Influence of the Cold War on Khruschev's policies and the nature of the Russian Gov.

[strugglingstudent]

The title says it all really.

I am in the middle of writing an essay that is incredibly limited in words and depth. Anyway, I am trying to argue that the Cold War had an influence on Khruschev's polices that shifted the nature of the Russian government from a 'World Communism' to 'Peaceful Co-Existence' and Stalin's dictatorship of he Politburo towards greater intra-party democracy. These are my ideas on what to write however I am lacking any evidence or sources.

Does anyone know any key changes in the government that reflect these ideas or a least a writer who speaks about these changes? Or even another occurrence that highlights the influence of the Cold War on Khruschev's policies?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Os Cangaceiros]

"The Road to Gdnask" by Daniel Singer talks pretty extensively about the structure of Khruschev's gov't compared to Stalin's, as I remember.

Unfortunately I can't give any specific examples at the moment...but if you have access to that book it's well worth checking out.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I think I would take issue with the idea that Stalin represented a drive for 'world communism' while Kruschev instituted peaceful coexistence on his own. This page might be helpful for you https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/subject/peace/index.htm

Stalin:*It’s not possible that I said that the two economic systems could not co-operate. Co-operation ideas were expressed by Lenin. I might have said that one system was reluctant to co-operate, but that concerned only one side. But as to the possibility of co-operation, I adhere to Lenin who expressed both the possibility and the desire of co-operation. As to the desire of the people to co-operate on the part of the U.S.S.R. and the Party, it is possible—and the two countries could only benefit by this co-operation.

[strugglingstudent]

Stalin:*It’s not possible that I said that the two economic systems could not co-operate. Co-operation ideas were expressed by Lenin. I might have said that one system was reluctant to co-operate, but that concerned only one side. But as to the possibility of co-operation, I adhere to Lenin who expressed both the possibility and the desire of co-operation. As to the desire of the people to co-operate on the part of the U.S.S.R. and the Party, it is possible—and the two countries could only benefit by this co-operation.

I agree with you, I know it's not all black and white. Sadly, I am limited in how much depth I am allowed to go into and thus need to make assumptions. I suppose this is why I am struggling to come up with any evidence that the Cold War did impact on the government at the time.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Sorry I missed your reply. Unfortunately I think you're starting from a flawed position on the outset as any push for 'world communism' had dried up in the USSR sometime in the 20s. It was caused by degeneration within the revolution and the party itself. A better position might be how the cold war influenced domestic production in the USSR. Post-WW2, the west began producing huge amounts of consumer goods. In order to compete the USSR embraced a similar consumerism. Unfortunately I don't have a good resource for you to really get the ball rolling for that. Wish I could help, hopefully this can be moved to the learning section and others can reply.