Introduction: The Problem of Reform in the Post-Stalin Era

Abstract

When Stalin died in March 1953 he left behind a country in a deep state of crisis. The economy, despite the country’s fairly rapid recovery from the destruction caused by World War II, was in a terrible state. Industry and agriculture were both hopelessly inefficient and the standard of living was low [21: 1]. Politically, the system of controlling the population through terror had clearly outlived its usefulness. Even during the last years of Stalin’s life there were numerous revolts among prisoners in the labour camps, some of which had proven difficult to put down [29: 327–32]. Restrictive measures affecting the ‘free’ population, for example, the 1940 law which made absenteeism from work and job-changing criminal offences, had also become counter-productive, and both industrial managers and the lower courts had become reluctant to enforce them [21: 36–8; 23: 22]. Within the more narrow political arena of the Communist Party and the government administration, it was evident that the political machinery needed revitalisation. In the last years of Stalin’s reign decision-making had rested almost exclusively with Stalin and a handful of people around him.