The Soviet Union acquired the status of a leading world power.
The world was divided into two blocks, one of which was headed by the USSR. There was an emotional upsurge in public life associated with victory in the war. At the same time, the totalitarian system continued to strengthen.
The main task of the post-war period was the restoration of the destroyed economy. In March 1946, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a plan for the reconstruction and restoration of the national economy.
The demilitarization of the economy and the modernization of the military-industrial complex began. Heavy industry, mainly mechanical engineering, metallurgy, and the fuel and energy complex, was declared a priority area.
By 1948, production had reached pre-war levels thanks to heroic labor Soviet people, free labor of Gulag prisoners, redistribution of funds in favor of heavy industry, pumping funds from the agricultural sector and light industry, raising funds from German reparations, strict economic planning.
In 1945, the gross agricultural output of the USSR was 60% of the pre-war level. The government tried to take punitive measures to bring the industry out of the crisis.
In 1947, a mandatory minimum of workdays was established, the law “For encroachment on collective farm and state property” was tightened, and the tax on livestock was increased, which led to its mass slaughter.
The area of individual plots of collective farmers was reduced. Wages in kind have decreased. Collective farmers were denied passports, which limited their freedom. At the same time, farms were enlarged and control over them was tightened.
These reforms were not successful, and only by the 50s. managed to reach the pre-war level of agricultural production.
The post-war situation required the government to implement the democratic principles of state structure.
In 1945, the State Defense Committee was abolished. Re-elections of Councils at all levels took place, and their convenings and sessions became more frequent. The number of standing commissions was increased, and the work of public and political organizations was resumed.
In 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers, and the People's Commissariats into ministries. In accordance with the Constitution, direct and secret elections of people's judges were held. The 19th Party Congress took place. Since 1946, the development of a draft of a new Constitution of the USSR began. In 1947, the question of the draft of a new program of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was brought up for consideration by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
Historical science was based exclusively on the “Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”. Research and scientific supervisors such fields of science as cybernetics, genetics, psychoanalysis, wave mechanics.
The following composers became objects of persecution and criticism from the party: Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Muradeli and others. In 1948, they were expelled from the Union of Composers for creating “odious” works.
In 1948, the persecution of “cosmopolitans” began. Bans on contacts and marriages with foreigners were introduced. A wave of anti-Semitism swept across the country.
There have been changes in science and culture. Since 1952, compulsory seven-year education was introduced, and evening schools began to open. The Academy of Arts and the Academy of Sciences were formed with its branches in the republics. Postgraduate studies have appeared in many universities. Regular television broadcasting began.
Against the backdrop of positive developments in the field of science and culture, active political intervention began in their development. The government and the party began to control Scientific research historians, philosophers, philologists.
A. A. Danilov, A. V. Pyzhikov
The birth of a “superpower”: the USSR in the first post-war years
Introduction
The post-war USSR has always attracted the attention of specialists and readers interested in the past of our country. The victory of the Soviet people in the most terrible war in the history of mankind became Russia's finest hour of the twentieth century. But at the same time, it also became an important milestone, marking the onset of a new era - the era of post-war development.
It so happened that the first post-war years (May 1945 - March 1953) turned out to be “deprived” in Soviet historiography. In the first post-war years, a few works appeared extolling the peaceful creative work of the Soviet people during the Fourth Five-Year Plan, but naturally did not reveal the essence of even this aspect of the socio-economic and political history of Soviet society. After Stalin’s death in March 1953 and the subsequent wave of criticism of the “cult of personality,” even this plot turned out to be exhausted and soon forgotten. As for the relationship between government and society, the development of a post-war socio-economic and political course, innovations and dogmas in foreign policy, these topics were never developed in Soviet historiography. In subsequent years, the plots of the first post-war years were reflected only in the multi-volume “History of the Communist Party Soviet Union”, and even then in fragments, from the point of view of the concept of “restoring the national economy of the country destroyed by the war.”
Only at the end of the 80s. Publicists, and then historians, turned to this complex and short period of the country’s history in order to look at it in a new way, to try to understand its specifics. However, the lack of archival sources, as well as the “revelatory” attitude, led to the fact that the place of one half-truth was very soon taken by another.
As for studying " cold war"and its consequences for Soviet society, then these problems were not raised in that period.
A breakthrough in the study of the post-war USSR came in the 90s, when the archival funds of the highest bodies became available state power, and, most importantly, many documents of the highest party leadership. The discovery of materials and documents on the history of USSR foreign policy led to the appearance of a series of publications on the history of the Cold War.
In 1994, G. M. Adibekov published a monograph devoted to the history of the Information Bureau of Communist Parties (Cominform) and its role in the political development of Eastern European countries in the early post-war years.
In the collection of articles prepared by scientists from the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Cold War: New Approaches. New Documents” developed such new topics for researchers as the Soviet reaction to the “Marshall Plan”, evolution Soviet politics in the German question in the 40s, the “Iranian crisis” of 1945–1946. etc. All of them were written on the basis of the latest documentary sources identified in previously closed party archives.
In the same year, a collection of articles prepared by the Institute was published. Russian history RAS "Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War (1945–1985): A new reading." In it, along with the disclosure of private aspects of the history of the Cold War, articles were published that revealed the doctrinal foundations of Soviet foreign policy in these years, clarified the international consequences of the Korean War, and traced the features of the party leadership of the foreign policy of the USSR.
At the same time, a collection of articles “USSR and the Cold War” appeared under the reaction of V. S. Lelchuk and E. I. Pivovar, in which for the first time the consequences of the Cold War were studied not only from the point of view of the foreign policy of the USSR and the West, but also in connection with the impact that this confrontation had on the internal processes taking place in the Soviet country: the evolution of power structures, the development of industry and agriculture, Soviet society, etc.
Of interest is the work of the author’s team, combined in the book “Soviet Society: Emergence, Development, Historical Finale” edited by Yu. N. Afanasyev and V. S. Lelchuk. It examines various aspects of the foreign and domestic policy of the USSR in the post-war period. It can be stated that the understanding of many issues was carried out here at a fairly high research level. The understanding of the development of the military-industrial complex and the specifics of the ideological functioning of power have made significant progress.
In 1996, a monograph by V.F. Zima was published, dedicated to the origin and consequences of the famine in the USSR in 1946–1947. It also reflected various aspects of the socio-economic policy of the Stalinist leadership of the USSR in the first post-war years.
An important contribution to the study of the formation and functioning of the Soviet military-industrial complex, its place and role in the system of relationships between government and society was made by N. S. Simonov, who prepared the most complete monograph on this issue to date. He shows in it the growing role of “military production commanders” in the system of power in the USSR in the post-war period, and identifies priority areas for the growth of military production during this period.
During these years, V.P. Popov proved himself to be a leading specialist in the field of comprehensive analysis of the economic development of the USSR in the post-war years and the development of state policy in this area, having published a series of interesting articles, as well as a collection of documentary materials that were highly appreciated by the scientific community. The summary result of his many years of work was a doctoral dissertation and a monograph on these issues.
In 1998, the monograph by R. G. Pikhoi “The Soviet Union: the history of power” was published. 1945–1991." In it, the author, using unique documents, shows the features of the evolution of government institutions in the first post-war years, asserts that the system of power that emerged in these years can be considered as a classic Soviet (or Stalinist).
E. Yu. Zubkova has established herself as a well-known specialist in the history of the reform of Soviet society in the first post-war decades. The fruit of her many years of work studying the moods and everyday life of people was her doctoral dissertation and monograph “Post-war Soviet society: politics and everyday life. 1945–1953."
Despite the publication of the listed works over the last decade, it should be recognized that the development of the history of the first post-war years of Soviet society is just beginning. Moreover, there is still no single conceptually homogeneous historical work that would undertake a comprehensive analysis of the accumulated historical sources across the entire spectrum of socio-economic, socio-political, and foreign policy history of Soviet society in the early post-war years.
What sources became available to historians in last years?
Some researchers (including the authors of this monograph) got the opportunity to work in the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (formerly the archive of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee). It contains a wealth of material on all aspects of the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet state and its top leadership, as well as the personal funds of the leaders of the CPSU. Notes from members of the Politburo on specific issues of economic development, foreign policy, etc. make it possible to trace around what problems of post-war development disputes flared up in the leadership, what solutions to certain problems were proposed by them.
Of particular value are the documents from J.V. Stalin’s personal fund, which include not only his correspondence, but also all the major decisions of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers of the USSR - the key institutions of state power. The authors studied the history of the leader’s illness, revealing light on pages of the history of power inaccessible to the researcher, political struggle in the highest spheres of party and state leadership in the first post-war years.
In the State Archives Russian Federation(GARF) the authors studied documents of the highest bodies of state power - the Council of People's Commissars (Council of Ministers) of the USSR, and a number of ministries. Great assistance in the work on the monograph was provided by documents from the “special folders” of I. V. Stalin, L. P. Beria, V. M. Molotov, N. S. Khrushchev, which contain particularly important materials on issues of domestic and foreign policy.
In the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), the authors studied numerous files with protocols of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, and a number of departments (f. 17). A special place was occupied by documents from the funds of I. V. Stalin (f. 558), A. A. Zhdanov (f. 77), V. M. Molotov (f. 82), G. M. Malenkov (f. 83), containing unique documents and materials on key issues of domestic and foreign policy.
The Great Patriotic War ended in victory, which the Soviet people had been seeking for four years. Men fought on the fronts, women worked on collective farms, in military factories - in a word, they provided the rear. However, the euphoria caused by the long-awaited victory was replaced by a feeling of hopelessness. Continuous hard work, hunger, Stalinist repressions, renewed with renewed vigor - these phenomena darkened the post-war years.
In the history of the USSR the term “cold war” appears. Used in relation to the period of military, ideological and economic confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. It begins in 1946, that is, in the post-war years. The USSR emerged victorious from World War II, but, unlike the United States, it had a long road to recovery ahead of it.
Construction
According to the Fourth Five-Year Plan, the implementation of which began in the USSR in the post-war years, it was necessary first of all to restore the cities destroyed by fascist troops. Over four years, more than 1.5 thousand settlements were damaged. Young people quickly acquired various construction specialties. However, there was not enough labor - the war claimed the lives of more than 25 million Soviet citizens.
To restore normal work hours, overtime work was canceled. Annual paid holidays were introduced. The working day now lasted eight hours. Peaceful construction in the USSR in the post-war years was headed by the Council of Ministers.
Industry
Plants and factories destroyed during the Second World War were actively restored in the post-war years. In the USSR, by the end of the forties, old enterprises started operating. New ones were also built. The post-war period in the USSR is 1945-1953, that is, it begins after the end of the Second World War. Ends with the death of Stalin.
The recovery of industry after the war occurred rapidly, partly due to the high working capacity Soviet people. Citizens of the USSR were convinced that they had a great life, much better than the Americans, existing under the conditions of decaying capitalism. This was facilitated by the Iron Curtain, which isolated the country culturally and ideologically from the whole world for forty years.
They worked a lot, but their life did not become easier. In the USSR in 1945-1953 there was a rapid development of three industries: missile, radar, and nuclear. Most of the resources were spent on the construction of enterprises that belonged to these areas.
Agriculture
The first post-war years were terrible for the residents. In 1946, the country was gripped by famine caused by destruction and drought. A particularly difficult situation was observed in Ukraine, Moldova, in the right-bank regions of the lower Volga region and in the North Caucasus. New collective farms were created throughout the country.
In order to strengthen the spirit of Soviet citizens, directors commissioned by officials shot a huge number of films telling about happy life collective farmers. These films enjoyed wide popularity, and were watched with admiration even by those who knew what a collective economy really was.
In the villages, people worked from dawn to dawn, while living in poverty. That is why later, in the fifties, young people left villages and went to cities, where life was at least a little easier.
Standard of living
In the post-war years, people suffered from hunger. In 1947 there was, but most goods remained in short supply. Hunger has returned. Prices for ration goods were raised. Nevertheless, over the course of five years, starting in 1948, products gradually became cheaper. This somewhat improved the standard of living of Soviet citizens. In 1952, the price of bread was 39% lower than in 1947, and for milk - 70%.
The availability of essential goods did not make life much easier for ordinary people, but, being under the Iron Curtain, most of them easily believed in the illusory idea of best country in the world.
Until 1955, Soviet citizens were convinced that they owed Stalin for victory in the Great Patriotic War. But this situation was not observed throughout the entire region. In those regions that were annexed to the Soviet Union after the war, there were far fewer conscious citizens, for example, in the Baltic states and Western Ukraine, where anti-Soviet organizations appeared in the 40s.
Friendly States
After the end of the war, communists came to power in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and the GDR. The USSR established diplomatic relations with these states. At the same time, the conflict with the West has intensified.
According to the 1945 treaty, Transcarpathia was transferred to the USSR. The Soviet-Polish border has changed. After the end of the war, many former citizens of other states, for example Poland, lived in the territory. The Soviet Union entered into a population exchange agreement with this country. Poles living in the USSR now had the opportunity to return to their homeland. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians could leave Poland. It is noteworthy that at the end of the forties, only about 500 thousand people returned to the USSR. To Poland - twice as much.
Criminal situation
In the post-war years in the USSR with banditry law enforcement agencies started a serious fight. Crime peaked in 1946. During this year, about 30 thousand armed robberies were recorded.
To combat rampant crime, new employees, as a rule, former front-line soldiers, were accepted into the ranks of the police. It was not so easy to restore peace to Soviet citizens, especially in Ukraine and the Baltic states, where the criminal situation was most depressing. During the Stalin years, a fierce struggle was waged not only against “enemies of the people,” but also against ordinary robbers. From January 1945 to December 1946, more than three and a half thousand gang organizations were liquidated.
Repression
Back in the early twenties, many intellectuals left the country. They knew about the fate of those who did not have time to flee Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, at the end of the forties, some accepted the offer to return to their homeland. Russian nobles were returning home. But to another country. Many were sent immediately upon their return to Stalin’s camps.
In the post-war years it reached its apogee. Saboteurs, dissidents and other “enemies of the people” were placed in the camps. The fate of the soldiers and officers who found themselves surrounded during the war was sad. At best, they spent several years in camps, until which the cult of Stalin was debunked. But many were shot. In addition, the conditions in the camps were such that only the young and healthy could endure them.
In the post-war years, Marshal Georgy Zhukov became one of the most respected people in the country. His popularity irritated Stalin. However, he did not dare to put the national hero behind bars. Zhukov was known not only in the USSR, but also beyond its borders. The leader knew how to create uncomfortable conditions in other ways. In 1946, the “aviators’ case” was fabricated. Zhukov was removed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces and sent to Odessa. Several generals close to the marshal were arrested.
Culture
In 1946, the struggle against Western influence began. It was expressed in the popularization of domestic culture and the ban on everything foreign. Soviet writers, artists, and directors were persecuted.
In the forties, as already mentioned, a huge number of war films were shot. These paintings were subject to strict censorship. The characters were created according to a template, the plot was built according to a clear pattern. Music was also strictly controlled. They played exclusively compositions praising Stalin and the happy Soviet life. This did not have the best effect on the development of national culture.
The science
The development of genetics began in the thirties. In the post-war period, this science found itself in exile. Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet biologist and agronomist, became the main participant in the attack on geneticists. In August 1948, academicians who had made a significant contribution to the development of domestic science lost the opportunity to engage in research activities.
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Federal Agency for Education
State educational institution
Higher vocational education
All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute
Department of Economic History
Test № 1
by discipline " National history»
Completed by a student
1st year, gr.129
Faculty of Accounting and Statistics
(specialist. Accounting Analysis and audit)
Salnikova A.A.
I checked R.M. Chernykh.
Moscow - 2008
USSR in the post-war period (40s – early 50s).
1. Introduction – relevance of the chosen topic.
- Consequences of the Great Patriotic War.
Restoring the country's economy;
Industrial restoration;
Rearmament of the army;
Agriculture;
Financial system;
Labor organization in the post-war period;
The standard of living of the people, social benefits.
3 . Conclusion.
Introduction
Consequences of the Great Patriotic War
The victory over fascism came at a high cost to the USSR. A military hurricane raged for several years over the main regions of the most developed part of the Soviet Union. Most industrial centers in the European part of the country were hit. All the main breadbaskets - Ukraine, the North Caucasus, and a significant part of the Volga region - were caught in the flames of war. So much was destroyed that restoration could take many years, even decades.
Almost 32 thousand industrial enterprises lay in ruins. On the eve of the war, they provided the country with 70% of all steel production and 60% of coal. 65 thousand kilometers of railway tracks were disabled. During the war, 1,700 cities and about 70 thousand villages were destroyed. More than 25 million people lost their homes. But even more serious losses were human lives. Almost every Soviet family lost someone close to them during the war. According to the latest estimates, losses during military operations amounted to 7.5 million people, losses among the civilian population - 6-8 million people. To the military losses should be added the mortality rate in the camps, which during the war continued to function at full capacity, carrying out emergency construction, logging and mining on a colossal scale, generated by wartime requirements.
The food of prisoners then, perhaps, corresponded even less to the physical needs of a person than in peacetime. Total between 1941 and 1945 premature death overtook about 20-25 million citizens of the USSR. Of course, the greatest losses were among male population. Decline in the number of men 1910-1925 birth was horrific and caused permanent imbalances in the demographic structure of the country. A lot of women in the same age group were left without husbands. At the same time, they were often single mothers, who at the same time continued to work in enterprises of an economy that had been transferred to a war footing and was in dire need of workers.
Thus, according to the 1959 census, for every 1,000 women aged thirty-five to forty-four, there were only 633 men. The result was a sharp decline in the birth rate in the 1940s, and the war was not the only reason.
Plans for restoring the country's economy.
The Soviet state began to restore the destroyed economy during the war years, as territories occupied by the enemy were liberated. But restoration became a priority task only after the victory. The country was faced with a choice of economic development path. In February - March 1946, Stalin again returned to the slogan put forward shortly before the war: the completion of the construction of socialism and the beginning of the transition to communism. Stalin assumed that in order to build the material and technical base of communism, it was enough to increase the production of iron to 50 million tons per year, steel to 60 million tons, oil to 60 million tons, coal to 500 million tons.
The fourth five-year plan was more realistic. The development of this plan is closely connected with the name of N.A. Voznesensky, who was at the head of the State Planning Committee in those years. During the war, he actually led the industrial complex that produced the most important types of weapons: the People's Commissariats of the aviation and tank industries, weapons and ammunition, and ferrous metallurgy. A son of his time, Voznesensky tried to introduce elements of economic accounting and material incentives into the economic system that emerged after the war, although while maintaining the decisive role of centralized planning.
Such foreign policy factors as the beginning of the Cold War, the looming nuclear threat, and the arms race had an impact. Thus, the first post-war five-year plan was not so much a five-year restoration of the national economy as the construction of new enterprises of the military-industrial complex - factories for the construction of naval vessels, new types of weapons.
Restoration of industry, rearmament of the army.
Immediately after the end of the war, the technical re-equipment of the army takes place, saturating it the latest designs aviation, small arms, artillery, tanks. The creation of jet aircraft and missile systems for all branches of the military required a lot of effort. In a short time, missile weapons for tactical, then strategic and air defense purposes were developed.
An extensive construction program was launched, both large-capacity naval ships and a significant submarine fleet.
Huge funds were concentrated on the implementation of the atomic project, which was supervised by the all-powerful L.P. Beria. Thanks to the efforts of Soviet designers, and partly intelligence, which managed to steal important atomic secrets from the Americans, atomic weapons were created in the USSR in an unpredictably short time - in 1949. And in 1953, the Soviet Union created the world's first hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb.
Thus, in the post-war years, the Soviet Union managed to achieve considerable success in developing the economy and rearmament of the army. However, these achievements seemed insufficient to Stalin. He believed that it was necessary to “spur up” the pace of economic and military development. In 1949, the head of the State Planning Committee N.A. Voznesensky was accused of the fact that the plan drawn up in 1946 for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950. contained underestimated figures. Voznesensky was convicted and executed.
In 1949, at the direction of Stalin, without taking into account the real development possibilities of the country, new indicators were determined for the main industries. These voluntaristic decisions created extreme tension in the economy and slowed down the rise in the already very low living standards of the people. (A few years later this crisis was overcome and in 1952 the increase in industrial production exceeded 10%).
We must not forget about the forced labor of millions of people in the Gulag system (the main administration of the camps). The volume of work carried out by the camp system, where prisoners worked, increased several times after the war. The prisoner army expanded to include prisoners of war from the losing countries. It was their labor that built (but was never completed) the Baikal-Amur Railway from Lake Baikal to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the Northern Road along the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Salekhard to Norilsk, nuclear industry facilities, metallurgical enterprises, energy facilities were created, coal was mined and ore, timber, huge camp-state farms provided products.
Recognizing the undoubted economic successes, it should be noted that in the difficult conditions of restoring the economy destroyed by the war, a unilateral shift in favor of military industries, which essentially subjugated the rest of industry, created an imbalance in economic development. War production was hard
burden on the country's economy, sharply limiting the possibilities for increasing the material well-being of the people.
Agriculture.
The development of agriculture, which was in a severe crisis, proceeded at a much slower pace. It could not fully provide the population with food and raw materials for light industry. The terrible drought of 1946 struck Ukraine, Moldova, and southern Russia. People were dying. The main cause of high mortality was dystrophy. But the tragedy of the post-war famine, as often happened, was carefully hushed up. After a severe drought, a high grain harvest was obtained in the next two years. This to some extent contributed to the strengthening of agricultural production in general and some of its growth.
IN agriculture The affirmation of the previous order and the reluctance to undertake any reforms that would weaken strict control by the state were especially painful. In general, it was based not so much on the peasant’s personal interest in the results of his labor, but on non-economic coercion. Each peasant was required to perform a certain amount of work on the collective farm. Failure to comply with this norm was subject to prosecution, as a result of which the collective farmer could lose his freedom or, as a measure of punishment, his personal plot would be taken away from him. It should be taken into account that this particular plot was the main source of livelihood for the collective farmer; from this plot he received food for himself and his family; selling their surplus on the market was the only way to obtain Money. A collective farm member did not have the right to freely move around the country; he could not leave his place of residence without the consent of the collective farm leader.
At the end of the 40s, a campaign was launched to consolidate collective farms, which at first seemed like a justified and reasonable measure, but in fact resulted only in a stage on the path to transforming collective farms into state agricultural enterprises. The situation in agriculture significantly complicated the supply of food and raw materials for light industry to the population. With the diet of the population of the Soviet Union extremely limited, the government exported grain and other agricultural products abroad, especially to the countries of central and southeastern Europe that had begun to “build socialism.”
In the post-war period, through the efforts of the Soviet leadership, a world socialist camp emerged. Particular hopes were pinned on the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
In 1945-1954. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were liberated from French colonial rule. These three countries declared the construction of socialism. In 1964-1975 The USSR provided the DRV with weapons, military specialists, etc. in the fight against US aggression. In 1975, American troops left South Vietnam, which was annexed to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1950-1953 The bloody conflict between North and South Korea with the participation of the USA, USSR and China ended in a truce and the establishment of a hard border between the two Korean states. In 1962, the USSR and the USA, in the struggle for Cuba, whose leader Fidel Castro announced the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution, brought the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster, but reached a compromise.
In the “socialist camp,” the leaders of the USSR singled out the “socialist commonwealth,” that is, the countries that were members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) (1949) and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) (1955). The Soviet leadership strictly controlled the situation in the Commonwealth countries. In the fall of 1956, units of the Soviet army suppressed a major uprising in Hungary. In August 1968, Warsaw Internal Affairs troops were brought into Czechoslovakia and the process of democratization of society that had unfolded there (Prague Spring) was interrupted. Force was repeatedly used against popular unrest in the GDR and Poland. Relations with Yugoslavia developed unevenly.
The foreign policy of the USSR was based on its growing military potential. By the beginning of the 70s. military-strategic parity (equality in atomic weapons) with the USA and the West was achieved. In 1970-1972 Treaties were signed between the USSR, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia on recognition of the results of the Second World War, on the renunciation of mutual territorial claims, on economic and other forms of cooperation. In 1972-1973, the USSR and the USA signed treaties on the limitation of missile defense systems and strategic offensive weapons, as well as an agreement on the prevention of nuclear war. In 1975, at meetings on security and cooperation in Europe in Helsinki, the heads of 33 European states, the USA and Canada signed a package of documents aimed at strengthening between! akin to security.
The “detente” was dealt a blow in 1979 by the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
30. Russia in the 90s.
Socio-economic and political development of Russia in the 1990s: achievements and problems
By the end of the 90s, radical changes took place in the economy and social structure of Russian society. The country has developed a market economy, not much different from the economy of moderately developed capitalist states. However, this socio-economic system had a number of disadvantages. There was no legal protection of property rights and domestic producers. No plan was developed social protection population. The size of external debt has not decreased.
Production was in a depressed state. The country's leadership lacked competence. All this led to a financial crisis in August 1998. The crisis has hit all sectors of the economy. The losses of the banking system amounted to 100 - 150 billion rubles.
The financial and economic crisis has had a hard impact on the situation of the Russian population. Delays in payments have become common wages and pensions. In 1999, there were 8.9 million unemployed, accounting for 12.4% working population countries: for 1989 - 1999 its number decreased by 2 million people.
Only in the second half of 1999 were the negative consequences of the crisis overcome. A slow rise in production began.
IN political life The crisis of power clearly manifested itself. The authority of B.N. was falling. Yeltsin. Personnel changes in the government, ministries and departments have become more frequent. From April 1998 to March 2000, 5 people were replaced in the positions of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation: S.V. Kirienko, V.S. Chernomyrdin, E.M. Primakov, S.V. Stepashin, V.V. Putin. In April 2000 M.M. became the head of government. Kasyanov. In 2004, he was replaced by Fradkov. However, the change of government leaders did not change the situation in the country. There was still no strategy for developing reforms in the economy and politics. In the republics and regions, laws were adopted that contradicted federal legislation.
In mid-1999, the situation in Chechnya deteriorated again. The separatist movement led by President Aslan Maskhadov has intensified. Terrorist acts by Chechen militants have become more frequent. Chechnya has become a center of international terrorism. All this became the reasons for the second Chechen war(August 1999), the death of A. Maskhadov.
In December 1999, regular elections to the State Duma took place. Many associations and parties took part in the election campaign: “Our Home is Russia”, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, “Yabloko”. New ones have appeared political movements: “Fatherland is all Russia” (leaders - E.M. Primakov, Yu.M. Luzhkov), “Union of Right Forces” (S.V. Kiriyenko, B.E. Nemtsov, I. Khakamada), “Unity” ( S. Shoigu). As a result of the elections in the III State Duma, the leading factions became Unity and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and in the IV State Duma(December 2003) the majority belongs to United Russia.
On December 31, 1999, the first President of the Russian Federation B.N. announced his early resignation. Yeltsin. He appointed V.V. as acting president. Putin In the elections of March 26, 2000 V.V. Putin was elected president of the Russian Federation, and in 20004 Putin V.V. was re-elected for a second term.
