What if the USSR remained a dictatorship after Stalin's death? Was it even possible?

It is widely believed Stalin intended to have Malenkov as his successor once he died, but either by design or lack of time to implement it before his death, there was no clear system to transfer power and power went back to the Central Comitee instead. The Communist Party after decades of literally living in terror, decided that while it would remain an authoritarian country with the Party at the top, there would not be another dictator and the position of General Secretary became vastly weakened compared to Stalin's role in it.

Could this had been different? What would had been the consequences of the USSR remained a Stalin-like dictatorship during its entire period? Who would had succeeded him in this case?
 

Anchises

Banned
I wouldn't completely rule out that Beria wins the power struggle in some timelines.
I doubt that Beria would have accepted the collaborative leadership of OTL.
 
Probably not. The fact is that Stalin had so thoroughly traumatized the Soviet leadership that the thought of another Stalin was enough to terrify them. Even the most hardcore Stalinists rejected such an idea. Even Beria would need the backing of other politicians/military figures in order to maintain his power, and so he would be forced to accept collective leadership.

A helpful example is how Khrushchev was treated. Khrushchev's power was quite large, to the point where he was able to basically bully his colleagues into doing what he wanted (part of the reason the Presidium went along with the Cuban missile plan was because they didn't want to get browbeaten by Khrushchev). Khrushchev also took the posts of General Secretary and Chairman of the Council of Ministers for himself, and these were the two most powerful posts in the USSR. Despite the fact that Khrushchev was no where near as bad as Stalin his concentration of power was unacceptable to his colleagues, and a major reason why he was forced out of office.
 
Could this had changed if Stalin had implanted Malenkov more firmly or named him specifically as a successor in a will? Or would the leadership had jumped on him the moment Stalin died anyway and forced him to accept collective leadership?
 
Could this had changed if Stalin had implanted Malenkov more firmly or named him specifically as a successor in a will? Or would the leadership had jumped on him the moment Stalin died anyway and forced him to accept collective leadership?

The best POD for this would be Stalin succeeding in getting Malenkov named head of the NKVD instead of Beria. Stalin wanted him to but the Politburo and Central Committee preferred Beria.
 
I agree that after Stalin's death in 1953 it was unlikely. Nobody really wanted a return to Stalinist terror. No major Soviet political figure wanted another Stalin. All of that could have changed, however, if Stalin had lived longer and had been able to carry out another purge. Molotov, Beria, Khrushchev, Bulganin, Kaganovich and their ilk were all likely to perish in such an event. After that, Stalin could have nominated some relatively unknown figure, assuming he acknowledged his days were numbered because of his state of health.
 
Well, of course the Soviet Union did remain a dictatorship after Stalin's death--though a collective rather than a personal one.

As for remaining a personal dictatorship, Malenkov just doesn't look cut out for that role and Khrushchev only slightly more so. Only a Beria coup has any chance of bringing this about and IMO the chances of such a successful coup were doubtful. Yes, the security police was an awesome force, but I doubt that it could win a confrontation with the Party leadership backed by the Army.
 
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