06. SOVIET CONTROL OF EASTERN EUROPE: De-Stalinisation and the Warsaw Pact.PPTX

1. SOVIET CONTROL
EASTERN EUROPE
DE-STALINISATION
WARSAW PACT

2. Cambridge Bibliography
• Allan Todd. The European Dictatorships. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini (2002).
• Allsopp John. Challenge and Response (1980).
• Anne Applebaum. The crushing of Eastern Europe (2013).
• Andrew Heywood. Politics (1997).
• BBC Bitesize. GCSE-CCEA (2023).
• Ben Walsh. Modern World History (2001).
• Colin Pearce. Representations of 20th Century History (1995).
• John Martell. The Twentieth-Century World (1980).
• Philip Ingram. Russia and the USSR, 1905-1991 (1997).
• Ralph Levering. Debating the Origins of the Cold War. American and Russian Perspectives
(2001).
• Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler (2008).
• Tony McAleavy. Twentieth Century History. International Relations Since 1919 (2002).
• Steve Phillips. Lenin and the Russian Revolution (2000).
• https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/khrushchev-20th-congress

3. Attacking Stalin
Khrushchev attacked Stalin, after his death, in 1956 at the Communist
Party International in Moscow (see the attached reading).
He has shocked the gathered representatives at the Party Congress by
condemning the brutality of the Stalinist regime, particularly the purges
that led to the torture/execution of some party loyalists.
He noted the ways in which Stalin had misinterpreted the correct Marxist-
Leninist ideas in a paranoid determination to stay in power.

4. Stalin’s Second Funeral
Khrushchev also reversed the Stalinist policy which assumed that a war
with the capitalist West was inevitable and instead advocated a new policy
of “peaceful coexistence.”
Because it reconsidered Stalin’s legacy, the address became known as
“Stalin’s Second Funeral.”
The speech was part of a larger effort at reforming the party and making it
more efficient, but it also had important consequences for Soviet external
relations.

5. De-Stalinisation
Khrushchev began a programme of De-Stalinisation, by taking some
practical measures, such as:
- Releasing political prisoners (in Communist countries it was a
tradition to pardon large number of prisoners when installing a
new leader).
- Closing the Cominform as part of the policy of reconciliation with
Yugoslavia.
- Inviting Marshal Tito to Moscow.
- Dismissing Stalin’s former Foreign Minister, Molotov.

6. This De-Stalinisation was particularly significant/important as many
countries from Eastern Europe Soviet-controlled block received some
greater freedom, and they were more optimistic regarding their future.
For citizens of Eastern Europe who had been bombarded with
propaganda praising Stalin, this was a shocking change of direction.

7. “Stalin used extreme methods and mass repressions at a time when
the revolution was already victorious… Stalin showed in a whole
series of cases his intolerance, his brutality and his abuse of power…
He often chose the path of repression and physical annihilation, not
only against actual enemies, but also against individuals who had
not committed any crimes against the Party and the Soviet
government.”
Khrushchev denouncing Stalin in February 1956.
Different sources and individual study guidance
DENOUNCING STALIN IN 1956
READING TASK

8. “We must produce more grain. The more grain there is, the
more meat, land and fruit there will be. Our tables will be
better covered. Marxist theory helped us win power and
consolidate it. Having done this, we must help the people eat
well, dress well and live well. If after 40 years of communism,
a person cannot have a glass of milk or a pair of shoes, he will
not believe Communism is a good thing, whatever you tell
him.”
Khrushchev, speaking in 1955.
What are Khrushchev’s ideas about communism? How is he
describing it?
Different sources and individual study guidance
EXPLAINING COMMUNISM
TASK

9. The Warsaw Pact
Khrushchev did not change the policy of creating a buffer against
attack from the West.
In 1955, he created the Warsaw Pact, a response to the creation of the
Western power's alliance, NATO.
The members would defend each other if one is attacked (Article 4 in
Warsaw Pact / Article 5 in NATO).
The Warsaw Pact included all the Communist countries of Eastern
Europe except Yugoslavia, and it was dominated by USSR.

10. The Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was established and
signed on 14 May 1955.

11. Meeting of the seven representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries in East Berlin in May
1987. From left to right: Gustáv Husák, Todor Zhivkov, Erich Honecker, Mikhail Gorbachev,
Nicolae Ceaușescu, Wojciech Jaruzelski, and János Kádár.

12. The Warsaw Pact embodied what was referred to as the Eastern bloc,
while NATO and its member countries represented the Western bloc.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact were ideologically opposed and, over time,
built up their own defenses, starting an arms race that lasted
throughout the Cold War.
The Warsaw Pact provided for a unified military command and the
systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other
participating countries.