific administrators led by Academician T.D. Lysenko, who took a monopoly position in the management of agricultural science. Her position was enshrined in the decisions of the notorious session of the VASKhNIL (Academy of Agricultural Sciences), held in August 1948. The session dealt a strong blow to genetics, the key science of modern natural science. Lysenko's views were recognized as the only correct ones in biology. They were called the “Michurin doctrine.” Classical genetics was recognized as a reactionary direction in biological science.
Attacks also began against the core of theoretical physics of the 20th century - quantum theory and the theory of relativity. The latter was declared "reactionary Einsteinianism." Cybernetics was called a reactionary pseudoscience. Philosophers argued that the US imperialists needed it to spark a third world war.
Spiritual terror was accompanied by physical terror, as evidenced by the “Leningrad Affair” (1949-1951) and the “Doctors’ Affair” (1952-1953). Formally, the “Leningrad affair” began in January 1949 after an anonymous letter was received by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks about the rigging of the election results for the secretaries of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the City Party Committee. It ended with the dismissal of more than 2 thousand leaders who had ever worked in Leningrad, and the execution of over 200 of them. They were accused of trying to destroy the USSR, pitting Russia against the Union, and Leningrad against Moscow.
In recent years, two opposing courses have been closely intertwined in Soviet society: a course towards actually strengthening the repressive role of the state and a course towards formal democratization of the political system. The latter manifested itself in the following forms. In the fall of 1945, immediately after the defeat of militaristic Japan, the state of emergency in the USSR was ended 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 USSR Supreme Council 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. 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 I.V. Stalin was present. The congress decided to rename the CPSU (b) to the CPSU.
Death of Stalin. Power struggle
On March 5, 1953, I.V. Stalin died. Millions of Soviet people mourned this death, while other millions associated hopes for a better life with this event. Both were separated not only by different feelings, but often by the barbed wire of numerous concentration camps. By this time, according to N.S. Khrushchev, there were about 10 million people in concentration camps and exile. With the death of Stalin, a complex, heroic and bloody page in the history of Soviet society ended. A few years later, remembering his front-line ally and political enemy, W. Churchill called Stalin an eastern tyrant and a great politician who “took Russia with bast shoes and left it with atomic weapons.”
After the funeral of I.V. Stalin (he was buried in the mausoleum next to V.I. Lenin), the top leadership of the state redistributed responsibilities: K.E. Voroshilov was elected head of state, G.M. Malenkov was approved as head of government, and N. A. Bulganin, Minister of the united Ministry of Internal Affairs (which included the Ministry of State Security) - L. P. Beria. The post of party leader remained vacant. In fact, all power in the country was concentrated in the hands of Beria and Malenkov.
On Beria’s initiative, the “case of doctors” of the Kremlin hospital, accused of seeking to kill the leaders of the party, state, and international communist movement, was discontinued. He insisted on depriving the Party Central Committee of the right to manage the country’s economy, limiting it only to political activities.
In the summer of 1953, having returned from Berlin, where he led the suppression of the anti-Soviet uprising, and proposed to abandon support for the GDR, agreeing to its unification with the Federal Republic of Germany, Beria was arrested. The initiators of this extremely dangerous action were the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev and the Minister of Defense N.A. Bulganin. The capture group of the all-powerful Beria, consisting of generals and officers of the Moscow air defense district, was led by Bulganin’s deputy, Marshal G.K. Zhukov. In December 1953, a closed trial and execution of Beria and his closest associates took place. They were accused of organizing mass repressions during Stalin's life and preparing a coup after his death. In the history of the Soviet state, this was the last major trial of “enemies of the people” involving persons of such high rank.
66) Complication of the international situation. The collapse of the anti-Hitler coalition
After the defeat of Germany and Japan, the geopolitical situation in the world began to change dramatically. Two centers of attraction and confrontation arose - the USSR and the USA, around which military-political blocs began to be created and plans for a new war were developed. The USSR emerged from the Second World War as a universally recognized great power that played a key role in the defeat of German fascism and Japanese militarism. In the United Nations Security Council, created in 1945, the USSR became one of the five permanent members along with the USA, Great Britain, France and China. The results of World War II predetermined the course of world development for decades. There have been huge changes in the world. The defeat of German fascism and Japanese militarism meant the victory of humanism, universal human values, and the strengthening of the positions of democratic, peace-loving forces in different regions of the globe. During the Nuremberg trials (1945-1946), the essence of German fascism and its plans to destroy entire states and peoples were exposed against the main Nazi war criminals; for the first time in history, aggression was recognized as a grave crime against humanity.
Changes in the post-war world were contradictory. The anti-Hitler coalition quickly collapsed, and the common anti-fascist front was replaced by the Cold War. The anti-colonial, national liberation movement faced powerful confrontation with the forces of neo-colonialism. The objectively mature process of democratization was under powerful pressure from Soviet totalitarianism and American hegemonism.
The international situation in the post-war period was determined by the beginning cold war.
Causes of the Cold War
After the bloodiest war in human history, World War II, ended, where the USSR became the winner, the preconditions were created for the emergence of a new confrontation between the West and the East, between the USSR and the USA. The main reasons for the emergence of this confrontation, known as the “Cold War,” were the ideological contradictions between the capitalist model of society characteristic of the United States and the socialist one that existed in the USSR. Each of the two superpowers wanted to see itself at the head of the entire world community and organize life according to its ideological principles. In addition, after the Second World War, the Soviet Union established its dominance in the countries of Eastern Europe, where communist ideology reigned. As a result, the United States, along with Great Britain, was frightened by the possibility that the USSR could become a world leader and establish its dominance in both the political and economic spheres of life. At the same time, for the United States of America, one of the main tasks is to pay clear attention to the policies of the USSR in the countries of Western Europe in order to prevent socialist revolutions in this territory. America did not like communist ideology at all, and it was the Soviet Union that stood in its way to world domination. After all, America became rich during the Second World War, it needed somewhere to sell its manufactured products, so the countries of Western Europe, destroyed during hostilities, needed to be restored, which was what was offered to them by the US government. But on condition that the communist rulers in these countries will be removed from power. In short, the Cold War was a new kind of competition for world domination.
Beginning of the Cold War
The beginning of the Cold War was marked by a speech by the English ruler Churchill, delivered in Fulton in March 1946. The US government's primary goal was to achieve complete military superiority of the Americans over the Russians. The United States began to implement its policy already in 1947 by introducing a whole system of restrictive and prohibitive measures for the USSR in the financial and trade spheres. In short, America wanted to defeat the Soviet Union economically.
Progress of the Cold War
The most culminating moments of the confrontation were 1949-50, when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, the war with Korea occurred, and at the same time the first atomic bomb of Soviet origin was tested. And with the victory of Mao Zedong, fairly strong diplomatic relations between the USSR and China were established; they were united by a common hostile attitude towards America and its policies. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 proved that the military power of the two world superpowers, the USSR and the USA, is so great that if there is a threat of a new war, there will be no losing side, and it is worth thinking about what will happen to ordinary people and the planet as a whole. As a result, from the beginning of the 1970s, the Cold War entered the stage of settling relations. A crisis broke out in the USA due to high material costs, but the USSR did not tempt fate, but made concessions. A nuclear arms reduction treaty called START II was concluded. The year 1979 once again proved that the Cold War was not over yet: the Soviet government sent troops into Afghanistan, whose inhabitants offered fierce resistance to the Russian army. And only in April 1989 the last Russian soldier left this unconquered country.
End and results of the Cold War
In 1988-89, the process of “perestroika” began in the USSR, the Berlin Wall fell, and the socialist camp soon collapsed. And the USSR did not even lay claim to any influence in third world countries. By 1990, the Cold War was over. It was she who contributed to the strengthening of the totalitarian regime in the USSR. The arms race also led to scientific discoveries: nuclear physics began to develop more intensively, and space research acquired a wider scope.
Consequences of the Cold War
The 20th century has ended, more than ten years have passed in the new millennium. The Soviet Union no longer exists, and the Western countries have also changed... But as soon as the once weak Russia rose from its knees, gained strength and confidence on the world stage, the “ghost of communism” again appeared in the United States and its allies. And we can only hope that politicians in leading countries will not return to the Cold War policy, since everyone will ultimately suffer from it...
67) socio-economic development of the USSR in the mid-1950s the first half of the 1960s
The most important problem of this period was insufficient agricultural production. The industry had low productivity, insufficient mechanization, and collective farmers had no incentive to work. The government began to take measures to reorganize agriculture. In August 1953, with the adoption of a new budget, subsidies for the production of goods in the food industry increased. At the September Plenum of the Central Committee in 1953, a decision was made to increase purchase prices, write off collective farm debts and reduce taxes. The February Plenum of the Central Committee decided to begin agricultural production in the semi-arid zone in the east of the country - the Volga region, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Altai and the Lower Urals. To this end, in 1954, 300 thousand volunteers set off to develop virgin lands. It was planned to put 42 million hectares of arable land into circulation and by the end of 1960 to increase grain production by 40%. Initially low yields fell over time, the land was depleted and funds were needed for land reclamation, agronomic measures, infrastructure development, etc. The soil was dying from erosion and weeds. Nevertheless, due to the development of huge areas, it was possible to increase the gross harvest of grain crops. Over three years, agricultural production increased by 25%. After N.S. Khrushchev’s visit to the United States, the Plenum of the Central Committee in 1955 decided to make corn a major crop. 18 million hectares were planted in areas not suitable for this production. The next stage of agricultural reorganization began in May 1957, when Khrushchev put forward the slogan “Catch up and overtake America!” . In 1957, MTS was dissolved. As a result, collective farms received equipment, but were left without a repair base. This led to a reduction in the fleet of agricultural machinery and the withdrawal of significant funds from collective farms. The second reform aimed to consolidate collective farms and create associations that would promote the industrialization of agriculture. Farm managers sought to fulfill their obligations to the state by infringing on the interests of ordinary collective farmers (homestead plots were reduced, private livestock was forcibly taken to collective farms). Much attention was paid to the development of heavy industry and defense. As a result, the situation in the production of consumer goods was lost, and a deficit was created in this area. In 1954, the 11th Trade Union Congress revealed serious shortcomings in the management of industry and the situation of workers. Production meetings were revived, control over overtime work and incentive measures was strengthened. Administration representatives teamed up with specialists. In 1957, to facilitate interaction between industries, industrial ministries were replaced by economic councils. However, the “administrative fever” did not produce positive results; the rate of economic development of the country was declining. In general, the standard of living in the country has increased. To achieve this, the state has taken a number of measures. Wages increased regularly. A law on pensions was adopted, the working week was shortened, and the duration of maternity leave was increased. The practice of imposing purchases of compulsory government loans has ceased. All types of tuition fees have been cancelled. Mass housing construction began. At the turn of the 50-60s. Serious miscalculations were made in agricultural policy and economics. The manufacturing sector was destructured by ill-considered reforms and storming. Since 1963, the government was forced to make regular purchases of grain abroad. They tried to correct the crisis situation by withdrawing funds from the population by increasing retail prices and reducing tariff rates in production. This led to social tension and spontaneous protests by workers (for example in Novocherkassk, 1962)
68)20 Congress of the CPSU and Khrushchev’s report
The 20th Congress of the CPSU took place in 1956, February 14–25. At this Congress, the assessments that had previously been given to Stalin's policies were revised. Stalin’s personality cult is also condemned. One of the speakers was Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. The report, “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences,” was presented on February 25 at a closed morning meeting. It criticized the political repressions of the 1930s, as well as the 1950s, and placed all the blame for the events of those years on Stalin personally.
The report “On the cult of personality and its consequences” made a strong impression on the audience. The delegations of France and Italy, as well as the delegations of communist states, were familiarized with it. It should be noted that the report was received controversially.
The English translation was published in the summer of 1956 in the USA. Citizens of the USSR were able to familiarize themselves with it only in 1989. But, due to the fact that rumors about the report made on the last day of the congress nevertheless leaked outside the Kremlin offices, a decree was issued on June 30 “On overcoming the cult of personality and its consequences,” which explained the position of the Central Committee.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU and Khrushchev's report led to a split in public opinion. Some of the country's citizens perceived it as a symbol of the beginning of democratic changes. The other part reacted negatively. This could not help but alarm the ruling elite and, ultimately, led to the cessation of discussion of the problem of Stalinist repressions.
Perestroika" in the social and political life of the USSR
The concept of “perestroika” can be defined as an attempt to preserve administrative-command socialism, giving it elements of democracy and market relations, without affecting the fundamental foundations of the political system. Perestroika had serious preconditions. Stagnation in the economy, the growing scientific and technological lag behind the West, and failures in the social sphere have awakened in millions of people and some leaders the awareness of the need for change. Its other prerequisite was a political crisis, expressed in the gradual disintegration of the state apparatus, in its unreasonableness to ensure economic progress, in the open merging of part of the party-state nomenklatura with businessmen of the shadow economy and crime, which led to the formation of stable mafia groups in the mid-80s, especially in the union republics. Apathy and stagnation in the spiritual sphere of society pushed for change. It was obvious that without change it was impossible to increase the activity of the people.
Reforming the political system.
a) Change of leadership of the CPSU and the “personnel revolution” of M.S. Gorbachev.
March 11, 1985 The extraordinary Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee elected 54-year-old Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev as General Secretary of the party, whose life path did not differ from the path of his predecessors.
The very fact of renewal and especially rejuvenation of the party leadership was a very significant event. To replace the frail elders in the Politburo, a group of relatively young leaders began to form, albeit with traditional experience in apparatus Komsomol-party work.
At the plenum of the Central Committee in April 1985. The task of achieving a qualitatively new state of Soviet society was put forward. This event is considered to be the starting point of perestroika:
The first stage - from April 1985. until the end of 1986
The second stage - from January 1987. to April 1988
The third stage - from April 1988. to March 1990
The fourth stage - from March 1990. to August 1991
Despite the conventionality of such periodization, it allows us to trace the dynamics of the perestroika process, the main stages of the political struggle, and participation in the socio-political life of the broad masses of the people.
The reforms began with personnel renewal of the “top of power” and management. Correlating with the traditions of the political leadership of the party and the state, the mentality of specific people included in this leadership, M. Gorbachev began personnel changes. He drew personnel from the party nomenklatura. The process of personnel changes proceeded relatively without conflict, which was facilitated by the age composition of the Politburo under which M.S. Gorbachev became General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In March 1986, when this Politburo was formed, there were only four people in it from the previous composition of the same body, elected five years earlier. Almost every second member of the previous Politburo by the spring of 1986. died, the rest were sent to a “well-deserved rest.” The process of personnel renewal at the top of the government was completed in 1988. By the beginning of 1987 70% of Politburo members were replaced. E.K. came to it as the second person in the secretariat. Ligachev, N.I. Ryzhkov, a specialist with higher technical education, was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers; Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee B.N. was invited from the Urals to Moscow. Yeltsin, who soon became the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee.
Throughout 1986 60% of the secretaries of regional party organizations were replaced, 40% of the members of the CPSU Central Committee who received their posts under L.I. Brezhnev, at the level of city and district committees, the personnel composition was updated by 70%.
By 1992 only M. Gorbachev was the next link between the old and new nomenklatura at the pinnacle of power.
b) The policy of democratization and openness in the light of the decisions of the XIX All-Union Conference.
In 1988 (June-July) at the XIX All-Union Conference of the CPSU, for the first time in the years of Soviet power, the question of the need for a deep reform of the political system was raised. The unusual preparations for this forum by previous standards, the relatively democratic nature of the elections of its delegates, and widespread support for the course of reforming society contributed to the growth of faith in the party’s ability to lead the transformation. Almost all prominent reformers (the so-called foreman of perestroika) were then members of the CPSU, and some of those who were not (A.A. Sobchak, S.V. Stankevich, etc.) joined it.
The conference decisions included:
creation of the rule of law
development of parliamentarism within the Soviets
stopping the substitution of economic and government bodies by the CPSU.
All these transformations had to be carried out in the presence of three mandatory elements:
Democratization
Glasnost
Pluralism of opinions.
The rule of law, as part of the reform of the legal system, should be built on the rule of law, the actions of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities (but under the control of the fourth force - the CPSU). Hence the fundamental principle of the new state - “everything that is not prohibited by law is permitted.”
In December 1988 The Supreme Soviet of the USSR introduced changes to the current Constitution of the country. The highest authority was the Congress of People's Deputies, from which a permanent parliament was formed - the Supreme Council, consisting of two chambers (the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities).
The policy of glasnost played an important role in implementing reforms and involving broad layers of workers in the political life. It began in revealing the truth about the crimes of the Stalinist period, without exposing which it was impossible to break the totalitarian regime.
A special manifestation of democracy in Soviet society was not only the opportunity to express one’s opinion, the publication of previously banned literature, the return of citizenship to former Soviet dissidents and human rights activists, but also the representation of religious freedom.
Political pluralism also affected the CPSU, where as many as five directions emerged, but on the whole the party still followed its General Secretary.
c) Formation of a multi-party system and attempts to reform the CPSU.
Liberal parties were the first to appear during the years of perestroika (Democratic Union, Christian Democratic Union of Russia, Russian Christian Democratic Party, Islamic Renaissance Party, Democratic Party, Liberal Democratic Party, etc.).
For a long time, political forces of the socialist direction were represented only by the CPSU and the platforms operating within its framework (Democratic Platform, Marxist Platform, etc.). But in May 1989 The creation of a Social Democratic Association was proclaimed, and on its basis, in May 1990, the Social Democratic Party of Russia. In 1991 the People's Party of Free Russia, the Socialist Workers' Party, the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, the Russian Communist Workers' Party, etc. are formed.
National-patriotic parties and movements are being formed. In May 1990 was legalized and has been in force since 1924. Orthodox Russian-monarchical order-union. Back in 1987 The national-patriotic front “Memory” was formed, and in 1991. - Russian All-People's Union.
Socialist-oriented parties found themselves in a truly crisis state during the perestroika period. For them, the main problem was defending their ideological and theoretical foundations. Not everyone managed to do this.
The collapse of the CPSU began, on the ruins of which in the fall of 1991. - winter 1992 Up to a dozen different communist parties emerged. It is interesting that after the collapse of the CPSU, a deep crisis also struck the liberals. Most liberal parties were focused on a long and uncompromising struggle against the regime of the ruling party. But when the CPSU collapsed, they were not ready to offer their own programs to overcome the crisis that hit the country. Some of them went into opposition to the government, which had adopted a course of radical market reforms. Others expressed support for the reform, but did not provide practical support to the government. Therefore, with the beginning of the implementation of the government program for the transition to a market, a new regrouping of political forces began. In any case, at the center of the political struggle during the perestroika period were parties of a communist orientation and parties of a liberal orientation. If supporters of the former called for the preferential development of public, state ownership and collectivist forms of social relations, then the liberals advocated the privatization of property, a system of full-fledged parliamentary democracy, and a real transition to a market economy.
d) Reform of government bodies.
Innovations in the economic sphere occurred simultaneously with the decentralization of its management.
Over the course of five years, several reductions and transformations of management structures were made. So, in November 1985 Six agricultural departments were liquidated and the USSR State Agricultural Industry was established. In April 1989 it was abolished, and part of its functions was taken over by the State Commission of the USSR Council of Ministers for Food and Procurement. In 1991 it was liquidated and on its basis the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR was formed. In August 1986 The USSR Ministry of Construction was “rationed” - four ministries were created on its basis, in charge of construction in different regions of the USSR. In 1989 they were abolished.
The results of the first two years of economic reforms turned out to be bad.
From this moment the second stage of economic reforms begins (1987-1990). It is characterized by the collapse of the planned economy, the enterprise received fairly broad independence and was freed from the petty tutelage of higher departments (union and republican ministries, Gosplan, Gossnab of the USSR).
In 1990 New economic entities are beginning to emerge. The process of transforming some ministries into joint-stock companies is gaining momentum. Not only state-owned enterprises, but also individuals become shareholders. At the same time, the network of some state banks was abolished and a system of commercial banks was formed. On the basis of the Gossnab divisions, the Russian Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange is being formed, and many profitable industries are being privatized.
However, dissatisfaction with these transformations was brewing in society, because No administrative changes in management have eliminated the shortage of food products.
To compensate for the decline in authority, it was decided to introduce the post of President. The first President of the USSR in March 1990. M.S. Gorbachev was elected. But the mechanical introduction of the presidency while maintaining the Soviets, which combined legislative and executive functions, led not to the separation of the branches of power, but to their conflict.
Attitude to religion
In the context of democratic reforms, changes occurred in the relationship between church and state. Several meetings took place with M.S. Gorbachev with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Pimen and representatives of other religious faiths. In 1988 Anniversary celebrations took place in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. New religious communities were registered, religious educational institutions were opened, and the circulation of published religious literature increased.
The religious buildings that had previously been taken from them were returned to the believers. The authorities gave permission for the construction of new churches. Church leaders were given the opportunity, along with all citizens, to participate in public life. Several prominent church hierarchs were elected deputies to the country's Supreme Council.
New legislation was developed and approved. Its appearance was preceded by a discussion on the pages of periodicals on the question of how state-church relations should be built. The new law “On Freedom of Conscience” consolidated the course towards liberalizing the state’s attitude towards religion.
National relations and interethnic processes.
a) Exacerbation of interethnic conflicts.
With the beginning of perestroika, interethnic relations in the USSR sharply worsened.
In the union republics, the national movement rose to full growth, and parties were formed that advocated secession from the USSR. Initially, they spoke out under the slogans of the struggle for perestroika, reforms and the interests of the people. Their demands concerned issues of culture, language, democracy and freedom. But gradually national forces set a course towards achieving sovereignty and independence.
The traditional reluctance of the Union Center to take into account the interests and needs of national republics and regions led to the growth of militant nationalism and separatist tendencies.
b) “Parade of sovereignties.”
In the period 1989-1990. a “parade of sovereignties” began among the union republics, which tried to independently find a way out of the deepening crisis.
In the republics, elections of their own government bodies took place, taking a decisive course towards self-determination and independence; statements from the Center followed about the supremacy of republican laws over the union ones; laws were adopted on the state language, the creation of their own armies, their own currency. This unconstitutional and spontaneous declaration of independence from the Center in the context of the incompetence of the Union authorities in the national question only increased internal instability and undermined the foundations of the Soviet Union, which ultimately led to its collapse.
c) Formation of the independent policy of the RSFSR (spring 1990-summer 1991)
In May 1990 contrary to the efforts of the central authorities and the leadership of the CPSU, B.N. Yeltsin, who opposed the inconsistent leadership of the country for the radicalization of reforms and the abolition of the privileges of the nomenklatura, was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. One of the first steps of the new leadership of the largest republic of the Union was the adoption on June 12, 1990. declaration of sovereignty, which declared the priority of republican legislation over union legislation. To strengthen his position, Yeltsin achieved a decision to hold presidential elections in Russia. The elections took place on June 12, 1991.
Thus, B.N. became the first president of Russia. Yeltsin.
d) Federal policy of Russia.
The special role of Russia, its government and personally the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin's involvement in the August-September events was beyond doubt. B. Yeltsin demonstratively hurried to take advantage of this. Decrees were issued to transfer one sector of the economy after another under the jurisdiction of Russia. The Russian leadership did not hide its primary task - as quickly as possible “to dismantle the remnants of unitary imperial structures and create mobile and cheap inter-republican structures.” Under the new federal agreement, a structure for Russia was proposed in which it would consist of large regional territories, national republics with their own parliaments, laws, and governments.
At the federal level, a bicameral parliament, a President, a federal government and departments were envisaged. The model assumed a combination of unitary federal leadership with members of the federation being independent to a very high degree. At the end of 1991 By decision of the session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the republic was renamed. From now on, the RSFSR began to be called the Russian Federation with the addition in brackets - (Russia).
Political crisis of August 1991 and its consequences.
Scheduled for August 20, 1991. the signing of the Union Treaty could not but push supporters of the preservation of the former USSR to take decisive action. The catalyst for the plans of the conservative part of the Union leadership to preserve the USSR by any means was the decree of the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin on departition, according to which the activities of any parties were prohibited in state institutions of the RSFSR. This dealt a blow to the monopoly position of the CPSU. The ousting of the party nomenklatura from power structures and its replacement with new people from Yeltsin’s entourage began.
In the absence of USSR President M.S. Gorbachev, who was vacationing in Crimea, on August 19, 1991. some representatives of the top leadership of the USSR attempted to disrupt the upcoming signing of a new Union Treaty. The State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was formed. It included: Vice-President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev, USSR Prime Minister V.S. Pavlov, Defense Minister D.T. Yazov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V.A. Kryuchkov, Minister of Internal Affairs B.K. Pugo et al.
Vice-President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev issued a decree on assuming the post of President of the USSR due to the “illness” of M.S. Gorbachev. The State Emergency Committee announced the introduction of a state of emergency in certain regions of the country, the disbandment of those power structures that were formed contrary to the current Constitution of the USSR of 1977, suspended the activities of political parties and movements opposition to the CPSU, banned rallies and demonstrations for the period of the emergency, and established control over the media . Troops were sent to Moscow.
The resistance to the actions of the State Emergency Committee was led by Russian leaders: President B.N. Yeltsin, head of government I.S. Silantiev, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR A.V. Rutskoi, who, in the event of a coup victory, would lose their power in the republic.
The actions of the State Emergency Committee were declared as an illegal anti-constitutional coup (however, the structures on whose behalf the functionaries of the RSFSR acted were not represented in the 1977 USSR Constitution) and its decisions were also declared illegal. At Yeltsin’s call, thousands of Muscovites took up defensive positions around the Russian Government building. The troops brought into the capital did not take any action. The elite units of the KGB refrained from any decisive action in favor of the putschists. There was also tragic bloodshed, for which some units of the troops were to blame, whose commanders decided to move to defend the White House without coordinating their actions with the leaders of its defense. The putschists were at a loss, not expecting such a turn of events. They were soon arrested.
“Liberation” of USSR President M.S. Gorbachev from his “imprisonment” at the dacha in Foros allowed us to believe that his career as a politician was over. His influence as President of the USSR fell sharply, which led to the rapid abolition of central power structures. Soon after the plot failed, eight Soviet republics declared their independence. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, previously recognized by the international community, were recognized by the USSR as independent sovereign states.
The August-September events were immediately assessed from two fundamentally different positions.
One, which became official, was that the events of August 19-21 were a putsch, an unconstitutional attempt to seize power by reactionary forces that opposed the democratic renewal of society and for a return to a totalitarian system. According to this point of view, the President of the USSR was indeed forcibly isolated in Foros, the usurpers of power intended to behead the Russian leadership and were ready to shed people's blood. The putsch failed due to the active opposition of the Russian government, which led the popular resistance.
According to the second position, events are sharply divided into two stages:
the first is August 19-21: a failed “palace” coup with an attempt to give it a soft constitutional form, undertaken by the “Soviet leadership” with the tacit semi-consent of the President of the USSR. His isolation in Foros was purely conditional. He was, as it were, temporarily taken out of the game so that emergency measures would not compromise his “democratic image” in the eyes of the world community. If the enterprise of the “Gekachepists” is successful, he could well return to the presidency (as G.I. Yanaev spoke about at the press conference). It is precisely the reliance on soft constitutional forms that explains many of the troubles in the actions or inactions of the State Emergency Committee. That’s why they first declared a state of emergency, and then brought in troops (and not the other way around, which is what serious putschists do), because they weren’t going to use them except as intimidation, and that’s why they didn’t arrest B.N. Yeltsin and other Russian leaders.
At this first stage, they were immediately defeated, running into unexpected sharp resistance from Yeltsin, who did not accept the proposed “rules of the game”, declaring the top of the legitimate union government to be conspirators and usurpers. He escalated and won easily. At this stage of the “palace coup” the Democrats won;
in September the second stage began. It is already characterized as a genuine coup d'etat, because what happened at the V Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, which led to a change in the socio-political system, gave impetus to the collapse of the USSR.
So, in the August-September events, in the protracted confrontation between Russia and the Union, Russia won. The union began to rapidly “fall apart”. The CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR, whose activities were suspended, resignedly left the political scene. There have not yet been any disagreements in the winning camp: President B.N. Yeltsin and Vice-President A.V. Rutskoy, acting. Chairman of the Supreme Council R.I. Khasbulatov stood side by side at all celebrations, shoulder to shoulder. This was their common victory. Their joint triumph, the finest hour of Russia's democratic leaders.
Legitimization of the collapse of the USSR and its assessment.
After the signing of the Economic Community Treaty (October 18, 1991), the discussion on the issue of political union became more active.
The position of the Russian parliament, especially its chairman R.I. Khasbulatova, became more and more definite. It was based on the principle of preserving a unified Russian state: there should be no independent states on the territory of the RSFSR.
The fundamental provisions of the future statehood were decided by a narrow circle of leaders:
On November 14, a meeting of the State Council was held in Novo-Ogarevo, at which the leaders of seven sovereign states spoke out in favor of a single confederal democratic state. The state - the Union of sovereign states - was preserved as a subject of international law. However, the intended initialing of the text did not take place;
On December 8, in a secluded residence near Minsk, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the leaders of three republics met: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. They signed an agreement according to which the USSR, as a “subject of international law,” was declared to have “ceased to exist.” The creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States was announced.
The model of government chosen in Minsk left no room for the Center and did not provide for any union governing bodies at all.
The Bialowieza Agreements produced the effect of a bomb exploding. As M.S. put it. Gorbachev, the three leaders of the republics “met in the forest and “closed” the Soviet Union.”
The theme of the “conspiratorial” nature of the action was subsequently described by the former Chairman of the Council of the Union of the USSR Armed Forces K.D. Lubenchenko: “a brilliant secret and unexpected political operation was completed, just like in wartime.”
The Supreme Councils of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus ratified the Belovezhskaya Agreements, thereby giving them a more legitimate character. In December, other republics joined the Commonwealth, except for the Baltic republics and Georgia (in 1994 it joined the CIS). At the end of 1991 the RSFSR was renamed into the Russian Federation (Russia).
December 25, 1991 M.S. Gorbachev resigned as president due to the disappearance of the state itself. This day was the last in the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The dramatic collapse of a huge and powerful state was commented on in different ways.
Some say that an inherently unitary power, which subordinated economically, spiritually, ethnically diverse republics, formally sovereign, but practically deprived of independence, to a single Center, in conditions when not all of them entered the Union voluntarily, was initially doomed to inevitable death.
Others, led to a sad outcome by the short-sighted, incompetent, ambitious and self-interested policy of primarily the country’s leading elite, the struggle for power among leaders, in parties and movements, during which the most important state and socio-economic interests and values were sacrificed.
Thus, perestroika, conceived and implemented by part of the party and state leaders with the goal of democratic changes in all spheres of society, has ended. Its main result was the collapse of the once powerful multinational state and the end of the Soviet period in the history of the Fatherland.
69) The main tasks of the USSR in the international arena in 1956-1964. were: the speedy reduction of the military threat and the end of the Cold War, the expansion of international relations, the strengthening of the influence of the USSR in the world as a whole. This could only be achieved through the implementation of a flexible and dynamic foreign policy based on powerful economic and military potential (primarily nuclear). The reform course of the Soviet leadership led by Khrushchev was reflected in the new foreign policy doctrine promulgated from the rostrum of the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956. Its main provisions were: a return to the “Leninist principles of the policy of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems”, expansion of competition between the two social systems, the possibility of creating conditions for preventing wars in the modern era. The diversity of forms of transition of different countries to socialism and the variety of ways to build it were also recognized. In addition, the need was recognized, based on the principles of “proletarian internationalism,” to provide comprehensive assistance both to the countries of the socialist camp and to the world communist and national liberation movement. As the main direction in ensuring world peace, Khrushchev proposed creating a system of collective security in Europe and then in Asia, as well as proceeding with immediate disarmament. Wanting to demonstrate the seriousness of these intentions, the Soviet government made a unilateral reduction of the Armed Forces: from August 1955 it was decided to reduce them by 640 thousand people, and from May 1956 by another 1 million 200 thousand people. Other countries of the socialist camp carried out significant reductions in their armies. In 1957, the USSR submitted proposals to the UN to suspend nuclear weapons tests and accept obligations to renounce the use of atomic and hydrogen weapons, as well as to simultaneously reduce the armed forces of the USSR, USA and China to 2.5 million, and then “to 1 .5 million people. Finally, the USSR proposed to eliminate military bases on the territories of foreign states. In 1958, the Soviet government unilaterally declared a moratorium on nuclear testing, and appealed to the parliaments of all countries of the world to support this initiative. Western countries were skeptical about Soviet proposals and put forward such conditions as the development of confidence-building measures and control over the reduction of conventional and nuclear potentials of opposing military-political groups. Khrushchev's speech at the UN General Assembly on the problem of general disarmament in the fall of 1959 caused a great resonance in the world. In his speech, the leader of the Soviet state proposed a plan for the complete elimination of national armies and navies, leaving states with only police forces. This first visit of the leader of the USSR to the USA sharply increased the authority and prestige of our country in the international arena and helped ease tensions in Soviet-American relations. Major reductions in the Armed Forces of the USSR, carried out in 1955-1960, made it possible to reduce the Soviet Army by almost 4 million people and increase its strength to 2.5 million. However, it was not possible to break the vicious circle of the arms race in the 1950s .
Caribbean crisis
The first image of Soviet missiles in Cuba obtained by the Americans.
The Cuban Missile Crisis is an extremely tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States regarding the Soviet Union's deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba in October 1962. Cubans call it the “October Crisis” (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre); in the United States, the name “Cuban Missile Crisis” is common. Cuban missile crisis).
The crisis was preceded by the deployment of medium-range Jupiter missiles in Turkey in 1961 by the United States, which directly threatened cities in the western part of the Soviet Union, reaching as far as Moscow and major industrial centers.
The crisis began on October 14, 1962, when a US Air Force U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, during one of its regular overflights of Cuba, discovered Soviet R-12 medium-range missiles in the vicinity of the village of San Cristobal. By decision of US President John Kennedy, a special Executive Committee was created, which discussed possible ways to solve the problem. For some time, the meetings of the executive committee were secret, but on October 22, Kennedy addressed the people, announcing the presence of Soviet “offensive weapons” in Cuba, which immediately caused panic in the United States. A “quarantine” (blockade) of Cuba was introduced.
At first, the Soviet side denied the presence of Soviet nuclear weapons on the island, then it assured the Americans of the deterrent nature of the deployment of missiles in Cuba. On October 25, photographs of the missiles were shown at a meeting of the UN Security Council. The executive committee seriously discussed the use of force to solve the problem, and its supporters convinced Kennedy to begin a massive bombing of Cuba as soon as possible. However, another U-2 flyby showed that several missiles were already installed and ready to launch, and that such actions would inevitably lead to war.
Number and type of US nuclear warheads. 1945-2002.
US President John Kennedy proposed that the Soviet Union dismantle the installed missiles and turn around the ships still heading to Cuba in exchange for US guarantees not to attack Cuba or overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro (sometimes it is indicated that Kennedy also proposed to remove American missiles from Turkey, but this demand came from the Soviet leadership). Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev agreed, and on October 28, the dismantling of the missiles began. The last Soviet missile left Cuba a few weeks later, and the blockade of Cuba was lifted on November 20.
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 days. It had extremely important psychological and historical significance. For the first time in its history, humanity found itself on the verge of self-destruction. The resolution of the crisis marked a turning point in the Cold War and the beginning of international détente.
70) In the post-war period, the restructuring of Western capitalism on social and humanistic principles continued; after the defeat of fascism, the reformist-democratic tendency fully manifested itself. Leaders of Western countries have realized the need for constant corrective government intervention in the economic and social sphere. The growth of government spending on social purposes, government support for science and technology, capital construction, and infrastructure development maximized employment and effective consumer demand. The concepts of “welfare state”, “mass consumption society”, “high quality of life” have become dominant. The volume of industrial production of the capitalist world in 1948-1973 increased 4.5 times. Real wages from 1950 to 1970 in the USA increased by 1.5 times, in Great Britain - by 1.6 times, in Italy - by 2.1 times, in France - by 2.3 times, in Germany - by 2, 8 times. In the “golden” years of the 60s for Western countries, the share of unemployed fell to 2.5-3% of the economically active population. The growth rate of industrial output in the 1960s was 5.7%, compared with 4.9% in the 1950s and 3.9% in the interwar period. In the post-war period, many new, seemingly completely unexpected phenomena appeared. Thus, from the late 50s to the early 80s, growth rates in Germany and Japan ranged from 10 to 20%, that is, they were the highest among developed countries. The “Japanese” and “German miracles” had a lot in common. The most important was: minimizing military spending in these countries that lost the Second World War; the use of traditional hard work, discipline and a high cultural and educational level; the development not of energy- and resource-intensive industries, but of the production of finished, complex products (cars, complex electronics, sophisticated technological lines, etc.); expedient redistribution of national income through a system of progressive taxation, in which the upper values were up to 50-80%. Creation and development of international financial structures (World Bank, IMF, IBRD). The process of integration of states in different fields of activity in recent decades has been called globalization. A major result of the cooperation that developed between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War was the creation of the United Nations in 1945. By 2006, 192 states were members of the UN. The range of UN activities in the system of international economic relations is very wide and fully reflects the trends of internationalization and globalization of modern economic life. An important aspect of globalization is the increasing integration of world economies, facilitated by the ease of movement of goods and capital across national borders. The international monetary system is a set of monetary relations that have developed on the basis of economic life and the development of the world market. The main components of the world monetary system are: - a certain set of international means of payment, - a currency exchange regime, including exchange rates, convertibility conditions, - regulation of forms of international payments, - a network of international banking institutions that carry out international settlements and credit operations. In 1944, the International Monetary and Financial Conference was held in Bretton Woods (USA), at which it was decided to create the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both organizations have the status of specialized agencies of the UN. The IBRD began operating in 1946, and the IMF in 1947. The purpose of the IBRD is to assist member countries in obtaining long-term loans and credits, as well as guaranteeing private investment. In the first post-war years, the IBRD provided significant loans to Western European countries to restore their economies. Subsequently, the main focus of the IBRD's activities was developing countries. Since the late 80s, the IBRD began to provide loans to Eastern European countries. The Russian Federation joined the IBRD in 1992. The IBRD issues bonds, which are bought by private banks, receiving over 9%. From the funds collected, the IBRD provides loans covering about 30% of the cost of the project, and the rest must be financed from internal or other sources. IBRD loans are provided for the development of energy, transport, communications and other infrastructure sectors for a period of up to 20 years at a high interest rate, determined by the level of interest rates on the loan capital market. If the bank's initial capital did not exceed $10 billion, then in 1995 it exceeded $176 billion. By mid-1998, IBRD loans to member countries reached $316 billion, including about $10 billion provided to the Russian Federation 181 countries are members of the IBRD. There are 182 countries that are members of the IMF. The Russian Federation has been a member of the IMF since 1992. The purpose of the IMF was proclaimed to promote the development of international trade and monetary cooperation by eliminating foreign exchange restrictions, as well as providing foreign currency loans to equalize balances of payments and establish norms for regulating exchange rates. The IMF's capital is close to $300 billion, with the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Japan having the greatest influence in accordance with the largest quotas. Quotas are set depending on the level of economic development of the country and its role in the global economy and trade. Since 1944, the Bretton Woods currency system has been in effect. It provided for the preservation of the functions of world money in gold while simultaneously using national monetary units, primarily the US dollar, as well as the English pound sterling, as international payment and reserve currencies. It was established that foreign government agencies and central banks were required to exchange reserve currencies for gold at the official rate of $35 per troy ounce – 31.1 g of gold. It provided for mutual equalization and exchange of currencies on the basis of currency parities agreed with the IMF in gold and US dollars. Deviation of market exchange rates was allowed by no more than 1%. The dollar found itself in a privileged position. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) dates back to January 1, 1948. At its core, the GATT is a binding treaty between the governments of the participating countries. Initially there were 23 of these, and by 1994 their number had reached over 100. The goal of the GATT was to ensure a predictable international trading environment and trade liberalization in the interests of promoting economic development. GATT performed very important functions: establishing rules binding on governments in the field of international trade and related areas of economic relations; conducting trade negotiations; fulfilling the duties of an international “court” on trade issues. Thanks to the GATT, transparency, non-discrimination, and national treatment of taxes and duties on imported goods have become generally accepted in the system of international economic relations. By 1994, GATT member countries accounted for over 90% of world trade turnover. The average level of customs duties on goods under the GATT was reduced from 40% to 4%. Thanks to the GATT, regulation began in such important areas as trade in services, the results of creative activities, and foreign investment related to trade. Back in 1982, the USSR established contacts with the Secretariat (in Geneva) and the main countries participating in the agreement. On May 16, 1990, the USSR received observer status in the GATT. The Russian Federation began to participate in some of the working bodies of the GATT and in June 1993, the Director General of the GATT was handed a statement from the Government of the Russian Federation with a request to join this agreement. We have to talk about GATT in the past tense, since on January 1, 1995, by decision of the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed on the legal basis of GATT. Any organization that accepts the obligations of the entire package of documents underlying the WTO can become a member of the WTO. At the end of 1996, 130 states became members of the WTO and another 30 expressed interest in joining. An important role in the functioning of the complex system of international economic relations is played by structures created under the United Nations (UN). Among them are such specialized UN agencies as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Since 1968, the Commission on International Trade Law (UNISTRAL) began its work, the purpose of which is the harmonization and unification of international trade law. Within the framework of UNISTRAL, a number of international legal documents approved by the UN have been developed. By 2000, there were over 400 intergovernmental and about 3 thousand non-governmental international organizations in the world. International economic organizations can be characterized as organizations created at the interstate, intergovernmental, interministerial levels or created by business and public organizations to coordinate the activities of countries in different spheres of the world economy. The creation of international economic organizations was a product of the growing internationalization of economic life and the globalization of economic processes. Transformation of neocolonialism and economic globalization. Coordination of efforts in order to achieve specific results has become an important way of fighting for their place in the system of international economic relations for countries that have begun to free themselves from colonial dependence. In 1963, at the XVIII session of the UN General Assembly, developing countries jointly expressed their views on international economic problems for the first time. In 1964, the name Group of 77 appeared, as 77 states signed the corresponding declaration on trade and development at the UN Geneva Conference. The declaration spoke about general and special principles of international economic relations: about the sovereign equality of states, about accelerating economic growth and reducing the gap in income levels of different countries regardless of the political system, about increasing export revenues of third world countries, etc. Over time, the Group of 77 included 120 states of Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as the European countries of Malta, Romania, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1974, at the initiative of the Group of 77, the VI Special Session of the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration and Program of Action to Establish a New Economic Order. Along with international organizations whose activities are of global importance, there are many regional organizations. In 1945, the League of Arab States (LAS) was formed. The members of this regional organization are 22 Arab states: Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Libya, etc. The Arab League coordinates the activities of its members in the political, economic, military and other spheres, and develops a unified policy for the Arab states on a number of common Arab problems. In the Middle East, Arab funds and development banks play a significant role, the purpose of which is to lend to developing oil importing countries. In 1971-1980, over 100 developing countries received subsidies, but ¾ of the funds were provided to Arab states.
In the post-war period, the restructuring of Western capitalism on social and humanistic principles continued; after the defeat of fascism, the reformist-democratic tendency fully manifested itself. Leaders of Western countries have realized the need for constant corrective government intervention in the economic and social sphere. The growth of government spending on social purposes, government support for science and technology, capital construction, and infrastructure development maximized employment and effective consumer demand. The concepts of “welfare state”, “mass consumption society”, “high quality of life” have become dominant. The volume of industrial production of the capitalist world in 1948-1973 increased 4.5 times. Real wages from 1950 to 1970 in the USA increased by 1.5 times, in Great Britain - by 1.6 times, in Italy - by 2.1 times, in France - by 2.3 times, in Germany - by 2, 8 times. In the “golden” years of the 60s for Western countries, the share of unemployed fell to 2.5-3% of the economically active population. The growth rate of industrial output in the 1960s was 5.7%, compared with 4.9% in the 1950s and 3.9% in the interwar period. In the post-war period, many new, seemingly completely unexpected phenomena appeared. Thus, from the late 50s to the early 80s, growth rates in Germany and Japan ranged from 10 to 20%, that is, they were the highest among developed countries. The “Japanese” and “German miracles” had a lot in common. The most important was: minimizing military spending in these countries that lost the Second World War; the use of traditional hard work, discipline and a high cultural and educational level; the development not of energy- and resource-intensive industries, but of the production of finished, complex products (cars, complex electronics, sophisticated technological lines, etc.); expedient redistribution of national income through a system of progressive taxation, in which the upper values were up to 50-80%. Creation and development of international financial structures (World Bank, IMF, IBRD). The process of integration of states in different fields of activity in recent decades has been called globalization. A major result of the cooperation that developed between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War was the creation of the United Nations in 1945. By 2006, 192 states were members of the UN. The range of UN activities in the system of international economic relations is very wide and fully reflects the trends of internationalization and globalization of modern economic life. An important aspect of globalization is the increasing integration of world economies, facilitated by the ease of movement of goods and capital across national borders. The international monetary system is a set of monetary relations that have developed on the basis of economic life and the development of the world market. The main components of the world monetary system are: - a certain set of international means of payment, - a currency exchange regime, including exchange rates, convertibility conditions, - regulation of forms of international payments, - a network of international banking institutions that carry out international settlements and credit operations. In 1944, the International Monetary and Financial Conference was held in Bretton Woods (USA), at which it was decided to create the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both organizations have the status of specialized agencies of the UN. The IBRD began operating in 1946, and the IMF in 1947. The purpose of the IBRD is to assist member countries in obtaining long-term loans and credits, as well as guaranteeing private investment. In the first post-war years, the IBRD provided significant loans to Western European countries to restore their economies. Subsequently, the main focus of the IBRD's activities was developing countries. Since the late 80s, the IBRD began to provide loans to Eastern European countries. The Russian Federation joined the IBRD in 1992. The IBRD issues bonds, which are bought by private banks, receiving over 9%. From the funds collected, the IBRD provides loans covering about 30% of the cost of the project, and the rest must be financed from internal or other sources. IBRD loans are provided for the development of energy, transport, communications and other infrastructure sectors for a period of up to 20 years at a high interest rate, determined by the level of interest rates on the loan capital market. If the bank's initial capital did not exceed $10 billion, then in 1995 it exceeded $176 billion. By mid-1998, IBRD loans to member countries reached $316 billion, including about $10 billion provided to the Russian Federation 181 countries are members of the IBRD. There are 182 countries that are members of the IMF. The Russian Federation has been a member of the IMF since 1992. The purpose of the IMF was proclaimed to promote the development of international trade and monetary cooperation by eliminating foreign exchange restrictions, as well as providing foreign currency loans to equalize balances of payments and establish norms for regulating exchange rates. The IMF's capital is close to $300 billion, with the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Japan having the greatest influence in accordance with the largest quotas. Quotas are set depending on the level of economic development of the country and its role in the global economy and trade. Since 1944, the Bretton Woods currency system has been in effect. It provided for the preservation of the functions of world money in gold while simultaneously using national monetary units, primarily the US dollar, as well as the English pound sterling, as international payment and reserve currencies. It was established that foreign government agencies and central banks were required to exchange reserve currencies for gold at the official rate of $35 per troy ounce – 31.1 g of gold. It provided for mutual equalization and exchange of currencies on the basis of currency parities agreed with the IMF in gold and US dollars. Deviation of market exchange rates was allowed by no more than 1%. The dollar found itself in a privileged position. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) dates back to January 1, 1948. At its core, the GATT is a binding treaty between the governments of the participating countries. Initially there were 23 of these, and by 1994 their number had reached over 100. The goal of the GATT was to ensure a predictable international trading environment and trade liberalization in the interests of promoting economic development. GATT performed very important functions: establishing rules binding on governments in the field of international trade and related areas of economic relations; conducting trade negotiations; fulfilling the duties of an international “court” on trade issues. Thanks to the GATT, transparency, non-discrimination, and national treatment of taxes and duties on imported goods have become generally accepted in the system of international economic relations. By 1994, GATT member countries accounted for over 90% of world trade turnover. The average level of customs duties on goods under the GATT was reduced from 40% to 4%. Thanks to the GATT, regulation began in such important areas as trade in services, the results of creative activities, and foreign investment related to trade. Back in 1982, the USSR established contacts with the Secretariat (in Geneva) and the main countries participating in the agreement. On May 16, 1990, the USSR received observer status in the GATT. The Russian Federation began to participate in some of the working bodies of the GATT and in June 1993, the Director General of the GATT was handed a statement from the Government of the Russian Federation with a request to join this agreement. We have to talk about GATT in the past tense, since on January 1, 1995, by decision of the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed on the legal basis of GATT. Any organization that accepts the obligations of the entire package of documents underlying the WTO can become a member of the WTO. At the end of 1996, 130 states became members of the WTO and another 30 expressed interest in joining. An important role in the functioning of the complex system of international economic relations is played by structures created under the United Nations (UN). Among them are such specialized UN agencies as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Since 1968, the Commission on International Trade Law (UNISTRAL) began its work, the purpose of which is the harmonization and unification of international trade law. Within the framework of UNISTRAL, a number of international legal documents approved by the UN have been developed. By 2000, there were over 400 intergovernmental and about 3 thousand non-governmental international organizations in the world. International economic organizations can be characterized as organizations created at the interstate, intergovernmental, interministerial levels or created by business and public organizations to coordinate the activities of countries in different spheres of the world economy. The creation of international economic organizations was a product of the growing internationalization of economic life and the globalization of economic processes. Transformation of neocolonialism and economic globalization. Coordination of efforts in order to achieve specific results has become an important way of fighting for their place in the system of international economic relations for countries that have begun to free themselves from colonial dependence. In 1963, at the XVIII session of the UN General Assembly, developing countries jointly expressed their views on international economic problems for the first time. In 1964, the name Group of 77 appeared, as 77 states signed the corresponding declaration on trade and development at the UN Geneva Conference. The declaration spoke about general and special principles of international economic relations: about the sovereign equality of states, about accelerating economic growth and reducing the gap in income levels of different countries regardless of the political system, about increasing export revenues of third world countries, etc. Over time, the Group of 77 included 120 states of Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as the European countries of Malta, Romania, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1974, at the initiative of the Group of 77, the VI Special Session of the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration and Program of Action to Establish a New Economic Order. Along with international organizations whose activities are of global importance, there are many regional organizations. In 1945, the League of Arab States (LAS) was formed. The members of this regional organization are 22 Arab states: Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Libya, etc. The Arab League coordinates the activities of its members in the political, economic, military and other spheres, and develops a unified policy for the Arab states on a number of common Arab problems. In the Middle East, Arab funds and development banks play a significant role, the purpose of which is to lend to developing oil importing countries. In 1971-1980, over 100 developing countries received subsidies, but ¾ of the funds were provided to Arab states.
Globalization is a process during which the world is transformed into a single global system. The issue of globalization became very relevant in the 1990s, although various aspects of this process have been seriously discussed by scientists since the 1960s and 1970s.
ECONOMIC CYCLE AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Economic cycle(from the Greek circle) is a set of economic phenomena and processes that circulate over a period of time. The business cycle is the movement of the economy from one state to another. In all economic cycles, four phases can be distinguished: rise (expansion of production), peak (peak of business activity), decline (depression), bottom (lowest point of activity).
Types of economic cycles:
A) short-term– a short-term deviation of market demand from the supply of goods and services. Arise due to overproduction (surplus) or underproduction (shortage) of goods on the market;
b) medium urgency– deviation associated with changes in demand for equipment and facilities. It lasts from 8 to 12 years. Medium-term economic cycles occur in all countries in the form of economic booms and economic downturns;
V) long-term– are associated with the transition from one technological method of production to another. They last about 60 years and are associated with the development of scientific and technological progress (STR).
The economic growth– favorable development of the economy: increasing production, consumption and investment (investing money in sectors of the economy). Demand for goods and services is growing. Inflation and unemployment are low.
Economic crisis– unfavorable economic development: a sharp decline in production and trade, the lowest point of development. Accompanied by unemployment and a decline in living standards.
Types of crises. By scale: general (covers the entire economy) and sectoral (covers individual industries: foreign exchange, stock exchange, credit, financial). By regularity: irregular and regular (frequently repeated). According to the level of supply and demand (crises of underproduction and overproduction).
In the 17th century It was believed that economic crises were an accident. The causes of the crisis were sought in violations in the field of money demand. The famous economist John Keynes saw the origins of the crisis in the weakness of the market mechanism. Marxism is about the contradictions of capitalism and the private capitalist form of appropriation. In modern economics there are internal causes of economic crises: imbalance of supply and demand (overproduction or underproduction), the development of scientific and technological progress, high levels of inflation and unemployment, speculation in securities, government activities. External reasons: social cataclysms, wars, revolutions.
Economic depression- the most acute form of crisis, in which there is a very high level of unemployment and an almost complete stop in the production of goods and products. During the economic crisis and Great Depression in 1933, about 2 thousand people died of hunger in the United States.
Ways out of the crisis: gradual recovery of the economy from its own reserves and loans from foreign countries: reducing inflation and unemployment, increasing wages, strengthening the national currency, etc.
71) Socio-economic development of the USSR in the mid-60s - 80s
The main feature of the socio-economic life of the 60-80s was the constant search for new ways of development, which the party leadership could not finally decide on. In the 60s, the government still made attempts to preserve the reform impulses of the Khrushchev period, but starting from the 70s, this process finally stopped.
Industrial reform of 1965
The economic reform, which was adopted in 1965, became the largest transformation in the post-war period of the USSR. A. N. Kosygin was involved in the development of the reform, although the foundations were laid by the Khrushchev government.
The transformations affected industry, agriculture, construction and management. Changes occurred in the management of industry; the planned system was partially refuted; the assessment of the activities of enterprises became not the quantity of manufactured products, but the volume of their sales.
Financing of construction enterprises was carried out using interest-free lending. Results of the reform. Businesses that have migrated to the new system have seen significant improvements in productivity.
The fuel and energy complex became the core of the state's economy: the USSR took the world's leading position in the production of oil and gas. During the reform period, the military-industrial complex strengthened significantly.
In pursuit of parity with the United States, the Soviet state began mass production of ballistic missiles and intermediate-range nuclear missiles. The scientific and technical potential of the state has also increased. During this period, new sectors emerged in the Soviet industry: microelectronics, robotics and nuclear engineering.
Despite the visible economic growth, the leadership of the USSR failed to consolidate the results of the reform, and by the beginning of the 70s, production volumes began to fall steadily.
Agriculture
While industrial reform brought the expected results, attempts to transform the agricultural sector suffered a crushing failure at the very beginning. Most state and collective farms, despite financial support from the state, brought losses.
The rate of agricultural production was only 1% per year. Since the mid-60s, the government began to regularly purchase grain abroad. The crisis of the agricultural complex was never eliminated.
Social life
In the 60-80s, the Soviet state experienced increased urbanization. Rural residents moved en masse to big cities, since work in production brought stable income, unlike labor on the land.
By the beginning of 1980, the urban population was 62%, rural 12%, military personnel 16%. Until the mid-70s, the life of the Soviet people was characterized by social and economic stability; education, housing and medicine in the state were free.
The situation changed dramatically in 1976, when the production crisis first began to affect the life of society. The food problem worsened significantly; many necessary products were in short supply. The agricultural sector could not satisfy the food needs of the population.
Despite this, the country's leadership did not stop funding the space and military industries, which led to a socio-economic paradox: in a state that was a world leader in the production of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, it was not possible to easily buy milk and butter.
72) Socio-political development of the USSR in the mid-60s, mid-80s
In October 1964, N.S. Khrushchev was accused of “voluntarism” and “subjectivism”, removed from all posts and sent into retirement.
The ruling elite no longer wanted to tolerate Khrushchev’s reform actions, which were accompanied by personnel leapfrog. The people did not understand Khrushchev’s struggle for a “bright future” while current life was deteriorating.
L.I. was elected First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Brezhnev, A.N. was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Kosygin. With Brezhnev coming to power, the management of Soviet society passes to a “new” class (700 thousand people), a class of managers devoid of faith in social justice and many moral prohibitions. The nomenklatura surrounded itself with new privileges and material benefits, and its most corrupt members were associated with the “shadow economy.” The main source of enrichment for the ruling class in the 60s and early 80s were all sorts of abuses of office, bribes, and postscripts. By the mid-80s, the ruling elite was transforming from managers of “socialist” property into its real owners. An atmosphere of impunity and permissiveness is being created.
The domestic policy of the Brezhnev administration was conservative in nature (“neo-Stalinism”). From the second half of the 60s, criticism of the cult of Stalin was prohibited, the process of rehabilitation of the repressed stopped, and persecution of dissidents began. In the 1970s, dissent joined the dissident movement, the characteristic features of which were anti-communism and anti-Sovietism (academician A.D. Sakharov, writer A.I. Solzhenitsyn, musician M.A. Rostropovich).
In 1977, a new Constitution of the USSR was adopted, which legally enshrined the construction of “developed socialism.” The Constitution expanded the social rights of citizens: the right to work, free education, medical care, recreation, etc. The Constitution of the USSR for the first time officially established the special role of the CPSU in society. The political life of the country in the first half of the 1980s was characterized by frequent changes of top leadership: in November 1982, L.I. died. Brezhnev, in February 1984 Yu.V. Andropov, in March 1985 - K.U. Chernenko.
Since the end of 1964, the country's leadership has been trying to carry out economic reforms. The March Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee (1965) outlined measures for agriculture: establish a firm procurement plan for 6 years (1965 - 1970), increase purchase prices, introduce a 50% premium for above-plan products, increase investment in the countryside, cut taxes . The implementation of these measures led to a temporary acceleration of agricultural production. The essence of the economic reform in industry (September 1965) was the following: the transition to sectoral management, the transfer of enterprises to self-financing, the reduction of the number of planned indicators (instead of 30-9), the creation of incentive funds at enterprises. A.N. played an active role in the preparation and implementation of the reform. Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR).
The economic reform of 1965 proved successful during the 8th Five-Year Plan (1966 - 1970), industrial production increased by 50%. 1,900 large enterprises were built (the Volzhsky Automobile Plant in Togliatti produced the first Zhiguli cars in 1970). Agricultural production increased by 20%.
By the early 1970s, the reform ceased to work. Market mechanisms for managing production were paralyzed by the command-administrative system. Agriculture again took a back seat. Economic reform, not supported by reform of the political system, was doomed.
Since the beginning of the 70s. the rate of decline in production increased. The economy continued to develop on an extensive basis, mainly in breadth (involving additional material and human resources in production). There were not enough workers in the newly built factories and factories due to the low birth rate. Labor productivity has fallen. The economy has become resistant to innovation. Only enterprises working for military orders were distinguished by high technology.
The country's economy was militarized. Military spending grew 2 times faster than national income. Of 25 billion rubles. total expenditures on science are 20 billion rubles. accounted for military-technical research.
Civilian industry suffered losses. By the beginning of the 80s, only 10% - 15% of enterprises were automated. During the 9th Five-Year Plan (1971 - 1975), economic growth stopped. The appearance of well-being of the national economy was ensured through the sale of natural resources - gas and oil. "Petrodollars" were spent on the development of the eastern regions of the country and the creation of gigantic territorial production complexes. Construction projects of the century were carried out (VAZ, KAMAZ). From 1974-1984 the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) was built - 3 thousand km.
Agriculture remained the weakest sector in the 70s and 80s. The old management system interfered with the independence of collective and state farm leaders. Purchase prices for agricultural products were low, and for agricultural machinery - high. The state was forced to import grain (1979 - 1084 - 40 million tons per year).
In the 70s, the campaign against the “second virgin lands” - the Non-Black Earth Region (29 regions and republics of Russia) - was widely launched. The main emphasis was on agro-industrial integration, i.e. unification of agriculture with the industries that serve it - industry, transport, trade. Mass liquidation of “unpromising villages” began (200 thousand). In 1982, a food program was developed designed to solve the food problem in the USSR by 1990.
Crisis phenomena gradually accumulated in the social sphere. The rise in the population's living standards stopped, there was a shortage and a hidden rise in prices. This became an economic prerequisite for the formation of the “shadow economy”.
From the mid-60s to the mid-80s, the political regime in the USSR “came to its senses” after the debunking of Stalin and other innovations of Khrushchev’s “thaw”; society’s readiness for change was limited by the rigid framework of the ideological paradigm of “building communism”, the political monopoly of the party- state structures, nomenklatura, which is a stronghold of conservatism, and the absence of influential social groups interested in dismantling totalitarianism.
Despite the official thesis about the rapprochement of social groups, in reality social relations became more complex. The differentiation in the quality and standard of living, real rights of the managerial system and the rest of the population increased.
The contradictory phenomena in Soviet society could not but affect the development of its spiritual sphere - education, science, culture.
Relations between government and society in the period from the mid-60s to the mid-80s led to a third wave of emigration.
All this reflected the presence, interweaving and confrontation of two directions in the spiritual life of Soviet society from the mid-60s to the mid-80s - official-protective and democratic.
During these years, the dissident movement arose, which will be discussed in this work.
The phenomenon of dissidence
The Brezhnev team quickly set a course to suppress dissent, and the boundaries of what was permitted narrowed, and what was fully tolerated and even recognized by the System under Khrushchev, from the late 60s could be classified as a political crime. Indicative in this regard is the example of the head of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of the USSR N. Mesyats, who, having been appointed to the post in the October days of 1964 and called upon to ensure control over information programs, sincerely believed that it was enough to press a certain “button” and such control will be implemented.
The origins of the revival of the organized movement of dissidents can rightfully be considered the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the campaign of condemnation of the “cult of personality” that began immediately after it. The population of the country, party organizations and labor collectives, representatives not only of the intelligentsia, but also of the working class and peasantry took the new course so seriously that they did not notice how criticism of Stalinism smoothly flowed into criticism of the System itself. But the authorities were on alert. The persecution of dissidents (and in this case, of the consistent implementers of the decisions of the party congress) fell immediately.
And yet, the dissident movement in its classic version began in 1965 with the arrest of A. Sinyavsky and Y. Daniel, who published one of their works “Walks with Pushkin” in the West. It was from this time that the authorities began a targeted fight against dissidence, thereby causing the growth of this movement. From this same time, the creation of a network of underground circles, wide in geography and representative in composition of participants, began, whose task was to change the existing political order.
The symbol of dissidence was the speech on August 25, 1968 against the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, which took place on Red Square. Eight people took part in it: student T. Baeva, linguist K. Babitsky, philologist L. Bogoraz, poet V. Delaunay, worker V. Dremlyuga, physicist P. Litvinov, art critic V. Fayenberg and poetess N. Gorbanevskaya. However, there were other, less overt forms of disagreement that made it possible to avoid administrative and even criminal prosecution: participation in a society for the protection of nature or religious heritage, the creation of various kinds of appeals to “future generations”, without a chance of publication then and discovered today, and finally, refusal from career - how many young intellectuals of the 70s chose to work as janitors or stokers. The poet and bard Yu. Kim recently wrote about the connection with his last performance, “Moscow Kitchens,” which was a great success, that the Brezhnev era remains in the memory of Moscow intellectuals as the years spent in the kitchen, talking “in their circle” on the topic of how to remake the world. Weren’t there some kind of “kitchens”, albeit of a different level, the university in Tartu, the department of Professor V. Yadov at Leningrad University, the Institute of Economics of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences and other places, official and unofficial, where jokes about the wretchedness of life and the stuttering of the Secretary General were interspersed disputes in which the future was anticipated?
Directions of the dissident movement
The first is civil movements (“politicians”). The largest among them was the human rights movement. His supporters stated: “The protection of human rights, his basic civil and political freedoms, open protection, by legal means, within the framework of existing laws, was the main pathos of the human rights movement... Repulsion from political activity, a suspicious attitude towards ideologically charged projects of social reconstruction, rejection of any forms organizations - this is the set of ideas that can be called a human rights position";
The second is religious movements (faithful and free Seventh-day Adventists, evangelical Christians - Baptists, Orthodox, Pentecostals and others);
Third - national movements (Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Armenians, Georgians, Crimean Tatars, Jews, Germans and others).
Stages of the dissident movement
The movement participants themselves were the first to propose a periodization of the movement, in which they saw four main stages.
The first stage (1965 - 1972) can be called the period of formation.
These years were marked by:
- “letter campaign” in defense of human rights in the USSR; the creation of the first human rights circles and groups;
Organization of the first funds for material assistance to political prisoners;
Intensification of the positions of the Soviet intelligentsia not only in relation to events in our country, but also in other states (for example, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, Poland in 1971, etc.);
Public protest against the re-Stalinization of society; appealing not only to the authorities of the USSR, but also to the world community (including the international communist movement);
The creation of the first program documents of the liberal-Western (work by A.D. Sakharov “Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom”) and pochvennicheskoy (“Nobel Lecture” by A.I. Solzhenitsyn) directions;
The beginning of the publication of "Chronicles of Current Events";
The creation on May 28, 1969 of the country's first open public association - the Initiative Group for the Defense of Human Rights in the USSR;
The massive scope of the movement (according to the KGB for 1967 - 1971, 3,096 “groups of a politically harmful nature” were identified; 13,602 people included in their composition were prevented; the geography of the movement in these years for the first time outlined the entire country);
The movement covers essentially all social strata of the country's population, including workers, military personnel, state farm workers,
The efforts of the authorities in the fight against dissent during this period were mainly concentrated on:
On the organization of a special structure in the KGB (the Fifth Directorate), aimed at ensuring control over mental attitudes and “prevention” of dissidents;
Widespread use of the capabilities of psychiatric hospitals to combat dissent;
Changing Soviet legislation in the interests of combating dissidents;
Suppression of connections of dissidents with foreign countries.
The second stage (1973 - 1974) is usually considered a period of crisis for the movement. This condition is associated with the arrest, investigation and trial of P. Yakir and V. Krasin, during which they agreed to cooperate with the KGB. This resulted in new arrests of participants and some fading of the human rights movement. The authorities launched an offensive against samizdat. Numerous searches, arrests and trials took place in Moscow, Leningrad, Vilnius, Novosibirsk, Kyiv and other cities.
The third stage (1974 - 1975) is considered to be a period of broad international recognition of the dissident movement. This period saw the creation of the Soviet branch of the international organization Amnesty International; deportation from the country of A. Solzhenitsyn; awarding the Nobel Prize to A. Sakharov; resumption of publication of the Chronicle of Current Events.
The fourth stage (1976 - 1981) is called Helsinki. During this period, a group was created to promote the implementation of the Helsinki agreements in the USSR, headed by Yu. Orlov (Moscow Helsinki Group - MHG). The group saw the main content of its activities in the collection and analysis of materials available to it about violations of the humanitarian articles of the Helsinki Accords and informing the governments of the participating countries about them. Her work was painfully perceived by the authorities not only because it contributed to the growth of the human rights movement, but also because after the Helsinki Conference it became much more difficult to deal with dissidents using previous methods. It was also important that the MHG established connections with religious and national movements, primarily unrelated to each other, and began to perform some coordinating functions. At the end of 1976 - beginning of 1977. Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Georgian, Armenian, and Helsinki groups were created on the basis of national movements. In 1977, a working commission was created under the MHG to investigate the use of psychiatry for political purposes.
Conclusion
So, the dissident movement is the most radical, visible and courageous expression of dissent.
The dissident movement in its classic version began in 1965 with the arrest of Sinyavsky and Daniele.
The dissident movement can be divided into three main directions:
1. civil movements;
2. religious movements;
3. national movements.
There are four stages of the dissident movement.
The most active forms of protest were characteristic mainly of three layers of society: the creative intelligentsia, believers and some national minorities.
The 70s were marked by:
A number of obvious successes of the KGB in the fight against all forms of dissidence;
The continuous decline in the international prestige of the USSR due to repression.
All these directions and forms of protest will receive recognition and flourish during the period of “glasnost”.
73) Foreign policy of the USSR in the mid-60s - 80s
In the mid-60s and early 80s, the USSR was in a state of confrontation with the capitalist West. Foreign policy during this period was of a contrasting nature: a thaw in international relations often turned into a new aggravation of contradictions.
USSR diplomacy in the mid-60s and early 80s should be considered in two main trends: political relations with the socialist camp and capitalist states.
Foreign policy of the Soviet Union with socialist countries
Diplomatic relations of the Soviet Union with the countries of the socialist camp were regulated by the so-called “Brezhnev Doctrine”, the meaning of which was the need to preserve the unity of the proletarian states by any means and consolidate the leading role of the USSR in the socialist world.
The Soviet army actively participated in the suppression of anti-socialist uprisings in Czechoslovakia (“Prague Spring”, 1968). An attempt was also made to intervene in the internal confrontation between communists and democrats in Poland, but the emerging socio-economic Soviet crisis forced the USSR government to abandon the use of the Prague experience.
In the early 70s, tension arose in Soviet-Chinese relations. The Chinese Communist Party began to claim leadership in the socialist camp, gradually displacing the USSR. After short military conflicts and the departure of Mao Zedong from the political arena, diplomatic relations of the Soviet state with the friendly republic of China were completely severed.
The USSR government failed to fully implement the “Brezhnev Doctrine”. The socialist republics, willingly entering into diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and taking advantage of the prerogatives provided by the powerful “mentor” in the foreign market, still actively defended their sovereignty and political independence.
The implementation of the world proletarian revolution was significantly delayed, and over time it completely lost its relevance.
USSR and the capitalist world
International relations between the parties to the Cold War were unstable. In the mid-60s, political and military parity was achieved between the USSR and the USA, which meant the potential threat of the outbreak of the Third World War.
However, during R. Nixon's official visit to Moscow in 1972, an agreement was signed between the states that limited the strategic possession of nuclear weapons by both countries, as well as their non-use in peacetime. This was the first step towards nuclear disarmament and significantly eased tensions between the powers.
Since 1973, the international relations of the USSR with the countries of the capitalist West acquired stability and were based on friendly good neighborliness, without making political claims. Diplomatic relations with the West destabilized in 1979, when Soviet armed forces invaded Afghanistan on an international mission.
Beginning of the war in Afghanistan The motivation for helping the Afghan people build socialism was not based on compelling reasons and looked unconvincing in the eyes of Western democracy.
The Soviet government ignored Western warnings, which gave rise to a new stage in the Cold War. By the beginning of the 1980s, diplomatic relations were completely broken off, and the parties again returned to mutual threats of a nuclear attack.
On September 26, 1968, the Pravda newspaper published the so-called “Brezhnev Doctrine” on the “limited sovereignty” of socialist countries in the face of the danger hanging over the world socialist system... Doctrine was that the USSR could interfere in the internal affairs of the countries of Central-Eastern Europe, which were part of the socialist bloc in order to ensure the stability of the political course, built on the basis of real socialism and aimed at close cooperation with the USSR. The word “doctrine” never got used to the Soviet foreign policy lexicon in the military-political field, this word did not take root. There were decrees and declarations, the opinion of TASS or the Soviet government was expressed. The Brezhnev Doctrine was explained and fueled by ideological, political and economic factors. Soviet leaders, from Stalin to Andropov, intuitively understood the importance of geopolitics as a factor in the security of the Soviet Union. The main pillars of Soviet foreign policy under Brezhnev were the principles of peaceful coexistence and proletarian socialist internationalism. The foundations of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union were formed in the real world, where there was constantly a fierce struggle for military-political spheres of influence and economic interests. Everyone remembers that there were doctrines of US presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Nixon. Theoretically, they were based on the principles of political realism, which were developed by perhaps the most famous American analysts Hans Morgenthau and George Kennan. Kennan, for example, launched the doctrine of containing communism, which in practice became the doctrine of rejecting communism. US Secretaries of State Kissinger and Christopher believed and still believe that in world politics there is a constant struggle for influence, power, initiative; the state achieves its goal by adapting or imposing its will on others. Either they adapt or they impose. The main conductor of the USSR's foreign policy was Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. He said that the world is socially bipolar, that there are fundamental differences between the two systems - capitalist and socialist. Along with cooperation within the framework of peaceful coexistence, there is a struggle that must be waged through peaceful means. Communist ideology, the economic and military power of the Soviet Union and its allies are the main means of maintaining the balance of power on the world stage. The nuclear arms race is the greatest threat to humanity. The race must be stopped and weapons banned. Objectively, the United States and NATO are interested in this. The Soviet Union has many allies and friends on the world stage, and we must support them. This is an axiom of any diplomacy. It's easy to lose friends, but hard to find. For the security of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was created, hence the support provided by the GDR. Everyone knows, for example, that the minister, when he flew to Germany, always stopped in the GDR. This was a deliberate policy.
74)Reasons for a new attempt to reform the political system of the USSR
By the beginning of the 80s, the Soviet economic system had exhausted its possibilities for development and had gone beyond the boundaries of its historical time. Having carried out industrialization and urbanization, the command economy was unable to further carry out deep transformations covering all aspects of society. First of all, it turned out to be unable, in radically changed conditions, to ensure the proper development of the productive forces, protect human rights, and maintain the international authority of the country. The USSR, with its gigantic reserves of raw materials, hardworking and selfless population, lagged further and further behind the West. The Soviet economy was unable to cope with the increasing demands for variety and quality of consumer goods. Industrial enterprises not interested in scientific and technological progress rejected up to 80% of new technical solutions and inventions. The growing inefficiency of the economy had a negative impact on the country's defense capability. In the early 80s, the USSR began to lose competitiveness in the only industry in which it successfully competed with the West - in the field of military technology.
The country's economic base no longer corresponded to its position as a great world power and was in urgent need of renewal. At the same time, the enormous growth in the education and awareness of the people during the post-war period, the emergence of a generation that did not know hunger and repression, formed a higher level of material and spiritual needs of people, and called into question the very principles underlying the Soviet totalitarian system. The very idea of a planned economy collapsed. Increasingly, state plans were not implemented and were constantly being redrawn, and the proportions in the sectors of the national economy were violated. Achievements in the field of health, education, and culture were lost.
The spontaneous degeneration of the system changed the entire way of life of Soviet society: the rights of managers and enterprises were redistributed, departmentalism and social inequality increased.
The nature of production relations within enterprises changed, labor discipline began to decline, apathy and indifference, theft, disrespect for honest work, and envy of those who earn more became widespread. At the same time, non-economic coercion to work remained in the country. The Soviet man, alienated from the distribution of the produced product, turned into a performer, working not out of conscience, but out of compulsion. The ideological motivation for work developed in the post-revolutionary years weakened along with the belief in the imminent triumph of communist ideals.
However, ultimately, completely different forces determined the direction and nature of reform of the Soviet system. They were predetermined by the economic interests of the nomenklatura, the Soviet ruling class.
Thus, by the beginning of the 80s, the Soviet totalitarian system actually lost the support of a significant part of society.
In conditions of monopoly domination in society by one party, the CPSU, and the presence of a powerful repressive apparatus, changes could only begin “from above.” The country's top leaders were clearly aware that the economy needed reform, but none of the conservative majority of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee wanted to take responsibility for implementing these changes.
Even the most urgent problems were not resolved in a timely manner. Instead of taking any measures to improve the economy, new forms of “socialist competition” were proposed. Enormous funds were diverted to numerous “construction projects of the century,” like the Baikal-Amur Mainline.
75) Goals and stages of perestroika Perestroika is the general name for the totality of political and economic changes carried out in the USSR in 1986-1991. During perestroika (especially from the second half of 1989 - after the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR), the political confrontation between the forces advocating the socialist path of development and parties and movements linking the future of the country with the organization of life on the principles of capitalism, as well as on issues of the future, sharply intensified the appearance of the Soviet Union, the relationship between the union and republican bodies of state power and administration. By the mid-80s, the imminent need for change was clear to many in the country. Therefore, proposed in those conditions by M.S. Gorbachev’s “perestroika” found a lively response in all layers of Soviet society. In short, “perestroika” meant: the creation of an effective mechanism for accelerating the socio-economic development of society; comprehensive development of democracy, strengthening of discipline and order, respect for the value and dignity of the individual; refusal of command and administration, encouragement of innovation; a decisive turn towards science, the combination of scientific and technological achievements with economics, and much more. By the beginning of the 1990s, perestroika ended with an aggravation of the crisis in all spheres of society, the elimination of the power of the CPSU and the collapse of the USSR. Stages of perestroika The first stage (March 1985 - January 1987) This period was characterized by the recognition of some shortcomings of the existing political-economic system of the USSR and attempts to correct them with several large administrative campaigns (the so-called “Acceleration”) - the anti-alcohol campaign, “the fight against unearned income ", introduction of state acceptance, demonstration of the fight against corruption. No radical steps had yet been taken during this period; outwardly, almost everything remained the same. At the same time, in 1985-86, the bulk of the old personnel of the Brezhnev conscription was replaced with a new team of managers. It was then that A. N. Yakovlev, E. K. Ligachev, N. I. Ryzhkov, B. N. Yeltsin, A. I. Lukyanov and other active participants in future events were introduced into the leadership of the country. Second stage (January 1987 - June 1989) An attempt to reform socialism in the spirit of democratic socialism. Characterized by the beginning of large-scale reforms in all spheres of life of Soviet society. A policy of openness is being proclaimed in public life - easing censorship in the media and lifting bans on what were previously considered taboos. In the economy, private entrepreneurship in the form of cooperatives is being legitimized, and joint ventures with foreign companies are beginning to be actively created. In international politics, the main doctrine is “New Thinking” - a course towards abandoning the class approach in diplomacy and improving relations with the West. Part of the population is overwhelmed by euphoria from the long-awaited changes and freedom unprecedented by Soviet standards. At the same time, during this period, general instability began to gradually increase in the country: the economic situation worsened, separatist sentiments appeared on the national outskirts, and the first interethnic clashes broke out. Third stage (June 1989-1991) The final stage, during this period there is a sharp destabilization of the political situation in the country: after the Congress, the confrontation between the communist regime and the new political forces that emerged as a result of the democratization of society begins. Difficulties in the economy are developing into a full-scale crisis. The chronic shortage of goods reaches its apogee: empty store shelves become a symbol of the turn of the 1980-1990s. Perestroika euphoria in society is replaced by disappointment, uncertainty about the future and mass anti-communist sentiments. Since 1990, the main idea is no longer “improving socialism”, but building democracy and a market economy of the capitalist type. “New thinking” in the international arena comes down to unilateral concessions to the West, as a result of which the USSR loses many of its positions and actually ceases to be a superpower, which just a few years ago controlled half the world. In Russia and other republics of the Union, separatist-minded forces come to power - the “parade of sovereignties” begins. The logical result of this development of events was the liquidation of the power of the CPSU and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
REASONS FOR PERESTROIKA
Perestroika is the final stage in the history of the USSR, which began in 1985 with the implementation of reforms of the Soviet Union. However, the feeling of the need for change arose in Soviet society back in the era of “stagnation”. In his activities L.I. Brezhnev and his entourage relied primarily on the officials of the CPSU apparatus, who controlled literally everything in the country - from the queue for foreign intelligence to the production of children's toys. Such a system made it possible to carry out all sorts of illegal transactions and receive large bribes. This is exactly how the first large capitals, often of criminal origin, began to form in the USSR.
When I die, a lot of rubbish will be placed on my grave, but the wind of time will mercilessly sweep it away.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Brief summary of the myth:
Stalin was the greatest tyrant of all times. Stalin destroyed his people on an unimaginable scale - from 10 to 100 million people were thrown into camps, where they were shot or died in inhumane conditions.
Reality:
What was the scale of the “Stalinist repressions”?
Almost all publications addressing the issue of the number of repressed people can be classified into two groups. The first of them includes works by denouncers of the “totalitarian regime”, citing astronomical multi-million dollar figures of those executed and imprisoned. At the same time, “truth seekers” persistently try not to notice archival data, including published ones, pretending that they do not exist. To justify their figures, they either refer to each other, or simply limit themselves to phrases like: “according to my calculations,” “I am convinced,” etc.
However, any conscientious researcher who begins to study this problem quickly discovers that in addition to “eyewitness memories” there are a lot of documentary sources: “Several thousand items of storage of documents related to the activities of the Gulag have been identified in the funds of the Central State Archive of the October Revolution, the highest bodies of state power and government bodies of the USSR (TsGAOR USSR)”
Having studied archival documents, such a researcher is surprised to see that the scale of repression that we “know” about thanks to the media is not only at odds with reality, but is inflated tenfold. After this, he finds himself in a painful dilemma: professional ethics requires him to publish the data found, on the other hand, how not to be branded as a defender of Stalin. The result is usually some kind of “compromise” publication, containing both a standard set of anti-Stalin epithets and curtsies addressed to Solzhenitsyn and Co., as well as information about the number of repressed people, which, unlike publications from the first group, is not taken out of thin air and not pulled out of thin air , and are confirmed by documents from the archives.
How much has been repressed?
February 1, 1954
To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade N. S. Khrushchev.
In connection with signals received by the Central Committee of the CPSU from a number of persons about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report: from 1921 to the present time, 3,777,380 people were sentenced for counter-revolutionary crimes, including 642,980 people to VMN, to detention in camps and prisons for a term of 25 years and below - 2,369,220, into exile and deportation - 765,180 people.Of the total number of convicts, approximately, 2,900,000 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference, and 877,000 people were convicted by courts, military tribunals, the Special Collegium and the Military Collegium.
... It should be noted that, created on the basis of the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of November 5, 1934, by the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR, which existed until September 1, 1953, 442,531 people were sentenced, including 10,101 people to VMN, to imprisonment - 360,921 people, to exile and deportation (within the country) - 57,539 people and to other measures of punishment (counting the time spent in custody, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) - 3,970 people...
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin
So, as is clear from the above document, in total from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, people were sentenced to death on political charges. 642.980 person, to imprisonment - 2.369.220 , to link – 765.180 . It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, from July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production, but then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years. In 1934, the camps housed 3,849 prisoners sentenced to capital punishment with a substitute for imprisonment, in 1935 - 5,671, in 1936 - 7,303, in 1937 - 6,239, in 1938 - 5,926, in 1939 - 3,425, in 1940 - 4,037.
Number of prisoners
« Are you sure that the information in this memo is true?“, - a skeptical reader will exclaim, who, thanks to many years of brainwashing, firmly “knows” about millions of people shot and tens of millions sent to camps. Well, let’s turn to more detailed statistics, especially since, contrary to the assurances of dedicated “fighters against totalitarianism,” such data is not only available in the archives, but has also been published several times.
Let's start with data on the number of prisoners in the Gulag camps. Let me remind you that those sentenced to a term of more than 3 years, as a rule, served their sentences in correctional labor camps (ITL), and those sentenced to short terms - in correctional labor colonies (CPT).
| Year | Prisoners |
|---|---|
| 1930 | 179.000 |
| 1931 | 212.000 |
| 1932 | 268.700 |
| 1933 | 334.300 |
| 1934 | 510.307 |
| 1935 | 725.483 |
| 1936 | 839.406 |
| 1937 | 820.881 |
| 1938 | 996.367 |
| 1939 | 1.317.195 |
| 1940 | 1.344.408 |
| 1941 | 1.500.524 |
| 1942 | 1.415.596 |
| 1943 | 983.974 |
| 1944 | 663.594 |
| 1945 | 715.505 |
| 1946 | 746.871 |
| 1947 | 808.839 |
| 1948 | 1.108.057 |
| 1949 | 1.216.361 |
| 1950 | 1.416.300 |
| 1951 | 1.533.767 |
| 1952 | 1.711.202 |
| 1953 | 1.727.970 |
However, those who are accustomed to accepting the opuses of Solzhenitsyn and others like him as Holy Scripture are often not convinced even by direct references to archival documents. " These are NKVD documents, and therefore they are falsified.- they declare. – Where did the numbers given in them come from?».
Well, especially for these incredulous gentlemen, I will give a couple of specific examples of where “these numbers” come from. So, the year is 1935:
NKVD camps, their economic specialization and number of prisoners
as of January 11, 1935
| Camp | Economic specialization | Number conclusion |
| Dmitrovlag | Construction of the Moscow-Volga Canal | 192.649|
| Bamlag | Construction of the second tracks of the Trans-Baikal and Ussuri railways and the Baikal-Amur Mainline | 153.547|
| Belomoro-Baltic- ski plant | Construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal | 66.444|
| Siblag | Construction of the Gorno-Shorskaya railway; coal mining in the mines of Kuzbass; construction of the Chuisky and Usinsky tracts; provision of labor to the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant, Novsibles, etc.; own pig farms | 61.251|
| Dallag (later Vladivostoklag) | Construction of the Volochaevka-Komsomolsk railway; coal mining at the Artem and Raichikha mines; construction of the Sedan water pipeline and oil storage tanks of Benzostroy; construction work of “Dalpromstroy”, “Reserves Committee”, aircraft building No. 126; fisheries | 60.417|
| Svirlag | Harvesting firewood and commercial timber for Leningrad | 40.032|
| Sevvostlag | Trust "Dalstroy", work in Kolyma | 36.010|
| Temlag, Mordov- Russian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | Harvesting firewood and industrial timber for Moscow | 33.048|
| Central Asian camp (Sazlag) | Providing labor to Tekstilstroy, Chirchikstroy, Shakhrudstroy, Khazarbakhstroy, Chuisky Novlubtrest, and the Pakhta-Aral state farm; own cotton farms | 26.829|
| Karaganda camp (Karlag) | Livestock farms | 25.109|
| Ukhtpechlag | Works of the Ukhto-Pechora Trust: mining of coal, oil, asphalt, radium, etc. | 20.656|
| Prorvlag (later - Astrakhanlag) | Fishing industry | 10.583|
| Sarovsky NKVD camp | Logging and sawmilling | 3.337|
| Vaygach | Mining of zinc, lead, platinum spar | 1.209|
| Okhunlag | Road construction | 722|
| on the way to the camps | 9.756 | |
| Total | 741.599 |
Four years later:
| Camp | Conclusion |
| Bamlag (BAM route) | 262.194 |
| Sevvostlag (Magadan) | 138.170 |
| Belbaltlag (Karelian ASSR) | 86.567 |
| Volgolag (Uglich-Rybinsk region) | 74.576 |
| Dallag (Primorsky Territory) | 64.249 |
| Siblag (Novosibirsk region) | 46.382 |
| Ushosdorlag (Far East) | 36.948 |
| Samarlag (Kuibyshev region) | 36.761 |
| Karlag (Karaganda region) | 35.072 |
| Sazlag (Uzbek SSR) | 34.240 |
| Usollag (Molotov region) | 32.714 |
| Kargopollag (Arkhangelsk region) | 30.069 |
| Sevzheldorlag (Komi ASSR and Arkhangelsk region) | 29.405 |
| Yagrinlag (Arkhangelsk region) | 27.680 |
| Vyazemlag (Smolensk region) | 27.470 |
| Ukhtimlag (Komi ASSR) | 27.006 |
| Sevurallag (Sverdlovsk region) | 26.963 |
| Lokchimlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 26.242 |
| Temlag (Mordovian ASSR) | 22.821 |
| Ivdellag (Sverdlovsk region) | 20.162 |
| Vorkutlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 17.923 |
| Soroklag (Arkhangelsk region) | 17.458 |
| Vyatlag (Kirov region) | 16.854 |
| Oneglag (Arkhangelsk region) | 16.733 |
| Unjlag (Gorky region) | 16.469 |
| Kraslag (Krasnoyarsk region) | 15.233 |
| Taishetlag (Irkutsk region) | 14.365 |
| Ustvymlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 11.974 |
| Thomasinlag (Novosibirsk region) | 11.890 |
| Gorno-Shorsky ITL (Altai Territory) | 11.670 |
| Norillag (Krasnoyarsk Territory) | 11.560 |
| Kuloylag (Arkhangelsk region) | 10.642 |
| Raichichlag (Khabarovsk Territory) | 8.711 |
| Arkhbumlag (Arkhangelsk region) | 7.900 |
| Luga camp (Leningrad region) | 6.174 |
| Bukachachlag (Chita region) | 5.945 |
| Prorvlag (Lower Volga) | 4.877 |
| Likovlag (Moscow region) | 4.556 |
| South Harbor (Moscow region) | 4.376 |
| Stalin station (Moscow region) | 2.727 |
| Dmitrovsky Mechanical Plant (Moscow region) | 2.273 |
| Construction No. 211 (Ukrainian SSR) | 1.911 |
| Transit prisoners | 9.283 |
| Total | 1.317.195 |
However, as I already wrote above, in addition to the ITL there were also ITKs - corrective labor colonies. Until the fall of 1938, they, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD. Therefore, for the years 1935–1938 we have so far been able to find only joint statistics:
Since 1939, penitentiary colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD.
Number of prisoners in prisons
| Year | 1st of January | January | March | May | July | September | December |
| 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 | 352.508 186.278 470.693 268.532 237.534 151.296 275.510 245.146 293.135 280.374 | 350.538 178.258 401.146 229.217 201.547 170.767 267.885 191.930 259.078 349.035 228.258 | 186.278 434.871 247.404 221.669 171.708 272.486 235.092 290.984 284.642 230.614 |
The information in the table is given for the middle of each month. In addition, again for particularly stubborn anti-Stalinists, a separate column provides information for January 1 of each year (highlighted in red), taken from an article by A. Kokurin posted on the Memorial website. This article, among other things, contains links to specific archival documents. In addition, those interested can read an article by the same author in the magazine “Military Historical Archive”.
Now we can compile a summary table of the number of prisoners in the USSR under Stalin:
It cannot be said that these figures are some kind of revelation. Since 1990, this type of data has been presented in a number of publications. Thus, in an article by L. Ivashov and A. Emelin, published in 1991, it is stated that the total number of prisoners in camps and colonies is 1.03. 1940 was 1.668.200 people, as of June 22, 1941 – 2.3 million; as of July 1, 1944 – 1.2 million .
V. Nekrasov in his book “Thirteen “Iron” People’s Commissars” reports that “in places of deprivation of liberty” in 1933 there were 334 thousand prisoners, in 1934 - 510 thousand, in 1935 - 991 thousand, in 1936 - 1296 thousand; on December 21, 1944 in camps and colonies - 1.450.000 ; on March 24, 1953 in the same place - 2.526.402 .
According to A. Kokurin and N. Petrov (especially significant, since both authors are associated with the Memorial society, and N. Petrov is even an employee of Memorial), as of 1.07. 1944 in the camps and colonies of the NKVD there were about 1.2 million prisoners, and in NKVD prisons on the same date - 204.290 . As of 12/30. 1945 in the NKVD forced labor camps there were about 640 thousand prisoners, in correctional labor colonies - about 730 thousand, in prisons - about 250 thousand, in the bullpen – about 38 thousand, in juvenile colonies - about 21 thousand, in special camps and NKVD prisons in Germany - about 84 thousand .
Finally, here are data on the number of prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty subordinate to the territorial bodies of the Gulag, taken directly from the already mentioned Memorial website:
| January 1935 January 1937 1.01.1939 1.01.1941 1.01.1945 1.01.1949 1.01.1953 | 307.093 375.376 381.581 434.624 745.171 1.139.874 741.643 |
So, let's summarize - during the entire period of Stalin's reign, the number of prisoners simultaneously in prison never exceeded 2 million 760 thousand (naturally, not counting German, Japanese and other prisoners of war). Thus, there can be no talk of any “tens of millions of Gulag prisoners.”
Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190–195 million. Thus we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. In January 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people - the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546
Now let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of prisons: jail- an approximate analogue of our temporary detention facilities, in jail those under investigation are held, and those sentenced to short terms are also serving their sentences, and prison- the prison itself. So, at the end of 1999 in prisons 1,366,721 people were held in jails– 687,973 (see: Bureau of Legal Statistics website), which gives a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million (see: US population), therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.
Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself to “protect human rights” on a global scale. And if we take into account the growth rate of this indicator - when this article was first published, it was (as of mid-1998) 693 prisoners per 100 thousand American population, 1990–1998. average annual increase in the number of inhabitants jails – 4,9%, prisons- 6.9%, then, you see, in ten years the overseas friends of our domestic Stalin-haters will catch up and overtake the Stalinist USSR.
By the way, in one Internet discussion an objection was raised - they say that these figures include all arrested Americans, including those who were detained for several days. Let me emphasize once again: by the end of 1999, there were more than 2 million prisoners who are serving time or are in pre-trial detention. As for the arrests, they were made in 1998 14.5 million(see: FBI report).
Now a few words about the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin. Of course, if you take the table above and add up the rows, the result will be incorrect, since most of the Gulag prisoners were sentenced to more than a year. However, to a certain extent, the following note allows us to estimate the number of those who went through the Gulag:
To the head of the Gulag of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Egorov S.E.
In total, 11 million units of archival materials are stored in the Gulag units, of which 9.5 million are the personal files of prisoners.
Head of the Gulag Secretariat of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
Major Podymov
How many of the prisoners were “political”
It is fundamentally wrong to believe that the majority of those imprisoned under Stalin were “victims of political repression”:
Number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary and other especially dangerous state crimes
| Year | highest measure | camps, colonies and prisons | link and expulsion | other measures | Total convicted |
| 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 | 9701 1962 414 2550 2433 990 2363 869 2109 20201 10651 2728 2154 2056 1229 1118 353074 328618 2552 1649 8011 23278 3579 3029 4252 2896 1105 – 8 475 1609 1612 198 | 21724||||
| Total | 799455 | 2634397 413512 215942 4060306
By “other measures” we mean credit for time spent in custody, forced treatment and deportation abroad. For 1953, information is provided only for the first half of the year.
From this table it follows that there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the above report addressed to Khrushchev - 799,455 sentenced to capital punishment instead of 642,980 and 2,634,397 sentenced to imprisonment instead of 2,369,220. However, this difference is relatively small - the numbers are of the same order.
In addition, there is one more point - it is very possible that a fair number of criminals have been squeezed into the table above. The fact is that on one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which this table was compiled, there is a pencil note: “Total convicts for 1921–1938. – 2944879 people, of which 30% (1062 thousand) are criminals". In this case, the total number of “repressed” does not exceed 3 million. However, to finally clarify this issue, additional work with sources is necessary.
Let's now see what percentage the “repressed” made up of the total number of inhabitants of the Gulag:
Composition of the NKVD Gulag camps for
| Year | quantity | % to all composition of the camps |
| 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 | 135.190 118.256 105.849 104.826 185.324 454.432 444.999 420.293 407.988 345.397 268.861 289.351 333.883 427.653 416.156 420.696 578.912* 475.976 480.766 465.256 | 26.5 16.3 12.6 12.6 18.6 34.5 33.1 28.7 29.6 35.6 40.7 41.2 59.2 54.3 38.0 34.9 22.7 31.0 28.1 26.9 |
* In camps and colonies.
Let us now consider in more detail the composition of the inhabitants of the Gulag at some moments of its existence.
Composition of prisoners in correctional labor camps for the crimes charged
(as of April 1, 1940)
| Charged crimes | Number | % |
| Counter-revolutionary crimes including: Trotskyists, Zinovievites, rightists treason terror sabotage espionage sabotage leaders of counter-revolutionary organizations anti-Soviet agitation other counter-revolutionary crimes family members of traitors to the Motherland without instructions | 417381
17621 | 32,87
|
| Particularly dangerous crimes against the order of government including: banditry and robbery defectors other crimes | 46374
29514 | 3,65
|
| Other crimes against management order including: hooliganism speculation violation of the passport law other crimes | 182421
90291 | 14,37
|
| Theft of social property (law of August 7, 1932) Crimes against the person Property crimes Socially harmful and socially dangerous element Military crimes Other crimes No instructions | 23549 96193 66708 152096 220835 11067 41706 11455 | 1,85|
| Total | 1269785 | 100,00
REFERENCE
on the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and banditry,
held in camps and colonies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as of July 1, 1946.
| By the nature of the crime | In the camps | % | In the colonies | % | Total | % |
| Total presence of convicts | 616.731 | 100 755.255 100 1.371.986100 | ||||
| Of these, for criminal offenses, including: Treason to the Motherland (Article 58-1) Espionage (58-6) Terrorism Sabotage (58-7) Sabotage (58-9) Kr sabotage (58-14) Participation in a/c conspiracy (58–2, 3, 4, 5, 11) Anti-Soviet agitation (58-10) Polit. bandit. (58–2, 5, 9) Illegal border crossing Smuggling Family members of traitors to the Motherland Socially dangerous elements | 354.568
137.463 | 57,5
37,6
14,8 |
Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Aleshinsky
Pom. Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Yatsevich
Composition of Gulag prisoners by nature of crimes
(as of January 1, 1951)
| Crimes | Total | incl. in the camps | incl. in the colonies |
| Counter-revolutionary crimes Treason to the Motherland (Article 58-1a, b) Espionage (Art. 58-1a, b, 6; Art. 193-24) Terror (v.58-8) Terrorist intent Sabotage (v.58-9) Sabotage (vv.58-7) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (except for convicted for refusing to work in the camps and running away) (Article 58-14) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (for refusal from work in the camp) (vv.58-14) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (for escaping from places of detention) (Article 58-14) Participation in anti-Soviet conspiracies, anti-Soviet organizations and groups (Article 58, paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 11) Anti-Soviet agitation (Articles 58–10, 59-7) Insurgency and political banditry (Article 58, paragraph 2; 59, paragraphs 2, 3, 3 b) Members of the families of traitors to the Motherland (Article 58-1c) Socially dangerous element Other counter-revolutionary crimes Total number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes | 334538 18337 7515 2329 3250 1165 46582 | ||
| Criminal offenses Theft of social property (Decree of August 7, 1932) According to the Decree of June 4, 1947 “On strengthening security personal property of citizens" According to the Decree of June 4, 1947 “On criminal liability for theft of state and public property" Speculation committed outside of prison Banditry and armed robbery (Articles 59–3, 167), committed while serving a sentence not in places of detention Intentional murders (Articles 136, 137, 138) committed in places of detention Illegal border crossing (Articles 59–10, 84) Smuggling activities (Articles 59–9, 83) Cattle theft (Article 166) Repeat offenders (Article 162-c) Property crimes (Articles 162-178) Hooliganism (Article 74 and Decree of August 10, 1940) Violation of the law on passporting (Article 192-a) For escapes from places of detention, exile and deportation (Article 82) For unauthorized departure (escape) from places of mandatory settlements (Decree of November 26, 1948) For harboring evicted people who fled from places compulsory settlement, or complicity Socially harmful element Desertion (Article 193-7) Self-mutilation (art. 193-12) Looting (v.193-27) Other military crimes (Article 193, except paragraphs 7, 12, 17, 24, 27) Illegal possession of weapons (Article 182) Official and economic crimes (Article 59-3c, 109–121, 193 paragraphs 17, 18) According to the Decree of June 26, 1940 (unauthorized departure from enterprises and institutions and absenteeism) According to the Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (except those listed above) Other criminal offenses Total criminal convictions | 72293 637055 3635 1021 19648 35518 | ||
| Total: | 2528146 | 1533767 994379
Thus, among the prisoners held in the Gulag camps, the majority were criminals, and the “repressed”, as a rule, were less than 1/3. The exception is the years 1944–1948, when this category received worthy additions in the form of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” ones in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.
Mortality among prisoners
Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.
Mortality of prisoners in Gulag camps
| Year | Average quantity prisoners | Died | % |
| 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 | 240.350 301.500 422.304 617.895 782.445 830.144 908.624 1.156.781 1.330.802 1.422.466 1.458.060 1.199.785 823.784 689.550 658.202 704.868 958.448 1.316.331 1.475.034 1.622.485 1.719.586 | 7283
I have not yet found data for 1948.
Mortality of prisoners in prisons
| Year | Average quantity prisoners | Died | % |
| 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 | 269.393 328.486 369.613 253.033 194.415 213.403 260.328 269.141 286.755 255.711 214.896 181.712 158.647 | 7036
The average number of prisoners is taken as the arithmetic mean between the figures for January 1 and December 31.
Mortality in the colonies on the eve of the war was lower than in the camps. For example, in 1939 it was 2.30%
Mortality of prisoners in Gulag colonies
Thus, as the facts show, contrary to the assurances of the “accusers,” the mortality rate of prisoners under Stalin was kept at a very low level. However, during the war the situation of Gulag prisoners worsened. Nutritional standards were significantly reduced, which immediately led to a sharp increase in mortality. By 1944, the food standards for Gulag prisoners were slightly increased: for bread - by 12%, for cereals - 24%, for meat and fish - 40%, for fats - 28% and for vegetables - by 22%, after which the mortality rate began to decrease noticeably . But even after this, their calorie content remained approximately 30% lower than pre-war nutrition standards.
However, even in the most difficult years of 1942 and 1943, the mortality rate of prisoners was about 20% per year in camps and about 10% per year in prisons, and not 10% per month, as A. Solzhenitsyn, for example, claims. By the beginning of the 50s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1% per year, and in prisons - below 0.5%.
In conclusion, a few words should be said about the notorious Special camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “persons who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special guards were to be used for hard physical work.
Reference
on the presence of a special contingent held in special camps on January 1, 1952.
| №№ | Name special camps | Spi- they | Diver- santa | Ter- ror | Trots- cysts | Pra- high | Men- sheviks | Social Revolutionaries | Anar- hists | National nalists | White- emig- welts | Participant antisov. org. | Dangerous elem. | Total |
| 1 | Mineral | 4012 | 284 | 1020 | 347 | 7 | 36 | 63 | 23 | 11688 | 46 | 4398 | 8367 | 30292 |
| 2 | Mountain | 1884 | 237 | 606 | 84 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9546 | 24 | 2542 | 5279 | 20218 |
| 3 | Dubravny | 1088 | 397 | 699 | 278 | 5 | 51 | 70 | 16 | 7068 | 223 | 4708 | 9632 | 24235 |
| 4 | Stepnoy | 1460 | 229 | 714 | 62 | – | 16 | 4 | 3 | 10682 | 42 | 3067 | 6209 | 22488 |
| 5 | Coastal | 2954 | 559 | 1266 | 109 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 13574 | 11 | 3142 | 10363 | 31989 |
| 6 | River | 2539 | 480 | 1429 | 164 | – | 2 | 2 | 8 | 14683 | 43 | 2292 | 13617 | 35459 |
| 7 | Ozerny | 2350 | 671 | 1527 | 198 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 7625 | 379 | 5105 | 14441 | 32342 |
| 8 | Sandy | 2008 | 688 | 1203 | 211 | 4 | 23 | 20 | 9 | 13987 | 116 | 8014 | 12571 | 38854 |
| 9 | Kamyshevy | 174 | 118 | 471 | 57 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3973 | 5 | 558 | 2890 | 8251 |
| Total | 18475 | 3663 | 8935 | 1510 | 41 | 140 | 190 | 69 | 93026 | 884 | 33826 | 83369 | 244128 |
Deputy Head of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Directorate of the Gulag, Major Maslov
The mortality rate of prisoners in special prisons can be judged from the following document:
| №№ p.p. | Camp name | For cr. crime | For criminal crime | Total | Died in IV sq. 1950 | Released |
| 1 | Mineral | 30235 | 2678 | 32913 | 91 | 479 |
| 2 | Mountain | 15072 | 10 | 15082 | 26 | 1 |
| 3 | Dubravny | |||||
| 4 | Stepnoy | 18056 | 516 | 18572 | 124 | 131 |
| 5 | Coastal | 24676 | 194 | 24870 | No | No |
| 6 | River | 15653 | 301 | 15954 | 25 | No |
| 7 | Ozerny | 27432 | 2961 | 30393 | 162 | 206 |
| 8 | Sandy | 20988 | 182 | 21170 | 24 | 21 |
| 9 | Lugovoi | 9611 | 429 | 10040 | 35 | 15 |
As can be seen from the table, in the 8 special camps for which information is given, out of 168,994 prisoners in the fourth quarter of 1950, 487 (0.29%) died, which, in annual terms, corresponds to 1.15%. That is, only slightly more than in ordinary camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which dissident intellectuals were supposedly exterminated, and the most numerous contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.
A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, No. 7.° C.24.
3. V. N. Zemskov. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991, No. 6.° C.15.
4. V. N. Zemskov. Prisoners in the 1930s: socio-demographic problems // Domestic History. 1997, No. 4.° C.67.
5. A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, No. 7.° C.23; archival
Monument to the victims of Stalin's repressions .
Moscow. Lyubyanskaya Square. The stone for the monument was taken from the territory of the Solovetsky special purpose camp. Established October 30, 1990
Repression is a punitive measure of punishment by government agencies in order to protect the state system and public order. Often repressions are carried out for political reasons against those who threaten society with their actions, speeches, and publications in the media.
During the reign of Stalin, mass repressions were carried out
(late 1920s to early 1950s)
Repression was seen as a necessary measure in the interests of the people and the construction of socialism in the USSR. This was noted in "A short course history of the CPSU (b)", which was republished in 1938-1952.
Goals:
Destruction of opponents and their supporters
Intimidation of the population
Shift responsibility for political failures to “enemies of the people”
Establishment of the autocratic rule of Stalin
The use of free prison labor in the construction of production facilities during the period of accelerated industrialization
There were repressions a consequence of the fight against the opposition, which began already in December 1917.
July 1918 - the end of the left Socialist Revolutionary bloc was put to an end, establishment of a one-party system.
September 1918 - implementation of the policy of “war communism”, the beginning of the “Red Terror”, tightening of the regime.
1921 - creation of revolutionary tribunals ® Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal, VChK ® NKVD.
Creation of State Political Administration ( GPU). Chairman - F.E. Dzerzhinsky. November 1923 - GPU ® United GPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Prev. - F.E. Dzerzhinsky, since 1926 - V.R. Menzhinsky.
August 1922 XIIRCP(b) conference- all anti-Bolshevik movements are recognized as anti-Soviet,” that is, anti-state, and therefore subject to destruction.
1922 - Resolution of the GPU on the expulsion from the country of a number of prominent scientists, writers, and national economic specialists. Berdyaev, Rozanov, Frank, Pitirim Sorokin - "philosophical ship"
Main events
1st period: 1920s
Competitors of Stalin I.V..(since 1922 - General Secretary)
Trotsky L.D..- People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs, Chairman of the RVS
Zinoviev G.E.– Head of the Leningrad party organization, chairman of the Comintern since 1919.
Kamenev L.B. - head of the Moscow party organization
Bukharin N.I.- editor of the newspaper Pravda, main party ideologist after the death of Lenin V.I.
All of them are members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
|
Years |
Processes |
|
|
1923-1924 |
Fight with Trotskyist opposition |
Trotsky and his supporters were against NEP, against forced industrialization. Opponents: Stalin I.V., Zinoviev G.B., Kamenev L.B. Result: Trotsky was removed from all posts. |
|
1925-1927 |
Fight with "new opposition" - originated in 1925 (Kamenev + Zinoviev) AND "united opposition" - arose in 1926 (Kamenev + Zinoviev + Trotsky) |
Zinoviev G.E., Kamenev L.B. They opposed the idea of building socialism in one country, which was put forward by Stalin I.V. Results: for attempting to organize an alternative demonstration in November 1927, everyone was deprived of their posts and expelled from the party. Trotsky was exiled to Kazakhstan in 1928. And in 1929, outside the USSR. |
|
1928-1929 |
Fight with "right opposition" |
Bukharin N.I., Rykov A.I. They opposed the acceleration of industrialization and were in favor of maintaining the NEP. Results: expelled from the party and deprived of posts. A decision was made to expel from the party everyone who had ever supported the opposition. |
|
Result: all power was concentrated in the hands of Stalin I.V. Causes: Skillful use of the position of Secretary General - nominating one’s supporters to positions Using differences and ambitions of competitors to your advantage |
||
2nd period: 1930s
|
Year |
Processes |
Who is the repression directed against? Causes. |
|
1929 |
« Shakhty case" |
Engineers accused of sabotage and espionage in Donbass mines |
|
1930 |
Case "industrial party" |
Process on sabotage in industry |
|
1930 |
Case "counter- revolutionary Socialist-Revolutionary-kulak group Chayanov-Kondratiev" |
They were accused of sabotage in agriculture and industry. |
|
1931 |
Case " Union Bureau" |
The trial of former Mensheviks who were accused of sabotage in the field of planning economic activities in connection with foreign intelligence services. |
|
1934 |
Murder of S.M. Kirov |
Used for repression against opponents of Stalin |
|
1936-1939 |
Mass repression |
Peak - 1937-1938, "great terror" |
|
Process against "united Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition" |
accused Zinoviev G.E. , Kamenev L.B. and Trotsky |
|
|
Process "anti-Soviet Trotskyist center" |
Pyatakov G.L. Radek K.B. |
|
|
1937, summer |
Process "about a military conspiracy" |
Tukhachevsky M.N. Yakir I.E. |
|
Process "right opposition" |
Bukharin N.I. Rykov A.I. |
|
|
1938. summer |
Second process "about a military conspiracy" |
Blucher V.K. Egorov A.I. |
|
1938-1939 |
mass repressions in the army |
Repressed: 40 thousand officers (40%), out of 5 marshals - 3. Out of 5 commanders - 3. Etc. |
|
RESULT : the regime of unlimited power of Stalin I.V. was strengthened. |
||
3rd period: post-war years
|
1946 |
persecuted cultural figures. |
Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU(B) “About the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”. A.A. Akhmatova was persecuted. and Zoshchenko M.M. They were sharply criticized by Zhdanov |
|
1948 |
"Leningrad affair" |
Voznesensky N.A. - Chairman of the State Planning Committee, Rodionov M.I. – Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, Kuznetsov A.A. - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, etc. |
|
1948-1952 |
"The Case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee" |
Mikhoels S.M. and etc. Stalin's anti-Semitic policies and the fight against cosmopolitanism. |
|
1952 |
"The Doctors' Case" |
A number of prominent Soviet doctors were accused of murdering a number of Soviet leaders. |
|
Result: The personality cult of Stalin I.F. reached its apogee, that is, its highest point. |
||
This is not a complete list of political trials, as a result of which many prominent scientists, political and military figures of the country were convicted.
Results of the policy of repression:
Conviction for political reasons, charges of “sabotage, espionage. Connections with foreign intelligence2 more allegedly. Human.
For many years, during the reign of Stalin I.V., a strict totalitarian regime was established, there was a violation of the Constitution, an encroachment on life, deprivation of the freedoms and rights of the people.
The emergence of fear in society, the fear of expressing one’s opinion.
Strengthening the autocratic rule of Stalin I.V.
The use of large free labor in the construction of industrial facilities, etc. Thus, the White Sea-Baltic Canal was built by prisoners of the Gulag (State Administration of Camps) in 1933
Stalin's repressions are one of the darkest and most terrible pages of Soviet history.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation – this is release, dismissal of charges, restoration of an honest name
The rehabilitation process began already at the end of the 1930s, when Beria became the head of the NKVD instead of Yezhov. But this was a small number of people.
1953 - Beria, having come to power, conducts a large-scale amnesty. But the majority of the approximately 1 million 200 thousand people are convicted felons.
The next mass amnesty took place in 1954-1955. Approximately 88,200 thousand people were released - citizens convicted of collaborating with the occupiers during the Great Patriotic War.
Rehabilitation took place in 1954-1961 and 1962-1983.
Under Gorbachev M.S. rehabilitation resumed in the 1980s, with more than 844,700 people rehabilitated.
On October 18, 1991, the Law “ On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression" Until 2004, over 630 thousand people were rehabilitated. Some repressed persons (for example, many leaders of the NKVD, persons involved in terrorism and committed non-political criminal offenses) were recognized as not subject to rehabilitation - in total, over 970 thousand applications for rehabilitation were considered.
September 9, 2009 novel Alexander Solzhenitsyn “The Gulag Archipelago” included in the compulsory school literature curriculum for high school students.
Monuments to the victims of Stalin's repressions
Every Russian should know this!
Discussion of the topic of Stalin's repressions, in addition to many ideological factors that lead to the problem "beyond good and evil", is also complicated by the diversity of the myth about the “cult of personality,” formed for different purposes and in different periods of time.
Here, for example, is the assessment of Stalin’s personality given by the current Prime Minister of Russia D.A. Medvedev:
Nikita Khrushchev in the 50s of the twentieth century used the exposure of the cult of personality as a kind of “shock therapy” to maintain and legitimize his own power and avoid responsibility for his own contribution to repression.
In the 60s and 70s, this topic was used against him, and in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, the topic of Stalinist repressions was inflated to overthrow the CPSU and the complete destruction of the USSR.
Let's try to understand the numbers a little
In February 1954, a certificate was prepared in the name of N. S. Khrushchev, signed by the Prosecutor General of the USSR R. Rudenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR S. Kruglov and the Minister of Justice of the USSR K. Gorshenin, which indicated the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes during the period from 1921 to February 1, 1954. According to this certificate, during this period, in total, 3,777,380 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, the NKVD “troikas”, the Special Conference, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals, including, of them, 642,980 people were sentenced to death, and to detention in camps and prisons for a term of 25 years and below - 2,369,220 people, to exile and deportation - 765,180 people.
Please note that these statistics are for 32 years. And this is the Civil War, this is a very difficult era after it. This is four years of a terrible war with the Nazis. This is the most difficult period after the Great Patriotic War. This is a fight against numerous gangs of Banderaites and the so-called “forest brothers.” Among these repressions were Yagoda and Yezhov, and other bloody executioners. This includes the Vlasov traitors. There are also deserters and looters, self-shooters, alarmists. Members of the gangster underground. Nazi collaborators who shed blood. Here is the “Leninist Guard”, which destroyed a great country to the delight of Russia’s enemies. Zinoviev and Kamenev are here. The rest of the Trotskyists are also in this number. Figures of the Comintern. The executioner Bela Kun, who drowned thousands of officers in Crimea with stones on their necks. That is, the total number of those repressed over these 32 years is very multifaceted, complex.
If you divide the total number of people executed in the USSR by the number of years, you get less than 22,000 people per year. Is this too much?
Of course a lot. But let's not forget what difficult years these were. And there were no 10 million executed!
This is certainly a deliberate lie!
Remember this number: for the period from 1921 to February 1, 1954, 642,980 people were sentenced to death, and this was over 32 years.
This is what really happened. You definitely need to know and remember this!
About the allegedly repressed command staff of the Red Army from May 1937 to September 1939 in number 40 thousand Human. It was precisely this round number that was first named by the magazine Ogonyok (No. 26, 1986), followed by Moscow News and then by other publications.
Where did it come from? such a figure?
And here's where it comes from. The fact is that on May 5, 1940, the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense, Lieutenant General E. Shchadenko presented to I.V. Stalin a “Report on the work of the department” for 1939. It said that in the years 1937-1939, from the ranks of the Red Army there were fired 36898 commanders I emphasize - FIRED!!!
Of these, in 1937, 18,658 people were fired. (13.1% of the payroll of command and control and political personnel), in 1938, 16,362 people were fired, (9.2% of the command staff), in 1939, 1,878 people were fired (0.7% of the command staff).
The motives were the following: 1) by age; 2) for health reasons; 3) for disciplinary offenses; 4) for moral instability; 5) 19,106 were dismissed for political reasons (of which, after complaints were filed and inspections were carried out, 9,247 were reinstated in 1938-1939); 6) 9,579 command personnel were arrested, that is, repressed (of which 1,457 were reinstated in 1938-1939).
Thus, it can be stated that the number of officers arrested in 1937-1939 (excluding the Air Force and Navy) is 8,122 people (3% of the total number of command personnel in 1939).
Of these, about 70 were sentenced to death, 17 were shot - mostly the highest ones, for example, two of the five marshals (Tukhachevsky for organizing a Trotskyist military conspiracy, Egorov for participating in espionage, preparing terrorist attacks and participating in the revolutionary organization), more One Marshal Blucher was arrested for participation in a fascist military conspiracy, which led to unjustified losses and the deliberate failure of the operation on Lake Khasan, but he died in prison. Also, 5 out of 9 1st rank army commanders (Belov, Yakir, Uborevich, Fedko, Frinovsky) and other representatives of the “fifth column” were shot for similar especially dangerous crimes.
And finally, the most striking evidence, from the lips of the enemy:
"... The Wehrmacht simply betrayed me, I am dying at the hands of my own generals. Stalin committed a brilliant act by organizing a purge in the Red Army and getting rid of the rotten aristocracy"(from an interview given by A. Hitler to journalist K. Speidel at the end of April 1945)
Used as a source:
Certificate of the 1st special department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs on the number of arrested and convicted people in the period 1921–1953.” dated December 11, 1953, signed by the head of the archive department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Pavlov, on the basis of which, apparently, a certificate was drawn up sent to Khrushchev for the period from 1921 to 1938 on the affairs of the Cheka-GPU-OGPU-NKVD and from 1939 to mid-1953
Report by E. Shchadenko presented to I.V. Stalin “Report on the work of management” for 1939. Interview of A. Hitler given by him to journalist K. Speidel at the end of April 1945.
Notes:
1. 642,980 people were put on death row over 32 years.
This number includes executed civil war gangs, murderers, robbers, WWII policemen, Vlasovites, deserters, forest brothers and criminals, such as those we saw in the film “The meeting place cannot be changed.”
2. During 1937-1939, 36,898 commanders were dismissed from the ranks of the Red Army
During the same period, about 250,000 officers were trained at military departments.
3. Hitler: I am dying at the hands of my own generals:
During the Second World War, there was not a single coup attempt in the USSR.
In Germany there were several assassination attempts on Hitler, and several attempts to enter into a separate world without Hitler.
The given figures are confirmed by historian Igor Pykhalov, who studied a lot of documents stored in state archives. Its identical results can be found.
NOW WHEN STATISTICS NUMBERS have given us a real idea of STALIN'S REPRESSIONS, a logical question arises:
AND WHO IS STILL SPEAKING RUMORS THAT “STALIN WAS A TYRANT WHO WAS AT WAR WITH HIS OWN PEOPLE”??? After all, the numbers show that STALIN DID NOT COMPLETE ANY GENOCIDE IN THE USSR! On his part there was a struggle with an internal enemy, which was by no means numerous!
I found the answer to this question as a result of a long study of various aspects of our life: this BY FALSE WITNESS in a relationship STALIN I was and still am doing THAT PART JEWS, and mostly Only she, which is usually called LIFE(or YIDS) - that is, this is what the demonic part of the Jewish people, which in all its “glory” had already manifested itself during the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and also during the Civil War of 1918-1922 in Russia.
However, I propose now to return mentally to the times post-revolutionary, to the first decades of the twentieth century.
Imagine, a terrible bloody Civil War has been going on in Russia for two years now, and in England the future Prime Minister Winston Churchill is writing a note "Bolshevism and Zionism", which contains the following words and thoughts:
"The conflict between good and evil, constantly going on in the human heart, has nowhere reached such intensity as in the Jewish race. It is the most striking and powerful example of the dual nature of humanity. The Jews have given us in the Christian revelation an ethical system which, even if completely separated from supernatural, is the most precious of all that mankind possesses, surpassing all other fruits of wisdom and knowledge put together.On this system, and this faith, since the fall of the Roman Empire, our entire civilization has been built.
It is quite possible that this wonderful race is now in the process of creating a new system of morality and philosophy, as evil as Christianity was pious, which, if not checked, will irrevocably undermine everything that Christianity has made possible. It appears that both the gospel of Christ and the gospel of Antichrist must have been generated by the same people, and that this mystical and mysterious race was chosen for the highest manifestation of both the divine and the diabolical...
<...>
Russian Jews played an honorable and successful role in the national life of Russia. As bankers and industrialists, they greatly advanced Russia's economic development, and they were among the early founders of such remarkable organizations as the Russian Cooperative Societies. In politics they supported mostly liberal and progressive movements. They were among the most determined supporters of friendship with France and Great Britain.
The strongest opposition to all these areas of Jewish activity came from Jewish internationalists. The adherents of their terrible confederation are the dregs of society in those countries where Jews are persecuted as a race. Most of them, if not all, abandoned the faith of their ancestors and abandoned all hopes of life in the other world. This movement is not new among Jews. From the days of Spartacus (Weishaupt) to Karl Marx, and on to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxemburg (Germany) and Emma Goldman (United States), this global conspiracy to overthrow civilization and establish a society... .which is based on envy and impossible equality, gradually expanded. He played his prominent part in the tragedy of the French Revolution, as the modern writer Mrs. Webster has ably shown. He was the main source of every subversive movement in the 19th century. Now, this group of exceptional individuals from the scum of the big cities of Europe and America grabbed the Russian people by the hair and established their dominance over a huge empire.
<...>
There is no need to exaggerate the role played by these largely irreligious internationalist Jews in the creation of Bolshevism and the accomplishment of the Russian Revolution. Of course, this role is very large, probably outweighing all others. With the exception of Lenin, most of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover, Jewish leaders inspire and are a driving force. Thus, the influence of Chicherin, a Russian by nationality, is inferior to the power of Litvinov, who is formally subordinate to him, and the influence of such Russians as Bukharin or Lunacharsky cannot be compared with the power of the Jews Trotsky or Zinoviev (dictator of Petrograd), or Krasin, or Radek. The dominance of Jews in Soviet institutions is even more surprising. Jews, and in some cases Jewish women, play a prominent, if not the main, role in the terror of the Cheka.
The Jews played a similarly prominent role during the period when Bela Kun ruled in Hungary. We see the same crazy phenomenon in Germany (especially in Bavaria), where it was facilitated by the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all these countries there are many non-Jews who are as bad as the worst of the Jewish revolutionaries, the role of these latter, considering the small percentage of Jews among the population of these countries, is surprisingly great ... "
Here in relation to these DEMONIC JEWS(Jews), who committed numerous crimes in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century BLOODY CRIMES, and were produced in the mid-30s STALIN'S REPRESSIONS!
Here is a document, the so-called historical source of these thoughts and these words of W. Churchill - a newspaper publication for February 8, 1920:
For those readers who only learns to think and reason logically, I explain: Winston Churchill described ROOT CAUSE, which subsequently caused STALIN'S REPRESSIONS.
At first Jews-Jews committed their own in Russia Jew's Sabbath, being under the leadership of Trotsky and Lenin, and Then Stalin, when he came to power, arranged for them PURGATORY.
I hope there is no need to explain to anyone what it is causal relationship?
If anyone still doesn’t know, let me explain: causation in criminal law - this is an objectively existing connection between a criminal act and the socially dangerous consequences that have occurred, the presence of which is a prerequisite for bringing a person to criminal responsibility...
Additional material explaining WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE STALIN, what PRECEDED the so-called STALIN REPRESSIONS, can be read in a separate article:
A comment Alexandra Fomina:
They themselves explain the Jews’ hatred of Stalin in their Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia in the article "Stalin Joseph". I will give only a fragment of this article:
“During the years of the “Great Terror” (1936–38), the majority of Jews who held prominent party and government positions became victims of repression. The party apparatus, which actually ran the country, was almost completely “cleared” of Jews. Among the apparatchiks of the “conscription of 1937” "There were almost no Jews. In Stalin's immediate circle, only two Jews remained - L. Kaganovich and L. Mekhlis. Although Jews were among those who directly carried out the terror of the late 1930s, especially in its first stages (G. Yagoda , Y. Agranov, etc.), N. Yezhov, who took the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs in 1937, consistently purged the NKVD organs of Jews. Judicial re-enactments of 1936–38, the so-called trials of the “Trotskyist-Zinoviev center” and “ parallel Trotskyist center,” contributed to the spread of anti-Semitic sentiment: in one of them, about half, in the other, two-thirds of the defendants were Jews, among them Jewish German emigrants, accused not only of Trotskyism, but also of connections with the Gestapo. "
Stalin's policy of cleansing the State apparatus of Jews led to the fact that by 1939 only about 4% of Jews remained in the leadership of the NKVD and, lo and behold, for some reason the repressions practically stopped.
I would like to explain one more dark nuance in our amazing and full of tragic pages of history.
As I already indicated above, the demonic part of Jewry, which really exists and which is not at all difficult to calculate from "to its fruits", inherent PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, and with it this zhidve inherent: sexual perversions, sadism, shamelessness, impudence, delusions of grandeur...and this characteristic series is crowned by the TENDENCY OF THE YIDS TO FALSE WITNESS, to MIMICRY and to invent FALSE (DISINFORMATIONAL) MYTHS.
Genital perversion and sadism- these are two faithful companions. It's not for nothing that Nazi Adolf Hitler was sexually active pervert, although he lived with a woman, Eva Braun, he came to power in Germany, as is known, with the active support homosexual Ernst Röhm, one of the leaders of the German National Socialists and the leader of the "assault troops" ("SA").
Reference: National Socialism(German: Nationalsozialismus, abbreviated as Nazism) is a form of social order that combines socialism with extreme nationalism and racism, as well as the name of the ideology that justifies this kind of social order. National Socialism in the head of the homosexual Ernst Röhm was a very paradoxical ideology that combined various elements of socialism, nationalism, racism, fascism and anti-Semitism, and selective anti-Semitism, which allowed the German National Socialists to hate not all Jews in a row, but only a certain part of them .
Reference: in 1920, replacing Karl Mayr as head of the propaganda department of the IV Military District, Ernst Röhm met Hitler and became one of the first members of the NSDAP. At that time, Röhm, together with a member of the Land Hunting Council, Georg Escherich, created the Bavarian people's militia (German: Einwohnerwehren), designed to circumvent the restrictions on the number of armed forces imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. To provide it with weapons and ammunition, Röhm created huge caches, which were later enough to arm a third of the Wehrmacht created in 1935. However, in 1921 the organization was banned. After this failure, Röhm came to the conclusion that to seize power, the support of broad sections of the population was necessary. Hitler turned out to be the most suitable candidate for solving this problem. To ensure Hitler's safety, Röhm organized a mobile group from the soldiers of the 19th mortar company. On its basis, the party order service was created, subsequently renamed the physical education and sports department, and then the assault detachment (German: Sturmabteilung, abbreviated as SA). Röhm also sought officers for command positions. The core of the SA leadership was made up of people from the headquarters of the 2nd Naval Brigade, disbanded for participation in the Kapp Putsch, led by its commander, Captain 3rd Rank Hermann Erhardt. Almost immediately, disagreements began to arise between Röhm and Hitler regarding the goals and objectives of the SA. Hitler saw the assault troops as a group of fighters ready to carry out any task of the party leadership. Rohm perceived the SA as the core of the future revolutionary army. In this he was supported by the military authorities of Bavaria, who considered the attack aircraft as reserve units. In addition, for the latter, the only authorities were Röhm and Erhardt, and they ignored the NSDAP. In order to strengthen his influence in the SA, Hitler appointed Hermann Goering as commander of the detachments, and then, as a counterbalance, created his own personal guard, which later turned into the SS..." .
1933 Adolf Hitler and the famous homosexual stormtrooper Ernst Röhm.
Homosexual scandals in Germany in the 1930s
Reference: in 1931 Erns Röhm found himself at the center of a scandal. Supporters of Walter Stennes, the ousted commander of the Berlin stormtroopers, expressed clear dissatisfaction with the appointment to a leadership post of a homosexual who, in their opinion, was a disgrace to the Sturmabteilung ("storm troopers", abbreviated as SA). Röhm was also caught using his official position for personal gain. Trusted stormtroopers found sexual partners for him, whom Röhm later appointed to positions in the SA. If the chosen one showed infidelity or dissatisfaction, he was severely beaten. The meetings took place in the Bratwurstglöckl beer hall. Röhm openly visited the favorite establishments of homosexuals, the Kleist Casino and the Silhouette, together with the new leadership of the Berlin assault troops. Hitler, in response to the information that came to him that compromised Röhm, said that he would make a decision when he was provided with evidence. And the evidence soon appeared. The Social Democratic newspaper Münchner Post began to publish stories about Röhm's adventures and publish his letters. Trying to find the source of the information leak, Röhm instructed journalist Georg Bell to meet with Karl Mayr, who by that time had become a democrat. Mayr reported that some of the NSDAP leaders were planning the physical elimination of Röhm. And, indeed, the supreme judge of the party, Buch, after Hitler’s next refusal to remove Röhm from his post, planned to kill some of the top leaders of the SA, but due to the indecisiveness of the performers, the plan failed. However, after it became known about Ryom’s contacts with Mayr, a new scandal erupted..." .
I described in a separate article what parallels there are with this topic in our recent history:
It would be appropriate to say that Stalin and all his immediate circle knew very well about the close connection between homosexuality and fascism. In particular, Stalin spoke on this topic more than once with the writer Maxim Gorky. And after Hitler suspected Erst Röhm and his “assault brigades” of preparing a putsch and countered them "Night of the Long Knives", as a result of which Röhm was killed along with thousands of his comrades on July 1, 1934, Gorky formulated a kind of RECIPE, "how can you defeat fascism"! He published it in May of the same year in the Izvestia newspaper:
Look through this now "prism" to the events that are happening today in Ukraine!
Over the past years, there have been one after another homosexual scandals!
Moreover pederasts who found themselves in the Kiev leadership are now giving their "colleagues from the people" arrange in Kyiv gay pride parades, and their opponents are openly beaten by the Ukrainian police so that they do not interfere with the gay pride parades!
The cry of people being beaten by Ukrainian riot police is noteworthy: "Fagots defend homosexuals!!!" This happened on May 25, 2013.
Draw a conclusion: if we are talking today about revival of FASCISM in Ukraine, then it is reborn at the post office homosexuality, and a leading role in the revival FASCISM playing again DEMONIC PART of world Jewry, so called KIKES with very characteristic, recognizable faces.
The President of Ukraine is Petro Poroshenko (Waltzman on his father’s side), Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is the “famous Jew of Ukraine”, the head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman.
To conclude this topic - news from Russia: THE KIDS ARE BOILING: IF THE PEOPLE REVOLT, THE SUPPORT OF POWERS WILL BE ON THE SIDE OF THE STALINISTS!