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What can cultural High Stalinism otherwise be known as?
Zhdanovshchina
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Who was responsible for the Zhdanovshchina?
Zhdanov - he launched a cultural purge in 1946.
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What was the reasoning for the Zhdanovshchina?
Due to fears of the increased Westernisation of the war years, and so the movement stresses conformity to socialist ideals and promoted the cult of Stalin. Everything Western was condemned as bourgeois and Russian, superior and uplifting.
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How did the Zhdanovshchina start?
Through the purges of two literary journeys. This was 'The Adventures of a Monkey' as the monkey was anti-Soviet, and a poem by Ahkmotova, which was 'poisonous'.
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Which newspaper was purged for publishing a photograph of Akhmatova in the pervious year?
The Literary Gazette.
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What happened to purged writers?
They were removed from the Union of Soviet Writers. This made it very difficult for them to persuade others to publish anti-Soviet work. They often had to resort to publishing work praisng Stalin to earn money.
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Who was accused of 'rootless cosmopolitan'?
Shostakovich
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Why was literary scholarship condemned?
For suggesting that Russian literature had been influenced by Western thinking. The novels conveying the treachery of the West, denigrated American commercialism and extolled Russia achievements were favoured.
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What type of writing flourished?
Anti-Semitic - the last Jewish newspapers were closed down. Nazi atrocities were portrayed without mentioning Jews.
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What was dismissed in terms of education?
Scholarship that did not conform to Marxist theory.
10 of 50
Who supported Lysenko's environmentalist theories? When was this?
Zhadnov, in 1948, after they had been condemned by biologists before the war.
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Which subjects were governed by Marxist theories?
Maths, Physics and Chemistry.
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What did Stalin publish in 1952?
His own economic theory. No one dared challenge this view.
13 of 50
Give examples of how Western influence was completing blocked?
Non-communist foreign papers were unobtainable, few citizens could leave to the West, only pro-covet writers and artists were allowed in and foreign radio transmissions were jammed.
14 of 50
What was the issue for the people by reading the few 'approved' foreign books?
Even though they had been translated into Russian, they were commonly abridged.
15 of 50
Why did Stalin revive the use of Terror?
Due to a concern for national security at a time of emerging Cold War, nd also because of an obsessive fear of ideological contamination.
16 of 50
Which government office was responsible for ensuring everyone followed Soviet law?
Procuracy
17 of 50
What took place in February 1947?
A law was passed outlawing hotels and marriages to foreigners.
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Why were restaurants and embassies watched by police?
To watch for Soviet girls meeting foreign men.
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Who was at the head of the security?
Beria
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What roles did Beria have after WW2?
He was deputy Prime Minister and a full member of the Politburo, as well as being at the head of the security. He was responsible for vast expansions of gulags and his dreariness cast a long shadow over the USSR.
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What happened to the NKVD after WW2?
It was strengthened and reorganised under 2 separate ministries.
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What was the NKVD split into?
The MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) controlled by domestic security and gulags, and the MGB (Ministry of State Security), which took charge of espionage and counter-intelligence.
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Who was the forerunner to the KGB?
The MGB.
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How many wartime survivors were sent to labour camps?
12 million - they suffered appalling conditions.
25 of 50
How vast was Terror after WW2?
It was not as great as before WW2, though many were arrested and convicted of 'counter-revolutionary' activity.
26 of 50
Give two examples which showed Stalin's paranoia over ideological contamination.
He purged his former army officers, and even the relatives of those who had spent time outside the USSR were considered suspect.
27 of 50
What was needed in the USSR to ensure loyalty remained?
Vigilance - a carless word or beef contact with a finger could land a person in a gulag and the Party, police, procuracy and friends were all possible instruments whereby people may be condemned.
28 of 50
How did Stalin deal with those who had fallen out of his favour, especially the Bolsheviks?
He removed them from history. Their very existence was written out of history books and Stalin manipulated the science of photography by using airbrushing techniques.
29 of 50
Give an example of a book that was subject to airbrushing.
The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia.
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When was the Leningrad Case?
1949
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What was the Leningrad Case?
Stalin decided to take a stand against the 'Leningrad Party', which always showed independence in views. Some members had been promoted to senior positions in Moscow under Zhdanov. On the basis of false evidence, several officials were arrested.
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What happened to the senior officials who were arrested in the Leningrad Case?
After Stalin's death it was found that 4 of them had been executed.
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Give examples of the senior officials who were arrested in the Leningrad Case.
The Head of Gosplan and Voznesensky, an economic reformer who had held a position in the Politburo.
34 of 50
How did Stalin's opinion over Jews change initially after the war?
Though Stalin had initially favoured the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine at the end of the war, when Israel turned to be pro-USA, he reverted to his former anti-Semitic stance, fearing all Jews in the USSR were potential enemies.
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With relation to Jews, what took place in 1948?
The Israeli amabassodr arrived in the USSR, Meir. She was enthusiastically cheered on by Soviet Jews, making Stalin increasingly fearful. Also, the director of the Jewish theatre in Moscow was killed in a car accident (almost certainly by the MVD).
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With relation to Jews, what took place in 1949?
The Jewish wives of Politburo members Molotov and Kalinin were arrested, and a new campaign against anti-patriotic groups was laced the same year, mainly affecting cultural areas and the universities.
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What was the Mingrelian Case also be known as?
The Georgian purge.
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When was the Georgian purge?
1951 to 1952.
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What was the Georgian purge?
In 1951 a purge was launched in Georgia by Beria, head of the NKVD. They were caused of collaboration with the West. Beria was Georgia himself, and many aspects of the purge remain unclear and it was still in progress whilst Stalin died.
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What was a potential aim of the Georgian purge?
It was aimed at weakening the authority of Beria, though it did have aspects of anti-Semitism.
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When was the Doctors' Plot?
1943
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What was the initial trigger for the Doctors' Plot?
A new conspiracy was discovered when Lydia Timashuk wrote to Stalin 2 days before Zhadnov's death in 1948, accusing 9 highly-placed doctors of misdiagnose and mis-conduct.
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Who was Lydia Timashuk?
A female doctor in the Kremlin hospital and a part-time MGB informer.
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When took place in 1952 with regards to the Doctors' Plot?
Stalin reopened the file and ordered the arrest of the doctors, accusing them of a Zionist conspiracy to murder Zhadnov other members of the Soviet leadership. Stalin claimed Jews from the USA had been infiltrated into the Red Army and MGB.
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What did Stalin threaten his Minister of State Security, Ignatiev, with?
Execution if he did not obtain confessions. This lead to many innocent doctors being rounded up and tortured.
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How were Jews affected during the purges in the Doctors' Plot?
Jews were rounded up and deported from the cities to remote areas of the USSR where a new network of Labour camps were quickly established. Anti-Jewish hysteria also increased by the press and people were afraid of being treated by Jewish doctors.
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What happened to the 9 doctors?
They were sentenced to execution but before this could take place Stalin died. After Stalin's death, the case was reexamined and the doctors were related, though 2 had already died out of torture.
48 of 50
What happened to Timashuk and the MVD after innocence was found?
Timashuk had to hand back her 'Order of Lenin' she had been awarded for her vigilance, and members of the MVD were executed for falsifying evidence.
49 of 50
Who was relieved at the news of Stalin's dearth?
Some of the top members - Beria, Molotov and Kaganovich.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Who was responsible for the Zhdanovshchina?

Back

Zhdanov - he launched a cultural purge in 1946.

Card 3

Front

What was the reasoning for the Zhdanovshchina?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

How did the Zhdanovshchina start?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Which newspaper was purged for publishing a photograph of Akhmatova in the pervious year?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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