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The Soviet Union in the first post-war decade briefly. The Soviet Union in the first post-war decade (the main directions of foreign and domestic policy). Creation of two systems of alliances

Test on the history of the Soviet Union in the first post-war decades, 1945-1964 for 11th grade students with answers. The test contains 10 tasks.

1. The restoration of the economy of the USSR after the Great Patriotic War, it was decided to start

1) with heavy industry
2) with Agriculture
3) with light industry
4) from the defense industry

2. Which three events from the following are related to 1945-1953?

1) the introduction into circulation of the "golden gold piece"
2) card cancellation
3) creation of a military bloc from the states of Central and South-Eastern Europe
4) monetary reform to reduce the money supply
5) H-bomb test
6) creation of economic councils

3. Which of the following was characteristic of the economic development of the USSR in 1953-1964?

1) development of virgin lands
2) export of industrial equipment from Germany
3) the use of the labor of political prisoners in the construction of industrial facilities
4) repression in the People's Commissariat of Agriculture

4. Establish a correspondence between works, scientific discoveries and figures of science and art. For each position of the first column, select the corresponding position of the second and write down the selected numbers under the corresponding letters.

Works, scientific discoveries

A) building the atomic bomb
B) the story "The fate of man"
IN) Feature Film"War and Peace"
D) the story "Thaw"

Figures of science and art

1) S. Bondarchuk
2) I. Kurchatov
3) I. Ehrenburg
4) M. Sholokhov
5) A. Fadeev

5. Read an excerpt from the report at the party congress and indicate the year in which it was made.

“... It turned out that many party, Soviet, economic workers, who were declared “enemies” in 1937-1938, were never really enemies, spies, pests, etc. they didn’t appear .., but they were slandered, and sometimes, unable to withstand the brutal tortures, they slandered themselves (under the dictation of forgery investigators) all sorts of grave and incredible accusations ...
This happened as a result of the abuse of power by Stalin, who began to use mass terror against the party cadres. ... By this time, Stalin had risen so much above the party and above the people that he no longer considered at all either the Central Committee or the party. If before the 17th Congress he still recognized the opinion of the collective, then after the complete political defeat of the Trotskyists, Zinovievites, Bukharinites, when as a result of this struggle and the victories of socialism the party was united, the people were united, Stalin more and more ceased to reckon with the members of the Central Committee of the party and even with members of the Politburo.

6. Which of the following was one of the results economic policy I.S. Khrushchev?

1) the exodus of peasants from the countryside to the city
2) increase in the supply of grain abroad
3) increase in sown areas for corn
4) introduction of school fees

7. Establish a correspondence between terms, names and their definitions. For each position of the first column, select the corresponding position of the second and write down the selected numbers under the corresponding letters.

Terms, names

A) demobilization
B) conversion
B) repatriation
D) underground

Definitions

1) the transfer of the military industry to the production of peaceful products - consumer goods
2) return of prisoners of war
3) a number of artistic trends in contemporary art that oppose mass culture
4) reduction in the number of army personnel
5) underground political organizations

8. Match dates and events. For each position of the first column, select the corresponding position of the second and write down the selected numbers under the corresponding letters.

A) 1949
B) 1956
B) 1959
D) 1963

1) the first trip of the Soviet leader (I.S. Khrushchev) to the USA
2) the first flight of a woman into space
3) creation of NATO
4) the first circumnavigation of the Soviet submarine
5) debunking the personality cult of I.V. Stalin

9. Which of the following is one of the consequences of the de-Stalinization process?

1) deterioration of relations between the USSR and China
2) increasing the authority of the USSR in the international arena
3) ending the Cold War
4) an increase in the number of countries in Europe that have embarked on the path of socialist construction

10. What are the main tasks that were solved in the domestic policy of the USSR in the second half of the 40s - early 50s? 20th century (list at least two tasks). Give examples of actions taken by the country's leadership to solve these problems (at least three examples).

Answers to the test on the history of the Soviet Union in the first post-war decades, 1945-1964
1-1
2-245
3-1
4-2413
5-1956
6-3
7-4123
8-3512
9-1
10.
tasks domestic policy Russia in the second half of the 40s - early 50s. 20th century
- strengthening the power of I.V. Stalin
- restoration of the economy, destroyed by the war of 1941-1945. increase in labor productivity in agriculture and industry
— an increase in the pace of housing construction
— improving the standard of living of the population
examples of actions of the country's leadership
- preparation and conduct of new political processes ("Leningrad case", campaign against cosmopolitans, "doctors' case")
- approval of the fourth five-year plan for the development of the economy, the implementation of monetary reform (1947)
- cancellation of card supply (1947)

(main directions of foreign and domestic policy)

At the final stage of World War II, when victory over Germany was beyond doubt, the Yalta Conference took place (February 45). Germany was divided by allies into 4 occupation zones: British, American, Soviet and French. The USSR demand for German reparations in the amount of 10 billion dollars was recognized as legal. They had to come in the form of the export of goods and capital, the use of human power (this decision was not fully implemented. In addition, morally and physically obsolete equipment was imported into the USSR, which prevented the modernization of the Soviet economy). On the basis of the decisions of the Yalta Conference, the Soviet Union succeeded in strengthening its positions in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. At the conference, the Soviet Union confirmed its promise to enter the war with Japan, for which it received the consent of the allies to join the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin. It was decided to establish the United Nations (UN). The USSR received three seats in it - for the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus, i.e. those republics that suffered the most in the war suffered the greatest economic losses and human casualties. By agreement, the USSR declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945. In the summer of 1945, the Soviet command created a significant superiority in manpower and equipment over the Japanese Kwantung Army in the east. And in fact, within a month, Japan suffered a crushing defeat. Soviet troops occupied Manchuria, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Northeast China and Korea. On September 2, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan was signed.

The Potsdam Conference (Berlin) took place in July-August 1945. The Soviet delegation was headed by Stalin, the American one by Truman, and the British one by Churchill. They drew up a plan to eradicate German militarism and Nazism. It included the liquidation of the German military industry, the prohibition of the German National Socialist Party and Nazi propaganda, and the punishment of war criminals. The conference considered territorial issues. The USSR was transferred to Koenigsberg. Poland expanded at the expense of the territory of Germany (the Polish-German border passed along the Oder-Neisse rivers). Peace treaties were prepared that took into account the geopolitical interests of the USSR, but Potsdam's decisions were partially implemented. B45-46 years. there were differences between the former allies. Since 46, the era of the “cold war” began in international relations - there appeared “ iron curtain”, there was a confrontation between the capitalist and socialist socio-political systems. The Cold War lasted from 1946 until the early 1990s. The confrontation between the parties escalated in 47 after the Marshall Plan (US Secretary of State) put forward. The program provided for economic assistance to European countries that suffered during World War II. The USSR and the countries of people's democracy were invited to participate in the conference, but the Soviet Union regarded this step as anti-Soviet (simply this plan threatened the influence of the USSR on the countries of Eastern Europe and refused to participate, at his insistence, the countries of Eastern Europe also refused, because "their participation will be regarded as a hostile action. A manifestation of the Cold War was the formation of military-political blocs. In 49, the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) was created, its formation contributed to the strengthening of the US position in various regions of the world. NATO, created in 45, opposed United Nations Organization (UN).This international organization united 51 states.Its goal was to strengthen peace and security and develop cooperation between states.Soviet representatives came up with proposals for the reduction of armaments and the prohibition of atomic weapons.On the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of foreign states All these proposals were blocked US lamas. The confrontation between the former allies reached its peak at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. in connection with the Korean War. In 1950, the leadership of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made an attempt to unite the two Korean states under its control. In the opinion of the Soviet leaders, this association could strengthen the positions of the anti-imperialist camp. in this region of Asia.

During the preparation and course of hostilities, the USSR provided financial, military and technical assistance to North Korea. At Stalin's insistence, the leadership of the People's Republic of China (China) sent several military divisions to North Korea to take part in the hostilities. The war was ended in 53 after diplomatic negotiations. In 1949, in order to expand economic cooperation and trade between countries, an intergovernmental economic organization was created - the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) with its center in Moscow. One of the reasons for the organization of the CMEA was the boycott by Western countries of trade relations with the USSR and the states of Eastern Europe. The CMEA included: Albania (until 61), Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and from 49 - Germany. The cooperation of the USSR with the countries of Eastern Europe were contradictory and conflicting. The USSR sought to impose its own models of building socialism. The conflict with Yugoslavia occurred due to Yugoslavia's refusal to participate in a federation with Bulgaria, this path was offered by owls. leaders. In addition, Yugoslavia refused to comply with the terms of the agreement on mandatory consultations with the USSR on issues of national foreign policy. In 1949 the USSR severed diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia. During this period, the regime of Stalin's personal power became stronger, the command-administrative system became tougher, and the idea of the need for changes in society was formed. The death of Stalin facilitated the search for a way out of this situation. In 1955, an agreement between the USSR and the countries of the “socialist camp on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance” was signed in Warsaw. The USSR, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, the GDR and Czechoslovakia became members of the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO). The tasks of the ATS are to ensure the security of the ATS states and to maintain peace in Europe. The country's leadership, headed by Khrushchev, saw one of the means of easing international tension in expanding relations between the USSR and the countries of the world. By the end of the 50s, the USSR was bound by trade agreements with 70 world powers. Much attention was paid to the development of relations with the states of the "third world" (developing countries) - India, Indonesia, Burma, Afghanistan, etc. During Khrushchev's tenure as head of state, with financial and technical assistance from the USSR, it was built in different countries there are about 6000 enterprises in the world. In the mid-1950s, conflicts appeared more often in the relations between states. One of the reasons for this was the retreat of the USSR from the principles of mutual cooperation proclaimed by it. There were attempts to dictate on the part of the USSR and open military intervention in the affairs of independent states. So, for example, in Hungary in October 56, Soviet troops took part in the suppression of anti-socialist uprisings in Hungary. The organizers of the performance demanded withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungarian territory. The uprising was suppressed by the united armed forces of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. At the end of the 1950s, relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) became more complicated. The PRC leadership rejected the USSR's request to place Soviet bases on its territory. In response, the Union refused to implement the agreement on cooperation between the two countries in the field of nuclear physics, signed earlier.

In preparing this work, materials from the site http://www.studentu.ru were used.

Restoration of the national economy. Elected in 1946, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the fourth five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy (1946-1950), according to which three years were allotted for restoring the pre-war level, and two years for surpassing it. In March 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR headed by Stalin. During the years of the 4th Five-Year Plan, industry surpassed the pre-war level by 70%, 6,200 enterprises, mainly heavy industry, were restored and built. Strengthened military-industrial complex. The light and food industries did not fulfill the recovery plan.

In 1947, the card system was abolished, and a monetary reform was carried out (money was exchanged 10:1). In agriculture, there were not enough workers, there was no equipment, crops were sharply reduced, coercive measures were tightened, fees and taxes were increased. The drought of 1946 seriously affected the country's food supply. Disproportions in the development of industry and agriculture increased. With some improvement in life in the city, the village was starving, in connection with this, the outflow of people to the city increased.

Ideological campaigns of the late 1940s In the post-war years, there was a process of strengthening centralization government controlled, numerical increase in bureaucracy, more and more power communist party in the country. The soldiers who returned from Europe expected an improvement in life, an easing of the regime, and an expansion of democratic foundations. But instead of expanding democracy, Stalin returned to a policy of terror. A struggle began against cosmopolitanism (cosmopolitanism considers the inhabitants of the Earth regardless of citizenship): it was believed that some representatives of the intelligentsia had lost faith in the Soviet system and advocated the establishment of bourgeois orders. The campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitans" was led by A. A. Zhdanov, who accused cultural figures of "serving the West." In 1946, a resolution “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad” was adopted, accusations fell on A. A. Akhmatova, M. M. Zoshchenko and others. This was followed by resolutions on the repertoire of drama theaters, on the film “Big Life” , about the opera "The Great Friendship" by V. I. Muradeli, etc. At the same time, nationalism began to rampage.

Science was also subjected to ideological destruction. The Lysenkoism had a negative impact on the development of agriculture. The views of academician T. D. Lysenko were recognized as the only true in biology, which dealt a strong blow to the key science of modern natural science, genetics. It was declared "pseudo-science". Attacks on quantum theory and relativity began. The latter has been called "reactionary Einsteinianism". Cybernetics was also declared a reactionary pseudoscience. Soviet official philosophers argued that the US imperialists needed it to foment a third world war.

In the late 1940s the "Leningrad case" arose. An accusation was brought against the leaders of the party and the state of the intention to turn Leningrad into a support for the struggle against Stalin and his entourage. In 1950, the chairman of the State Planning Committee N. A. Voznesensky, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR M. I. Rodionov, one of the organizers of the defense of Leningrad during the blockade A. A. Kuznetsov, and the secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee P. S. Popkov were shot. In general, about 2 thousand people were repressed.

The "doctors' case" was fabricated in early 1953. A group of doctors from the Kremlin hospital were arrested on the charge that they were allegedly responsible for the death of Zhdanov in 1948 and tried to kill other statesmen. The persecution of medical workers began, and anti-Semitism intensified. With the death of Stalin, the "case" was terminated.

"Cold War" and its influence on the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR

After the war, the authority of the USSR was significantly strengthened. He began to play a prominent role in the United Nations (UN) created in 1945, being a permanent member of the UN Security Council. In 1945–1946 Soviet lawyers spoke at the trial of the main war criminals in Nuremberg. The USSR provided economic assistance to many countries, especially those that entered the "world socialist system" and the former colonial states.

The growth of the influence of the USSR in the post-war world caused extreme concern of the leadership of the Western powers. Therefore, they began to pursue a power policy in relation to the USSR and the socialist states. The essence of this policy was expressed by former British Prime Minister W. Churchill in a speech delivered in the US city of Fulton. He spoke about the need to create a "strength ring" around the countries under the control of the USSR, urged "to show Russian strength, to rally against Eastern communism." The United States expanded the number of military bases, sharply reduced trade relations with the USSR and its supporters. The USSR began to pursue the policy of the "iron curtain" in relation to the West. The Cold War began (from 1946 to the end of the 1980s) - a hostile political course of confrontation (opposition) between the two systems, based on an arms race, on relations from a position of strength, where nuclear weapons were considered the main factor of deterrence. The Cold War was characterized by hostile actions on both sides. This manifested itself in 1947, when the US proposed the Marshall Plan. This plan provided for the provision of economic assistance to European countries affected by the war, depending on their political orientation. The USSR "Marshall Plan" did not approve and refused to participate in the conference on this matter.

The leadership of the USSR regarded the new foreign policy of the former military allies as a call to war, which immediately affected both the foreign and domestic policies of the Soviet state. In 1948, there was a conflict with Yugoslavia, whose leader I. Broz Tito tried to defend his independence from Stalin's dictate. The USSR and other socialist countries severed diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, its isolation turned to a policy of non-alignment - a movement of non-participation of countries in military-political blocs, for the peace and security of peoples. After Stalin's death in 1953, diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia were restored.

The symbol of the split of the world into two opposing systems - the “systems of capitalism” and the “systems of socialism” - was the split of Germany into two states - the FRG (1948) and the GDR (1949). In 1949, a number of major foreign policy events took place:

- the North Atlantic military-political alliance (NATO) of European countries led by the United States was formed;

- the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was created - an organization that united the socialist countries;

- Under the leadership of Academician I. V. Kurchatov, Soviet nuclear weapons appeared, the US monopoly on nuclear weapons was eliminated and a temporary military balance was established.

Each of the superpowers - the USA and the USSR - included the whole world in the sphere of its strategic interests. The bipolarity of the world community for many years determined the political and economic development the vast majority of countries and their attraction (often involuntary) to a particular social system. Local military conflicts became a manifestation of this confrontation. So, in 1950-1953. During the Korean War, there was a direct military clash between the USSR and the USA. As a result, Korea was divided into a pro-American South Korea and a pro-Soviet Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Later, Vietnam shared this fate.

USSR in the mid-1950s - mid-1960s.

On March 5, 1953, I. V. Stalin died. The leadership of the state began to be of a collective nature: N. S. Khrushchev headed the party, G. M. Malenkov became the head of the government, K. E. Voroshilov was elected head of state, N. A. Bulganin was elected minister of defense, and minister of the united Ministry of Internal Affairs ( which included the Ministry of State Security) - L.P. Beria. The leading role began to be played by Malenkov, who was the first to speak out against Stalin's "ugly personality cult," and Beria, who stopped the "doctors' cause." Malenkov advocated stimulating peasant labor, bringing agriculture out of the crisis, and he was also one of the first to recognize the need for political rehabilitation. Beria insisted on depriving the Central Committee of the party of the right to manage the country's economy, limiting it only political activities. However, in the summer of 1953, members of the top party leadership, with the support of the military, organized a conspiracy and overthrew Beria. He was accused of espionage and shot. The struggle for power did not end there.

XX Congress of the CPSU

The 20th Congress of the CPSU was held in February 1956. Its agenda included issues of foreign and domestic policy, summing up the results of the Fifth Five-Year Plan, and the path of building communism. The congress made theoretical conclusions about the events in the world. The most important regulator of peace is the peaceful coexistence of countries with different social systems, which is expressed in the form of competition between the systems of socialism and capitalism. In a revolutionary struggle there can be no "export" of the revolution; its victory depends not on the existence of a world socialist system, but on the internal conditions in each country. Various forms of countries' transition to socialism are possible, both by armed and peaceful, parliamentary means. At the same time, "the export of counter-revolution" is unacceptable, when the capitalist countries, by their military intervention, suppress the revolutionary movement in each country. In the modern world, there is an opportunity to prevent a new world war. It is necessary to strengthen the defense, resist aggression, expand the struggle for peace.

The 20th Congress went down in history thanks to the report "On the cult of personality and its consequences" made by Khrushchev at the last closed meeting, which was not on the agenda. The report exposed the criminality of Stalin's personality cult and showed the enormous harm inflicted on the state and the party. But the report did not disclose the objective reasons for what happened, everything came down to the subjective qualities of Stalin. This report, classified from the people for 33 years (it was published in the USSR in 1989), marked the beginning of the cleansing of the party and society from the ideology and practice of state terror. On the other hand, it led to a major split in the international communist movement. A number of parties have declared it revisionist. The report was developed in the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On overcoming the cult of personality and its consequences" (June 1956). It did not contain terrible facts, but there was an attempt to understand the causes of the cult and its consequences. The process of rehabilitation (withdrawal of charges) of those repressed in the 1930s - early 1950s began, it affected millions of ordinary citizens of the USSR and even entire nations - Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, Balkars, Volga Germans, Crimean Tatars. In the late 1960s the rehabilitation process was curtailed.

The changes that took place in the life of the country after the death of Stalin, according to the story of Ilya Ehrenburg, were called the “thaw”.

Socio-political life of the country

After the 20th Congress, Khrushchev's authority grew significantly. On his initiative, in 1957, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Malenkov, Kaganovich and Molotov were dismissed from leading positions, and later Zhukov was removed from the post of Minister of Defense. Since 1958, Khrushchev began to combine the post of first secretary of the Central Committee with the post of chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. Gradually, a regime of his personal power began to take shape.

In 1956, the Twentieth Party Congress instructed the Central Committee of the CPSU to develop a draft of a new party program. In October 1961, at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, a new, third party program was adopted. Proceeding from the fact that socialism in the Soviet Union won "completely and completely" and the country entered the stage of "full-scale construction of communism", the congress considered the program as a philosophical, economic and political justification for building communism in the USSR. The slogan was proclaimed: "Catch up and overtake America!" The historical scope of the program was basically limited to twenty years.

Reforms in social economic sphere

The reforms carried out in the 1950s and 1960s were controversial. The strengthening of the national economy began with changes in the agricultural sector. In 1954, a course was taken to raise virgin and fallow lands in order to solve the acute grain problem. Tens of thousands of enthusiasts went to the virgin lands. To strengthen the leading cadres of collective farms, more than 30 thousand party workers (“thirty thousand people”) were sent to work in them. In 1958, the reorganization of MTS (machine and tractor stations) into RTS (repair and tractor stations) began. Equipment was sold to collective farms and state farms. It was supposed that this measure would strengthen the material base of the village, but this did not happen. Purchase prices for agricultural products were also raised (but they still did not cover all production costs), debts of previous years were written off, government spending on the needs of the countryside was increased several times, pensions for collective farmers were introduced, and passports were issued to collective farmers. However, since the late 1950s economic incentives as a lever for development were supplanted by the usual administrative coercion, which led to a deterioration in the situation of the countryside and a new aggravation of the food problem. After visiting the United States in 1959, N. S. Khrushchev called for replacing traditional domestic agricultural producers with corn, which went down in history as the “corn epic”. The seven-year plan for the development of the national economy (1959-1965) in terms of the development of agricultural production was a failure. Instead of the planned 70% growth was only 15%.

In the field of industry, things were much better. Heavy industry enterprises (Group A) developed predominantly, especially the production of building materials, mechanical engineering, metalworking, chemistry, petrochemistry, and electric power industry. Railways, powerful factories, canals were built, block housing construction (“Khrushchevs”) was mastered. During the seven-year period, the industrial potential of the USSR almost doubled. Achievements were introduced into production scientific and technological progress. In 1954, the Obninsk nuclear power plant was put into operation, in 1959, the Lenin nuclear-powered icebreaker was created. However, Group B enterprises (first of all, light, food, woodworking, pulp and paper industries) developed much more slowly. The Group B enterprises did not fulfill the seven-year plan.

At the direction of N. S. Khrushchev, a number of reforms were carried out in the management of the national economy. Party, Soviet, trade union, Komsomol bodies were divided into industrial and rural, which significantly increased the size of the bureaucracy. Many branch ministries were liquidated (which was motivated by the need to move from excessive centralization to the territorial principle of management) and instead of them, national economic councils (sovnarkhozes) were created in the territories and regions. However, these reforms hit the unified technical policy, gave rise to localism, violated the unified planned economy of the country.

In 1961, a monetary reform was carried out. Old money was exchanged for new money at a ratio of 10:1. Historians recognize this reform as one of the most humane monetary reforms in the history of our country.

Foreign policy of the USSR in the mid-1950s - mid-1960s.

Foreign policy was based on the conclusions of the 20th Congress of the CPSU on changing the alignment of forces in the world in favor of socialism. The possibility of both a peaceful (through parliament) and an armed victory of the socialist revolution was affirmed, which depended on the internal conditions of each country. The peaceful coexistence of the two systems was proclaimed the only way to regulate relations between states. The cold war was temporarily weakened. The USSR unilaterally reduced the size of the army, suspended nuclear tests, improved relations with China, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran, Japan and other countries. In 1963, an agreement was concluded between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain on the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests in three areas: in water, atmosphere, and space. In 1964, the USSR announced measures to ease the arms race.

However, the policy of forceful pressure continued. In 1955, a military-political union of the socialist countries of Europe (except Yugoslavia) was created, called the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). The first major action of this organization was the suppression of the anti-Soviet and anti-socialist uprising in Hungary (1956). In 1961, at the request of the USSR, a wall was built in Berlin, dividing East and West Berlin.

In 1959, Khrushchev visited the United States, and in 1960 he spoke at the UN. In many ways, Khrushchev's policy was unpredictable not only in internal but also in external matters. In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis arose. Soviet missiles and military units were sent there to protect socialist Cuba. The United States declared a military blockade of Cuba. Through negotiations and the withdrawal of Soviet equipment from Cuba, the crisis was overcome. The assistance of the USSR to developing countries grew, which required huge funds. In the early 1960s relations with China and Albania deteriorated, which had a negative impact on the world socialist system and the communist movement.

USSR in the mid-1960s - mid-1980s.

In October 1964, N. S. Khrushchev was dismissed from all posts for "subjectivism" and "voluntarism" - the imposition of one's will, when what is desired is presented as valid without taking into account real possibilities. L. I. Brezhnev came to the leadership, who in the period 1960-1964. served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After October 1964, Brezhnev headed the Central Committee of the party, A. N. Kosygin became the head of government.

Since the end of 1964, the country's leadership again, as in 1953, decided to encourage material interest as a stimulus for social production, starting stabilization from the countryside and agriculture. This course was approved at two plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1965 and was called the "economic reform of 1965" or "Kosygin's reform." The division of bodies according to sectoral principle has been abolished, economic councils have been abolished and ministries have been restored, the planning system has been changed while expanding the rights of enterprises, and many Khrushchev's "innovations" have been cancelled. The economic reform was based on the stimulation of labor, the introduction of economic methods of management. There was a transition to self-financing, local initiative was taken into account. On the basis of the economic reform of 1965, a plan for the 8th five-year plan (1966–1970) was prepared, which during the years of the existence of Soviet power gave the best indicators of the country's development.

However, the reform did not affect the political structures, everything had to be coordinated with the Central Committee of the CPSU. The bureaucratic apparatus, supported by Brezhnev, opposed the reform. By the mid 1970s. the reform was abandoned. The country exported more and more oil, gas, electricity, turned into a raw material appendage of the world economy. The import of grain, products, consumer goods began, and a “shadow economy” arose. Enormous funds were invested in foreign loans of many countries. The backwardness of the economy was covered up by the slogans of introducing the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, intensifying production, and fighting for quality and economy. The only sector of the economy that actively used the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution was the military-industrial complex (MIC). The country was degrading, and only the necessary resources were invested in the military-industrial complex.

Agriculture lagged behind more and more, productivity decreased. When harvesting, storing and transporting agricultural products, huge losses. In 1982, the "Food Program" was adopted, calculated until 1990. But all the decisions made remained on paper, the word was at odds with the deed. The level and life expectancy were sharply reduced. As they said in the late 1980s, a “braking mechanism” was taking shape, the country was heading for stagnation, when production indicators tend to zero and a crisis sets in.

The ideological basis of the activities of the Brezhnev leadership was the concept of "developed socialism", developed in the 1960s. and promulgated at the XXIV Congress of the CPSU in 1971. It was stated that in the USSR a nation-wide state with high economic potential and complete domination of state property, the unity of the Soviet people, the increased role of the party, which turned into a "party of the whole people" has developed. All these installations covered up the freezing of the growth of the standard of living, the decline in morals, eyewash, the policy of awards and praises. The political demagoguery was intensified, which was carried out by the ideological leader of the party M. A. Suslov. Since the second half of the 1960s. criticism of Stalin's personality cult and exposure of the practice of state terror during the Stalinist period ("re-Stalinization") were muted and then banned. The process of rehabilitation of the repressed in previous decades was curtailed. New ministries and departments were created. As a result, the size of the bureaucratic apparatus, which absorbed about half of the state budget, constantly increased. Corruption developed. However, outwardly, the life of society became measured and calm.

In 1977, the concept of "developed socialism" was legally enshrined in the new Constitution of the USSR. The constitution fixed the creation of a "nationwide state", noted the expansion of democracy. As in the Constitution of 1936, the emphasis was on the proclamation of the social rights of citizens, the list of which became wider: the right to work, free education, medical care, recreation, as well as pensions and housing. Real political power stayed with the party. Article 6 of the Constitution secured the leading role of the party as the nucleus political system. Party bodies replaced state bodies: lists of candidates for deputies were corrected by party bodies, laws prepared "from above" were adopted unanimously. The constitution turned out to be a fictitious document, it had a declarative character.

18 years of Brezhnev's leadership led the state to a state of collapse. The totalitarian society has entered a period of deep crisis. political life countries in the first half of the 1980s. feverish frequent change of top management. In January 1982, the main ideologist of the party M. A. Suslov died, in November of the same year - L. I. Brezhnev. Yu. V. Andropov, the former chairman of the State Security Committee (KGB), became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and six months later, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces. He carried out personnel changes in party structures, removed from work the leaders involved in corruption. But in February 1984 he passed away. K. U. Chernenko ended up in the highest posts, whose state of health was no better than that of his predecessors. Society lived from funeral to funeral, during which public life almost froze. In March 1985, a new funeral and a new redistribution of power took place. 20 years (1964-1984) became a period of missed opportunities for the USSR, when the country finally lagged behind the advanced states of the world.

Foreign policy in 1964–1984

Foreign policy during this period was characterized by duality: on the one hand, the struggle for peace, and on the other, the desire to subordinate the socialist countries to its political principles, military intervention in the affairs of sovereign states, and the continuation of the arms race. In August 1968, the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact states, led by the USSR, crushed the popular uprising in Czechoslovakia in favor of an independent path of development. The concept of permissibility of interference in the internal affairs of the socialist countries and the limitation of their sovereignty was called the Brezhnev Doctrine. This course also assumed control over the economies of the CMEA countries under the guise of "integration of labor." In 1980, popular unrest took place in Poland under the leadership of the Solidarity trade union, but a second military invasion was avoided thanks to the actions of the Polish head of state, General W. Jaruzelski.

Differences between the USSR and China intensified. Armed clashes took place on the Soviet-Chinese border, the largest of which was the conflict in the spring of 1969 on about. Damansky. Relations between the two countries normalized only after the death of Mao Zedong and Brezhnev.

In 1971, the Soviet leadership put forward a "Peace Program", which proposed to reduce military spending, ensure European security by concluding agreements on the prohibition of nuclear, chemical, and bacteriological weapons. In 1975 the USSR took part in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki. On August 1 of this year, 33 participating countries, including the USSR, as well as the USA and Canada, signed the Final Act. This document was an important result of the détente of international tension and contained the principles of mutual respect in foreign policy and observance of human rights. These principles were included in the Constitution of the USSR in 1977 as principles of the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. Subsequent meetings of the participants in the Helsinki Conference became known as the Helsinki Process, or the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) movement.

In 1972, the USSR and the USA signed the SALT-1 treaty (limitation of anti-missile systems and a temporary agreement on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons). In the same year, an anti-missile defense (ABM) treaty was signed. In 1973, the Paris Agreement was signed to end the war in Vietnam unleashed by the United States. In 1974 and 1976 signed two treaties relating to nuclear testing - the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Tests and the Treaty on Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes. In 1979, the SALT-2 treaty was signed on the limitation of strategic offensive arms. Military-strategic parity (equality) between the USSR and the USA was established.

In the early 1980s The USSR came up with a number of peace initiatives, but the proposals diverged from the actions. In the USSR, appropriations for defense increased, and interference in the affairs of other countries continued. During this period, Soviet troops were in Europe, Syria, Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. In December 1979, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan began under the slogan of "international assistance" and the protection of democratic forces. For 10 years, the war in Afghanistan claimed 17 thousand lives of Soviet soldiers and officers. The international prestige of the USSR was significantly undermined.

USSR in the second half of the 1980s.

In March 1985, after the death of Chernenko, MS Gorbachev was elected leader of the party. The chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, that is, the head of state, was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A. A. Gromyko. N. I. Ryzhkov was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in the autumn of 1985. In 1988, M. S. Gorbachev became both the leader of the party and the state. The period when Gorbachev was at the head of the state was called "perestroika".

At the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in April 1985, large-scale reforms were announced in the country in order to change society. Reforms were planned to be carried out in a number of areas, including the economy. This course was embodied in the plan of the 12th five-year plan (1986-1990) and was called the "course to accelerate socio-economic development." Acceleration was understood as an increase in the pace economic growth on the basis of scientific and technological progress by increasing labor productivity, intensive development.

The first perestroika laws were the decree "On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism" and the law "On state acceptance". But the anti-alcohol campaign failed, and the introduction of state acceptance led to another growth of the bureaucracy. On April 26, 1986, an accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which became a gloomy symbol of the catastrophe that is approaching society and the state.

The idea of transferring a rigid centralized, state-planned economy to a market, commodity-money basis (within the framework of socialism) became the core of the concept of perestroika. The first step towards a market economy was the 1987 Law “On the State Enterprise (Association)”, which granted significant rights to enterprises and labor collectives. But the central administrative apparatus did not want to cede its rights. At that time, the state included most of the manufactured products in the state order (state order), withdrew it from free sale, deprived enterprises of the freedom of self-financing. In 1988, two more laws were adopted aimed at the development of collective and private entrepreneurship: the law on cooperation and the law on individual labor activity(ETC). Then, from the end of 1989 to 1991, more than a hundred laws, resolutions, etc. on economic issues were adopted, but most of them did not work. The measures taken could not raise the economy, as they were based on the old principles of socialism. Real incomes of the population began to fall. An acute shortage of all goods began in the country. Their prices began to rise. Thanks to glasnost, the course for which was proclaimed in 1987, the population became aware of their alienation from the results of their own labor. The workers took to the streets with slogans of protest. A wave of strikes swept across the country, started by the miners, who declared at their congress that they did not consider the CPSU to be the party of the working class.

Initially, the society accepted the reforms with enthusiasm, the majority of the population supported the demand for change. There was a rejuvenation of the leadership of the party and the state, N. I. Ryzhkov (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR), E. A. Shevardnadze (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR), A. N. Yakovlev, B. N. Yeltsin, A. V. Sobchak and others The commission under the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, headed by A. N. Yakovlev, resumed work on the rehabilitation of the repressed. Increasingly, along with the word "perestroika", the word "democratization" began to be used. With the beginning of the democratization of society and the policy of "glasnost", a rethinking of the history of Soviet society took place. The mass media began to play a big role, everyone, without exception, was given the right to openly express their thoughts. The result of the unfolding course towards glasnost was the spiritual and ideological emancipation of society. The activities of the church were no longer subject to state restrictions.

In the summer of 1988, the 19th party conference took place. It unfolded a sharp struggle of opinions about perestroika. There was a split in the ranks of the CPSU. At the suggestion of M. S. Gorbachev, a new authority was established - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. From among its participants, the Supreme Council was elected, which turned into the current parliament. The same state structures were formed in the Union republics. In May - June 1989, the first Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was held, then the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was elected, headed by M. S. Gorbachev. B. N. Yeltsin became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in May 1990.

In the spring of 1990, a new goal of the reform was defined - the transition to the rule of law, since only it is able to ensure the transition to a market and a democratic society. Among the primary tasks of reforming the political system were the creation of a presidential system of power in the USSR and the transition to a multi-party system. III Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (March 1990) elected M. S. Gorbachev President of the USSR. Article 6 of the USSR Constitution on the CPSU as the leading and guiding force of society and the core of the political system was repealed.

Foreign policy: "new political thinking"

The new leadership of the USSR, headed by Gorbachev, sharply intensified foreign policy in order to wrest the Soviet Union out of international isolation. The XXVII Congress of the CPSU (1986) formulated the foundations of a general system of international security, which were based on Gorbachev's statement of January 15, 1986. It was proposed to ban and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, reduce the level of military potentials to reasonable limits, dissolve military alliances, and reduce military spending. A call was put forward for respect for the rights of every people, for its sovereignty, for the non-use of force in contentious issues, for cooperation between socialist and capitalist countries in the development of the economy and culture, and for mutual assistance in the development of states. The totality of the proposed principles of foreign policy was called "new political thinking". "New political thinking" was an attempt to implement the ideas of perestroika in foreign policy.

In the second half of the 1980s. The USSR took major practical steps to normalize interstate relations, ease tensions in the world, and strengthen the international prestige of the Soviet Union. In August 1985, on the fortieth anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, the USSR imposed a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, inviting other nuclear powers to support its initiative. As a response, the US leadership only invited representatives of the USSR to attend their nuclear tests. In April 1987 the moratorium was lifted.

However, relations with the United States improved significantly, and several meetings between MS Gorbachev and US Presidents R. Reagan and George W. Bush took place. In 1987, an agreement was signed in Washington on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles (INF), in the summer of 1991 - on a significant reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons (START-1). Relations were established with many countries, including China. The renunciation of the use of military force, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan (February 1989) contributed to the normalization of the international situation.

In May 1987, the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact countries, at the initiative of the Soviet leadership, adopted the "Berlin Declaration" on the simultaneous dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and NATO, and primarily their military organizations. After 1989, there was an increase in anti-Soviet and anti-socialist sentiments in the socialist countries, which developed into a series of revolutions in the Eastern European states. In 1990, the GDR ceased to exist, becoming part of the FRG. During the revolutions, the communist parties were removed from power. The national-democratic forces of the states of Eastern Europe that came to power took a course towards rapprochement with NATO and the Common Market Organization (future European Union), demanding to expedite the withdrawal of Soviet troops from their territories. In the spring of 1991, the dissolution of the CMEA and the Warsaw Pact was formalized. The borders of the countries of Eastern Europe turned out to be open to the massive penetration of Western European goods and capital.

New initiatives in the foreign policy of the USSR had both positive and negative consequences. By the beginning of the 1990s. The Cold War ended, the situation in the world changed for the better, the Iron Curtain finally collapsed, and international relations expanded. At the same time, in exchange for grandiose unilateral concessions, the Gorbachev administration was counting on " good will» Western countries, political and financial support. However, serious financial assistance was not forthcoming. Former allies of the USSR in the socialist camp showed hostility to the USSR and rushed to NATO.

Events of 1991 The collapse of the USSR

In the mid 1980s. administrative structures in the union republics began to struggle to strengthen their own power. Friction began between the natives and the Russian-speaking population. The myth of "friendship of the peoples of the USSR" collapsed. In 1986 there were performances in Kazakhstan. In 1988, unrest began between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1989, bloody clashes took place in Fergana, in 1990 between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the Osh region. Georgia's relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia have heated up. Troops were used to suppress conflicts, which aggravated the situation in the Union republics. Power was increasingly transferred from the federal center to the republics, a “parade of sovereignties” and a “war of laws” began, which actually meant disobedience to the center and a desire for independence. In order to preserve in some form a single state, Gorbachev conceived the idea of signing a new union treaty. In May 1991, a special project was approved in the Novo-Ogarevo residence near Moscow, which stated that each republic is a member of the international community and can exist independently. The signing of the project was scheduled for August 20, 1991.

However, the project was not destined to be realized.

(main directions of foreign and domestic policy)

During the preparation and course of hostilities, the USSR provided financial, military and technical assistance to North Korea. At Stalin's insistence, the leadership of the People's Republic of China (China) sent several military divisions to North Korea to take part in the hostilities. The war was ended in 53 after diplomatic negotiations. In 1949, in order to expand economic cooperation and trade between countries, an intergovernmental economic organization was created - the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) with its center in Moscow. One of the reasons for the organization of the CMEA was the boycott by Western countries of trade relations with the USSR and the states of Eastern Europe. The CMEA included: Albania (until 61), Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and from 49 - Germany. The cooperation of the USSR with the countries of Eastern Europe were contradictory and conflicting. The USSR sought to impose its own models of building socialism. The conflict with Yugoslavia occurred due to Yugoslavia's refusal to participate in a federation with Bulgaria, this path was offered by owls. leaders. In addition, Yugoslavia refused to comply with the terms of the agreement on mandatory consultations with the USSR on issues of national foreign policy. In 1949 the USSR severed diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia. During this period, the regime of Stalin's personal power became stronger, the command-administrative system became tougher, and the idea of the need for changes in society was formed. The death of Stalin facilitated the search for a way out of this situation. In 1955, an agreement between the USSR and the countries of the “socialist camp on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance” was signed in Warsaw. The USSR, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, the GDR and Czechoslovakia became members of the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO). The tasks of the ATS are to ensure the security of the ATS states and to maintain peace in Europe. The country's leadership, headed by Khrushchev, saw one of the means of easing international tension in expanding relations between the USSR and the countries of the world. By the end of the 50s, the USSR was bound by trade agreements with 70 world powers. Much attention was paid to the development of relations with the states of the "third world" (developing countries) - India, Indonesia, Burma, Afghanistan, etc. During Khrushchev's tenure as head of state, with the financial and technical assistance of the USSR, about 6,000 enterprises were built in different countries of the world. In the mid-1950s, conflicts appeared more often in the relations between states. One of the reasons for this was the retreat of the USSR from the principles of mutual cooperation proclaimed by it. There were attempts to dictate on the part of the USSR and open military intervention in the affairs of independent states. So, for example, in Hungary in October 56, Soviet troops took part in the suppression of anti-socialist uprisings in Hungary. The organizers of the performance demanded withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungarian territory. The uprising was suppressed by the united armed forces of the member states of the Warsaw Pact. At the end of the 1950s, relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) became more complicated. The PRC leadership rejected the USSR's request to place Soviet bases on its territory. In response, the Union refused to implement the agreement on cooperation between the two countries in the field of nuclear physics, signed earlier.

In preparing this work, materials from the site http://www.studentu.ru were used.

(the main directions of foreign and domestic policy) At the final stage of World War 2, when the victory over Germany was beyond doubt, the Yalta Conference took place (February 45). The issues of the post-war structure of Europe were resolved there

The Great Patriotic War ended victoriously. The victory created a special spiritual atmosphere in society - pride, self-respect, hope. Faith grew stronger that all the worst is behind, what is ahead new life, abundant, fair, kind, free from violence, fear, dictate. But the government chose a different course, returning to the path it led society and the country in the 1930s. The most complex problems that confronted the USSR after the war were solved by methods tested in the pre-war decade. In 1946-1953. the totalitarian system reached its peak.

The damage caused by the war was enormous. About 27 million people died, at least one third of the national wealth of the USSR was destroyed. Restoring the destroyed economy, transferring it from a war footing to a peaceful one - these were the main tasks facing the country. The first steps were the demobilization of the army, its sharp reduction (almost 4 times by 1948); redistribution of expenses in favor of peaceful branches of industry and reorientation of production to peaceful needs; the abolition of the State Defense Committee and the transfer of its functions to the Council of People's Commissars (since March 1946 - the Council of Ministers); restoration of the 8-hour working day, annual holidays, the abolition of mandatory overtime work. The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-1950) set the task of restoring and surpassing the pre-war level of the national economy. At the same time, the primary goal was formulated unambiguously - the restoration and development of heavy industry. The restoration of agriculture, light industry, the abolition of the rationing system, the revival of destroyed cities and villages were considered important, but subordinate to the main goal of the task. In practice, this meant that light industry was still financed according to the "residual principle", agriculture was again assigned the role of the main source of savings for restoring the industrial base of the country.

Heavy industry, according to official figures, reached pre-war levels in 1948; in 1950 it surpassed it by 73%. The volumes of production of oil, coal, metal, electricity have grown. New industrial enterprises were built. It was an undoubted success, achieved due to the colossal exertion of all forces, the labor heroism of the people (the movement of "high-speed workers", mass overfulfillment of norms, etc.). Reparation deliveries of industrial equipment from Germany had a certain significance. As in the 1930s, the free labor of Gulag prisoners (nearly 9 million prisoners and 2 million German and Japanese prisoners of war) was widely used.

Agriculture reached pre-war levels by the beginning of the 1950s. However, it failed to reach a level that would ensure an uninterrupted supply of food to the country. The drought of 1946 had extremely grave consequences in this sense, but the main reasons for the actual degradation of the collective-farm village were not in it. The transfer of funds from agriculture to industry has taken on a truly horrendous scale (purchase prices, in particular, compensated for no more than 5-10% of the costs of producing grain, meat, and industrial crops). Mandatory state deliveries increased, taxes grew, personal plots were reduced.

In 1947, the distribution card system was abolished and a monetary reform was carried out.

The national economy was generally restored by the beginning of the 1950s. It was an achievement of great historical importance, the result of the selflessness and labor feat of the people. But the extraordinary difficulties of the post-war years were overcome by those tested back in the 30s. means: over-centralization of the economy, strict dictatorship, transfer of funds in favor of heavy industry, preservation of the low standard of living of the population. The restoration of the national economy was thus accompanied by a tightening of the command economy, the basis of a totalitarian society.

In the post-war years, the authorities did everything possible not only to preserve, but also to strengthen the totalitarian system in the country. Holding elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, congresses of the party (the 19th congress was held in 1952, at which the CPSU (b) was renamed the CPSU), Komsomol, trade unions, people's judges, transforming people's commissariats into ministries, the country's leadership made consistent efforts to to nullify the democratic momentum of victory.

Repressions began again: first, against Soviet prisoners of war who found themselves in German captivity (out of 5.5 million people, almost 2 million ended up in places of detention), and residents of the occupied regions. This was followed by new waves of deportations of the population from the Crimea, from the Caucasus, from the Baltic states, Western Ukraine and Belarus. The population of the Gulag grew.

The following blows were inflicted on the military (arrest of Air Marshal A. A. Novikov, associates of Marshal G. K. Zhukov, etc.), the party elite (“Leningrad case”, the execution of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. A. Voznesensky, the former head of the Leningrad Party organizations of A.A. Kuznetsov and others), artists (decree on the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad, public defamation of A.A. Akhmatova and M. M. Zoshchenko, outrageous criticism of the music of D. D. Shostakovich, V. I. Muradeli, S. S. Prokofiev, the ban on the second series of S. Eisenstein’s film “Ivan the Terrible”, etc.), scientists (condemnation of genetics, cybernetics, discussions on problems of linguistics, philosophy, political economy, etc.), representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia ( the murder of S. Mikhoels, the campaign against the “rootless cosmopolitans”). In 1952 a “case of doctors” arose, accused of deliberately improper treatment of the leaders of the party and state. There is reason to believe that I. V. Stalin was preparing arrests in his inner circle. Whether this is so is not exactly known: on March 5, 1953, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Thus, all elements of the totalitarian system - the absolute domination of a single ruling party, the cult of the leader, a single dominant ideology, a properly functioning repressive apparatus - were strengthened and strengthened in the post-war period. Nuts were screwed to the limit. Further tightening of the regime was impossible. Stalin's heirs were clearly aware of this.

The victory in the Great Patriotic War, the decisive role in World War II significantly strengthened the prestige of the USSR and its influence in the international arena. The USSR became one of the founders of the United Nations, a permanent member of the Security Council. The clash of the foreign policy interests of the USSR, on the one hand, and its partners in the anti-Hitler coalition (USA, Great Britain), on the other, was, in essence, inevitable. The Soviet leadership sought to use the victory with maximum benefit to create its own sphere of influence in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which were liberated by the Red Army (Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, etc.). The United States and Great Britain regarded these actions as a threat to their national interests, an attempt to impose a communist model on these countries. In 1947 US President G. Truman proposed forming a military-political alliance of Western countries, creating a network of military bases on the borders of the USSR, and deploying a program of economic assistance to European countries affected by Nazi Germany (the "Truman Doctrine"). The reaction of the USSR was quite predictable. The rupture of relations between the former allies became a reality already in 1947. The era of the Cold War began.

In 1946-1949. with the direct participation of the USSR in Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania. Communist governments came to power in China. The Soviet leadership made no secret of its intention to direct the domestic and foreign policy of these countries. The refusal of the Yugoslav leader I. Broz Tito to submit to the plans of the USSR to unite Yugoslavia and Bulgaria into a Balkan federation led to a break in Soviet-Yugoslav relations. Moreover, in the communist parties of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and others, campaigns were carried out to expose the "Yugoslav spies". Needless to say, the rejection of the Soviet model for the leadership of the countries of the socialist camp was simply impossible. The USSR forced them to reject financial assistance offered by the US under the Marshall Plan, and in 1949 succeeded in establishing the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which coordinated economic relations within the socialist bloc. Within the framework of the CMEA, the USSR throughout all subsequent years provided very substantial economic assistance to the allied countries.

In the same year, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formalized, and the USSR announced the successful testing of nuclear weapons. Fearing a global conflict, the USSR and the USA measured their strength in local clashes. The most acute was their rivalry in Korea (1950-1953), which ended with the split of this country, and in Germany, where in May 1949 the FRG was proclaimed, created on the basis of the British, American and French zones of occupation, and in October - the GDR, which entered into the sphere of Soviet influence.

"Cold War" in 1947-1953. more than once brought the world to the threshold of a real ("hot") war. Both sides showed stubbornness, refused serious compromises, developed military mobilization plans in the event of a global conflict, including the possibility of inflicting a nuclear strike on the enemy first.

38. The period of "Khrushchev's thaw": aspects of domestic and foreign policy.

Soviet political figure Nikita Khrushchev was born in 1894, on April 15, into a peasant family living in the village of Kalinovka. From 1909 he was a mechanic in the mines of Donbass and at factories. Since 1928, he was appointed head of the org. Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine. In 1922, Khrushchev met Nina Kukharchuk, his future wife. But Nina will become Khrushchev's wife only after Nikita Sergeevich retires in 1965.

In 1929 he entered the Industrial Academy, and already in 1931 he found himself in party work in Moscow. Further, in the period from 1935 to 1947, Khrushchev held high party posts. He was the 1st secretary of the Moscow Committee, as well as the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU (b) (1935), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Council of Ministers) of Ukraine and secretary of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of Ukraine (1944 - 1947).

During that period, Khrushchev's activities played a significant role in organizing mass repressions, both in Moscow and in Ukraine. During the Great patriotic war Khrushchev was a member of the military councils of the fronts and by 1943 received the rank of lieutenant general. Also, Khrushchev led the partisan movement behind the front line.

One of the most famous post-war initiatives was the strengthening of the collective farms, which contributed to the reduction of bureaucracy. Peak in the biography of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was 1953 - the year of Stalin's death. An attempt to seize power by Beria was prevented by Malenkov and Khrushchev, who united for a while. Having received power, Malenkov soon resigned from the post of secretary of the Central Committee. Thus, already in the autumn of 1953, Khrushchev occupied the highest party post. The reign of Khrushchev began with the announcement of a large-scale project for the development of virgin lands. The purpose of the development of virgin lands was to increase the volume of grain harvested in the country.

Khrushchev's domestic policy was marked by the rehabilitation of the victims of political repression and by the improvement in the standard of living of the population of the USSR. Also, he made an attempt to modernize the party system. Khrushchev's reforms would later be briefly referred to as the "thaw". Foreign policy changed under Khrushchev. Thus, among the theses put forward by him at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, there was also the thesis that the war between socialism and capitalism is by no means inevitable. Khrushchev's speech at the 20th Congress contained rather harsh criticism of Stalin's activities, the personality cult, and political repressions. It was perceived ambiguously by the leaders of other countries. An English translation of this speech was soon published in the United States. But the citizens of the USSR were able to get acquainted with it only in the 2nd half of the 80s.

Due to some economic miscalculations after the 20th Congress, Khrushchev's positions were noticeably shaken. In 1957, a conspiracy against Khrushchev was created, which was not crowned with success. As a result, the conspirators, which included Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov, were dismissed by the decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee.

Khrushchev's thaw in the late 1950s also affected foreign policy. After negotiations with Eisenhower, relations between the USSR and the USA improved markedly. But, this caused some complications in cooperation with socialist countries. camps. The actual resignation of Khrushchev took place in 1964 by decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. After that, he remained a member of the Central Committee, but no longer held responsible posts. Died N.S. Khrushchev in 1971, September 11.

39. USSR under the leadership of L.I. Brezhnev: from reforms to stognacy.

This time is called "stagnation". But over the past 30 years, these have been the best years of stability for Russia!

1964 – 1982 – rule of Leonid Brezhnev. The period of "stagnation" in politics, economics and culture. The development of society froze, progress was very slow. Everyone wanted positive change.

There was centralized control through the party and the Komsomol. On 270 million inhabitants were more than 18 million party chiefs. The enterprises belonged to different departments. New indicators were introduced with difficulty. The salary did not depend on the quality of work - no matter how a person worked, the salary was the same. Because of this, there was no point in working well. The factories did a lot of marriage.

966 – 1970 – 8th five-year plan for the development of the national economy. Was built 1900 enterprises. The volume of production has increased. But it wasn't for long.

It was necessary to carry out modernization - to purchase new machines, machines, tractors. But in the 70s, drilling stations began to work actively. Mining oil began to generate the main income. From 1974 to 1984, oil revenue was $176 billion! Fine! Therefore, they did not buy new equipment, but the old one broke down.

Thousands of villages and villages were considered unprofitable. There was an attempt to unite the villages into one state farm. State farms appeared - millionaires with large farms for livestock. But it brought short-term success.

The military industry was best developed. More than 60% of the factories of the USSR were considered military. They were classified. The Cold War and the arms race continued in the world. It took a lot of effort and money. Without modernization, the USSR fell far behind the West.

Attempts to reform the economy could not be successful without political reform. But in the system of government, no one wanted to make changes. Everyone felt the era of “stagnation”. Many people expressed dissatisfaction. But there was confidence in tomorrow . This is the most important thing for happiness.

o Pensioners in the USSR put their pensions into a passbook. When will we see this in modern Russia?

o Prices for all products and manufactured goods have not increased for several years? And now?

o Palaces of culture and recreation parks were built for young people. On the day of the wedding, the young people were given a one-room apartment from the organization (Komsomol wedding).

o When a young specialist got a job, he was paid "lifting" - a salary for six months in advance!

There have always been many problems, shortcomings and mistakes. But in 30 years we cannot get out of the crisis and rise to a stable standard of living.

40. Soviet Union under Yu.V. Andropov and K.U. Chernenko - the deepening of the crisis in the country.

On November 12, 1982, two days after the death of L. I. Brezhnev, the plenum of the Central Committee of the party elected Yu. V. Andropov as General Secretary of the Central Committee. He was 68 years old. Since June 1967, he was the chairman of the KGB, and after the death of M. A. Suslov in February 1982, he was the main ideologist of the party. Intolerance of dissent, adherence to an authoritarian style, reputation as an enlightened partocrat, personal modesty - all these qualities outweighed the chances of other contenders for the highest post. In the best possible way, they also met the expectations of the “common people”: to restore order in the country, shorten privileges, stop bribery, and fight the “shadow business”. The first steps of Andropov-general secretary did not deceive expectations. “Although one cannot reduce everything to discipline,” he declared in December 1982, “it must begin with it.” At the same time, instructions were given to prepare serious measures in the economic sphere. In 1983, a large-scale economic experiment began in three republican and two union ministries (Mintyazhmash and Minelektroprom).

From the beginning of 1983, KGB officers began to identify violators of labor discipline. Raids on shops, cinemas, baths, etc., identified and punished those who were supposed to be at work at that time. At the same time, high-profile cases of corruption were launched, a fight against unearned income and speculation was announced. The fight against abuses in trade has taken on a large scale. The head of the Main Department of Trade of the Moscow City Executive Committee was put on trial and shot; after him, 25 senior officials of the Moscow Glavtorg, the director of the largest Moscow grocery stores, and an automobile store were taken into custody. The positions of the "cotton mafia" in Uzbekistan were pushed back; got to the 1st Secretary of the Krasnodar Regional Committee of the CPSU S. F. Medunov, Minister of the Interior N. A. Shchelokov and his deputy Yu. M. Churbanov, who were heavily involved in corruption. During the short period of Andropov's rule, more than 30% of party leaders were replaced in Moscow, 34% in Ukraine, and 32% in Kazakhstan.

The country followed with intense attention the information innovation that anticipated the future "glasnost". Every week the newspapers published the message "To the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU." Relying primarily on D. F. Ustinov and A. A. Gromyko, Andropov “rejuvenated” the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee. G. A. Aliyev, who became the first deputy chairman of the government of the USSR, N. A. Tikhonova, was introduced to the Politburo; V. I. Vorotnikov (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR since June 1983); M. S. Solomentsev (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR until June 1983, later Chairman of the Party Control Committee under the Central Committee of the CPSU from July 1983). V. M. Chebrikov (Chairman of the KGB since December 1982) became a new candidate for membership in the Politburo. N. I. Ryzhkov (Head of the Economic Department of the Central Committee) was elected as the new secretary of the Central Committee; member of the Politburo G. V. Romanov (1st Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee, responsible in the Politburo for coordinating the work of military-industrial complex enterprises); E. K. Ligachev (Head of the Department of Organizational Party Work of the Central Committee).

Yu. V. Andropov's article "The Teachings of Karl Marx and Some Questions of Socialist Construction in the USSR" (Kommunist, 1983, No. 3) caused a great revival in social science. The General Secretary warned "against possible exaggerations in understanding the degree of the country's approach to the highest phase of communism." Recognition of the contradictions and difficulties of "developed socialism" and Andropov's phrase "we do not know the society in which we live" were perceived as a necessary prerequisite for further self-knowledge and possible reform of Soviet society. However, the "revival of communist fundamentalism" was short-lived. On February 9, 1984, Yu. V. Andropov, who suffered from an incurable kidney disease, died.

Some restoring order, discipline and other activities associated with his name, gave a noticeable economic effect. According to official data, the rate of economic growth in 1983 was 4.2% (versus 3.1% in 1982); national income grew by 3.1%; industrial production- by 4%; agricultural production - by 6%.

Andropov as General Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was replaced by Brezhnev's longtime ally K. U. Chernenko. (He was 73 at the time and had a severe form of asthma.) His coming to power immediately turned into a rejection of Andropov's innovations. There were no new appointments to the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee under Chernenko, but M. S. Gorbachev was nominated to the second place in the leadership instead of N. A. Tikhonov. The struggle for discipline was curtailed, the threads of corruption cases were cut off at the level of middle management. Representatives of the party and state elite were again beyond all suspicion. For a time, the most important were the talk about the new Program of the CPSU and the discussion about the "stage of development of society", which was now proposed to be called not developed, but developing socialism. Chernenko believed that in this way work began, giving "a powerful acceleration to the development of the national economy."

The restoration of Molotov in the party (June 1984) became a landmark for the period of Chernenko's being in power. At the same time, the pro-Stalinist mood of the old generation of the Politburo was clearly expressed by Ustinov, who proposed to restore Malenkov and Kaganovich to the party. According to him, "not a single enemy brought as much trouble as Khrushchev brought us with his policy towards the past of our party and state, as well as towards Stalin." However, V. M. Chebrikov recalled the resolutions on the lists of the repressed and the flow of letters of indignation that should be expected in the event of restoration. It is not known how this issue would have been resolved, since the "renaissance" of late "Brezhnevism" soon ended. On December 20, 1984, D. F. Ustinov died, on March 10, 1985 - K. U. Chernenko.

41. The policy of "perestroika" M.S. Gorbachev is an attempt to reform the socialist system.

The events taking place in the last 15-20 years in Russian society, according to some researchers, are revolutionary in nature; others believe that the ongoing changes, although they are radical, are still reforms; others speak of attempts to modernize society, etc.1 Let us consider these events from the standpoint of the theory of social change, taking as a starting point the events that began in the mid-1980s. XX century, when the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU M. S. Gorbachev proclaimed the course of development of the Soviet Union (“perestroika”).

Perestroika implied a set of reforms in all major spheres of life of Soviet society. In the economic sphere, new forms of relations were introduced, such as collective contracting, rent, self-financing, etc.; in the political sphere - democratization and publicity; in the social sphere, tasks were set to achieve a higher standard of living for Soviet people.

All these reforms were an attempt to modernize the national economic complex of the country and achieve a qualitatively new level of development of society that meets global standards. However, they were carried out within the framework of the then existing socialist (state-monopoly) system, which, without a radical revision of property relations, could not be reformed in principle. In addition, a significant part of the party-state elite showed resistance to the ongoing reforms, which ultimately manifested itself during the attempted coup d'état in August 1991. The working people of the country were not quite ready to work under the new conditions. Therefore, perestroika is assessed by many researchers as the “epoch of pseudo-reforms”. The result of the failed reforms was the general crisis of the socialist system and Soviet society, which led to the collapse of the USSR (December 1991) and the beginning of new radical changes in Russia.

42. Foreign policy of the USSR in the post-war period (1945-1991)
USSR in the post-war world. The defeat of Germany and its satellites in the war radically changed the balance of power in the world. The USSR has become one of the leading world powers, without which, according to Molotov, not a single issue of international life should now be resolved. However, during the war years, the power of the United States grew even more. Their gross national product rose by 70%, and the economic and human losses were minimal. Having become an international creditor during the war years, the United States got the opportunity to expand its influence on other countries and peoples. All this led to the fact that instead of cooperation in Soviet-American relations, a period of mutual distrust and suspicion set in. The Soviet Union was worried about the US nuclear monopoly, attempts to dictate terms in relations with other countries. America saw a threat to its security in the growing influence of the USSR in the world. All this led to the start of the Cold War. Beginning of the Cold War."Cooling" began almost with the last volleys of the war in Europe. Three days after the victory over Germany, the United States announced the termination of the supply of military equipment to the USSR and not only stopped its shipment, but also returned American ships with such supplies that were already off the coast of the Soviet Union. Former Prime Minister of England W. Churchill accused the USSR of "limitless expansion of its power and its doctrines" in the world. Truman soon proclaimed a program of measures to "save" Europe from Soviet expansion (the "Truman Doctrine"). He offered to provide large-scale economic assistance to the countries of Europe (the conditions for providing this assistance were later set out in the "Marshall Plan"); create a military-political union of Western countries under the auspices of the United States (it was the NATO bloc created in 1949); deploy a network of American military bases along the borders of the USSR; to support internal opposition in the countries of Eastern Europe; use conventional weapons and nuclear weapons to blackmail the Soviet leadership. Stalin announced these plans as a call to war against the USSR. Since the summer of 1947, Europe has been divided into allies of two superpowers - the USSR and the USA. The formation of economic and military-political structures of the East and West began. The most serious clash between the USSR and the USA was the war in Korea. After the withdrawal of Soviet (in 1948) and American (in 1949) troops from Korea (which had been there since the end of World War II), the governments of both the South and North Korea intensified preparations for the unification of the country by force. The Korean War claimed the lives of 9 million Koreans, up to 1 million Chinese, 54,000 Americans, and many Soviet soldiers and officers. She showed that the "cold war" can easily develop into a "hot" one. This was understood not only in Washington, but also in Moscow. After General Eisenhower's victory in the 1952 presidential election, both sides began to search for a way out of the impasse in international relations.