A-Level Edexcel History - USSR June
2024 Exam Questions and Answers
100% Pass
When did Khrushchev give his 'secret speech'? -
Answer>>1956
What did the speech say should happen? - Answer>>1) Return
to the legality of Lenin.
2) Give more power to organisation at regional level.
3) Two million political prisoners released.
4) Regular meetings of the presidium and central committee.
How was terror used under Khrushchev? - Answer>>Through
de-Stalinisation - Secret police brought under party control, Secret
police lost control over labour camps, heavy punishments remain
for corruption, Secret police still watching the general population.
What was the Secret Police called under Khrushchev? -
Answer>>KGB
Who were the dissidents? - Answer>>1) Intellectuals -
Professions who complained about restrictions on their freedom
of professional practice.
2) Political - Concerns with abuses of human rights that broke
Soviet law and internal agreements.
3) Nationalists - Groups of different national dissent called for
greater status for their own languages and culture and some even
independence from the USSR.
4) Religious - Baptists, Catholics, Jews faced restrictions on
worship and religious practice.
What actions were taken against the dissidents? -
Answer>>Houses were searched and items were confiscated
,and arrests could follow. Dissidents were put into psychiatric
hospitals until they were 'cured' meaning they had changed their
views on the state. Patients were treated with electric shocks.
Some dissidents were sent into internal exile.
What law was passed in 1960 to do with the treatment of
dissidents? - Answer>>A law that limited the power of the KGB
and the limited the use of night-time interrogations.
What was Brezhnev's approach to Government? -
Answer>>Brezhnev quickly reversed those aspects of de-
Stalinisation.
1) The division of the Party into agricultural and industrial sections
was dropped.
2) Limits on tenure were dropped.
3) Leader would have to consult the Party on all decisions.
4) However, there was no return to widespread terror that was
seen under Stalin.
How did Stalin implement terror on the Party? - Answer>>He
carried out show trials. For example, The Trial of the Sixteen
where Zinoviev and Kamenev were dragged from prison and
accused of working with agents of Trotsky to undermine the state.
Under pressure from the NKVD, they confessed to crimes they
couldn't have possibly committed.
Explain Khrushchev's investment in Agriculture. - Answer>>In
1955, to increase productivity, industrial collectives were given
greater powers to make decisions at local level. The MTS were
abolished. However, they were replaced with a system that
expected each collective to buy its own machinery. Collectives
were increased in size and there was a rapid increase in
mechanisation, fertilisers and irrigation.
, When was the Virgin Land Scheme introduced? -
Answer>>1954
What was the Virgin Land Scheme? - Answer>>It encouraged
the opening up of new areas to agricultural production. Six million
acres of land were brought under cultivation (used for crops) with
considerable investment.
What was the first sign of the Virgin Land Scheme failing? -
Answer>>In 1959, the target for grain production in Kazakhstan
failed to be met.
What was the impact on agriculture under Khrushchev? -
Answer>>The income of farmers doubled between 1952 and
1958, but still remained far below those of industrial workers.
Between 1953 and 1958, food production increased by 51%.
What was agriculture like under Brezhnev? - Answer>>There
was a deliberate move away from Khrushchev's approach of
trying to find quick solutions. The Virgin Land Scheme was
dropped. Heavy investment in agriculture remained and allowed
peasants to have bigger private plots.
What was the impact of agriculture under Brezhnev? -
Answer>>There was a steady rise in overall production
accompanied by a steady decline in workers productivity. A
brigade system was established which meant that peasants could
decide how profit was used. However, it encouraged a return to
family farming leading to it being abolished.
When did Khrushchev launch his anti-religious campaign? -
Answer>>1958
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