The Virgin Lands campaign was introduced in 1953 and opened up a great deal of land for farming. "42 million hectares of land, mostly in Northern Kazakhstan, were ploughed and sown for the first time, starting in 1954, with a net gain of 30-40 million hectares to the total area sown to crops in the USSR" (Hanson 54). Khrushchev's formula was simple and would prove to effective in the short-run. These lands, with a little luck from the weather, flourished in the early years of the program but soon were plagued by droughts and high winds. Beginning in 1953 the agricultural sector experienced considerable growth and vast improvements were made. However, the rapid growth in the sector would not be without costs. As time past Khrushchev "got carried away" he now "developed grand ideas about agronomy: that growing maize was the answer to almost everything" (Hanson 56). The growing of maize was intended to increase the production of meat and increase production of dairy. Many of Khrushchev's ideas seemed to contradict one another and therefore did not work. Moreover, Khrushchev's inability to foresee consequences led to confusion and eventually failure. "The average Kolkhoznik benefited little from the post-1958 innovations so he reverted to his private plot. This in turn forced the first secretary to put more restrictions on it. It was a vicious circle" (McCauley 251). The old problems, which haunted the agriculture sector, came back to life. The peasants were not happy and in regards to the farms, there was an absence of control from the top. Consequently, Khrushchev's combated the problems with more reforms. Thus the "vicious circle" continued. In short, .
"The improved incentives and priorities for farm production were, it seems, policies that all the main rivals for the succession to Stalin would have adopted The policies identified more specifically with Khrushchev himself - maize in Chukotka and the like, plus perhaps the Virgin Lands scheme - were ambiguous or downright damaging in the effects" (Hanson 57).
Consequently, Khrushchev's combated the problems with more reforms. ... Khrushchev reform of 1957 was known as sovnarkhoz. ... Fear suppressed opposition during the Stalin era. ... In Khrushchev and Khrushchevism Martin McCauley explains how this happened and sums up the reasons his reforms were so limited. ... Why were Khrushchev's reforms so limited? ...
Public surveys taken in the 1970's, throughout the 80's indicated that most of the Russian citizenry had a favorable view of their life during the regime after Khrushchev, namely the Brezhnev era (1964-1982). Despite many negative social, political, and economic features of the time, a substantial majority thought of the Brezhnev era as more or less positive. ... Brezhnev's conservative leadership style was very different from Khrushchev's reformative reign. ... Even with all of the bad memories of the terror, Brezhnev helped the Soviet citizens to see the KGB in a new ...
Reforms like the Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861 and Army reform in 1870 under Tsar Alexander II seemed successful in preserving autocracy for a limited time only, as these reforms didn't mean better living standards, this led to the growth of discontent and oppositional threats. ... The event presented the government as using terror ineffectively to preserve autocracy, in that era due to the numerous revolutionary groups; such force only backlashed which ruined support for the Tsar. ... Khrushchev as a leader recognized that the relationship between the Soviet leadership and the Russi...
Khrushchev's era saw something of a more liberal outlook on how things should be run in Soviet Russia. We see Khrushchev attempt to narrow the gap in economic inequality and the standard of living, bring forth educational reforms, and propose reforms within the party hierarchy, but like future problems with the reforms to come, the problems that Khrushchev wanted to deal with or change were essential features of the regime and the running of the state. ... This new era would be one of conservatism and complacency. ... The nomenklatura were a privileged few who flourished during a peri...
The next major era after the rule of Lenin came with the emergence of Josef Stalin towards the top of the Soviet political. ... Nikita Khrushchev's rise to power brought back many of the ideas of the original regime. ... In addition to the social reforms, Khrushchev made changes to Stalin's economic policies which were heavily titled to industrial production. ... Despite all of his changes, ultimately none of Khrushchev's reforms touched the central ideals of party control over state, economy, society and culture that are so paramount in the Marxist-Leninist ideology. ... His re...
The Gorbachev era – a period of time, which has been the reason for many controversial theories, raised debatable questions and still, more than 25 years after this time has passed, the consequences of Gorbachev's ruling are still pending under consideration. ... The Soviet system should be reformed if developments are leading to contradictions and crises. Nevertheless, several attempts to reform the policy have been made – either in the core of the USSR under Khrushchev or in the Soviet-bloc countries (Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia).5 However, a few strikes and protests ...
Gorbachev grew up and studied in the time of Khrushchev's de-Stalinization era as well: a time of spirit and possibilities, one that leaders before him, such as Brezhnev, did not get to experience. ... Most of Gorbachev's reforms sounded better than how they actually played out. ... So, what categorized his reforms as "half-measure"? ... During the era of his rule reforms either had to be taken place and seen all the way through, or not taken at all. ... Mikhail Gorbachev was and will forever be known as a great reformer. ...
After the death of Stalin in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev became First Secretary of the Communist party. Stalin's death marked the end of supreme power for the head of the party, and Khrushchev condemned Stalin's actions as unnecessary and harmful to the process of moving the Socialist government to it's goal of pure Communism. ... Khrushchev concerned himself with bettering the plight of the individual, attempting to increase the supply of food and making goods such as home appliances, making automobiles somewhat available, and providing more housing. ... After the oust...
After the death of Stalin in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev became First Secretary of the Communist party. Stalin's death marked the end of supreme power for the head of the party, and Khrushchev condemned Stalin's actions as unnecessary and harmful to the process of moving the Socialist government to it's goal of pure Communism. ... Khrushchev concerned himself with bettering the plight of the individual, attempting to increase the supply of food and making goods such as home appliances, making automobiles somewhat available, and providing more housing. ... After the ousting of Khr...
