ABSTRACT

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of Soviet internal politics during World War II and the period of mature Stalinism and concludes with an assessment and a critique of power and politics in the Brezhnev era. It considers power dynamics from the time of Stalin's death in March 1953 until the overthrow of Khrushchev in October 1964. While viewing the Khrushchev era in light of the power-restructuring argument advanced thus far, the chapter focuses on the fundamental shifts in power relations and political process that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. Three images are recurrent in firsthand and scholarly accounts of the period: Khrushchev as a ruler, Khrushchev as a reformer, and Khrushchev as a transitional figure. Khrushchev's economic reforms and his ongoing effort to more closely involve the party organization in daily life reflected a broader concern with problems of elitism and bureaucratism in the Soviet system.