De-Stalinization in the Soviet Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

De-Stalinization in the Soviet Union - Essay ExampleMassive purges and the disappearance of anyone who challenged Stalin were very regular occurrences. Stalins reign of scare had widespread negative effects on the political system of the Soviet Union and still affects Russian and Eastern European politics today. After Stalins death in 1953, the committee that was left in commissioning of the Soviet Union immediately set out to reform the government and limit the influence of Stalinist policies. Khrushchev and Gorbachev were two Soviet leaders who attempted to reform the Soviet System to end authoritarianism. The policies of both were some successful, besides neither were able to reform the system. The Soviet Union collapsed when Gorbachev was in power. This was followed by a completion of government that was free and democratic but highly corrupt and economically disastrous. In 1998 the authoritarian Vladimir Putin was choose to be the president of Russia.In 1953 Joseph Stalin d ied. It has been suggested by many that he was assassinated with poison by his opponents but this has not been proven. After his death, there was some confusion as to who was in stick due to the detail that a purge that was done a short time before his death had eliminated many elderberry bush officials in the communistic Party. A committee that included the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev and a self appointed prime(a) of the Soviet Union Georgi Malenkov ended up as the leaders of the USSR. Lavrenity Beria was the First Deputy Prime minister and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was merged with the MGB at the time. Beria appeared to be very liberal and instituted liberal policies after Stalins death, but he was also an official in charge of Stalins Great Purge, and his power base was the secret police. Stalins policies were unpopular with most people and the members of the committee promised that many reforms w ould be made. A large number of high-ranking officials in the Communist Party secretly opposed Stalin and his policies. on that point was conflict in the party ranks between those who supported Stalinist policies and the current reformist leadership. Between 1953 and 1955 Khrushchev and Malenkov logical many liberal reforms. Prices for many goods were reduced, amnesty was given to some political prisoners in the gulag system, forced persistence was abandoned and the level of restrictions on private plots was reduced. Beria was accused of being a British agent, given a show trial, and executed in 1953.Malenkov was forced to resign due to blackmail in 1955. After this, Khrushchev became the Premier of the Soviet Union in 1958 and the undisputed leader of the USSR Khrushchev was a major reformist. In 1956, Khrushchev gave a public lecture to the party leaders called On the Personality Cult and its Consequences. In this speech he formally attacked the policies of Stalin and unfast ened his crimes. A policy of de-Stalinization was announced. His plans were to reform the Soviet Union so that it would become a to a greater extent liberal state and to change the USSR into a pure communist nation that would be economically stronger that the joined States over a period of twenty years. The democratic planning ideas of the soviet economist Evsei Lieberman were highly powerful in the economic policies of