Заговор и устранение Сталина. Андрей Фурсов

Summary

The lecture presents the postwar Soviet years as a period shaped by competing forces: changes in society and the state brought about by the war, renewed ideological control, and a struggle within the leadership during Stalin’s final years.

The war’s effects on Soviet society and government

The lecture identifies three major effects of the war:

• Many returning soldiers, especially young men, had gained independence and a sense of agency. The lecturer argues that some found civilian life and the existing system restrictive.
• The war strengthened the Soviet state’s national legitimacy. The lecturer describes a shift toward Soviet patriotism and traditional Russian statehood, symbolized by Stalin’s 1945 toast to the Russian people.
• The party apparatus took on greater responsibility for managing the economy. The lecturer views this wartime overlap between party and economic administration as an early stage in a later fusion with the shadow economy.

Postwar hopes and tighter controls

The lecture says that postwar proposals included limited private peasant farming, expanded rights and freedoms, and greater internal party democracy. As the Cold War intensified, these possibilities receded and ideological control tightened.

The lecturer identifies 1948 as a social turning point: postwar recovery was underway, rationing had ended, demobilization was complete, and the war was beginning to recede from society’s immediate experience.

Ideological campaigns and elite rivalries

The 1946 campaign against the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad, including attacks on Mikhail Zoshchenko and Anna Akhmatova, is described as both an ideological crackdown and an opportunity for factional score-settling. The lecture also mentions criticism of films, followed by campaigns against “rootless cosmopolitans” and excessive admiration of the West.

The lecturer places these campaigns within a leadership struggle between an older group associated with Andrei Zhdanov and a younger cohort associated with Georgy Malenkov. Both groups are described as loyal to Stalin but divided over whether the system should change.

The Leningrad Affair and Stalin’s growing isolation

According to the lecture, Zhdanov’s influence initially rose, with his Leningrad associates, including Nikolai Voznesensky and Alexei Kuznetsov, gaining prominent roles. Malenkov’s return to the leadership, Zhdanov’s death in 1948, and the subsequent arrests of Leningrad officials marked the defeat of that group.

The lecturer calls the Leningrad Affair a victory for the Malenkov–Beria faction and a setback for Stalin, who had previously balanced rival groups. The lecture portrays Stalin and Beria as favoring a reduced party role focused on ideology, propaganda, and personnel, with practical government assigned to the Council of Ministers. Other party figures, it says, resisted this shift.

The 19th Party Congress and succession tensions

At the 19th Party Congress in 1952, the Politburo was replaced by a Presidium, and Stalin did not deliver the main political report. The lecturer interprets Stalin’s limited participation and apparent offer to resign as signs of tension, while noting that it is unclear whether he genuinely wanted to step down or was making a political maneuver.

Stalin expanded the Central Committee and removed several senior figures—including Molotov, Kaganovich, and Voroshilov—from the proposed leadership body. The lecturer suggests these moves reflected an effort to reshape the leadership. The lecture also says Stalin favored Belarusian leader Pyotr Ponomarenko as a possible successor.

The Doctors’ Plot and Stalin’s death

The lecturer connects the 1953 Doctors’ Plot to the broader political conflict, arguing that Stalin’s security circle had been weakened and that senior officials may have feared his plans for the party and state.

The lecture also suggests a possible Western interest in Stalin’s removal, citing an alleged Western program intended to make him leave power. It does not establish this as proven.

Stalin became ill in early March 1953 and died on March 5, according to the public announcement. The lecturer says the exact timing and circumstances remain uncertain. He considers a stroke combined with a deliberate delay in providing medical help more likely, while not ruling out poisoning.

The lecture offers interpretations of disputed events, particularly the alleged conspiracy and the circumstances of Stalin’s death. These claims should not be treated as settled historical fact.

Speakers and sources mentioned

• Speaker: Andrei Ilyich Fursov, the lecturer.
• Sources and materials mentioned: Pravda; the 1946 draft constitution; party resolutions concerning Zvezda and Leningrad; and the proceedings of the 19th Party Congress. No separate source narrator is identifiable in the subtitles.