How would Zhdanov leads the USSR?

[Gukpard]

Andrei Zhdanov was the expected sucessor of Josef Stalin, but he died years before his master due his extreme alcoholism and became a historical footnote.

By having the (improbably) PoD of him controlling his drinking (near ASB, but there is no history otherwise), and having Stalin to die on a more "controlled" way through the spam of months, allowing him to announce Zhdanov as his sucessor, purge the people who oppose him, and introduce Zhdanov to the soviet media as the best possible candidate, how would Zhdanov government be?

 

[Sam R.]

You mean apart from liquidating the Leningrad ultraleft produced by the siege?

Apart from putting Soviet Art back 50 years. Yes I do know what I'm saying.

Historically Zhadanov had plenty of affects, and effects.

 

[Whiteshore]

how would Zhdanov government be?

In many ways, a continuation of Stalinism policies.

 

[Gukpard]

You mean apart from liquidating the Leningrad ultraleft produced by the siege?

Apart from putting Soviet Art back 50 years. Yes I do know what I'm saying.

Historically Zhadanov had plenty of affects, and effects.

Expand on these points, please.

 

[stevej713]

Stalinism is a slippery slope, because fellow Stalinists can quickly become enemies if one's policies or actions are not considered Stalinist enough. That's essentially what got Zhdanov removed in the first place. The question is: can Zhdanov create and maintain the culture of fear that Stalin effectively used to shield himself from removal? If not, then the USSR will have a troubled 50s and 60s without de-Stalinization.

 

[David T]

Winners:

Voznesensky (victim of the "Leningrad affair")
Kuznestsov (ditto)
Kosygin (survived the "Leningrad affair" but it may have been a close call)
Shepilov
Yuri Zhdanov (obviously)

Losers:

Malenkov
Beria
Lysenko?

Yuri Zhdanov had published an attack on Lysenko that had angered Stalin and helped to lead to the political eclipse of Yuri's father--though the death of Andrei Zhdanov was almost certainly natural. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4213439?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents But it is likely that his article was Yuri's own initiative. Even if so, Yuri might be a lot more capable of persuading his father--if the latter ruled the USSR--that Lysenko was harming Soviet science than he was of persuading Stalin. The above-cited article notes:

Yuri Zhdanov of course managed to get back in Stalin's good graces and even married his daughter...

 

[Cudymcar]

In many ways, a continuation of Stalinism policies.

Only worse.

 

[Gukpard]

Only worse.

How?

Everyone is being vague, can you tell me how worse?

 

[Thanosaekk]

There would obviously be repercussions in Soviet culture and art, Zhdanov is probably gonna go on a crusade to "purify" it and take out everything that doesn't follow the party line. Domestically, you could expect a Stalin-esque political repression, but by far the most interesting repercussions are in foreign affairs. Zhdanov was a follower of the school of thought that believed "the West will always be hostile, our best bet is to attack them first". He thought concessions to the Americans and British would not achieve anything, and promoted things such as violent strikes against the Marshall Plan and communist fifth columns in Western Europe. This could also be a way for him to entrench his policies at home, as in OTL he underlined the threats from abroad to promote orthodox doctrine in the USSR itself. Overall, you can expect a much more heated Cold War from the get-go.

 

[Gukpard]

There would obviously be repercussions in Soviet culture and art, Zhdanov is probably gonna go on a crusade to "purify" it and take out everything that doesn't follow the party line. Domestically, you could expect a Stalin-esque political repression, but by far the most interesting repercussions are in foreign affairs. Zhdanov was a follower of the school of thought that believed "the West will always be hostile, our best bet is to attack them first". He thought concessions to the Americans and British would not achieve anything, and promoted things such as violent strikes against the Marshall Plan and communist fifth columns in Western Europe. This could also be a way for him to entrench his policies at home, as in OTL he underlined the threats from abroad to promote orthodox doctrine in the USSR itself. Overall, you can expect a much more heated Cold War from the get-go.

Would he engage in some form of reign of terror, or he would keep the "normal" post WWII Stalin era repression?

 

[Thanosaekk]

Would he engage in some form of reign of terror, or he would keep the "normal" post WWII Stalin era repression?

I doubt he would reach the levels of 1930s repression, but there would be political enemies like Malenkov and his gang to deal with. If Zhdanov lived longer and was further entrenched as the successor to Stalin, then it might not be too hard to consolidate power and in that case you can expect normal levels of Soviet rule.

 

[David T]

How?

Everyone is being vague, can you tell me how worse?

Zhdanov took a very hard line in cultural matters--in literature, the attacks on Zoshchenko and Akhmatova, in music the decrees finding Shostakovich, Prokofiev, even Khachaturian guilty of "formalism." Now of course the Central Committee decrees on these matters could not have been issued without Stalin's approval, but Zhdanov seemed particularly ardent in pressing for them.

 

[fasquardon]

If we looked at Khrushchev's record before Stalin's death, would we have expected him to lead as he did? In my private musings on this question, I've never been clear on whether Zhdanov was really the insufferable cultural snob he appeared, or an ambitious grasper who was using the office to impress Stalin that he was a man who got things done...

fasquardon

 

[Belschaft]

Zhdanov was a hardliner on a lot of things, but most of his protege's - primarily Leningrad based politicians who came to prominence during the second world war - were reformers, particularly on economic issues. After Zhdanov's death Stalin orchestrated the Leningrad affair and had most of them killed, but if we swap their dates of death around that doesn't happen.

My own view is that the most likely outcome is early economic and political reforms that would delay or perhaps even prevent the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

[fasquardon]

Zhdanov was a hardliner on a lot of things, but most of his protege's - primarily Leningrad based politicians who came to prominence during the second world war - were reformers, particularly on economic issues. After Zhdanov's death Stalin orchestrated the Leningrad affair and had most of them killed, but if we swap their dates of death around that doesn't happen.

My own view is that the most likely outcome is early economic and political reforms that would delay or perhaps even prevent the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Leningrad party did have a whole bunch of people with good ideas and experience of applying socialism in a very unforgiving environment (that being the long siege of Leningrad). In OTL, the Communist parties that have been most successful have been those who had particularly long and painful paths to power.

I wonder, if Stalin died at the height of Zhdanov's power, and Zhdanov died on schedule, might we get a situation where he manages to pack the Politburo with Leningradites, leading to a powerful "liberal" tilt to Soviet politics for the next 40 years, as even if the people who get the General Secretary seat may not be a former Leningrad party member or sympathetic to the Leningrad party's views, more conservative leaders would still need to buy a certain amount of support from them if they were a powerful faction...

fasquardon