Stalin survives his hemmoragic stroke and starts pushing for reforms

[123lll]

As Stalin lie's unconscious from his hemmoragic stroke, Stalin's inner circle decides it is a great idea to announce to the entirety of the USSR and have it be shown on live television, as they are outlining what's going to be happening in the interim period, Joseph Stalin, on national television wakes up, looking completely fine. A subsequent doctors assessment shows that he no longer has any health issues, is completely command of his mental faculties, and is completely sane. Soon after, Stalin starts convening the CPSU for a congress, where he announces that he will implement reforms to the Soviet Union that is basically Khrushchev's thaw and 1965 soviet economic reforms, in addition, he places Beria under arrest on the suspicion of him trying to poison him.

How is this taken by the soviet Public, inner circle, and the CPSU? Does this threaten Stalin's authority in any way? And how does affect wider Soviet Union at large with a now reformist Stalin?

 

[Fries]

he will implement reforms to the Soviet Union that is basically Khrushchev's thaw and 1965 soviet economic reforms

Why? There's no reason that Stalin would even dream of this.

 

[Nell_Lucifer]

Why? There's no reason that Stalin would even dream of this.

His mind degraded so much that it circled back from insanity to sanity (jk)

 

[cra0422]

Somehow I see Stalin's survival has him becoming harsher with more repressions because he was convinced that his stroke was the result of attempted poisoning so he was going to eliminate all suspected and potential threats to the state, essentially himself

 

[Fries]

His mind degraded so much that it circled back from insanity to sanity (jk)

Stalin wasn't insane. Paranoid? Oh, yeah. Naïve? Arguably. But insane? Definitely not. Stalin had a very clear head on his shoulders: there's a reason Marxism and the National Question and Foundations of Leninism are still recognized as seminal works in Marxism-Leninism. For all of his flaws -- of which there were undoubtedly many! -- Stalin wasn't off his rocker like, say, Nguema. He had realistic plans, had a grounded view on reality, and was by all accounts a very shrewd, if somewhat shy, person as both a leader and a thinker.

You want insane? Look up Francisco Nguema. Dude was batshit.

 

[Nell_Lucifer]

Stalin wasn't insane. Paranoid? Oh, yeah. Naïve? Arguably. But insane? Definitely not. Stalin had a very clear head on his shoulders: there's a reason Marxism and the National Question and Foundations of Leninism are still recognized as seminal works in Marxism-Leninism. For all of his flaws -- of which there were undoubtedly many! -- Stalin wasn't off his rocker like, say, Nguema. He had realistic plans, had a grounded view on reality, and was by all accounts a very shrewd, if somewhat shy, person as both a leader and a thinker.

You want insane? Look up Francisco Nguema. Dude was batshit.

I am well aware. I meant it as a joke, though, while during most of his life he had a level head (barring his paranoia) by the end of his life (a few months before his death) didn't his mental health degrade quite seriously? If he survived his stroke and continued to live for a few nore years his paranoia might as well lead to insanity where he sees every shadow as an enemy and so on.

 

[Fries]

by the end of his life (a few months before his death) didn't his mental health degrade quite seriously?

A few accounts support this, yes. By no means am I an expert on Stalin's later life, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had developed some form of dementia during his later years. The dude was 74 when he died. With the stress of running the largest country in the world in a war for national survival and the immediate aftermath of that? I'm surprised he didn't kack earlier.

 

[aurek theserian]

As Stalin lie's unconscious from his hemmoragic stroke, Stalin's inner circle decides it is a great idea to announce to the entirety of the USSR and have it be shown on live television, as they are outlining what's going to be happening in the interim period, Joseph Stalin, on national television wakes up, looking completely fine. A subsequent doctors assessment shows that he no longer has any health issues, is completely command of his mental faculties, and is completely sane. Soon after, Stalin starts convening the CPSU for a congress, where he announces that he will implement reforms to the Soviet Union that is basically Khrushchev's thaw and 1965 soviet economic reforms, in addition, he places Beria under arrest on the suspicion of him trying to poison him.

How is this taken by the soviet Public, inner circle, and the CPSU? Does this threaten Stalin's authority in any way? And how does affect wider Soviet Union at large with a now reformist Stalin?

considering krusheve began destalinization and throwing him under the buss i do noot theik that those reformsa are in stalins intrest lol

 

[Sam R.]

Look at the impact of the historical 53-6 reforms.

Brecht elects a new German people. Nagy gets couped by the Hungarian anti-reformist line. Gomulka has to use tanks to prevent a Soviet coup. Nagy gets couped AGAIN. Yugoslavia goes to shit slowly: on its own terms. The Soviet Union undergoes a six way elite faction fight representing power locks each containing reformist and anti reformist impulses.

For reformism here consider the democratisation of party life, to ensure: more lower nomenklatura planning controls, to control more factory control and more secondary industry production for workers. Also intellectual might be allowed to imagine what they like if not publish as long as they’re party members.

that happened.

This Stalin is more reformist than Nagy or Miklos Gimes. HE WILL BE ARRESTED FOR THE GOOD OF THE PARTY.

 

[lukedalton]

Well there are know case when brain damage cause a change of personality

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

wouldn't reversion to tsarism, orthodoxy and autocracy be more likely for "reforms" from a longer-lived stalin?

 

[CHKeeley]

If Stalin actually became clinically insane following brain damage, I actually do think his “team” would take measures to remove power out of his hands in some way. Or at least attempt to. While Stalin was the decision maker and still maintained the power of death over even the highest of party members until his death, we do know that his authority was increasingly delegated to his team in the years leading up to his death. We also know that, unlike Stalin’s team in the 1930s and 40s, by the 50s his immediate underlings were organized and savvy enough to protect each other from Stalin’s attempts to isolate and divide them. For instance, Molotov and Mikoyan had been in Stalin’s sights for a bit but team members kept doing things like inviting them to private meetings and celebrations without Stalin’s invitation and Stalin pretty much had to accept it. Stalin was also out of Moscow for the majority of the year vacationing by 1952 and so much of his day-to-day duties were delegated. Following a severe health crisis and an genuinely unhinged boss (insanity caused from brain damage would be quite obvious to anyone close to him), I do believe his team was strong enough to act collectively to curtail Stalin’s powers in some way. Or at least shield themselves and the elite from the damage. Same can’t be said for the doctors targeted in the Doctor’s Plot - I fear they would be thrown to the wolves and the campaign would be allowed to proceed apace or even heightened.

Most of my information here comes from Sheila Fitzpatrick’s excellent talk here on the Late Stalin team and their coordination and cooperation following his death.