In the spring of 1953, changes were made in the leadership of the CPSU and Soviet government... The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the party was headed by N.S. Khrushchev is a well-known party leader who for many years led the country's largest party organizations. The country's leadership has proclaimed a course towards democratization of the life of society.
One of the central places in the activities of the new leadership is occupied with work to free society from the most ugly forms of the administrative command system, in particular, to overcome the personality cult of I.V. Stalin. The main role in it was played by N.S. Khrushchev, elected in September 1953 to the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The press began criticizing the personality cult of I.V. Stalin. The reorganization of the structure and the renewal of personnel in the internal affairs and state security agencies were carried out. Work was carried out to rehabilitate innocent victims of repression. By the beginning of 1956, about 16 thousand people were rehabilitated.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU (February 1956) was of great importance in the beginning of the liberalization of social and political life. At a closed session of the congress, N.S. Khrushchev with a report "On the personality cult and its consequences". The report contained P.N. Pospelova information about mass executions innocent people and about the deportation of peoples in the 30-40s. The reasons for the mass repressions were associated with the personality cult of I.V. Stalin, with negative traits of his character, with deviations from the Marxist-Leninist understanding of the role of the individual in history.
Conducted by N.S. Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization, numerous restructuring in the political and economic spheres caused growing dissatisfaction on the part of the party-state apparatus. According to many leaders of the country, the exposure of the cult of I.V. Stalin led to a fall in the authority of the USSR and the Communist Party in the international arena. In 1957, a group of party leaders, headed by G.M. Malenkov, V.M. Molotov and L.M. Kaganovich, tried to displace N.S. Khrushchev from the post of first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. They accused Khrushchev of violating the principles of "collective leadership" and the establishment of their cult, of arbitrary and thoughtless foreign policy actions, of economic voluntarism. However, the open resistance of some party and state leaders to the reform policy ended in failure. A significant part of the party and Soviet leaders at that moment supported N.S. Khru-shcheva.
In the second half of 1953, fundamental transformations began in the country's economy. Their nature and direction indicated a certain change in the economic course. The changes concerned primarily agricultural production, its accelerated growth in order to provide the population with food and light industry - raw materials. Improving the welfare of the people was declared one of the central tasks of the new leadership. To resolve it, the development of a new agrarian policy began. The central place in it was occupied by: an increase in state purchase prices for agricultural products, an increase in funding for agricultural sectors, and an improvement in tax policy. The system of planning agricultural production was changing. From now on, the state determined only the volume of preparations for the products subject to delivery. The financing of agricultural sectors increased. In 1956, the amount of funds allocated to the agricultural sector amounted to 18% of the total volume of capital investments (in 1955 - only 7%). The prices for agricultural products handed over to the state have increased several times. Taxes on personal subsidiary farms of peasants were reduced and a new taxation system was introduced (per unit of land area). The settlements of farms with MTS were streamlined: fixed rates were set for payment for services depending on the actual harvest. Steps were taken to improve the technical equipment of collective and state farms. The supply of tractors and agricultural machines to the countryside has increased.
Since 1954, the development of virgin and fallow lands began. To raise virgin lands to the eastern regions of the country - on Southern Urals, in Siberia, Kazakhstan - more than 350 thousand immigrants arrived (workers, peasants, specialists).
In 1958, the MTS was reorganized. The collective farms received the right to buy equipment from MTS. On the basis of MTS, repair and technical stations were created. They were engaged in the repair of agricultural machinery, the sale of agricultural machinery and fuel. The expediency of this measure was neutralized by haste in its implementation and unreasonably high prices for outdated equipment.
The whole set of economic measures made it possible to achieve certain successes in the development of agricultural production. In 1953-1958 the increase in agricultural production was 34% in comparison with the previous five years. During the same period, 42 million hectares of virgin and fallow lands were developed. But there was no radical improvement in the development of agriculture. The reorganization of MTS, the buyout of machinery from MTS by agricultural enterprises on onerous terms undermined the economy of many farms.
The inconsistency of the agrarian policy manifested itself in other transformations affecting the agricultural sector. A new stage began in the consolidation of collective farms and the resettlement of unpromising villages. Mass transformations of collective farms into state agricultural enterprises (state farms) were carried out. Forceful methods of managing the branches of the agrosphere were in effect. At the end of the 50s, a line began to be pursued to curtail personal subsidiary plots, to reduce the livestock owned by peasants. Voluntaristic methods of agricultural management have intensified. After the visit of N.S. Khrushchev in the USA (1959), all farms - according to his insistence - were recommended to proceed to sowing corn.
The result of ill-considered measures was the aggravation of the food problem. In connection with the reduction of state reserves of grain, the USSR began to regularly buy it abroad.
The reorientation of the economy towards the development of the agro-sphere and light industry was short-lived. The country's leadership lacked a detailed concept of economic reforms. At the beginning of 1955, the principle of priority development of the production of means of production was restored. At the turn of the 1950s-1960s, almost 3/4 of the total industrial output fell to the share of the "A" group. Mechanical engineering and instrument-making developed at high levels. The mechanization of production processes in industry continued. Capital construction has acquired a wide scale.
In 1957, a law was passed on the restructuring of the management of industry and construction. In accordance with it, the previous sectoral system of leadership, carried out through ministries and departments, was canceled. Basic organizational form management steel Councils of national economy - economic councils. 105 economic regions were created in the country on the basis of the existing administrative division.
All industrial enterprises and construction sites located on their territory were transferred to the jurisdiction of local economic councils. Most of the line ministries were abolished. It was assumed that the transition to a territorial management system would remove barriers to industrial development, strengthen economic ties within regions and republics. But that did not happen. Administrative methods of management were retained. Moreover, a unified technical and technological policy within industrial sectors was violated.
In 1964, the policy of reforms carried out by N.S. Khrushchev. The transformations of this period were the first and most significant attempt to reform Soviet society... The desire of the country's leadership to overcome the Stalinist legacy, to update the political and social structures was only partially successful. The transformations initiated by the top did not bring the expected effect. The worsening economic situation sparked dissatisfaction with the reform policy and its initiator -
N.S. Khrushchev. In October 1964, N.S. Khrushchev was relieved of all his posts and dismissed.
Solution economic problems remained the most important task for Soviet society. In the organization of economic development of this period, two periods are clearly distinguished, which seriously differed among themselves in methods, goals and final results.
1953-1957 Economic course of G.M. Malenkova After Stalin's death the new economic course of the USSR was associated with the name of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR G.M. Malenkova(1953-1955). It consisted in a social reorientation of the economy, which meant shifting the center of gravity to the development of light and food industries, as well as agriculture.
An attempt was made to solve the food problem and bring agriculture out of the crisis by increasing yields (i.e. intensifying production) and using the factor of personal interest of the collective farmer. For this, it was planned: a decrease in taxes on personal subsidiary plots, an increase in procurement prices for agricultural products, a write-off of agricultural tax arrears to collective farms (1.5 billion poods of grain), an increase personal plots... This was one of the options for the new agrarian course.
Agriculture Transformation Program carried out N.S. Khrushchev, was somewhat different from the strategic plan of G.M. Malenkov. In addition to these measures, Khrushchev intended to ensure the rise of agriculture by rapidly expanding cultivated areas through the development of virgin lands (an extensive path of agricultural development). He also paid special attention to the processes of agricultural mechanization, for which it was planned in the future to turn collective farms into large industrial farms.
In 1954, the development of virgin lands began in the Volga region, Siberia and Kazakhstan. With the participation of 300 thousand volunteers, mainly young people, 42 million hectares of new land were developed.
Purchase prices for agricultural products were doubled, collective farms' debts on agricultural taxes of previous years (1.5 billion poods of grain) were written off, and expenditures on social development of the countryside were increased several times. Taxes on personal subsidiary farming were abolished, which was allowed to be increased fivefold. In 1958, the obligatory deliveries of agricultural products from the backyard economy were canceled, and taxes on it were reduced.
On the initiative of N.S. Khrushchev, the planning criteria in agriculture were changed, the collective farms received the right to amend their charters.
For 1953-1958 the increase in agricultural production was 34% compared with the previous five years. In order to solve the food problem, the area under corn was increased: from 1955 to 1962. from 18 to 37 million ha.
Administrative and economic reform. In 1957 N.S. Khrushchev tried to decentralize the management of industry, create a new organizational and economic structure based on the management of industry not according to the branch (through the ministries), but according to the territorial principle.
In order to limit the possibilities of interference of local party apparatus in economic activity were created economic councils who were directly subordinate to the union ministry. 141 all-Union and republican ministries were abolished and 105 economic councils were created instead.
The reorganization of the management system yielded definite results: production specialization increased, inter-industry cooperation, the process of technical reconstruction of the economy took place. The rights and economic powers of the union republics were expanded. However, the reform as a whole not only did not introduce qualitative changes in the economic conditions, but also gave rise to a certain disunity in the sectoral mechanism. Soviet economy.
Social politics. The economic policy of the post-Stalinist leadership, despite the contradictions, had a pronounced social orientation. In the mid 50s. a program of measures was developed aimed at raising the living standards of the population.
The salaries of workers in industry were regularly raised. The real incomes of workers and employees increased by 60%, collective farmers - by 90% (since 1956, collective farmers were transferred to a monthly advance payment of wages). The law on old-age pensions for workers and employees doubled their size and lowered the retirement age. The working week was reduced from 48 to 46 hours, mandatory government loans... Trade unions received large rights in production.
Housing construction has become one of the important achievements of social policy. From 1955 to 1964 urban housing stock increased by 80%, new apartments were received by 54 million people. The material base of education, health care, and culture was strengthened.
1958-1964 In the late 50s. the transition was made from five-year planning to seven-year planning (1959-1965). Since that time, the process of displacing economic incentives in the development of the economy by administrative coercion began. V agriculture this tendency manifested itself most clearly.
Collective farm policy. Among the imbalances in the Seven-Year Plan, the worst was the crisis in agriculture. The farms experienced a constant shortage of electricity, chemical fertilizers, seeds of valuable crops.
In order to industrialize agriculture, the consolidation of collective farms was carried out (as a result, their number was reduced from 91 thousand to 39 thousand). In the course of the extensive communist construction with the aim of converting all property into national property, a massive transformation of collective farms into state farms took place. The enlargement of collective farms at the expense of the so-called unpromising villages has also become a characteristic feature. In 1959, a compulsory purchase of all the equipment of the liquidated machine and tractor stations (MTS) by collective farms was carried out, which undermined the financial position of rural producers, given that, moreover, they did not have enough technical personnel.
The corn epic did not give positive results, in 1962-1963. the crisis in the development of virgin lands was aggravated.
In order to achieve the goals of communist construction as soon as possible, the authorities led attack on personal subsidiary plots... The land plots of the collective farmers were again cut back (from 1.5 hundred square meters per one collective farm yard in 1955-1956 to one hundred square meters in 1959-1960; in 1950-1952 there were 32 hundred square meters), livestock was forcibly ransomed. Against this background, a campaign of public condemnation of traders and money-gamblers, a struggle against the invaders of collective farm lands, unfolded. As a result, there was a decline in personal subsidiary farming. Collective farm workers turned into hired workers.
As a result of the difficulties that arose, the seven-year plan for the development of agriculture was not fulfilled: instead of the planned 70%, the increase in agriculture was only 15%. The food problem in the country has aggravated. The resulting food shortage caused a rise in prices, in particular for meat by 25-30%. The economic difficulties coincided with the 1963 crop failure, which had disastrous consequences. As a result, the agricultural crisis led to the first massive grain purchases abroad (12 million tons).
Industry... On the whole, in the period under review, the average annual growth rate of industrial production in the USSR exceeded 10%, which was ensured solely thanks to the rigid methods of the command economy. Scientific and technological progress was considered as one of the levers of industrial development.
Further development administrative system. The process is outlined development of vertical centralization economic councils (SNKh). In June 1960, the republican SNKh were created, in March 1963 - Supreme Council national economy (VSNKh)... The system of national planning of the national economy was gradually becoming more complex.
The system of governing bodies of the agricultural sector has changed. Since March 1962. were created collective and state farm administrations (KSU).
Administrative reform affected and party organization structures... In order to strengthen the role of the party in the development of agriculture in rural areas, district committees were abolished (their functions were transferred to party organizations of the KSU, party organizers in production); regional committees were divided according to the production principle - into industrial and agricultural... In general, the reform on restructuring management has retained the essence of the administrative and economic mechanism, the territorial management system has led to sectoral imbalances and the growth of local tendencies of economic councils.
Reorganization of the administrative system has become a permanent phenomenon. The continuous shaking up of the apparatus and personal displacement seriously worried the party and state officials, who were striving for the stability of their personal position. N.S. Khrushchev declared his readiness to scatter everyone like kittens. It seemed to the apparatchiks that de-Stalinization did not bring the desired confidence in tomorrow... In bureaucratic circles, dissatisfaction with N.S. Khrushchev was growing, a desire to subordinate him to the apparatus. A major step along this path was the campaign against the creative intelligentsia, as a result of which the reformer Khrushchev lost a solid foothold in its midst.
Discontent with Khrushchev was also expressed by representatives of all levels of the party apparatus (after its division into two independent systems and the formation of a kind of dual power). Therefore, a conspiracy against N.S. Khrushchev became inevitable.
Social politics. At first, in the social sphere, continued positive shifts... The material situation of the population improved, the public consumption funds grew. By 1960, the transfer of workers and employees to a 7-hour working day was completed. The introduction of pensions for collective farmers was being prepared. The housing stock has grown (for 1959-1965 - by 40%).
In the context of a decrease in the pace of development and an increase in crisis economic phenomena social policy was not consistent... The government froze payments on domestic loans issued before 1957 for twenty years (in order to reduce the budget deficit). By the end of the 50s, the food problem worsened, the population was hit hard by a decline in production tariffs and a simultaneous rise in prices (on average by 28% ).
This caused spontaneous protests of workers... In 1959, with the help of the troops, the 1,500th protest of workers - builders of the Kazakhstani Magnitogorsk (Temirtau) was suppressed. In 1962, a 7,000-strong workers' demonstration took place in Novocherkassk, which was also dispersed by troops using tanks (24 people died, 105 participants in the unrest were convicted). Workers' demonstrations took place in many industrial regions - in Moscow, Leningrad, Donbass, Kemerovo, Ivanovo.
RESULTS. During the Khrushchev thaw, a serious attempt at modernization... N.S. Khrushchev gave impetus to the development of political processes, embarking on the path of liberalization.
but using the old political and economic mechanism during the transformation process predetermined their failure. The course of N.S. Khrushchev was characterized by the absolutization of organizational factors, the solution of economic problems by administrative and political methods. The situation was aggravated by the absence of any scientific and managerial foundations of administrative reforms, the randomness and subjectivity of the transformations carried out in the administrative and economic system.
N.S. Khrushchev and the leadership of the party, remaining on the positions of communist ideology and preserving many traditions of the Stalinist leadership, not only were not ready, but also did not seek radical change.
After the failures of the controversial transformative activities of N.S. Khrushchev, a syndrome of fatigue arose in society, striving for sustainable forms of social and personal life... During this period, the first place in the hierarchy of power came to the party-state bureaucracy, thirsting for stability, or nomenclature, which played a decisive role in the removal of N.S. Khrushchev in October 1964.
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Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev went down in the history of the USSR and Russia as the most controversial ruler who influenced the development of new directions in the foreign and domestic policy of the USSR and carried out several reforms over the decade of his rule.
Khrushchev's domestic policy
Stalin's death in 1953 led to a behind-the-scenes struggle for a place on the "throne", but Khrushchev got the post of first secretary. At the XXth Congress (1956), he delivered a report that received worldwide resonance. The main topic was the exposure of Stalin with a listing of a number of crimes of the 30s-50s. and harsh criticism of his repression. The beginning of de-Stalinization and democratization has been laid.
Khrushchev's reforms
Destalinization, however, had neither consistency nor integrity. According to Khrushchev, it consisted in condemning the cult of Stalin and establishing party control over the punitive organs. The restoration of law and order, legality and constitutional rights of citizens took place.
Khrushchev's reforms were continued - a restructuring of the ruling party was carried out: democratization, changes in the conditions of admission to it, expansion of the rights of local organizations and union republics. In 1957, the peoples deported by Stalin were reinstated. New bodies of public self-government appear, etc.
Governance reform
Trying to go to economic methods management led to a complication of the management structure, an increase in the number of officials. In 1962, the most unsuccessful of the reforms was undertaken: the specialization of party organizations (industrial and rural). The country was divided into 105 economic regions.
Agrarian reform
Khrushchev's reforms began with agriculture. Since 1953, the economic position of collective farms has been strengthened, and the size of the agricultural tax has been reduced. Farms were provided loans, new equipment was supplied. In the mid-50s, they began to be massively consolidated - transformation into state farms. Then the economic councils were created.
The peasants were given passports, they were given a pension.
The corn epic became also part of Khrushchev's image - following the example of the United States, this culture began to be intensively implanted everywhere, even where it, in principle, cannot grow (up to the Far North!).
In 1954, a campaign for development was launched. A sharp jump followed with bumper harvests, for the first time in the post-war years, the purchase price of grain rose. But erosion destroyed the virgin soils. The non-black earth center fell into complete decay.
Khrushchev's military reforms
After coming to power, he took the direction of the development of the defense and heavy industries. The SA and the Navy received nuclear missiles. In terms of the ratio of military power, the USSR reaches parity with the United States. The direction towards peaceful coexistence of states of different socialist structures is considered.
Social reform
After the adoption of the law on the payment of pensions to peasants, it was decided to abolish the tuition fees for eight-year education becomes mandatory. Established in particular - a 6-hour working day for adolescents 16 years old.
The housing fund is actively expanding. Housing construction is based on industrial methods. The housing stock of the country increases by 40% in a seven-year period! True, the construction was carried out in the style that went down in history under the name "Khrushchob", but the housing crisis disappeared.
School reform resulted in a unified eight-year school. Those wishing to receive a complete secondary education had to continue their studies in a secondary polytechnic school (in a vocational school, in an evening or correspondence school).
Khrushchev's foreign policy
Foreign relations in those days developed in the style of the traditional Bolshevik policy. The main focus foreign policy was the strengthening of security systems at all frontiers.
Contacts are actively renewed with foreign countries, appear in the press and positive reviews about other countries. Trade relations are expanding. This entails mutual benefit, because Western countries get the most extensive for their products.
The launch of the first satellite in 1957 had a significant impact on the world situation, and a new, space era begins. Khrushchev, a supporter of Korolev, supports his idea of overtaking the Americans in space exploration.
This changed the alignment of priorities, now the West was at gunpoint by the intercontinental missiles of the USSR.
In 1961. was delivered "Berlin ultimatum", in which Khrushchev demanded the construction of a wall between west and east Berlin. Huge resonance of the world community. After the "Berlin crisis", another one flares up, the so-called. "Caribbean", or " missile crisis". Kennedy tried to seize Cuba, which the USSR provided economic, and now also military assistance, sending military and technical advisers there, and various types of weapons. Including missiles, which threatened the United States with a strike. Kennedy demanded not to allow the unloading of missiles in Cuba, and Khrushchev accepted these demands.
Kennedy's assassination led to the need to establish contact with President Johnson. But Khrushchev was accused of voluntarism, and he was dismissed. He was also ruined by an attempt to cut benefits and privileges for civil servants. Under Khrushchev, an authoritarian system was formed in the USSR, however, the foundations of the command-administrative system were strengthened.
The period of N.S. Khrushchev in power is characterized by reforms in different areas life of society. The transformations initiated by him did not always bring exclusively positive results, and his actions were often regarded with disapproval.
Agricultural reforms | In August-September 1953. measures were taken to strengthen the economic position of collective farms, including: writing off agricultural tax arrears from collective farmers and reducing the amount of agricultural tax 1954 - Campaign for the development of virgin lands |
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The development of virgin lands in the 1950s took place in Kazakhstan Huge harvests | Complete decline in the Non-Black Earth Center |
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Soil erosion has destroyed the lands that have been preserved. |
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The corn epic |
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material incentives for the work of collective farmers were widely used | there was a policy of limiting personal subsidiary plots |
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collective farmers received passports | complete food self-sufficiency of the country was not achieved |
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unjustified voluntarism of N.S. Khrushchev |
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The rise of animal husbandry has failed |
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Reforms of 1957 in the field of administrative and economic management | administrative decentralization and organizational and structural restructuring of governing bodies replacement of ministries with territorial authorities establishment of a sectoral principle of industrial management The division of party and Soviet bodies into rural and urban The new governing bodies of the country's economy during the reign of N. Khrushchev were (s): SNKh (Economic Councils) |
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The reform opened up reserves for production growth | Confusion in management |
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Monetary reform | changing the scale of prices and replacing banknotes |
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On February 24, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution on the minting of new coins | purchases of consumer goods sharply increased, the inflow of household deposits into savings banks increased |
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The population changed money calmly and at a convenient time. | changing the scale of prices and replacing current money with new money |
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The new Soviet money was backed by gold. | Bills of the 1947 sample and silver, nickel, copper and bronze coins were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with new ones in a ratio of 10: 1. |
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circulation of counterfeit money, made according to new models. |
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There was an increase in prices on the collective farm markets. |
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it was emphasized that "the monetary reform of 1961, carried out in our country, is the most humane in history." | Recalculations wages and payments were often made with errors - salaries were overpriced on a new scale, state pensions and benefits were understated, overpricing rather than understatement was more common in stores. |
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Fundamental changes in the national economy management system made during the reign of N. Khrushchev:
| pros | Minuses |
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An attempt to move from administrative to economic methods of management, from coercion to taking into account the material interests of the worker, from rigid centralization by industry to the territorial organization of economic life. | The management structure has become more complex, the number of officials has increased. The unified production management policy was undermined. |
A blow to agriculture: the creation of agro-cities, the transfer of agriculture to an industrial basis. The policy of consolidation of state and collective farms was pursued. |
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Decision to sell equipment to collective farms and liquidate MTS. |
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Introduction of new technology, production renewal. | The gap with the West continued to widen. |
Moral incentives began to play an increasingly active role (communist labor brigades) | Instead of seeking material incentives as a result of their labor, changes were made in rationing. The already not high material incentives to work began to decline sharply. |
Demagoguery was intertwined with genuine innovation and concern for the common people. |
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Features of the socio-economic policy of the USSR during the leadership of the country by N.S. Khrushchev and L.I. Brezhnev
Similarities | |
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In the social sphere, a lot has been done to improve the people's well-being. The construction of panel and block residential buildings was widely developed. | Under Khrushchev, there is less material incentives. |
Growth of wages and pensions Gradual rise in living standards | During the Khrushchev era, a policy of limiting personal subsidiary plots was pursued, the development of virgin and fallow lands began |
Reduced retirement and working week. | During the Brezhnev era, there were active purchases of food abroad |
In the era of Brezhnev, significant investments began to be directed to agriculture |
Conclusions on Khrushchev's reforms
Despite the fact that the period of N.S. Khrushchev is called a thaw in power, and the assessment of his political actions is increasingly becoming negative. Many historians note that the economic and social reforms carried out by Khrushchev were not brought to their logical conclusion, and his methods of debunking the cult of Stalin undermined the authority of the party. Moreover, some of the actions of an administrative nature carried out by Khrushchev were considered illogical at all, causing outrage among the rest of the ruling party. Khrushchev's monetary reform was also negatively assessed, which almost led to a default. At the same time, the party leader managed to achieve an even greater industrial rise of the USSR. It was during this period that heavy industry was strengthened, and active rocketry began. Despite the turmoil in domestic politics, Khrushchev is working to bolster the country's global image. The removal of Khrushchev from office took place in 1964 and became logical, because the reforms of the Secretary General raised too many questions. Khrushchev's place was taken by L.I. Brezhnev, and soon the thaw gave way to stagnation.
- 2. REFORMS OF KHRUSHCHOV. For a multipurpose economy, the methods of management and planning of the Stalinist era, which consisted in the absolute priority of some goals, to which others were subordinated, were no longer suitable. Enterprises began to switch to self-financing from their own funds. In 1957-1958 N.S. Khrushchev carried out three reforms. They concerned industry, agriculture and the education system.
- 1 REFORM INDUSTRY... By the mid-1950s, a lot had changed in the life of Soviet society. It has reached new frontiers of its development. However, its further development objectively required reforms in the political and socio-economic spheres.
The political system needed a radical restructuring in connection with the new political situation. However, authoritarian, voluntaristic methods of government continued to persist. N.S. Khrushchev, along with the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, also assumed the post of head of government, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
The actions of the political leadership, headed by N.S. Khrushchev, did not cause profound changes in political life and in the social psychology of the masses. The old social structures were also practically unaffected: power, economic relations, management, legal proceedings and law, the place of the party in society, etc.
Attempts to democratize public life had to find an adequate continuation in the economy. The post-war recovery period is over - this was evidenced by the indicators of the development of the national economy, famous successes in the field of science and technology: 1954 - the world's first nuclear power plant, 1956 - the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin", the TU-104 jet passenger aircraft, 1957 - launching a satellite into space, 1961 - the world's first Soviet flight man into outer space. There were major achievements in the field of physics and mathematics, but the lag in the field of computers, genetics, agricultural sciences, cybernetics, and chemistry remained.
The strengthened economy also made it possible to solve social issues: a law on pensions was being adopted, the duration of maternity leave for women was increased, tuition fees in the senior grades of schools and universities were canceled, compulsory eight-year schooling was introduced, workers were transferred to a six- and seven-hour working day, widely housing construction is developing on the basis of industrial methods, the rights of the union republics are expanding, the rights of peoples repressed during the war years are restored: Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Kalmyks.
Soviet Union Khrushchev de-Stalinization
The economic restructuring of the second half of the 50s was designed to solve the problem of democratizing management: to expand the economic rights of the union republics by transferring to their jurisdiction the issues that were previously solved in the center, to bring management closer to "places", to develop a new economic mechanism, to reduce administrative staff, etc.
Both objectively and subjectively, the reform was aimed at modernizing the cumbersome command-and-control system of economic management.
In 1957, branch ministries were abolished and the transition to the territorial principle of management was carried out. The country was divided into 105 economic regions, economic councils were created, which at first contributed to the development of local initiative and gave positive results... However, after a short period, the influence of negative trends was revealed. new system management: localism, papermaking grew rapidly, the sectoral development perspective and a unified scientific and technical policy were lost.
The search for the reasons for the failures of economic reform led to a return to methods of pressure and dictatorship.
Nikita Sergeevich strove to decentralize industrial management. The fact is that every year it became more and more difficult to manage enterprises located on the periphery. It was decided that industrial enterprises should be managed not by ministries, but by local authorities - economic councils. Khrushchev hoped in this way to rationally use raw materials, to eliminate isolation and departmental barriers. There were many opponents to this decision. In reality, the sovnarkhaz became simply diversified ministries and failed to cope with their tasks. The reform boiled down to a bureaucratic reorganization.
2. AGRARIAN REFORM
For 12 years, from 1953 to 1964, 11 special meetings and plenary sessions of the Central Committee on the development of agriculture were held, and in two more these issues were considered along with others. One could expect corresponding shifts in agriculture itself, but the influence of politics on production in that period as a whole turned out to be clearly ineffective.
The fact is that the violent methods of implementing complete collectivization associated with the violation of the principles of development of cooperation, such as voluntariness, the variety of forms, the sequence of their development, led to the fact that the type of agricultural enterprises created in the USSR was significantly deformed, and the collectives of these enterprises were deprived of elementary democratic norms of self-government and life. Between the toilers of the village and the land they received from the state - their hope and breadwinner - powerful bastions arose administratively by the command of the management system, which they did not manage to destroy.
But there was another alternative to the formation of the collective farm system. Its essence consisted in the gradual abandonment of the burden of distortions in the development of cooperation, as if returning it to the natural-historical channel, but already at a new level of management, the development of production relations. It was necessary to abandon the strict regulation of collective farm life, granting collective farms the right to independently solve their economic and social needs, combining, linking them with the guidelines for the democratization of the entire management system.
It must be admitted that Khrushchev, despite the contradictory nature of his assessments of the state of affairs in agriculture, was the first among official figures to actually recognize such an alternative and to a large extent seeks to implement it. It was in the 1950s that an attempt was made to transition to the relative independence of collective and state farms.
The September 1953 Plenum of the Central Committee played an important role. In accordance with his decisions, state procurement prices for livestock and poultry increased more than 5 times, for milk - 2 times, potatoes - 2.5 times, vegetables - 25-40%. Purchase prices for products sold in excess of the obligatory deliveries also increased. These measures made it possible to significantly strengthen the economy of the collective farms. Effective measures have been taken against the violation essential principle artel form of collective farm production - the right combination interests in the development of the public and private economy: the norms of mandatory deliveries of products from personal subsidiary farms have been reduced, fixed tax rates have been provided in accordance with the size of personal plots.
The system of settlements with collective farms for the sale of products was revised. They began to receive cash advances, some of which were intended to be issued to collective farmers on workdays throughout the year. This procedure later allowed the introduction of guaranteed cash wages on collective farms. Measures were taken to improve planning, to strengthen collective farms with cadres, and to strengthen the role of the MTS in the development of collective farm production.
The reorganization of the MTS and the sale of equipment to collective farms in accordance with the decision of the February (1958) Plenum of the Central Committee made the collective farmers potentially full-fledged owners or users of all basic means of production. The abolition of compulsory deliveries and payment in kind for the work of MTS, the introduction of cash wages and the same account of the cost of production and profitability of production practically included the collective farm economy in the unified commodity-money relations of the entire Soviet economy, which created a real basis for the transition of collective farms to self-financing. The growing role of the principle of material interest has led to an increase in the real incomes of collective farmers, workers and state farm specialists.
N.S. Khrushchev believed in the possibility of solving the food problem in the country and satisfying the needs of the population in food in abundance. Three super-programs have been developed.
- 1. First of all, this is a virgin epic. A country that possessed the world's largest expanses of already involved circulation of the most fertile chernozems and fertile naturally irrigated non-chernozem lands, but received scanty grain yields in comparison with developed capitalist countries, as well as other countries; a country in which about half of the livestock population was housed in temporary and unsuitable premises, in which even the already received gross grain harvest was not provided with reliable storage facilities, in which there was an acute shortage of labor resources, and, above all, the personnel of machine operators, namely in the main grain and livestock regions, - this country, with the aim of further increasing the production of grain and livestock products, went, and even under the flag of intensification, to a huge distraction of human and financial resources from already developed areas, to a colossal expansion of the front of work, the development of vast tracts of virgin lands, a significant increase in the area of arable land, the creation of new farms on it. This is difficult to understand. Excessive scale, strong-willed methods, unjustified deadlines, in the absence of any design and scientific research, turned the development of virgin lands into a voluntaristic super-program with all the ensuing consequences. One cannot, of course, fail to notice the fact that the development of virgin lands meant, in essence, the creation of a fairly large grain base in the east of the country. But the cost was disproportionate to the results.
- 2. The next super-program of those years was a hasty and utopian expansion of the area under crops of corn and other "miracle crops". At the same time, the logic was extremely straightforward: to plow the entire arable land, sow the entire arable land, sow potentially, regardless of zonal differences, with the most "high-yielding" crops and thereby obtain the maximum production and feed.
The idealization of the possibilities of "miracle crops" led to an almost tenfold expansion in the country of sowing of corn or, for example, the "king of peas". And the results, meanwhile, were deplorable. In 1962, the yield of corn for silage and green fodder was 33.6 centners per hectare on an area of 3.3 million hectares on collective and state farms in the Non-Black Earth Zone of the RSFSR. In 1963, it dropped to 31.2, the difference between the desired and the actual is exorbitant. After all, in order for the "queen of the fields" to ascend the throne and prove her high rank, it takes time, of course. But the command and control apparatus cannot wait. He begins to act immediately and finds a job: clears the way for her and inflicts a crushing blow on the "potential opponents" found in the wilderness of offices - perennial grasses, pure vapors.
1. And, finally, a truly fantastic super-program of those years for animal husbandry. N.S. Khrushchev set the task: "In the coming years to catch up with the United States in the production of meat, butter and milk per capita." Newspapers reported a widespread increase in meat production, but in fact, there was a reckless forced socialization and destruction of the livestock of personal subsidiary plots, there was a direct deception, registration. The desire to fulfill the "program" at any cost led to the fact that in 1963 alone, almost 30 million (42%) of the pig population in the country was slaughtered. And only 15 years later, this, hitherto continuously growing livestock, was restored, and after another 10 years it increased by about 10 million heads - exactly as much as it increased every two years after 1956.
So, three tasks, three super-programs, and three total failures.
3. REFORM EDUCATION... Khrushchev's third reform affected the education system. The reform was based on two measures. N.S. Khrushchev eliminated the system of "labor reserves", that is, the network of paramilitary schools that existed at the expense of the state. They were created before the war to train skilled workers. They were replaced by regular vocational schools, which could be enrolled after the seventh grade. Secondary school received a "polytechnic" profile, which involved combining education with work, so that the student got an idea of one or more professions. However, the lack of funds did not allow equipping schools with modern equipment, and enterprises could not fully bear the teaching load.
The successes of the USSR in the conquest of space and in some other science-intensive areas, mainly in defense areas, did not allow a sober assessment of the then state and prospects of development of public education, science and culture. Having made a huge leap from semi-literacy to universal compulsory secondary education, taking the leading place in the world in the number of teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, that is, in the leading sectors intellectual work, The USSR missed the revolutionary explosion as a mean and higher education, which occurred in developed countries in the early 60s.
CONSEQUENCES REFORM... Thus, the promising reforms begun in the second half of the 1950s did not materialize. They gradually faded away and gave way to the old methods of leadership and management. The second half of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s was marked by the struggle between democratic and bureaucratic tendencies in the development of public life. At the end of this period, as a result of leadership mistakes, the democratic tendency began to weaken, which subsequently served as a direct prerequisite for strengthening the position of the command-administrative system.
One of the results of the unrealized transformations of the second half of the 50s - early 60s was the resignation of N.S. Khrushchev. In October 1964, it was unexpectedly reported that the extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU granted Khrushchev's request to release him from his duties as 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR due to his advanced age and deteriorating health.
At the Plenum of the Central Committee, in a report delivered by M.A. Suslov, N.S. Khrushchev was accused of voluntarism, subjectivity, incompetent leadership, rudeness, personal immodesty, etc. The first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee at the Plenum was L.I. Brezhnev, and A.N. Kosygin. In addition, it was considered expedient not to combine in one person the posts of the 1st secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The release of N.S. Khrushchev from the first positions in the party and state drew a line under one of the most significant and difficult periods in the history of our country. It was then that a significant attempt was made to define and implement a new political course for the country. It was then that Soviet society breathed in the air of renewal, lived in an atmosphere of a thaw, and experienced a turning point. During this period, the position of the Soviet Union as one of the great powers in the world was preserved in the international sphere. Attempts to dictate the United States in world politics have failed, Soviet Union successfully opposed them in various regions of the world, contributed significantly to the collapse of the colonial system by supporting the national liberation movement.
In the economic sphere, our country has made a new major step forward, retaining its position as the world's second industrial power. In 1960, as a result of the successful implementation of the three post-war five-year plans, the basic production assets increased by 3.3 times in comparison with 1940. The produced national income has increased 4.4 times, the productivity of social labor in the national economy has increased 4 times.
Major shifts have taken place in the social field. The real incomes of the population have grown significantly, and the living conditions of the people have improved. Only for the period from 1950 to 1966. received apartments in new buildings or improved their living conditions 155 million hours. The scientific and educational potential of the country has significantly increased.
But, perhaps, the most significant were the achievements in the military field. Despite enormous difficulties and lack of funds, the army was completely re-equipped with new nuclear missile weapons, jet aircraft and artillery. The infantry as a branch of the army has outlived its usefulness. It was replaced by mechanized troops. The main result military policy The Soviet state was the failure of plans to unleash a world thermonuclear war, the provision of peaceful conditions for economic development.
Not all of the transformations carried out have been successful. Many experiments of the structural plan in the national economy have shown their inconsistency, the country was not ready for deep restructuring processes in the political, economic and spiritual spheres. The consequences of the destructive war, the lag in the field of scientific and technological progress, the heavy burden of the arms race and " cold war"New reforms were needed.