caesar 44 - annex: the stalin issue and the soviet leadership struggle

8/2/2019 Caesar 44 - Annex: The Stalin Issue and the Soviet Leadership Struggle

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D I R E C T O R A T E OFI N T E L L I G E N C E

Intelligence ReportANNEX :

THE S T A L I N I S S U E AN D T HE S O V I E T L E A D E RS H IP STRUGGLE(Reference T i t l e : CAESAR XXXII)

RSS N o . 0030A/681 7 J u l y 1968


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THE STALIN ISSUE AN D THE SOVIET LEAdERSHIP STRUGGLE

T h i s Annex s u p p l i e s t h e b u l k o f d e t a i l e d i n f o r m a ti o nand a n a l y s i s u pon wh ich t h e I n t e l l i g e n c e R ep o rt e n t i t l e d ,"The S t a l i n Issue a nd t h e S o v i e t L e a d e r sh i p S t r u g g l e , " pub-l i s h e d 5 J u l y 1968, was based . I t i s b e i n g c i r c u l a t e d a sa r e f e r e n c e f o r t h e b e n e f i t of those who fo l low S o v i e ti n t e r n a l a f f a i r s i n d e t a i l .The Annex is d i v i d e d i n t o t h r e e c h r o n o l o g ic a l sec-t i ons w i t h t h r e e f u r t h e r s u b - d i v is i o n s i n e ac h . The f i r s ts u b - d i v i s i o n d e a l s w i t h t h e u se of t h e S t a l i n i s su e i n t h eS o v ie t l e a d e r s h i p s t r u g g l e . T he se co n d c o n s i d e r s t h e p r a c -t i c a l e f f e c t s o n i n t e l l e c t u a l f reedom r e s u l t i n g from ap o l i c y of g r e a t e r r e s t r i c t i o n s and c e n t r a l c o n t r ol s , Thet h i r d s u b -d i v is i o n t r a c e s t h e t r e a t m e n t o f t h e S t a l i n i s s u ei n Sov i e t communica ti ons media.The Annex i s n o t a coo rd i na t ed document. The re se a r cha n a l y s t r e s p o n s i b l e f o r p r e p a r i n g t h e s t u d y is C a r o l y nEkedahl.

John Kerry KingOh&ef , D D I S p e c i a l R es ea rc h S t a f f


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. . .. . . . .. .-., ... ..-- .. . . . .. . . . .I; "....... I..: . :_ . _. . .. . . .._ ... .

POINT COUNTERPOINTKhrushchev's F a l l t o Shelepin 's Set -Back: October 1964-December 1965Le a d e r sh i pThe S i d e s Are Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . .S h e l e p i n ' s D r i v e for Power . . . . . . . . . .Brezhnev Undermines Shelepin . . . . . . . . l l

Press For More Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . 14Moderates Counte r . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6C r i t i c i s m of S t a l i n Con t inues . . . . . . . . . .20D r i v e t o Restore S t a l i n ' s Image Begins . . . -23An t i - S t a l i n i s t s C o n t i n u e t o Res is t . . . . . 2 7R e - S t a l i n i z i n g Dominates . . . . . . . . . . .30Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2

I n t e l l e c t u a l sThe N e o - S t a l i n i s t s Push; The

S t a l i n Themes

CREEPING CONSERVATISMThe 28rd Congress--Before and After: December 1965-November 1966Le a d e r s h i p

Build-up To t h e C o n g re s s . . . . . . . . . . 3 6The Congress Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 4 0Post-Congress Orthodoxy. . . . . . . . . . . 4 4A S h i f t i n P o s i t i o n s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6Pre-Congress Clamp-Down. . . . . . . . . . . 4 8The Congress and A f t e r . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1A F r i g h t e n e d R e sp o ns e . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4R e - S t a l i n i z i n g I s Pushed . . . . . . . . . . 5 5Pos t-Congress : P ro - S ta l in Line . . . . . . s oL i b e r a l s F i g h t Back. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8

I n t e l l e c t u a l s

S t a l i n ThemesEx c e p t i o n s t o Rule ; Nekr i ch Book Debate. . . 57Revo l t of Old Bo l shev iks . . . . . . . . 6 5L ea de rs hi p S h i f t R e f le c t e d i n S t a l i n I ss u e . . 6 7

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PageNEO-STALINIST LINE ADOPTEDThe 50 th Anniversdry Year: November 1966-December 1967

Hard.Line. Dominates. Di s s e n s i o n C ont inue s. . . 3Leaders Speak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5She l e p in ' s D e f e a t a nd R eac t i on To I t . . . . . 9Year End Atmosphere R e p r e s s i v e . . . . . . . . 3Pressure Increases: Protests C ont inue . . . . . 4Campaign A g a i n s t Noviy Y i r . . . . . . . . . . 7Year Ends With Harsh Pol icy . . . . . . . . . . 3S t a l i n Era Whitewashed . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Wartime Errors Erased . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8C o l l e c t i v i z a t i on Smoothed O ver . . . . . . . 00S t a l i n ' s R ev o lu t io n ar y Role P r a i s e d . . . . . 102Lib e r a l E f f o r t s - - Fe e b l e and H ope l es s . . . . 03Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

Leadersh ip

I n t e l l e c t u a l s

L i b e ra l E f f o r t s R m C . . . . . . . . . 9Sta l in Themes

APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107


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Podgornyy gav e t h e main r epor t a t t h e November partyp lenum, and a t t h e November an n ive r sa r y ce le bea t io ns ,t h e t o a s t t o t h e p a r t y wasgiven by Podgornyy ra ther thanBrezhnev, who fo l lowe d wi th a t o a s t t o t h e m i l i t a r y .More impor tant ly , moderate t rends w i t h which Podgornyywas subsequen t ly t o a s s o c i a t e h i m s e l f seemed t o p r e v a i lth roughou t t h i s per iod . The 1965 budget i ncl uded a reduc-t i o n i n t h e o v e r t m i l i t a r y b ud ge t a n d c o n c e s s i o n s t o t h econsumer, .both of w hi c h Podgornyy favored.Condemnation of Khrushchev began almost immediatelya f t e r h ' i s o u s t e r ; t h i s was n e c e s sa r y i f t h e new leadersw e r e t o j u s t i f y t h e i r own action in g e t t i n g r i d of h i m .

However, t h es e a t t a ck s w e r e ikequently accompanied bys u p p o r t of c o l l e c t i v e l e a d e r s h i p a nd o c c a s i o n a l l y accom-panied by condemnation of t h e c u l t of p e r s o n a l i ty a s w e l l . *The approach t o t h e S t a l i n i s s ue by members of t h ehi era rch y remained e s s e n t i a l l y a s befo re . On 6 Novembera n a r t i c l e by L a t v ia n F i r s t S e c r e t a r y Arvid Pe l s he , whoh a s been a s s o c i a t e d w i t h S u s l o v, a p p e a re d i n P r av d a; i n i the d i sc u ss e d t h e c u l t :The i d e o l o g y a nd p r a c t i c e of t h e p e r s o n a l i t yc u l t , a l i e n t o Marxism-Leninism, ha s donec o n s i d e r a b l e harm t o o u r p a r t y and t h e S o v i e ts t a t e . The p e r s o n a l i t y c u l t r ed uc ed t h e r o l eof t h e masses an d of t h e par ty , min imizedc o l l e q t i v e l e a d e r s h i p , und erm in ed i n t r a - p a r t ydemocracy, and su pp res se d t h e a c t i v i t y ,i n i t i a t i v e , a nd i n de p e nd e nt a ct Co n of t h ep a r t y m e m b e r s . . . .

TFor example, a November Kommunist Be lo ru ss i i e d i t o r i a ls t a t e d t h a t w h e r e t h e c u l t oooc o l l e c t i v i t y of l e a d e r s h i p is imp os si bl e. And a Ja nu ary1965 a r t i c l e i n Kommunist Sove t skoye L a t v i i , p robab ly con-t r o l l e d by Pelsh-ed t h e c u l t of S t a l i n ' s p e r so n a l i t yi n h a rs h terms and s t a t e d t h a t i t had done se r i ou s damage .t o p a r t y and s t a t e l e a d e r s h i p , a d di n g, however, t h a t t h i scou l d no t and d i d no t change t h e n a t u r e of t h e s o c i a l i s tsystem.

, S ~ ~ E T


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The 20 th CPSU Congress put an end t o t h i s .I t was thus a tu rn i ng po in t i n t h e p a r t y ' sh i s t o r y . . . The Con gre ss recommended t ot h e P a r t y C e n t r a l C ommittee ' n a t t o r e l a xt h e s t r u g g l e a g a i n s t t h e r em na nt s of t h ep e r s on a l i ty c u l t ' . . . .S i m i l a r l y , i n December, F i r s t Sec re ta ry of Kazakhs tan,Kunayev,* a Brezhnev pr ot eg e, spo ke a t a commemorativemeet ing f o r S ak en S e y f u l l i n , a w r i t e r who had di ed i n t h epurges. On 6 December, a s t r o n g a t t a c k o n S t a l i n w a sc a r r i e d i n a Pravda a r t i c l e , which a l s o s t r o n g l y p r a i s e dt h e 20 th and -arty Cong ress es.

I n February 1965 t h e j o u r n a l P a r t i y n a y a Z h i z n '( Pa rt y L i f e ) , s c o f f e d a t t h e s ug g e st i on t h a t c r m s m oft-1-uld c e a s e :Some peop le ab road have begun t o spe cu la t eand even a s s e r t t h a t a f t e r t h e October plenumof t h e Ce nt ra l Commi tt ee t h e CPSU w i l l g i v eup c r i t i c i z i n g t h e c u l t of S t a l i n ' s p e r s o n -a l i t y and r e v i s e i t s g e n e r a l l i n e , e l a b o r a t e da t t h e 20t h and 22nd Pa r t y Congresses . Vainhopes! . . . The pro ces s begun a t t h e 20thP a r t y C o ng r es s is a n i r r e v e r s i b l e p r oc e s s.There i s no r e t u r n t o t h e ol d ways, and t h e r ew i l l be none. I t is n o t a m a t t e r m e r e l y ofsomebody not wanting t h i s r e t u r n , b u t of theo b j e c t i v e c o n d i t i o n s of l i f e of S o v i e t s o c i e t yand of t h e Communist Pa r t y a t t h e p r e s e n t s t a g e .

Th a t s o m e p a r t y f i g u r e s f e l t t h e need t o r e a s s u r e t h e p a r t ya nd p u b l i c t h a t t h e r e would b e now e l l h a v e r e f l e c t e d t h e f a c t t h a tb ei ng e x e r t e d t o d o j u s t t h a t .r e t u r n t o t h e past mayt h e r e was indeed p res su r e

I

D. A . Kunavev was reaDDointed F i r s t S e cr e ta r y i nDecember 1964.- H e had h e i d t h i s po st f rom 1960 t o 1962and had then been named Chairman of t h e r e p u b l i c ' s C o u n c i lof M i n i s t e r s .

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S h e l e D i n ' s D r i v e For PowerThe e x p r e s s i o n o f t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t v i e w s t h a tS t a l i n s ho ul d n ot be c r i t i c i z e d and t h a t i n t e l l e c t u a l ssh ou ld be made t o conform began somewhat sp or ad ic al ly , b u tseemed c l e a r l y t o come f rom a She lep in -o r i e n ted g roup . T hef i r s t , and f 0 r . a number of m o n t h s , t h e o n ly , f a v o r a b l e r e f -e r en c e t o S t a l i n a pp ea re d o n 6 NQvember i n KomsomolskayaP r av d a , t h e o rg a n of t h e Young Communist League (Komsomol);t h e m s o m o l had been headed p rev ious ly ba She lep in -andSemichastnyy , and s i n c e 1959 i t s chairman had been t h e i rp r ot e ge , S er ge y P av lo v. I n t h i s a r t i c l e S t a l i n was r e f e r r e dt o a s one of Lenin's "comrades-an-arms ."In Fe bru ary Kommunisk pub li sh ed an a r t i c l e by MoscowC i t y F i r s t Se c r e t a r y Niko lay Yegorychev,* who has been oneof t h e most v i o l en t spokesmen fo r t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t s . T h i smay w e l l h av e be en t b e o p e ni ng s a l v o i n S h e l e p i n ' s a t t a c kon Brezh nev' s po s i t i o n . Yegorychev advanced a number oft h e m e s which were s u b s e qu e n t ly t o be s t ressed by t h e neo-S t a l i n i s t s . A f t er p ay in g l i p se rv ice t o t h e impor tan tm ea su re s t a k e n t o r o o t o u t t h e consequences of t h e c u l t

of Stalin's p e r s o n a l i t y , he c o n c e n t r a t e d h i s a t t a c k s o nt h e s i n s of t h e Khrushchev era. H e s t a t e d t h at . " e v e n ts ofr ec en t yea r s" had caused doub t s among ide o lo g ic a l l y uns t ab l eyou ths , and h e c r i t i c i z e d th os e who ta ke what h e c a l l e d aone-sided v i e w o f t h e p a s t a nd s t r es s on ly shor t comings .Io c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h i s , w e m u s t lodge ac o mp l ai n t a g a i n s t t h o s e of o ur c r e a t i v e i n t e l l i -g e n t s i a who so me ti me s a r e t o o a t t r a c t e d byd e s c r i b i n g t h e w i l l f u l n e s s of t h e p e r i o d oft h e c u l t of p e r s o n a l i t y a n d t h e moral exper i -e n c e a n d p h y s i c a l d e p r i v a t i o n of i n n o c e n t l ycondemned people.

H e coup led t h i s c r i t i c i s m w i t h a c a l l f o r more p a t r i o t i cand i d e o l o g i c a l t r a i n i n g . T h i s r e p re s e n te d p r e c i s e l y t h es o r t of s t a t e m e n t w h i c h P a r t i y n a y a Zh i z n ' , i n t h e samemonth, had in di ca te d was impo ssi b le .*Yegorychev ro se t o h i s p o s i t i o n t h r o u g h t h e MoscowKomsomol and party apparatuses; h e succeeded Demichev asf i r s t s e c r e t a r y t h e r e .

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Yegprychev cont inukid t o p re ss h i s p o in t a t t h eSecond Congress of RSFSR Writers e a r l y i n M arch. H ea t t a c k e d a number o f a r t i c l e s whi ch had a p p ea re d i n l i b -e r a l j o u r n a l s , a s w e l l a s So l zh en i t s yn ' s One Day i n t h eLi f e o f I v a n D e n is o v ic h , a s e n s a t i o n a l no v e l p u b l i s h e dd u r i n g t h e Khrushchev p e r i o d w hi ch g r a p h i c a l l y d e s c r i b e dl i f e i n a S t a l i n l a b o r c amp. H e condemned those who permitcr i t ic i sm o f s h o rt c o mi n g s t o d e g e n e r a t e i n t o b l ac k e ni n gt h e " g l o r i o u s h i s t o r y " of par ty and peop le . H e c a l l e d onw r i t e r s t o i n s t i l l i n y ou th p r i d e i n t h e g r e a t a c h i e v e m e n t sof t h e i r h i s t o r y , and s a i d t h a tThe i n s t i l l i n g of s u c h v i e w s is h ar dl y f a c i l i -t a t e d by t h e excess ive en thus iasm of p a r t ofo ur c r e a t i v e i n t e l l i g e n t s i a f o r d e pi c ti n gt h e c r u e l t i e s and w i l l f u ln e s s of t h e p e r i o dof t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t y . . . .

Komsomol C h i e f Pav lov , a She lep in p ro tege who a l s o spokea t t h i s c o n g r e s s , s c o r e d p e s s i m i s t i c works w h i c h , h e s a i d ,a s a r u l e a r e "connected w i t h t h e c u l t theme. T h e openings t a t em e n t t o t h e c o n g r e s s by P a r t y S e c r e t a r y a nd P r e s i di u mmember Andrey Kirilenko* had been somewhat less h a r s h t h a nthese s p e e c h es ; w h i l e h e had s t r e s s e d t h e par ty 's demandson w r i t e r s , h e had n o t c r i t i c i z e d writers f o r d w e l l i n g ont h e c u l t nor had h e condemned c r i t i c i s m of shortcomings.From 94 t h rough 26 March a n a g r i c u l t u r a l plenum oft h e CPSU Central Committee was h e l d . The main order ofbus iness was t h e a g r i c u l t u r h l r e p or t d e l i v e r e d by Brezhnevand t h e a d o p t i o n of h i s proposed f ive -ye ar program desig nedt o b o l s t e r t h e a g r i c u l t u r a l s e c t o r of theeconomy. A number

of per sonne l changes w e r e a l s o made a t t h e plenum, Demichev ,p r o b a b ly a S h e l e p i n s u p p o r t e r , became p a r t y s e c r e t a r y re-s p o n s i b l e f o r i d e o l o g i c a l m a t t e r s . K i r i l l Mazurov** wasnamed a f u l l member of t h e Presidium and was succeeded a sBe lo ru ss i an F i r s t Se c r e t a r y by Pe t r Masherov,*** who a l s o* K i r i l e n k o s e r v e d i n t h e U k r a i n e under Brezhnev, b ut a t

t i m e s ha s seemed c l o s e r t o P od go rn yy i n h i s p o l i c y v i e w s .**Mazurov was F i r s t S e c r e ta r y of t h e Belorussian Komsomold u r i n g t h e l a t e 1940's--when Sh el ep in was al l- un io n Komsomols e c r e t a r y f o r c a d r es .

***Masherov r o s e th ro ug h t h e Be lo ru ss ia n Komsomol and Pa r t yo r g a n i z a t i o n s a f t e r Mazurov.-5-\


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SE6 ETbecame a. c a n d i d a t e m e m b e r of t h e Presid ium. Both Mazurovand Masherov had served i n t h e Be lo ru ss ia n Komsomol an dmay w e l l have become al igned w i t h Shelepin . Masherov 'ss u b s e q ue n t s t a t e m e n t s wo ul d i n d i c a t e h i s c l e a r s u p p o r t f o rShe l ep in ' s neo -S t a l i n i s t s ; Mazurov 's v iews have no t beenmade as c l e a r .

During 1965 the re were i n d i c a t i o n s of i n c r e a s i n gd i s s e n s i o n w i t h i n t h e l e a d e r s h i p . E v i d en t l y , t h e S t a l i ni s s u e w a s a major, i f n ot t h e major , source of c o n f l i c t .A number of r e p o r t s were r e ce i ve d i n t h e West i n t h e s p r i n gand summer, a l l a s s e r t i n g t h a t t h e l e ad e rs h ip was p l a n n i n gt o r e ha b i l i t a t e S t a li n .* va r ie d , however , i ns t a t e d t h a t B r ez hn ev f a v o r e d i t b u t t h a t S u s l o vt h e i r a n a l y s i s o f who w a s r e h a b i l i t a t i o n .t o o C ommitted t o d e - S t a l i n i z a t i o n t o ch an g e.Another s a i d t h a t Mikoyan w a s v i o l en t l y opposed t o makinga ny c o n c e s s i o n s t o t h e Chinese and was suppor ted i n t h i sb y t e c h n o l o g i s t s l i k e Kosygin-; , but th a t under pr es su ref rom ideologues who b o k back n o s t a l g ic a l l y t o t h e d a y swhen Moscow was undisputed leader of or thodoxy, they m i g h thave t o s uccumb t o t h e o i n t of f i n di n g j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o rS t a l i n ' s a c t i o n s . One/thIncluded both Brezhnev andKosygin i n a middle-of- e-road groupin g bei ng pushed bya m i l i t a r y h i er a r c h y composed of S t a l i n i s t s .

Although none of these r e p o r t s m en ti on ed S h e l e p i n a sa major proponent of r e - S t a l in i z a t i o n , o t h e r i n d i c a t o r sd i scuss ed be low, sug ges t ed t h a t h e and h i s f a c t i o n weres t r o n g l y b a c k i n g t h e d r i v e t o r e s t o r e S t a l i n ' s name. On16 A p r i l a t a m e et i ng of c e n t r a l c o mm it te e i d e o l o g i c a ls p e c i a l i s t s , Demichev, i n h i s new r o l e a s i d e o l o g i c a lspokesman , r e po r t ed ly p roposed changes i n po l i cy towardt h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s and c a l l e d f o r "more ba lanced t r e a tmen t"o f S t a l i n .I n May Br ez hn ev became t h e f i r s t member of t h e newl e a d e r s h i p t o m en ti on S t a l i n ' s name i n p u b l i c . The o c c a s i o n

* W it h t h e exce p t io n o f one R e u t e r s r e p o r t i n May w h i c hi n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e S o v i e t s w an te d t o a b o l i s h t h e systemunder w h i c h p o l i t i c a l l o s e r s became un pe rs o ns a nd t h a tS t a l i n w o u l d be m en ti on ed i n a n h i s t o r i c a l c o n t e xt - -b u tnot r e h a b i l i t a t e d .-6-


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was t h e 2 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f t h e v i c t o r y of t h e S o v i e tUnion i n World War 11. I n h i s speech Brezhnev s t a t e dt h a t a s w a s w e l l known t h e war had begun under unfaborablec o n d i ti o n s f o r t h e S o v i e t Union an d t h a t g r e a t e f f o r t s hadb een m ade t o s t r e n g t h e n t h e c o u n t r y :Y h l . The St a t e Defen se Committee was formedw i t h t h e S e c r e t a r y G e n e ra l o f t h e C e n t r a lCommittee of t h e All-Unio n Communi$$ P a r t y ,J o s i f V i sa r io n o vi c h S t a l i n , a t i t s h ea d t oe x e r c i s e l ea d e rs h i p o ve r a l l a c t io n i n t h ematter of o r g a n i z i n g t h e r e p u l s e o f t h e enemy.

Brezhnev went on t o pay t r i b u t e t o t he a rmed f o r c e s a n d t h ei n t e l l e c t u a l s f o r t h e i r w a r t i m e performance , but d i d n o tment ion e i t h e r o f S h e l e p i n ' s o r g a n i z a t i o n s , t h e KGB o r t h eKomsomol. Thus, w h i l e s u p p o r t i n g t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t p o s i t i o non t h e S t a l i n i s s u e , B rez hn ev w a s c l e a r l y shying away froma ny s u p p o r t , i m p l i e d o r e x p l i c i t , of S h e l e p i n . B re zh ne vh a d t h u s made c l e a r h i s s u p p o rt f o r a p o l i c y of a t l e a s tp a r t i a l r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of S t a l i n . H i s r e a s o ns f o r d o in gso p ro b ab ly i n c l u d e t h e f a c t t h a t as p a r ty f i r s t sec r e t a ryh e h a d t h e most t o gain from s u c h a r e h a b i l i t a t i o n . Ifh e c o u l d e s t a b l i s h t h a t much of S t a l i n ' s power p o s i t i o nwas b o t h l e g i t i m a t e an d d e s i r a b l e , h e could hope t o a c q u i r ea t l e a s t some of t h i s power.Rumors con cer ni ng impending changes i n t h e l e a d e r s h i pbegan i n t h e summer of 1965 and ended somewhat abruptly i nSeptember. The common t h r e a d of a l l these r e p o r t s was t h a tSh ele pi n would r ep la ce Brezhnev, who w a s p o r t r a y e d a s abumbling incom peten t . The re were a number of va r ia t i o n sa n d s u b s i d i a r y t h emes . According t o one sou rce , Sus lovw a s t h e most prominent m e m b e r of t h e l e a d e r s h i p , b u t d i dnot want t h e t o p p o s i t i o n . S e v e r a l r e p o r t s i n d i c a t e d t h a tMikoyan would r e t i r e , t h a t Brezhnev would take h i s p l a c e ,and t h a t S h e l e p i n w ou ld t a k e Brezhnev 's po s i t i on . Somec la imed t h a t Kosyg in would a l s o be r e l i e v e d .One of t h e i s s u e s causing disagreement among t h eleaders a t t h i s t i m e was t h a t of p o l i t i c s v e r s u s e c o n o m i c s .

S u p p o r t f o r t h e d og ma ti c p o s i t i o n w h i c h v i e w s t h e p a r t y a sa p o l i t i c a l an d i d e o l o g i c a l body was i n d i c a t e d by Sus l ov ,


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S h e l e s t , a nd , most s t r o n g l y , by Ge or gi an F i r s t S e c r e t a r yMzhavanadze, who, i n J u n e , i nv ok ed S t a l i n ' s words t o s u p p o r th i s p o s it i o n. A f t e r e x p re s s i ng h i s h o s t i l i t y t o t h e i n f l u xi n t o t h e p a r t y of a l a rg e number of p e o p l e w i t h p r o d u c t i o ne x p e r t i s e, h-b s t a t e d:P r oc e ed i ng f ro m t h e L e n i n i s t p r i n c i p l e ofb u i l d i n g o u r p a r t y , I.V. S t a l i n , a c u t e lyand f i g u r a t i v e l y , said a t one t i m e , 'Ourp a r t y is a f o r t r e s s t h e d o o rs of w hi chopen only t o t h e t e s te d . 'I n d i c a t i o n s o f c o n t r o v e r s y w i t h i n t h e l e a d e r s hi p a l s ocame i n t h e form of sebera l s t r o n g s t a t e m e n t s on t h e n ee df o r ' c o l l e c t i v e l e ad e rs h ip .Pravda on 15 A p r i l a n d an even s t ronger one appeared in t h e-paper Pra vda Vos tok a on 20 A pr il . The l a t t e r a r t i c l ep r a i s e d t h e -ar ty Co'ngress, which had s tr on gl y con-demned t h e c u l t of p e r s o n a l i t y , a nd a t t a ck e d t h e c u l t a sw e l l a s t h e m et ho ds o f p e r s o n a l d i c t a t o r s h i p , s u g g e s t i n gt h a t i t s t a r g e t w a s a n e o - S t a l i n i s t i n d i v i d u a l o r f a c t i o n .Thus i t would appear t h a t t h e F i r s t S e c r e t a r y i n U zb ek is ta n,Rashidov, w a s a t t h i s t i m e g i v i ng some suppo r t to a moderatef a c t i o n w h i c h f e l t i t s e l f l o s i n g g ro un d, p ro ba b ly t o Bre zh ne v.

Such a d e f e n s e a p p ea r ed i n

During t h e s p r i n g and summer Podgornyy seemed t o bel o s in g s t r e n g t h , w h i l e S h e l e p i n w a s a c q u r i n g i t . I n A p r i lp a r t y s e c r e t a r y T i t o v , a Podgornyy as so c i a t e , was se n t t oK az ak hs ta n a s s e c o n d s e c r e t a r y ; h e was removed from t h es e c r e t a r i a t t h e fo l l ow in g September. I n May She le pin sup-po r t e r S tepakov was p romoted f rom ch i e f ed i t o r of I z v e s t i y at o h ea d of t h e c e n t r a l commi t t ee 's P ropaganda and Ag i t a t io nDepartment.* That same month a l l Moscow-resident Presidiummembers w i t h t h e ex ce pt io n of Podgornyy received medalsf o r t h e i r war time co n t r i bu t i on s . And i n May and J une al a r g e number of a r t i c l e s e x t o l l i n g t h e v i r t u e s of t h eKGB appeared i n t h e press .

*The I z v e s t i y a p o s t w a s t o r em ai n v a c an t u n t i l O c t o b e r ,an i n d i c a t i o n t h a t t h e l e a d e r s c o u l d n o t a g r e e o n t h eappointment.

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I n J u l y t h e c e n t r a l c om mi tt ee r e p ri m an d ed K ha rk ovO b l a s t , w i t h w h i c h Podgornyy had been a s s o c i a t e d , f o rs e r i o u s s h o rt c om i ng s i n t h e work of p a r t y a d mi s s io n s .An 11 August P r a vd a e d i t o r i a l r e p o r t e d t h i s a n d a l s o c r i t -i c ized t h e o b m o r e m p h a s i z i n g n u m e r i c a l o v e r q u a l i t a t i v egrowth, T h i s marked t h e cl im ax of a campaign of c r i t i c i s mof Podgornyy 's oblas t ' whi ch had begun i n February w i t h ana r t i c l e by Brezhnev p ro te ge Shc herb i t sk iy . Th i s s u g g e s t st h a t Br ee hn ev was p-g t h e campaign, probably w i t h t h econcur rence of n e o - S t a l i n i s t a nd o r th o d ox e l e m e n ts .I n August a nd September, on t h e e v e of t h e economic

p lenum, fo rce fu l a r t i c l e s appeared from both t h e neo-S t a l i n i s t a nd l i b e r a l camps. On 29 August Pravda publ ishedan a r t i c l e by Komsomol C h i e f Pavlov, a S h e l m r o t e g e ,who aga i n a t t a ck ed those who look a t h i s t o r y t h r o u g h t h e"prism of t h e n e g a ti v e r e s u l t s of t h e p e r s o n a l i t y c u l t . "H e urged t h a t t h e g r e a t a c h ie v em e nt s of t h e 1930's bes t r e s s e d .Pav lov ' s theme w a s p icked up by a s e c r e t a r y of t h et r a d i t i o n a l l y h a r d - l i n e L en in gr ad c i t y p a r t y commit tee ,Yu. Lavr ikov, in a 9 September speech. He too condemneda "one-sided" approa ch t o t h e c o m p l e x i t i e s of t h e c u l t .And, on 15 September, F i r s t Sec re t a ry of Len ingrad O b l a s t 'V . Tolst ikov cam6 down s t rongly on t h e s i d e of orthodoxyw i t h an a r t i c l e c r i t i c i z i n g t h e l a c k of p o s i t i v e h e ro e sand i d eo lo gy i n l i t e r a t u r e and a r t . T h e Azerbaydzhanf i r s t s e c r e t a r y , V. Akhundov, a l s o s t r e sse d a h a r d l i n ei n h i s s p e e c h i n September t o a plenum of t h e r e p u b l i c ' sc r e a t i v e u ni on s. I n t e r e s t i n g l y , KGB C h i e f Semichastnyy,a S h e l e p i n p r o t e g e , h ad s e r v e d b r i e f l y a s S eco nd S e c r e t a r yunder Akhundov i n t h e lace 1950 's , a n i n d i c a t i o n t h a tAkhundov might be i n l ea gu e w i t h t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t s .On 9 September t h e l i b e r a l s l a u n c h e d a c o u n t e r a t t a c kw i t h t h e p u b l i c a t i o n o f R u my an ts ev 's s e c o nd l i b e r a l d e f e n s eof t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s i n Pravda.* I n t h i s a r t i c l e h ec r i t i c i z e d t h e c a l l f o r p o s i t i v e h e ro es a s t h e s o l e c r i -t e r i o n of a work and s a i d t h a t s h o r tc o m in g s s h o u l d n o t beign ore d. Sometime be fo re 21 September, when t h e o f f i c i a l1i s c u s s i o n of t h i s a r t i c l e .

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announcement w a s made, Rumyahtsev was r e l i e v e d a s P r a v d a ' se d i t o r a n d s u c c e e d e d by M. Zimyan in ;** t h i s was a r e a lblow t o t h e m o d e ra t e s, a nd r e p r e s e n t e d a major defeat f o rPodgornyy . Rumyant sev' s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s e i e r a l monthsl a t e r i n a f a i r l y r e s p o n s i b l e po s i ti o n ** i n d i c a t e d , however,tha t Podgornyy s t i l l r e t a i n e d c o n s i de r a b l e s t r e n g t h .S h e l e p i n may have made h i s major push f o r power i nSeptember. About t h i s t i m e s e v e r a l a r t i c l e s were p u b l i s h e ddefend ing t h e Pa r ty -St a t e Co nt ro l Committee--which 4e headed--s u g g e s t i n g e i t h e r t h a t t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n was u n de r a t t a c k ,t h a t S h e l e pi n was t r y i n g t o s t r e n g t h e n t h i s o r g a n i z k t i o n ,o r b o t h . Th i s c o mm i tt e e had been e s t a b l i s h e d i n 1 9 6 2 . I tsf u n c t i o n was t o f i n d a nd p u ni sh ! p a r t y a nd g ov er nm en t o f f i -c i a l s g u i l t y of m i sc o nd u ct . T he e x i s t e n c e of s u c h a ne x t r a - p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o n had b ee n c o n t r o v e r s i a l a nd S h e l e p i n ' sp o s i t i o n a s h ead o f t h e commit tee gave h i m a f a i r l y power-f u l b a s e fr om w hi ch t o o p e r a t e . S o v e ts k a y a B e l o r u s s i y a , t h eB e l or u s si a n pa p e r, i n a 13 A u g u s t e d i t o r i a l , d e s c r i b e dp a r t y s t a t e c o n t r o l a s an " in h er en t , i n t e g r a l p a r t of p a r t yo r g a n i z a t i o n a l w o r k . " T h i s w a s a n i n d i c a t i o n of t h e s u p p o r tb e i ng g i v e n S h e l e p i n b y t h e B e l o r u s s i a n p a r t y and i t s l e a d e rMasherov. 'Also, i n mid-September t h e writers Andrey Sinyav-skSy and Yuriy Daniel were a r r e s t e d by t h e KGB f o r p u b li s hi n gworks i n t h e West und er pseudonyms. The timdng of th e s ea r r e s t s may ha ve r e p r e s e n t e d an a t t empt by t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t st o s e i ze t h e i n i t i a t i v e o n t h e e v e of t h e September plenum.B u t t h e Pres id ium mus t have ag re ed t o t h e a c t i o n , i n d i c a t i n gthat Brezhnev approved and had taken a number of ke y v o t e sw i t h h i m .Accord ing t o a r e p o r t o p p o s i t ionb e f o r e t h e September plenum 1s L U Cel t h eeconomic s t r u c t u r e t h r o u g h d e - c e n t r a l i z a t i o n a nd a n e mp ha si s

*Zimyan in ro se t o p rominence th r oug h t t he Be lo rus s i anKomsomol and Party; h e a l s o s e r v e d a s d e p u t y m i n i s t e r off o re i gn a f f a i r s .**Rumyan tsev 's id e n t i f i c a t i o n i n November as Ac t ingAcademician Secretary of t h e Department of Economics i n d i -c a t e d t h a t h e s t i l l h a d s u p p o r t .

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on p r o f i t s , came f rom She l ep in and Sus lov , who f ea r ed t heinc r eas ed f r eedom f o r p l a n t manager s wou ld weaken c e n t r a lc o n t r o l o f t h e economy. The ref orm adopt ed a t t h e Septem-b e r p a r t y p l e n u m r e p r e s e n t e d a compromise w i t h the economicrefo rmer s , backed by Kos i n a c h i ev i n g o n ly a p o r t i o n o ft h e i r g o a l .w a s a s i g n i f i c a n s s u e , e m a j o r p o l i t i c a l issue b e f o r et h e plenum w a s t h e p ro po sa l t o p a r t i a l l y r e h a b i l i t a t e S t a l i n .T h e r e were t h o s e , h e r e p o r t e d , who f a vo r ed p o l i t i c a l a sw e ll a s h i s t o r i c a l r e h a b i l i t a t i o n . I t was decided, however ,t o leave t h e r e h a b i l i t a t i o n a t t h e l e v e l of t h e 20 th ann i -v e r s a r y o f t h e e n d o f t h e w ar- -p ub li c r e f e r e n c e t o S t a l i n ' se x i s t e n c e a s an h i s t o r i c a l f i g u r e when o bv io us ly c a l l e d f o r .Thus , on bo th i ssues-- the economy and St al in -- a compromisep o s i t i o n seem t o hav e p r e v a i l e d. A t t h e Supreme Soviets e s s i o n w h i c h f o l l o w e d t h e plenum, Brezhnev w a s named amember of t h e Supreme So v i e t ' s P res idium, a l a r ge ly honor-i f i c p o st , b ut still i n d i c a t i v e of h i s g r o w i n g s t r e n g t h .Po lyansk iy w a s named a f i r s t deputy chai rman of t h e Counci lof M i n i s t e r s , t h e r e b y be co min g S h e l e p i n ' s s e n i o r i n t h egovernment. N e i t h e r Brezhnev nor Kosygin mentionedS h e l e p i n ' s P a r t y - S t a t e C o n t r o l Co mm it te e i n h i s s p e e c h ,a f a i r l y o bv i ou s o mi s s io n .

r e p o r t e d t h a t w h i l e reform-Brezhnev Undermines Shelepin

B r e z h n e v ' s s u p p o r t f o r t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t p o s i t i o nb o th on r e - S t a l i n i z i n g a nd c u l t u r a l p o l i c y was re v e a l e ds h o r t l y a f t e r t h e plenum. A pro tege o f h i s , SergeyTrapeznikov who i n Ju ne had been appoi nted C h i e f of t h ec e n t r a l :C omm it te e's S e c t i o n f o r S c i e n t i f i c a nd Ed u c a t io n a lI n s t i t u t i o n s , w r o t e a n a r t i c l e which a pp ea re d i n Pravda on8 October , i n w h i c h h e s t r o n g l y a s s e r t e d t h e supremacy oft h e o ry ov e r p r a c t i c e . T ra pe z ni ko v s a i d t h a t no p a r t y isg ua ra nt ee d a g a i n s t t a c t i c a l e r r o r s , b u t t h a t t h e mainq u e s t i o n i s t h e dep th of these mistakes and t h e t i m e l yc o r r e c t i o n o f t he m . H e condemned one-sided app roa che s t oi n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n , c o l l e c t v i z a t on , and, of cours e , t h ewar. T h u s , s e v e r a l s p e c i f i c p o l i c i es were added t o t h es u b j e c t of S t a l i n ' s w ar ti me l e a d e r s h i p a s b e in g no l o n g e rs u i t a b l e t o p i c s f o r c r i t i c i s m . The o f f i c i a l , and c l e a r l y

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Brezhnev-suppor ted , l i n e on t h e c u l t of t h e p e r s o n a l i t ywas made c l e a r :. . . C e r t a i n l y t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t yb ro u gh t s i g n i f i c a n t harm t o t h e c a u s eof s o c i a l i s t c o n s t r u ct io n i n c e r t a i ns p h e r e s o f t h e l i f e of s o c i e t y . How-ever, n e i t h e r t h e c u l t of p e r s o n a l i t yitself &or i t s consequences f lowed i na ny way f ro m t h e s o c i a l i s t s y s t e m a ndd i d no t change and cou ld no t changei t s c h a r a c t e r . T h e r e f o r e , i t canno tbe r ec og ni ze d a s e i t h e r t h e o r e t i c a l l yo r f a c t u a l l y c o r r e c t when i n some ofo ur s c i e n t i f i c o r a r t i s t i c p ub li -c a t i o ns l i f e is p o r t r a y e d o n l y f r o mt h e v iewpoin t o f t h e m a n i f e s t a t i o n sof t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t y an d t h e yt h e r e b y c l o u d t h e h e r o ic s t r u g g l e s oft h e Sovie t peop le who a r e b u i l d i n gs o c i a l i s m . . . .T h i s a r t i c l e by Trapeznikov was f o l l o w e d on 2b O c t o b e rw i t h a n i n s t r u c t i o n a l l e t t e r , s e n t o u t by Trapeznikov 'sd ep ar tm en t t o s c h o ol s , c a l l i n g f o r ch an ge s i n t h e t r e a t m e n tof t h e S t a l i n a n d K hru sh che v p e r i o d s i n h i s t o r y c o u r s e s .I t c a l l e d f o r i n c e e a s ed e m ph as is o n t h e r o l e of t h e c e n t r a ll e a d e r s h i p i n m o b i l i z i n g e co no mic r e s o u r c e s f o r d e fe n sed u r i n g t h e war and f o r r e s t o r a t i o n a f t e r i t . T h e l e t t e ra l s o s t re s sed t h e need t o r e v e a l t h e harm of s u b j e c t i v i s m .T h e s e two Tr a pe z ni k ov s t a t e m e n t s c l e a r l y d e m on s t ra t e d t h a ta po l i cy had been adopted , t h a t Brezhnev had endorsed t h a tp o l i c y , and t h a t t h e l i n e was o r thodox .Thus, t h e m aj or p r o t a g o n i s t s i n t h e s t r u g g l e t a k i ngp l a c e w i t h i n t h e l e a d e r s h i p a t t h i s t i m e both seemed t o bes u p p o r t e r s o f t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t l i n e . T h at S h e l e pi n , l e a d e rof a n e o - S t a l i n i s t f a c t i o n , w as i n v ol v e d was c l e a r l y r e -vea led i n t h e o n g o i n g d i s p u t e o v e r t h e f u t u r e of t h e P a r t y -S t a t e Con t ro l Commi tt ee . On 8 ,and 1 2 O c t o b e r r e s p e c t i v e l yI z v e s t i y a and P ra vd a a s s e r t e d t h a t t h e r o l e of t h e commit-tee would' r i s e under t h e new m i n i s t r y s y s t e m s e t up a t

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t h e September plenum. On t h e 15 th Krasnaya Zvezda sup-p o r t e d t h e r o l e of t h e c o n t r o l g r o u p s i n t h e m o r c e sand demanded t h a t pe r s ec u t i on of them s top . However ,P a r t i y n a y a Zh i z n f o l l o w e d t h e l i ne t aken by Kosyg in andB re zh ne v a t x s e p t e m b e r plenum, a nd c o mp le t el y i gn or edt h e r o l e of p a r t y - s t a t e c o n t r o l o rg an s, r e f e r r i n g t o p a r t yorgans as t h e c h e c k i n g b o d i e s .c r i t i c i z e d p a r t y - s ta t e c o n t r o l gr ou ps q u i t e s t r o n g l y . T h i sA n d Sov ie t S ta t e - a nd Laws h a r p d i v e rg e n c e o v e r a n o r g a n i z a t i o n c l o s e l y c o n n e ct e d w i t ha Pr e s i d iu m member, S h e l e p i n , c l e a r l y r e v e a l e d t h e i n t e n s i t yo f t h e s t r u g g l e .S h e l e pi n ' s n e o - S t a l i n i s t s c o nt i nu e d t o p us h t h e i rpo s i t io n . Demichev ad dr es se d members of t h e RSFSR Wpi te r sUnion in Moscow and r epo r t e d ly c a l l e d f o r an end t o "camp"l i t e r a t u r e ( i . e . , l i t e r a t u r e c on ce rn in g S t a l i n ' s crimes)and f o r a n em p ha s is on t h e " h e r o i c " a s p e c t s o f S o v i e th i s t o r y . I n e a r l y Se ptem be r h e h a d r e p o r t e d l y a p o l o g i z e dt o t h e wri te r s f o r excess ive a t t a c k s o n them; now h e w a sp u s h i n g t h e a t t a c k a g a i n . On 28 November a Pravda a r t i c l eby RSFSR Agi tp rop C h i e f K ha ld ey ev , a S h e l e p i n a s s o c i a t e ,a l s o emphasized a ha rd - l i ne approach. H e c r i t i c i z e d aon e - s id e d approach i n l i t e r a t u r e and c a l l e d f o r improvementi n t h e i d e o l o g i c a l and p o l i t i c a l i n d o c t r i n a t i o n of y ou th .H e pa r t i c u la r l y c a l l e d upon t he Komsomol t o do moze i n t h i sar ea . Deputy Chief of t h e c e n t r a l c om mi tt ee 's c u l t u r a l

s e c t i o n , G . Kun its yn, i n November's Kommunist , th re at en edn o n c o n f o r m i s t a r t i s t s w i t h e x p u l s i o n f ro m c r e a t i v e u n i o n s .A cen t r a l commi t t ee p lenum w a s h e l d from 4 t o 6December and w a s fo l lowed by a two-day sess ion of t h eSupreme Sovie t . A number of hig h-le vel pe rs on ne l changesw e r e made, t h u s v i n d i c a t i n g t o some e x t e n t t h e f l o o d ofrumors of t h e pr ev io us summer. Mikoyan, who had un do ub te dl yo pp os ed a ny r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of S t a l i n a nd would c o n t i n u e t opush t h e r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of S t a l i n ' s v i c t i m s , "r es ig ne d " a sChairman of t h e Pres id ium of t h e Supreme Soviet and wassucceeded by Podgornyy. Podgornyy pro bab ly si mu lta ne ou sl yl e f t h i s p o s i t i o n o n t h e CPSU Se cr e ta r i a t , a l thou gh t h i scou ld no t be announced u n t i l t h e n e x t c e n t r a l c om mi tt ee

meet ing- -the con gre ss i n March 1966. T h i s ac t ion markeda r e a l s et -b ac k f o r t h e moderates. However, i t was matchedby a blow t o S h e l e p i n . The Party- .State Con trol Committee

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was a b o l i s h e d a nd S h e l e p i n l o s t h i s p o s i t i o n a s D eputyChairman of t h e C o u nc i l of Mi ni s t e r s . I n hcts speech t ot h e plenum Brezhnev s a i d t h a t t h e r e had been shortcomingsi n t h e w ork of t h e c om mi tt ee , a c l e a r s l a p a t S h el e pi n .A p r o t e g e o f B r e z hn e v 's i V l a d i m ir S h c h e r b i t s k i g , was- ameda ca nd id at e member of t he , Pre sid ium . Thus, Brezhnev seemedt o h av e emerged t h e v i c t o r fro m t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s k i r m i s h .H e h ad a d m i n i s t e r e d a d e c i s i v e r e b u f f t o t h e modera tes andhad a l s o managed t o s t a v e o f f S h e l e p i n ' s c h a l l en g e , d e a l i n ghim a severe d e f e a t i n t h e p r o c e s s .

:c :c :. .., ..- . . ...._._........ ...,. ..1 . ._ . ... .. .. . . . .. . . INTELLXTUALSPress For More FreedomThe u n s e t t l e d n a t u r e o f t h e l e a d e r s h i p and t h e l a c kof a n a g r e e d p o s i t i o n d u r i n g t h e f i r s t few months a f t e rK hr us hc he v' s o u s t e r was r e f l e c t e d i n r e l a t i v e l y more fr ee do mf o r t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s . L i b e r a l a r t i c l e s were p u b l i s h e da n d a t t a c k s on c o n s e r v a t i v e v i e w s w e r e commonplace. Liter-a tu rna ya Ga ze ta ' s 12 November c r i t i c i s m of a c o n s e r v a mn o v el , f o r e xa mp le , r e c a l l e d t h e harsh methods of t h e S t a l i nye ar s . The book bei ng reviewed had c a l l e d f o r a m i l i t a n ts t r u g g l e f o r p a r t y - m i n d e d n e s s i n a r t ; t h e r e v i e w s t a t e dt h a t t h e s t r u g g l e f o r s o c i a l i s t r e a l i s m h ad b een c om pli-

c a t e d by t h e ' k u b j e c t i v e a p p ro a c h of S t a l i n " a nd by a t t e m p t sa t a d m i n i s t r a t i v e s o l u t i o n s t o c om p li ca te d p ro ble ms .*On 13 December 1964, A . Bocharov i n Iz ve st iy a madea pl ea f o r a l i b e r a l a r t i s t i c p ol ic y , s t a t i n g t h a t c r i t i c i s ms h o u l d p e r s u a de a nd e d u c a t e , n o t s u p p r e s s . H i s c l o s i n gs t a t e m e n t was q u i t e p o i n t e d :I n o r de r t o be a u t h o r i t a t i v e , a c r i t i c m u s t beguided by t h e h i gh e st i n t e r e s t s of t h e peop lea nd n o t by g ro u p p r e d i l e c t i o n s , n o t b y t h e' l i t e r a r y p o l i cy ' of t h e moment, w h i c h t o oo f t e n r es e mb le s l i t e r a r y c o n f us i on .

*The a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e t e r m s u b j ec t i ve t o S t a l i n isu n u s u a l , for a t t h i s time t h e term was being appl iedp r i m a r i l y t o K h r u s h c h e v .-14-, S E ~ E T ,


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An a r t i c l e by N o v i y Mir's c h i e f e d i t o r , A le ks an drTvardovskiy, c o m m e m o r m the j o u r n a l ' s 4 0 th a n n i v er s a r yappeared i n t h e J a n u a r y i s s u e of t h a t j o u r n a l . Tv ar do v sk i ydefended t h e n eed t o p r e s e n t t h e whole t r u t h , a r g u i n g t h a tt h e r e is no su ch t h i n g a s t r u t h of l i f e ve rs us t r u t h off a c t - t h a t t h e r e is o n l y t r u t h . * H e con t inued h i s a t t a c kon o rt ho d ox c u l t u r a l v i e w p oi n ts b y s t a t i n g t h a t each workc a n n o t p r e s e n t t h e w ho le p i c t u r e - - t h a t o n ly l i t e r a t u r e a sa whole can do that -and th a t no her o is a b l e t o r e p re s en ta l l t hi ng s. H e s t a t e d t h a t a t one t i m e ( i . e . , u n d e r S t a l i n )t h e e x a l t a t i o n of t h e hero had taken t h e p l a c e of r e a l i t y .Tvardovskiy was answered on 9 J a n u a r y by a Pravdae d i t o r i a l w h i c h a r g u e d t h a t t h e a r t i s t must p r e s e n mi n f u l l h i s t o r i c a l p e rs p ec t iv e a nd c r i t i c i z e d works w h i c hc o n c e n t r a t e o n t h e n e g a t i v e a s p e c t s of l i f e . T he se con-t r a d i c t o r y v i e w s , a s e x p r e s s e d by t h e most l i b e r a l j o u r n a lp u b l i s h e d i n t h e S o v i e t Union and t h e p a r t y pape r , r e c u rr e p e a t e d l y i n t h e d i al o gu e between l i b e r a l i n t e l l e c t u a l sand t h e c o n s e r v a t i v e s .I n F e b r u a r y P ra v da p u b l i s h e d two c o n t r a s t i n g a r t i c l e son cu l t u r a l po l i c y . The pape r ' s e d i t o r Rumyantsev , anapparent Podgornyy suppor ter , was t h e au thor o f t h e f i r s t ,w h ich appearedl .on 21 Februa ry and w a s moderate. Rumyantsevmade t h e necessary bows toward t h e need f o r p a r t y s p i r i t i na l l fo rm s o f c r e a t i v e work, b u t he c o n c e n t r a t e d h i s ener -

g i e s on s u p p o r t f o r t h e "h ighes t humani s t i dea l , " t h e f r e eal l-around development of e v e r y i n d i v i d u a l i n conformi tyw i t h t h e gene ra l i n t e r e s t . Rumyan tsev then connec ted as t r o n g d e fe n s e of c o l l e c t i v e l e a d e r s h i p w i t h t h e conceptof t h e fre ed om t o c r e a t e , t h u s r e f l e c t i n g t h e knowledge* T h i s p a r t i c u l a r i s s u e b e a r s a somewhat f r i g h t e n i n gresemblance t o t h e b a s i c q u e s t i o n i n t h e p u r g e t r i a l s i nt h e l a t e 1930's--did i t m a tt e r i n f a c t w h e t h e r o r n o t t h eaccused person had c on sp ir e d a g x n m t a l i n ; or was i tenough that h e h a d t h e p o t e n t i a l t o do so? T h e f a c t s i no t h e r words a r e i r r e l e v a n t . T he argument for t h e t r u t h ofl i f e is t h a t a ny f a c t w h i c h d o e s n o t s u p p o r t t h e o f f i c i a lv i e w is out of tu ne w i t h t h e t r u t h of l i f e , i s t h e r e f o r e

wrong, and sh ou ld not be e x p r e s s e d . I t i s a n a tt e m p t t os u p p r e s s by t h e u s e of . j a rgon any honest and obj ec t i vea t t e m p t t o d e s c r i b e and assess history a n d life.-15-


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a nd f e a r of t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s t h a t t h e emergence t o domi-nance o f a s i n g l e man, be he S t a l i n , Khrushhhev , o r Brezhnev,g r e a t l y i n c r e a s e s t h e c h an ce s of a r b i t r a r y i n t e r f e r e n c e .N e i t h e r t h e r i g h t o f l e a d e r s h i p i n and ofi t s e l f n o r t h e p o s t o c c up i e d g i v e s g r o un d sf o r i n t e r ve n i n g i n t h e c o ur s e of l i f e ; o n lycompetence i n one or a n o t h e r s p h e r e o fk now le dge a nd p r a c t i c e e n t a i l s t h i s r i g h t .The secon d Pravd a a r t i c l e appeared on 26 February andwas w r i t t e n by Yu. Bar aba sh , who was not f u r t h e r i d e n t i f i e d .B ar ab as h s t r o n g l y d ef en de d s o c i a l i s t r e a l is m and t h e "posi -t i v e hero." He p r e s e n t e d t h e b a s i c a rgu me nt s f o r t h e t r u t h

of l i f e , s t a t i n g t h a t t h e g ood a r t i s t even i f h e d e p i c t su g l y and a l i e n phenomena does so i n t h e c o n t e x t of a n a f f i r -mat ion of what i s wonderful . Writers f a i l , h e s t a t e d , w h e nthey do no t r i s e a bo ve s u p e r f i c i a l , e m p i r ic a l o b s e rv a t i o nst o t h e g r e a t g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s . B ar ab as h e nd ed h i s a r t i c l ew i t h a s t a t e m e n t c o n c e r n i n g t h e w orl d-w id e s t r u g g l e f o rt h e minds of men, s t a t i n g t h a t t h e q u e s t i o n o f t h e g o a l sof a r t c o nc e rn s t h e p l a c e o f t h e a r t i s t i n t h e s t r u g g l e o fi d e o l o g i e s . T h i s s o m e w h a t v a g u e linking of t h e i s s u e s ofcr e a t i ve f r eedom and a l i e n ideo logy was t o become a bas i ct e n e t o f t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t s a t t a c k s , and is v e r y r e m i n i s c e n tof S t a l i n ' s a t t a c k s on i n t e l l e c t u a l s , a c cu si ng them ofi n t e r n a t i o n a l i s m a nd c os m o po l it a n is m . The p u b l i c a t i o n o ft hese two, c o n f l i c t i n g a r t i c l e s i n Pra vda s ug g es t s t h a t a tt h i s p o i n t t h e o f f i c i a l p o s i t i o n o n m r e was s t i l l be ings h a r pl y d i sp u te d , r e f l e c t i n g t h e u n s e t t l e d n a t u r e of t h ele ad er sh ip s t r u gg le . Podgornyy may have backed t h e f i r s t ,m o d e r a t e a r t i c l e ; t h e qu ic k appearance of an or thodoxa r t i c l e r e v e a l e d t h a t t h e b a c k e r s of a h a r d l i n e would no tbe d e f e a t e d e a s i l y .T h e N e o - S t a l i n i s t s P u s h ; The Moderates Counter

T h e p r e s s u r e of t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t s i n t h e l e a d e r s h i pbegan t o be r e f l e c t e d i n c u l t u r a l t r e n d s i n t h e s p r i n g of1965. On 27 A p r i l a n a r t i c l e ap pe ar ed i n L i t e r a t ur n a y aGazeta w h i c h c a l l e d for t h e r e s t o r a t i o n t o r e s p e c t a b i l i t y

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of t h e l i t e r a t u r e of t h e S t a l i n p e ri o d , a nd th e re p ud ia -t i o n o f s u b j e c t i v i s m ( i . e . , Khrushchevianism) i n t h e s t u d yof t h e h i s t o r y of S o v i e t l i t e r a t u r e . The a r t i c l e s t a t e dt h a t a l th ou g h t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t y had i n f l i c t e d l o s se son t h e d ev elo pm en t o f S o v i e t l i t e r a t u r e , i t n e v e r c u ts h o r t i t s pr og res s i ve movement. An a r t i c l e i n t h a t s a m ep a p e r two d ay s l a t e r a pp e a le d t o writers t o s ee k h i s t o r i c a lt r u t h " i n a l l i t s e n t i r e t y . "

. ......,_...-....- ........ .. _......-,.... ... . .... .. . . ...-.....F or t h i s i t m u s t be k e p t i n mind t h a t g e n ui n ep e n e t r a t io n i n t o t h e t r u t h of l i f e of t h o s ey e a r s is t h e t h o ro u g h i n v e s t i g a t i o n of manyob j ec t i ve f a c t o r s a nd n o t m er el y t h e depic-t i o n of S t a l i n ' s e r r o r s and m i s c a l cu l a t io n s .Arrests and d e m o n s t r a ti o n s a p p a r e n t l y began a t l e a s ta s e a r l y a s A p r i l. I n t h a t month t h e two young in te l lec-u a l s , A . Amalrik and A . Z v e r e v , were r e p o rt e d l y a r r e s t e d ;one was sentenced t o t w o and a h a l f y e a r s i n e x i l e f o rp a r a s it i s m - -t h e o t h e r a p p a r e n t l y was r e l e a s e d . T h e re i sa l s o a r e p o r t t h a t i n A p r i l l e a d e r s o f t h e c e n t r a l e x e c u t iv ecommittee of SMOG* p lanned a demons t r a t ion . T h i s was h e l d .

on 14 A p r i l a n d r e s u l t e d i n s e v e r a l a r r e s t s and s e v e r a lu n i v e r s i t y e x p u l s i o n s .The ha r d - l i ne v iew t ak en b y t h e Leningrad organiza-

t i o n , p a r t i c u l a r l y i t s o b l a s t ' f i r s t s e c r e t a r y , T ol s t i k ov ,w a s r e f l e c t e d i n - a 30 J u n e Le n in g ra d sk a ya P r av da a r t i c l ew h i c h r e p o r t e d t h a t a m e e ti n g of p a r t y m e m m r o m t h eLeningrad wri t e r s org an iz a t ion had acknowledged t h a t" j u s t i f i a b l e c r i t i c i sm" had been l e v e l e d a t Len in gr adwri te r s by a p lenum of t h e c i t y pa r t y commit tee.However, t h e l i b e r a l i n t e l l e c t u a l s were f a r f r o mcowed. I n J u l y t h e t h e a t r i c a l j o u r n a l T e a t r p u bl i sh e d a na r t i c l e by A . A ni ks t , c r i t i c i z i n g t h e theater of t h e S t a l i ne r a and p r a i s i n g t h e t h e a t e r of t h e e a r l y 1960's. T he

i t s name from t h e f i r s t l e t t e r s of t h e Russian words f o rword, th ough t , form, and pr of un di ty .

*A l o o s e , i l l e g a l o r g a n i z a t i o n of young d i s s i d e n t s t a k i n g

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l i b e r a l j o u r n a l Y un os t' i n J u l y t oo k a s i m i l a r l i n e onf i l m s and defend- p o r t ra y a l of d i v e r s i f i e d t y p e s ' ofhe ro es . And, on 1 A ug us t, P ra vd a p u bl i s h e d an a r t i c l eby Tv a r do v s k iy d e f e n d i n g a g a i n s t a n a t t a c k on h i s poem"Terk in i n t h e Ot he r World" made i n a 30 J u l y l e t t e r t oP r a vd a . Tv a r do v s k iy s t a t e d t h a t "a ny on e who r e a d s t h epoem wi t hou t pre j ud ic e" would see t h a t is p r es e n ts a s a t i r i -c a l p i c t u r e of t h o s e a s p e c t s of r e a l i t y- - s t a g na t i o n ,bureaucracy , fo rmal i sm- that hamper So v i e t p rogr ess .r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e l i b e r a l p o i n t of v i e w . Noviy M i r p u b l i s h e dan e d i t o r i a l w h i c h a g a i n d e n i e d t h e v a l i d m f x u n t e r -p o si ng s m a ll and l a r g e t r u t h , a r g ui n g t h a t t r u t h i s t r u t h .And on 9 S e p t e m b e r P r a v d a c a r r i e d t h e prev ious ly men t ionedl i b e r a l e d i t o r i a l by i t s c h i e f e d i t o r R um ya ntse v, i n w h i c hh e made a l i b e r a l d e f e n s e of t h e a r t s . H e s t a t e d t h a tp o s i t i v e h e r o e s a re c e r t a i n l y i m p o r ta n t bu t s h o ul d n o t b et h e o nl y c r i t e r i o n of t h e a r t i s t i c v a l u e of a work. H ea r gu e d t h a t s o c i a l i s t r e a l i s m s ho u l d n o t be o v e r s i m pl i f i e dand t h a t c r i t i c i z i n g f a u l t s is n ot a l i e n t o s o c i a l i s tr e a l i s m ; o n t h e co n t r a ry , i gn or i ng shor t comings may l eadt o n i h i l is m . He a l s o s u p po r te d t h e Noviy M i r p o s i t i o nt h a t no w r i t e r , l e t a l o n e i n one w o r n n x h a t w h i c his p o s s i b l e o nl y t o l i t e r a t u r e a s a w ho le . Rumyantsevc r i t i c i z e d t h os e who t r y t o s e t t h e i n t e l l i g e n t s i a a g a i n stp ar ty s p i r i t , s t a t i n g t h a t t h i s amounts t o a demagogica t t a c k o n c u l t u r e . H e s u p p o r t e d p a r t y g u i d an c e of t h ea r t s , b u t e x p l a i n e d why some peop le ques t ion t h i s gu idance :

In Sep tember there were seve ra l i mp or ta nt a r t i c l e s

One can see i n s u c h q u e s t i o n s t h e l e g i t i m a t ea l ar m c a u se d by r e c o l l e c t i o n s of t h e f a c t t h a tno t so l ong ago words abou t pa r t y gu idancesometimes masked c ru de r u l e by decree i n t h es p he re of a r t i s t i c l i f e , and c a t e g o ri c a l ,d i l e t a n t i s t ju dg me nt s ab ou t c e r t a i n a r t i s t sand t h e i r works.Fur thermore , Rumyantsev 's concept of p a r t y g u i d a n c e d i f f e r e dsomewhat from t h e c o n s e r v a t i v e v i e w ; h e emphasized that t h ep a r t y s h o u l d d e f e n d t h e a r t i s t ' s r i g h t t o s e l e c t h i s ownthemerand s t y l e .

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On 19 S ep te mb er P r a vd a , i n an o t h e r e d i t o r i a l ,p r e s e n t e d a c o n s e r v a t i v e v e r s i o n of Rumyantsev's a r t i c l e ,s u gg e st in g t h a t t h e d e c i s i o n t o f i r e Rumyantsev hada l r ead y been made , and ano th er a r t i c l e on t h e 24th waseven more co ns er va ti ve . Radio Moscow, h o w e v e r , c o n t i n u e dt o c a r r y R u my an ts ev 's e d i t o r i a l i n b ro a d c a s t s f o r t wo w ee ks .A c e r t a i n i n a b i l i t y t o decide j u s t what t h e o f f i c a l l i n ewas a t t h i s t i m e was d i s p l a y e d by I z v e s t i y a which p u b l i s h e dtwo co n tr a di c to r y a r t i c l e s i n a three-day per iod . On 23September F. Kuznetsov made a p l e a t h a t works be j udged byt h e i r a r t i s t i c m e r i t , n o t t h e i r i d e o l o g i c a l c o n t e n t. T h r e ed ay s l a t e r V. S h c h e r b i n a s t a t e d t h a t t he se two concep t s a r ei n s e p a r a b l e .A cc or di ng t o o ne r e p o r t , i n O c to be r t h e 7 0 t h b i r t h d a yof t h e poet Yesenin was marked and t h e poet Yevtushenkorea d an unpub l i shed poem " Le t t e r t o Yesenin" w h i c h wasc l e a r l y an a t t ac k on Komsomol c h i e f Pavlov:When a rosy-cheeked Komsomol c h i e fBangs h i s f i s t a t u s p oe tsAnd wan t s t o knead our s ou l s l i k e waxAnd w an t s t o f a s h i o n t he m i n h i s own image,H i s w or ds , Y e s e n in , d o n o t t e r r i f y u s ,Although i t is h a r d t o be happy . . .You w e r e more p a r t y - o r i e n t e d t h a n a l l t h e s c o u n d r e l sWho t r i e d t o t e a c h you t o t h i n k l i k e t h e p a r t y .I n a November Kommunist a r t i c l e a man named V . Ivanova t t a c k e d t h e " s o - c a l l e d t h e o r y o f d e h e r o i z a t i o n , " a nd re-f u t e d t h e Noviy M i r e d i t o r i a l s on " t h e t r u t h of l i f e v e r s u st h e t r u t h o f c t . " H e q u o t e d Le ni n t o t h e e f f e c t t h a tf a c t s i n t o t a l i t y a r e d e f i n i t e l y c on cl us iv e, b u t t a k e n o u tof c o n t e x t and t o t a l i t y a r e f r a g m e n t a r y a n d a r b i t r a r y .The a r r e s t s o f D a n i e l a nd S in y a vs k i y i n mid-Septemberf r i g h t e n e d t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l c om mu nity, a nd on 5 December-ad e m o n s t r a t i o n was h e l d i n Moscow t o p r o t e s t t h e s e a r r e s t s ;a number of persons were a r r e s t e d , some of whom were sub-s e q u e n t l y t r i e d . Also i n December t h e f i r s t of what wast o be a s e r i e s o f , w r i t t e n p r o t e s t s was s e n t by S i n y a v s k i y ' s

w i f e t o Brezhnev, t h e USSR Proc ur at or Genera l , and va r io us

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S o v i e t n e ws p ap e rs . I n i t s h e r e c a l l e d t h e t r i a l s of 1937and termed h e r husband ' s a r r e s t an example of l a w l e s s n e s s .Thus , t h roughou t 1965, w h i l e t h e l i b e r a l s and mod-e ra tes managed t o s c o r e o c c a s i o n a l p o i n t s , t h e c l e a r t r e ndw a s t ow ar d a n i n c r e a s i n g l y more o r t h o d o x l i n e . By t h e endof t h e year Noviy Y i r s t o o d v i r t u a l l y a l o ne i n i t s d e f e n s eof t h e l i b e r m s m o n . I n i t s November e d i t o r i a l i ta g a in q u o te d L e n in t o s u p p o r t i t s vie w t h a t i d e o l o g i c a lp e r s u a s i o n i s o n l y e f f e c t i v e when a c c e p t e d v o l u n t a r i l y ,a p le a t h a t t he re be no clamp down on t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s .

STALIN THEMESC r i t i c i s m of S t a l i n C on ti nu es

T h e u n s e t t l e d n a t u r e of t h e s t r u g g l e f o r power i nt h e So vi et Union opened t h e way f o r a push by t h e i n t e l -l e c t u a l s t o a t t a i n g r e a t e r freedom. I t a l s o p e r m i t t e d t h ec o n t i n u a t i o n of h a r s h c r i t i c i s m of S t a l i n a s a l e a d e r andc o nt in u ed r e h a b i l i t a t i o n o f t h o s e wh o s u f f e r e d and d i e d i nt h e p u r g e s .The l i b e r a l j o u r n a l Nov iy M i r published a number ofa r t i c l e s i n t h e months a f t e r K hr us hc he v' s f a l l w h i c h wereh i g h l y c r i t i c a l o f S t a l i n ' s h a n dl i ng of t h e pre-war s i tua-t i on . Ivan Mayskiy,* i n m e m o i r s p u bl is h ed i n t h a t j o u r n a li n December, a t ta c ke d S t a l i n f o r f a i l i n g t o h e e d warningsa bo ut a n i mpending a t t a c k a nd f o r f a i l i n g t o s t r en g t h e ndefenses . The w r i t e r I l y a E re nb ur g, i n a Ja nu ar y a r t i c l e ,a t ta c k ed S t a l i n ' s e x t er m i na t io n of army commanders beforet h e war. T h e s e have been t h e main c r i t i c i s m s of S t a l i n ' sp re -war l eader sh ip .

--

Voprosy I s t o r i i KPSS, t h e organ of t h e I n s t i t u t e ofMarxism-Leninism, p u b l i m a number of a n t i - S t a l i n a r t i c l e sd u r i n g t h i s pepi od; i n November it c a r r i e d s e v e r al s u c ha r t i c l e s . One d e p re c a te d S t a l i n ' s r e v o l u ti o n a r y t h e o r i e sand charged tha t h e had i n f a c t c o n s p i r e d w i t h Kamenev andZinovyev ag a i n s t Lenin i n 1917 on t h e q u e s t i o n of w h e t h e r*Mayskiy was Ambassador t o London before t h e war. I nMarch 1966 h e was t o be one o f t h e s i g n e r s of an appea l t oBrezhnev n ot t o r e h ab i 1 it a t . e S t a l i n .-20-

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t h e t i m e w a s r i p e f o r armed r e v o l u t i o n . A no th er c r i t i -c i z e d S t a l i n ' s t h e o r y of d i sp r o po r eo n a te r a t e s ofdeve lopment , c la iming t h i s h ad , i n f a c t , c a u se d a d e c l i n ei n p r o d u c t io n . *i s s u i n g c o n t r a d i c t o r y d i r e c t i v e s , f o r i n du lg i ng i n w i sh f u lp l a nn ing , a nd f o r m ak ing de c i s i o ns a lone . I n Fe b rua r yV o p r o s y I s t o r i i KPSS c a r r i e d a n a r t i c l e a t ta c ki n g t h e c u l tof p e r s o n a l i t y , m i n g h a t i t had delayed t h e moderniza t ionof So v i e t arm ed f o r c e s ; t h e a r t i c l e c harg ed t h a t t h e mostdangerous consequence of t h e c u l t was t h e d e s t r u c t i o n ont h e e v e of t he w a r of many t a l e n t e d m i l i t a r y l e a d e r s .V a r i o u s o t h e r a n t i - S t a l i n a r t i c l e s were a l s o pub-

l i s h e d i n t h e months fo l lowing t h e coup. I n DecemberKommunist carried an a r t i c l e c o n ce r ni n g t h e s i g n e r s of apeace t r e a t y wi th Germany i n 1917. Lenin favo red t h e t r e a t y ,b ut S t a l i n , a c co r d in g t o t h e a r t i c l e , v a c i l l a t e d and com-m i t t e d t h e u n p ar d o na b l e e r r o r of s i d i n g w i t h T r o t s k i y i nt h e d i s p u t e . A f t e r L en in s h a r p l y c r i t i c i z e d S t a l i n , h er e p o r t e d l y a d m i t te d h i s mis take and suppor ted Lenin .i n t h e f i r s t m on th s a f t e r K hr us hc he v' s f a l l , w i t h Pravdac a r r y i n g p a r t i c u l a r l y s t ro n gl y -w o rd e d a r t i c l e s . I n Novemberan in kl in g of th in gs t o come appea red , however . The 75 thb i r t h da y o f pu r ged U kr a in i a n l e a d e r S. Kos ior w a s markedby p ra is e f rom most pape rs . However, Pravda Ukrainy pokntedou t t h a t Kosior had e r re d i n j o i n i ng t n f t ommunists"on t h e i s s u e of s i g n i n g t h e Bres t -Li tovsk Trea ty . T h i spaper would pro ve t o be one of t h e most o utsp oken of t h en e o - S t a l i n i s t o r g an s , p ro b ab l y r e f l e c t i n g t h e p o s i t i o n o fU k r a i n i a n p a r t y l eader S h e l e s t .

Volume 7 of t h e S o v i e t H i s t o r i c a l E n c y c l o p e d i a ,which was presumably a n m i a l pub l i c a t i on , w a s s i gne dt o t h e pr es s i n March 1965, a l th ough i t di d not appear

A t h i r d a r t i c l e a tt ac ke d S t a l i n f o r

T he r e h a b i l i t a t i o n p ro gram c o nt i n u e d u n i n t e r r u p t e d

*The qu e s t i o n of d i s p r op or t i on a t e r a t e s of de ve lopm en tbetween h eav y an d l i g h t i n d u s t r y c o n t i n u es t o be e x p l o s i v e .T h e dogm a t i s t s t h in k heavy i ndu s t r y s hou ld de ve lop a t af a s t e r r a t e ; t h e l i b e r a l s a rg ue t h a t t h e gap between thetwo r a t e s s h o u l d c l o s e .

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u n t i l t h e fo l l ow in g Oct ober . The to ne on a number ofi s s u e s w a s c l e a r l y a n t i -S t a l i n , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t a s of Marcht h e o f f i c i a l l i n e on t h e S t a l i n q u e s t i o n h ad n o t b e enc ha ng ed . An a r t i c l e on c o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n by V. Dani lovp r a i s e d t h e p o l i c y i t s e l f , bu t c r i t i c i z e d S t a l i n ' s r o l e :S t a r t i n g i n t h e f a l l of 1929 t h e tendencyt ow a rd e x c e s s i v e f o r c i n g of c o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n ,which r e f l e c t e d t h e p o s i t i o n of I.V. S t a l i n ,s h a r p l y i n c r e a s e d. T h i s p o l i c y was based ona s c o r n f u l a t t i t u d e toward t h e o p i n i o n s o ft h e p e a s a n t , i g n o r i n g h i s a t t a c h m e n t t o h i si n d i v i d u a l f ar m, i g n o r i n g t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s ofEnge l s and Len in , t h e p a r t y d e c i s i o n s o n t h ei m p e r m i s s i b i l i t y a n d h a r m f u l n e s s o f h a s t e an df o r c e i n c o o p e r a t i z in g s m a l l f arm s . . . .The t h e o r e t i c a l j u s t i f i c a t i o n of t h e f o r c i n g o fc o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n was S t a l i n ' s a r t i c l e p u b l i s h e don 7 November 1929 i n P ravda e n t i t l e d 'The Yearof t h e G r e a t B r e a k t h r o r w h i c h asser tedt h a t t h e bas ic masses of t h e p e a s a n t r y hada l r e a d y j o i n e d t h e k o l k h o z e s a n d t h a t ' t h ed e c i d i n g v i c t o r y ' had a l r e a d y be en a t t a i n e d .

D an il ov s t a t e d t h a t i n e a r l y 1930 d i r e c t i v e s were i s s u e df o r a r e t r e a t , b u t t t h a t S t a l i n ' s a r t i c l e "Dizzy W ith S u c c e s s 9 "i n blaming l o c a l o f f i c i a l s f o r t h e c h a o s , had caused evengrea te r m i s t akes .

T h e volu me a l s o us e d v e r y s t r o n g l a n g ua g e i n d i s -c u ss i ng S t a l i n ' s cr imes :S t a l i n b eg an t o m is u se power a n d c r u d e l y v i o l a t et h e P a r t y S t a t u t e an d S o v i e t la ws . . . . Thec u l t of p e r s o n a l i t y e n ge n de r ed careerism ands e r v i l i t y , s u s p i c i o n and d i s t r u s t , and i n t h ef i e l d of theory i t engendered dogmatism anda l i e n a t i o n of t h e o r y from p r a c t i c e . Havinge s t a b l i s h e d h i s own per so na l c on t r o l over o rgansof t h e NKVD, S t a l i n d e a l t s um ma ri ly w i t h o f f i -c i a l s whom h e d i d n o t l i k e . In 1937 . . .S t a l i n a dv an ce d t h e h a r m f u l and t h e o r e t i c a l l ym i s t a k e n t h e s i s t h a t a s soc ia l i sm becomes

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s t r o n g e r a n d t h e S o v i e t s t a t e moves fur therahead , the c l a s s s t r u g g l e i n t h e c o u nt ry w i l lbecome sharper a nd s h a r p e r . Th i s t h e s i ss e r ve d a s j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r mass i l l e g a lr e p r e s s i o n s a g a i n s t p ro mi ne nt leaders of thep a r t y and s t a t e , members a n d c a n d i d a t e mem-b e r s of t h e c e n t r a l committee, impor tan tm i l i t a r y leaders , and many o t h e r peo ple whowere g u i l t y of n o t h i n g . . . . The r ep res -s i o n s b e g a n a t f i r s t a g a i n s t i d e o l o g i c a lopponents , t h e m a j o r i t y of whi ch werer e p r e s e n t e d as a g e n t s o f i m p e r i a l i s m a ndf o r e i g n i n t e l l i g e n c e , a nd t he n t h e verysame f a l s e a c cu s at i on s were made a g a i n s tother Communists who had n e v er t a k e n p a r ti n a ny o p p o s i t i o n . . . .The l anguage used i n t h i s a r t i c l e is v e r y r emin i scen t o fKhrushchev's s e c r e t speech d e n u n c i a t i o n o f S t a l i n . A ss t a t e d above, t h e f a c t t h a t t h i s w a s s i g n e d t o t h e p r e s si n March i n d i c a t e d t h a t no d e c i s i o n t o t o t a l l y r e s t o r eS t a l i n t o a p o s i t i o n of r e s p e c t a b i l i t y h a d y e t been made.D r iv e t o R e s t o r e S t a l i n ' s Image B eg in s

Meanwhile, t h e n e o - S t a l i n i s t d r i v e f o r power w h i c hbegan i n February 1965 was q u ic k ly r e f l e c t e d i n a r t i c l e sr e l a t in g t o t h e S t a l i n i s s u e . A s h a r p r e d u ct i o n i nr e h a b i l i t a t i o n s of S t a l i n ' s v i c t i m s began i n February andt h e f i r s t i n d i c a t i o n s of a n o r g a ni z e d e f f o r t t o r e s t o r eS t a l i n t o r e s p e c t a b i l i t y a pp ea re d a bo ut t h e same t i m e ;t h i s f i r s t c o nc e rt ed e f f o r t w a s c o n c e n t r a t e d on S t a l i n ' swartime image.S o v i et m i l i t a r y f i g u r e s h av e g e n e r a l l y be en i n t h ef o r e f r o n t o f t h e s h i f t i n g l i n e s on t h e S t a l i n i s s u e , b u talways pushing t h e same p o i n t . T h e i r main i n t e r e s t i si n c r ea s e d c o n t r o l of m i l i t a r y matters by t h e m i l i t a r y .When t h e p a r ty l i n e w a s a n t i - S t a l i n i s t , t h e m i l i t a r y a r g u e d

t h a t S t a l i n had b ee n a n i n c o mp e te n t w a r t i m e l eader becauseh e had f a i l e d t o l i s t e n t o t h e p r o f e s s . i o n a l s . Now, w i t h

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... ... . ._-. .....-_ ...., .. _...., .. ... . .... .. ,.... ,.....-. _ .

t h e s t a r t of r e - S ta l in i x i n g, m i l i t a r y f i g u r e s were t oa rg u e t h a t S t a l i n had been a n e f f e c t i v e wartime l e a d e rp r e c i s e l y b e c a u s e h e had l i s t e n e d t o h i s m i l i t a r y a d v i -s o r s . A F eb ru ar y a r t i c l e i n Krasnaya Zvezda by MarshalBagramyan c r e d i t e d S t a l i n w i t h p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n s u c c e s s f u lm i l i t a r y p l a nn in g -- af te r h e had l i s t e n e d t o m i l i t a r y a d v ic eI n A p r i l 1 96 5, a c c o r d in g t o a Reute rs r e p o r t , S o v i e th i s t o r i a n s were o rd er ed t o s t o p p i c t u r i n g S t a l i n o n ly a s a"mud dle -he aded m i l i t a r y f a %l u r e " d m i n g t h e war. I n t h ef u t u r e , it s a i d , h i s t o r y books would show him ne i t h e r a s am i l i t a r y g e n iu s n or as a comple te imbec i l e i n m a t t e r s o f

s t r a t e g y . T h i s o r de r w a s r e f l e c t e d i n a r e po r t e d i n t er v ie wof s ev e r a l S o v i et h i s t o r i a n s w i t h j o u r n a l i s t s i n A p r i l .T he s po ke sm an f o r t h e g r ou p s t a t e d t h a t S t a l i n had made am i s ta k e i n t h i n k i n g t h a t H i t l e r w ou ld n o t a t t a c k a n d i n n o tta ki ng more pr ec au t io ns . However, h e warned t h a t S t a l i n ' sm e r i t s s h o u l d n o t b e i g n o r e d an d q u o te d S t a l i n h i m se l f t op rove t h a t he had con su l t ed o th e r s and had admi t t ed h i sown mistakes .A r t i c l e s commemorating t h e 2 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o fv i c t o r y o v e r t h e Germans i n World War I1 began appear ing i nA p r i l ; these ref lectedr t h e new "balanced " approach t oS t a l i n and t h e war. A f i r s t s t e p was s im pl y t o i d e n t i f yS t a l i n i n h i s w a t ti m e p o s i t i o n s w i t h o u t f u r t h e r comment,

a t echn ique u s e d by Brezhnev i n h i s 8 May speech. Asecond approach w a s t o i gn or e t h e d e pl o ra b le s t a t e of Sovietd e fe n s es a t t h e s t a r t o f t h e w ar , d i s m i s s i n g a l l d is c u s s i o r.of m i s c a l c u l a t i o n s , p u r g e s , and d e f e a t s a s s u b j e c t i v e ando ne -s id ed . S t i l l a t h i r d method was t o b l a t a n t l y l i e abour,t h e s t a t e of S o v i et d e fe n se s on t h e e v e of the war. Forexample, a 30 A p r i l P ra v da a r t i c l e de fe nd ed m i l i t a r y -i n d u s t r i a l p repa rati-r t h e war. The a u t h o r , V a s i l i yRyabikov, th en F i r s t Deputy Chairman of USSR Sovnarkhoza nd l a t e r F i r s t D e pu ty Ch ai rm an o f U S S R Gosplan, had as p e c i a l a xe t o g r i n d a s h e had become Deputy PeoplesCommissar f o r Armaments i n 1939; however, t h e p u b l i c a t i o nof t h e a r t i c l e i n P ra vd a i n d i c a t e d t h a t h i s argument hadh i g h - l e v e l s u p p o r t T t h i s a r t i c l e Ryabikov da t e d t h ed r i v e t o p re p a re f o r t h e war from 1939, and claimed t h a tt h e

p o we rf u l i n d u s t r y e s t a b l i s h e d i n t h e S o v i e tUnion before t h e war e n s u r e d t h e S o v i e t a r m y ' su n i n t e r r u p t e d s u p p l y of e v e r y t h i n g n e c e s s a r yf o r t h e r o u t o f t h e enemy.-24-I I


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. . , ... . .... . . . ~. .. . _ .. . a. ...., . .._ ._..._. . .. _..._......... .

The ve h ic le used most wide ly t o convey a f a vora b lep o r t r a i t o f S t a l i n was t h e memoirs of mi l i t a ry f i gu re swho s imply repor ted t h e i r w a r t i m e c o n t a c t s w i t h S t a l i n ,p r e s e n t i n g him as a r e as o na b le , i f f a l l i b l e , l e a d e r .Marshal Konev, a former F i r s t Deputy Mi nis te r of Defense ,performed t h i s f u n c t i o n i n a se r ies of in t e rv ie ws anda r t i c l e s . p u b l i s h e d d u r i n g t h e s p r i n g of 1965. In onea r t i c l e Konev descr ibed h i s s u c c e ss i n p er su a di ng S t a l i nt o c h an ge h i s mind on a m i l i t a r y p l a n , a nd i n a n o t h e r hec red i t ed him w i th p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n t h e fo rming of p l an s t oc a p t u r e B e r l i n . I n his memoirs i n Noviy M i r i n May, h es t a t e d t h a t S t a l i n w a s a w i s e l e a d e z was " p a r t i c u l a r l ya l e r t t o t h e p o l i t i c a l a n d ec on om ic o v e rt o n e s of h i sm i l i t a r y dec is io ns . " And i n a p r e s s c o n fe r en c e a t t h eU S S R M i n i s t r y of F o r e i g n A f f a i r s on 28 April, Konev ex-p r e s s e d t h e new "ba lanced" fo rmula t ion of S t a l in ' sw a r t i m e r o l e :

S t a l i n p l ay ed a c e r t a i n p o s i t iv e r o l e i n t h ec a u s e o f i n s u r i n g v i c t o r y osier t h e enemy, buti n t h e f i r s t p e r i o d o f t h e war and before i t sbeg inn ing , t h e r e w e r e m i s c a l c u l a t i o n s a n ds ho rt co mi ng s i n S t a l i n ' s a c t . i v i t i e s a nd thesehave a l r ea dy been ment ioned.A s i m i l a r a p pr o ac h was t a k e n by Marshal Bagramyani n a 1 7 A p r i l a r t i c i e i n L i t e r a t u r n a y a G az et a, a s -w e ll a sby Marshal Sok olo vsk iy i n a May in te rv ie w w i t h a L'Unitac o r r e s p o n d e n t .m i l i t a r y f i g u r e s on t h e e v e of t h e war and s t a t e d t h a tt h e r e had be en s t r a t e g i c m i s c a l c u l a t i o n s b e f o r e t h e war.However, h e s t a t e d t h a t measures had been ta ken t o prep aret h e coun t ry . Soko lovsk iy wen t f u r t h e r t h a n t h i s , s t a t i n gt h a t t h e "main" r e a s o n f o r e a r l y d e f e a t s was t h a t t h eyoung Soviet s t a t e had not had t i m e t o b u i l d t h e necessa rym i l i t a r y - t e c h ni c a l b a se , and t h a t f o r t h i s r e a s o n S t a l i nhad t r i e d t o d e l a y . t h e w ar .

Bagramyan d i d c r i t i c i z e t h e p u r g e of

On 8 an d 9 May v a r i o u s c e l e b r a t i o n s were h e l d i nhonor of t h e 2 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y o f t h e vi c t or y i n World War11, and numerous speeches were g i v e n . The most importantof t h e s e was one by Brezhnev, i n which h e i d e n t i f i e d '

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S t a l i n i n h i s w a r t i m e r o l e ; h e a l s o g l o s s e d o v er t h ee r r o r s made i n t h e e a r l y s t a g e s of t h e w a r :I t is w e l l known t h a t t h e f i r s t s t ag e of t h ewar t oo k p l a c e i n c o n di t i o n s t h a t were unfav-o r a b l e t o u s , a nd a d va n ta g eo u s t o t h e enemy.On t h e s i d e of t h e f a s c i s t s who c om mit te d t h i si n s i d i o u s a nd t r e a c h e r o u s a t t a c k was t h e f a c t o rof s u r p r i s e . . . .

H e t h u s i g n o r e d t h e numerous warning s of impen'ding at t a c k ,and made no r e f e r e n c e t o f a i l u r e t o p re p a re d ef en se s.T he s t a - r t o f t e - S t a l i n i z i n g was ref lected i n v a r i o usa r t i c l e s on o t h e r S t a l i n - r e l a t e d i s s u e s , a lt ho ug h there wasn o t t h e same un i fo rmi ty a s i n t h e a r t i c l e s r e l a t i n g t oh i s wartime r o l e . An A p r i l a r t i c l e i n a Turkmen j o u r n a ld i s c u s s e d t h e r i s e of t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t y and t h e 20 thc o n gr e s s i n a "balanced" manner . T he a r t i c l e s t a t e d t h a tt h e c u l t had been t h e r e s u l t of e x c e p t i on a l c o n d i t io n s ,and t h a t v a r i o u s f a c t o r s , i n c l u d in g i m p e r i a l i s t e n c i r c l e -ment, had demanded s t r i c t c e n t r a l i z e d l e a d e r s h i p andc e r t a i n l i m i t a t i o n s on d em oc ra cy . The a r t i c l e went on t os t a t e t h a t S t a l i n ' s p e s so n a l sh or tc om in gs h ad, however,caused t h e c u l t o f p e r s o n a l i t y t o emerge. While t h e a r t i c l es t a t e d t h a t t h e 2 0 t h c o n g r e s s h a d c r i t i c i z e d t h e c u l t , i temphasized that t h e J u n e 1 95 6 c e n t r a l c om m it te e decree on

t h e c u l t had a n a l y z e d t h e c u l t p r o f o u n d l y an d had r e b u f f e da tt e mp ts t o u s e c r i t i c i s m of t h e c u l t t o u nd erm in e t h es o c i a l i s t sy s t em . The c a l l t o u se t h e June 1956 decreea s a g u i d e l i n e f o r s t a t e m e n t s on t h e S t a l i n i s s u e wouldbe made w i t h i n c r e a s i n g f r eq u en c y i n t h e months ahead.T h i s decree had marked a s h a r p m o d i f i c a t i o n o f K h ru s hc h ev ' sFebruary 1956 d e n u n c i a t i o n of S t a l h n . The decree hadp r ai s ed S t a l i n a s a M a r x i s t -L e n i n i s t and l e a d e r , b u t s a i dt h a t he had had c e r t a i n n e g a t i v e c h a r a c t e r t r a i t s whichh a d l e n t t h e m s e l v e s t o t h e development of t h e c u l t . Thedecree 's s h a r p e s t c r i t i c i s m was res erv ed f o r enemies whot r i e d t o u s e t h e i s s u e t o sow confus ion and undermines o c i a l i s m . T h u s , t h e a t te m p ts t o r e s t o r e t h i s decree a st h e b a s i c g u i d e l i n e on t h e S t a l i n i s s u e was a c l e a r s t e pt o w a r d r e - S t a l i n i z i n g .


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. . . I . . _^......._ ..._.. . _....... _ ..- . ._ .. . ...._. ... . . .I - . .. .. .. .. ... .,... .

During t h e summer an d e a r l y f a l l of 1965 therewere a number of i n s t a n c e s i n whi ch S t a l i n was mentionedwithout comment. A J u l y Voprosy I s t o r i i KPSS a r t i c l ei nc lu de d S t a l i n i n a l i s t of Per son s who had Dla Yed ani m p o r t a n t r o l e i n t h e s t r u g g l ; a g a i n s t t h e T r b t s k i y i t e s .The f i l m The Aurora S al vo which was released i n O c to be r1965 c o n t m e - s w o f S tal i n--s mo ki ng a p i p e andv o t i n g i n f a v o r of L e n i n ' s c a l l f o r armed ac t i on . On 12September Pravda c a r r i e d a n excerpt from a book on t h eB r e s t - L i t o m e a t y , i n w h i c h S t a l i n is s imply inc ludedi n a l i s t of tho se who vo ted "c o r r e c t ly " ( i . e . , f o r t h et r e a t y . )Whereas Volume 7 of t h e S o v i e t H i s t o r i c a l E nc yc lo -p e d i a, s i g n e d t o t h e p r e s s i n M-935 had d e a l t h a r s h l yw i t h S t a l i n on t h e s u b j e c t of t h e r ep ress ions , vo lume 8 ,s i g n e d t o t h e p r e s s i n O c to be r 1 9 65 , r e p r e s e n t e d a more"balanced" approach, s i m i l a r t o t h e l i n e of t h e June 1956decree. This volume emphasized t h a t i r o n d i s c i p l i n e a ndsome r es t r i c t ions on democracy had been necessa ry undert h e c o m p l e x c o n d i t i o n s o f t k h e t i m e s , b u t t h a t these hadalways been co ns id ere d temporary . The a r t i c l e p ra i s edS t a l i n f o r f i g h t i n g d e v i a t io n , o rg an iz in g t h e b u i l d i n g ofs o c i a l i s m , a nd p r o t e c t i n g L e n i n ' s a t t i t u d e s on t h e p o s s i -b i l i t y of b u i l d i n g s o c i a l i s m i n one c ou n t r y . I t t h e n w e n ton t o c r i t i c i z e t h e c u l t and t h e u s e of a d m i n i s t r a t i v e

methods. The a r t i c l e c l o s e d by s t a t i n g t h a t t h e p a r t yh a d l i q u i d a t e d t h e v i o l a t i o n s of s o c i a l i s t l e g a l i ty .A n t i - S t a l i n i s t s C on ti nu e t o R e s i s t

During t h i s p er io d a r t i c l e s a t ta c ki n g S t a l i n i s tp o s i t i o n s c o n t in u e d t o a pp e a r , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t t h o s e whow i s h e d t o pr ev en t a r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of S t a l i n had no t beens u b d u e d . On 15 April Kommunist Ukrainy p u b l i s h e d a n a r t i -c l e on t h e c o n t r i b u t i o n s of t h e U k r a i n ia n s t o t h e d e f e a tof t h e Germans, and included Khrushchev i n a l i s t of thosewho had h e l d r e s p o n s i b l e p o s t s . T h e modera te pos i t iont a k e n by t h i s p a p er s u g g e s t s t h a t i t was under t h e i n f l u -ence of Podgornyy , r a t h e r tha n t h e more orthodox S h e l e s t .T h e j o u r n a l Voprosy I s t o r i i KPSS, w h i l e a c c ed i ng t o t h e

. .

. ~~. .

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T

apparen t d i r e c t i v e t o i d e n t i f y S t a l i n i n h i s wartimep o s i t i o n s , a l s o blamed e a r l y m i l i t a r y r e v e r s e s on v a r i o u sf a c t o r s , t r a c i n g many of t h e s e t o v i o l a t i o n s of c o l l e c t i v i t yunder S t a l i n ' s c u l t of p e r s o n a l i t y .From February through A p r i l 1965, the j o u r n a l Noviy

M i r p u b l i s h e d t h e memoirs of S o v i e t w r i t e r I l ' y a E r e n EE n b u r g was h i g h l y c r i t i c a l of S t a l i n and t h e c u l t ; hea t ta c ke d S t a l i n a s a m i l i t a r y l e ad e r .

. . . . .. _.. . ... " .. . . ... .. ....._. ..,...... . . .:.a::::;:.. .. :. '1. . . .. .. .. . . L i t v i n o v and H a y s k i y t o l d m e t h a t t h epac t w i t h H i t l e r had been necessa ry - -S ta l inhad s u cc e ed e d t h e r e b y f r u s t r a t i n g t h e, p l a n s o f t h e W e st er n a k l i e s . . . B u t S t a l i nd i d n o t u s e t h e t wo -y ea r r e s p i t e t o s t r e n g t h e ndefen ses - -mi l i t a ry men and d ip lomat s a l i k ehave t o l d m e t h i s . I have w r i t t e n t h a t S t a l i nwas e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y s u s p i c i o u s and saw i n h i sc l o s e s t c o l l a b o r a t o r s p o t e n t i a l "enemies oft h e p e o pl e , " b u t f o r some r e a s o n h e t r n s t e dR i b b e n t ro p ' s s i g n a t u r e . The H i t l e r i t e s 'a t t a c k c a u gh t u s by s u r p r i s e . A t f i r s t S t a l i nl o s t h i s ' h e a d .

caesar 44 - annex: the stalin issue and the soviet leadership struggle

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