RUSSIA IN THE POST-WAR WORLD

[This is the fifth of six articles I am writing on the respective positions of Britain, the US, France, Germany, Russia and China in the Post-War World]

Leaders of the USSR till 1991 and of Russia thereafter

1925-53 Joseph Stalin                         1984-85 Konstantin Chernenko

1953 Molotov, Beria, Malenkov         1985-91 Mikhail Gorbachev

1953-55 Georgi Malenkov                  1991-99 Boris Yeltsin

1955-64 Nikolai Khrushchev              1999-08 Vladimir Putin

1964-82 Leonid Brezhnev                   2008-12 Dmitri Medvedev

1982-84 Yuri Andropov                      2012-     Vladimir Putin

                                                          

The USSR triumphant

After a brutal war waged since the June 1941 Nazi invasion of the USSR, the Red Army defeated the Germans on the Eastern Front, most of Eastern Europe was under its occupation and Berlin itself fell in April 1945.

The Red Army storms the Berlin Reichstag

 The cost to Russia was however horrendous. It is estimated that 26m Soviet citizens died, about 10m in the military and 16m civilians – about 13% of the population. The devastation in Western Russia and the Ukraine was colossal. Even after hostilities ended there was more blood-letting. Nationalities deemed to have been anti-Soviet, like the Crimean Tatars, were deported wholesale to remote provinces; many died. Returning POWs were called cowards – thousands were shot or sent to labour camps. The Allies were bound by the Yalta agreements to repatriate any Russians in their zones. The raggle-taggle followers of Vlasov’s brigade, who fought with the Nazis, were shipped to Russia, often to be shot out of hand on the quayside.

Eastern Europe suffered grievously under Soviet oppression. The Soviet zone of Germany was the scene of mass rape and murder. Those who could flee, fled West. In Poland, which pro rata had lost more than the USSR (25% of the population dying) an election won by the Peasant Party was overturned by the Communists and the opposition purged on Stalin’s orders. The last vestige of Czech independence ended with the defenestration of foreign minister Jan Masaryk in 1948. In Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltics (annexed by Russia) prominent non-communists were exiled or executed; all opposition was silenced.

Stalinism and Terror

Russian dominance was rationalised as a natural wish to erect a buffer area between Russia and the aggressive West but the policy had all the hall-marks of a morbidly suspicious and ruthless mind. That mind belonged to Joseph Stalin. Adulated for the victory of his armies, he was unassailable in the Soviet Union and surrounded himself with equally ruthless lieutenants and many contemptible toadies.

Joseph Stalin, Dictator and Arch-Criminal

 Nevertheless the full resources of the USSR were mobilised to rebuild the Soviet economy, which did indeed recover quickly. As “a command economy” its priorities were decided centrally with no reference to market demand. Heavy industry and military investment were favoured while housing and consumer goods were more or less ignored. Partly through the success of secret policeman Lavrenti Beria’s espionage operations but mainly through the native skill of Soviet scientists, Russia began to catch up with the US in the critical nuclear arms race, exploding her first atom bomb in 1949. Beria got the credit, becoming Stalin’s most feared henchman.

Russia also acquired a significant new ally when in 1949 China became communist under Mao-Tse-Tung, who deferred to Stalin. Stalin encouraged Kim-Il-Sung to invade South Korea in 1950 and did nothing to stop China intervening in 1951.

Another prominent Stalinist was Andrei Zhdanov, minister of culture, who waged war on the intelligentsia denouncing distinguished composers Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Khachatourian for “formalism”. Lethal power struggles, engulfed senior ministers, often stirred up by Stalin himself. Molotov, Mikoyan, Malenkov and Kaganovitch dropped in and out of favour and feared for their (and sometimes their wives’) lives. In 1948 Stalin was defied by Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, the only independent Communist regime in the early post-war years. Stalin accused some Eastern European communist leaders of “Titoism” and was instrumental in the fall and execution of the Czech deputy leader Rudolf Slansky in a 1952 show trial. Stalin was an anti-Semite and only his death in 1953 forestalled a planned deadly purge of Jews arising from a wholly fabricated “Doctors’ Plot”.

When arch-criminal Stalin died in March 1953 there was a short-lived “troika” in the Russian tradition of Molotov, Malenkov and Beria. After anti-Soviet riots in East Berlin, Beria was himself denounced by Khrushchev in September 1953, tried by a kangaroo court and with 5 associates condemned to death. A Russian general despatched the detested Beria with a revolver shot to the forehead in December 1953. Thankfully this was the last time a Soviet politician was brutally liquidated. The worst of the Stalinist nightmare was over.

The USSR after Stalin

The troika made way for two years’ rule by Georgi Malenkov. There were tentative moves to relax the oppression by freeing and granting amnesties to many prisoners in the notorious Gulag forced labour camps. In Europe the Soviets unexpectedly withdrew from occupied Austria in 1954, though insisting on Austrian neutrality, possibly a gambit to hinder West Germany’s move towards the NATO alliance. Malenkov was castigated for failures in modernising the administration and in 1955 was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev with Nikolai Bulganin his premier until 1958.

Khrushchev was a vigorous peasant type, with a bloody past as a commissar in the Ukraine, volatile and undiplomatic, but often effective.

Khrushchev wields his shoe at the UN

 Khrushchev and Bulganin tried to put a more human face on Russia by visits to Western Europe and Khrushchev himself had a vigorous informal debate with Richard Nixon in the US on the merits of capitalism and communism. “We will bury you”, opined the Russian. The prestige of the USSR was enhanced by the launch of the first Sputnik space rocket in 1957 and the first man in space with Yuri Gagarin’s flight in 1961.

Khrushchev’s major move was his secret speech to the 20^th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party in 1956 in which he denounced Stalin, enumerating his crimes and policy errors. This was a bombshell to many of his listeners to whom Stalin remained a hero, but the promise of less oppression and more openness was welcome everywhere. In time opposition to Khrushchev’s line grew among the Old Guard and plots were laid to depose Khrushchev. In 1957 these senior plotters were denounced as “the Anti-Party Group” including Malenkov, Molotov, Kaganovitch, Shepilov and in 1958 Bulganin; they were stripped of their offices and expelled from the Party, but at least they died in their beds.

The Cold War, waged between the West and the Soviet bloc since the Berlin Airlift in 1948-9, sometimes heated up. When Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt over Suez in 1956, Bulganin threatened all three with a Russian missile attack; it was bluff and bluster but alarming nonetheless. When also in 1956, Soviet troops intervened to suppress unrest in Poland and an insurrection in Hungary, the West could do nothing. Tensions remained acute, not least after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

Khrushchev was contemptuous of Western military determination and miscalculated badly when he began to station ballistic missiles in recently communist Cuba. In October 1962, President Kennedy reacted decisively, throwing a naval blockade around Cuba and vowing to stop Soviet ships. Although the European Left supported Russia and nuclear war seemed a possibility, Khrushchev backed down and removed his missiles in return for the US reducing theirs in Turkey. This rash Russian adventure humiliated the leadership.

Mao and Khrushchev all smiles in 1958

 A more momentous division appeared in the Communist bloc when the USSR and China became estranged from 1960 as the Sino-Soviet dispute developed. In part the dispute was ideological; Khrushchev came to urge “peaceful coexistence” with the West; Mao only wanted belligerence. Mao was shocked by Khrushchev’s reconciliation with Tito – “revisionist traitor” in Mao’s Stalinist eyes. Mao lauded the Asian peasant approach to communism in contrast to the Russian focus on the industrial proletariat. .Behind the theological jargon there was a power struggle. The Russians had always feared the Yellow Horde; the Chinese feared Soviet expansionism in the East. As a measure of the estrangement, the USSR backed India when a border war broke out with China in 1962 and deplored the excesses of the later Cultural Revolution and the personality cult of Mao. The monolithic communist bloc was split forever, opening up diplomatic opportunities for the West.

On the pretext of agricultural failures but really in reaction to Khrushchev’s erratic ways, he was ousted and pensioned off in 1964 to be replaced by a troika. It soon emerged that the real power lay with Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, although he consulted with Premier Kosygin and President Podgorny, and he dominated the USSR until 1982.

The Brezhnev Era

Leonid Brezhnev

 The USSR developed strongly in the early Brezhnev years. Her arsenal of nuclear weapons steadily grew drawing the West into Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Although the US got to the Moon first, the Soviet space programme was impressive. The economy grew at about 4% pa during the 1960s and there was an aura of stability around Russian society. Russian influence in the Middle East and in Africa grew apace. The regime pursued notionally a policy of Détente towards the West but it was assertive in Eastern Europe, not hesitating in 1968 to send in tanks to overthrow the communist reformist government of Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia, later proclaiming the Brezhnev Doctrine that socialist countries could intervene to prevent reversion to capitalism in fellow-socialist nations. The doctrine was even invoked when Brezhnev sanctioned an ill-judged expedition to Afghanistan in 1979.

However by the early 1970s domestic problems crowded in on the USSR. Managing a vast country on a command economy basis required prophetic talents which no country, and certainly not Russia, possessed. The internal contradictions of the communist economic system became apparent. The people cried out for decent housing and cheap consumer goods – neither was easily forthcoming. Some 50% of GDP was spent on defence, a colossal proportion, to the detriment of other areas of the economy. With little incentive to work hard, as unemployment had been supposedly abolished, the USSR had a work-shy workforce; productivity fell steadily, industrial discipline weakened and the growth rate faltered to about 1%. Despite huge, but often badly targeted investment in agriculture, the USSR became a major importer of grain and other farming products she should have produced herself. The quality of health and education services, once a national pride, deteriorated markedly; alcoholism became an intractable problem. The later Brezhnev years were characterised as wasted and stagnant. Brezhnev himself was cautious by nature and he became both mentally and physically immobile as ill-health dogged his twilight years.

Brezhnev died in 1982 and his two successors Andropov and Chernenko were old and ill too and soon died in office. In 1985 a new generation came to the helm with the accession of Mikhail Gorbachev proclaiming perestroika (reconstruction) and glasnost (openness).

Gorbachev and the end of the USSR

Mikhail Gorbachev

 Gorbachev was a breath of fresh air, outgoing, articulate and managerial. He was popular in the West, well regarded by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. However his period in power was a disaster for Russia. His policy of perestroika involved the overhaul of industry, the reduction of bureaucracy, the replacement of incompetents and the reorganisation of ministries; the command economy continued and free market forces were not allowed to operate. The Soviet economy inevitably did not improve and shortages worsened. Glasnost saw the reduction of cultural censorship and a lively free press emerged. A flood of negative sentiment towards the Soviet Union from its 15 constituent Republics shook Moscow. The continuing arms race with the US and rather low prices for oil weakened Russia further.

Gorbachev tried to square the circle between the communist hard-liners and zealous reformers but it was impossible. Events quickly took their own course. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the East German regime collapsed. Solidarity was recognised and soon took political power in Poland. Communist regimes in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria had crumbled by 1990.

The USSR itself started to disintegrate. Boris Yeltsin became president of the Russian Federation and its parliament passed laws which explicitly superseded Soviet legislation. Many other Republics followed suit. Hardliners attempted a coup in August 1991 to prevent a break-up, but after 2 days it collapsed, with Boris Yeltsin rallying the public in Moscow. Gorbachev returned from confinement in Crimea but his authority was compromised. The activities of the Soviet Communist Party were terminated. Over the next months the independence of the following Republics was formally recognised: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation itself. On 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned as President and on 26 December 1991 the USSR formally ceased to exist, with the Russian Federation becoming the successor state.

Post-Soviet Russia

Boris Yeltsin in an expansive mood

 Yeltsin became President carrying many hopes but his regime was a failure. Taking advice from the US, the IMF, the World Bank and other Western economists he decided on a headlong rush -“shock therapy” – to abandon the socialist command economy and substitute a free market one. Other, perhaps wiser, heads advocated a more gradual approach. In early 1992 Yeltsin introduced by decree his reforms, ending price controls, raising taxes, cutting welfare and raising interest rates. The economy nose-dived and living conditions worsened markedly. A scheme involving the universal issue of vouchers anticipating a huge privatisation programme was frustrated as the population sold the vouchers for cash, mainly to the so-called “oligarchs” who subsequently acquired state assets at low prices. Corruption abounded and crime rocketed.

The Russian parliament opposed Yeltsin’s measures and defied his decrees. In 1993 Yeltsin called in the army to suppress this opposition and tanks shelled the parliament building, killing 187. Yeltsin won a constitutional referendum increasing his presidential powers and was re-elected in a close race in 1995. The economic shock therapy did not work and the Russian economy languished, leading to a 60% devaluation of the rouble, the collapse of some banks and an international default in 1998. Discredited and erratic Yeltsin resigned the Presidency in 1999.

Putin and Recovery

Vladimir Putin, originally a KGB officer, became Yeltsin’s senior lieutenant in 1998 and chosen successor. He and his close ally Dmitri Medvedev have presided over a successful era of growth and prosperity.

Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin

 Russia is an energy superpower, with vast oil and gas resources; the recovery from the Yeltsin default was much helped by 5-fold increase globally in oil prices. Debts were repaid and Russia built up large currency reserves. At last living standards consistently improved as the economy grew at 8% pa in the early 2000s, real wages more than tripled, unemployment halved, cheap credit became available. The oligarchs were reined in and an anti-corruption campaign began. The administration was streamlined and the courts reformed.

Domestically, Chechnya was pacified after a long insurrection although Islamic terrorism remained a problem. The West reacted badly to the brief 2008 South Ossetia war pitting Russia against an adventurous and provocative Georgia. Putin has been accused of dictatorial ways: there has been noisy opposition to him and at least two of his opponents have been murdered. He conducts himself as a quasi-Western politician, glad-handing the voters, joining in discussions and presenting a macho image.

Medvedev was Putin’s premier and became president in 2008 when Putin was constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term. He reverted to premier when Putin returned in 2012. A lawyer, Medvedev was rather more liberal than his mentor, but the extent to which he is his own man rather than Putin’s alter ego is unclear.

The Real Russia

Communism, especially the Stalinist variety, has been the bane of Russia. An immensely talented people lived under an oppressive regime and yet her spirit was never extinguished. Composers like Shostakovich were denounced but still produced symphonies. Russian performers like cellist Rostropovich, violinist Oistrahk and pianists Richter and Ashkenazy delighted global audiences. Dancer Nureyev thrilled London whence he defected. In literature Boris Pasternak, winning fame with Dr Zhivago, was forced to refuse the Nobel Prize; poet Yevtushenko heralded The Thaw of Khrushchev’s years.

A generation of dissident writers followed; Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky were infamously tried for “anti-Soviet activities” in 1966 and sent to labour camps. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published Cancer Ward in 1967 deploring the Soviet practice of forcibly hospitalising dissidents as madmen, to be followed in 1973 by the Gulag Archipelago exposing the labour camp system. He was exiled in 1974 but returned in 1994 preaching the merits and values of an idealised Old Russia. The nuclear scientist turned civil rights activist Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 but was sent into internal exile; after a world-wide uproar, he was rehabilitated by Gorbachev.

In sport Russia excelled with distance runner Vladimir Kuts winning 2 Olympic Golds in 1956, gymnast Nellie Kim achieving a perfect 10 in 1976 and Moscow Dynamo thrilling in the 1950s football world. Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 and Grand Slam titles since, exuding glamour.

Maria Sharapova, Tennis Idol

The Future

Russia was well described as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The largest country in the world, with enormous natural resources and untapped potential, she has suffered a 20^th Century of misrule. If her economy is sensibly run and democratic institutions allowed to perform their function, Russia will add lustre to the leading nations in the world.

SMD

30.09.12

Copyright Sidney Donald 2012