Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchof (Khrushchev) (Russian: ??????? ?????????? ?????? {{IPA |/nʲiˈki.ta sʲerˈge.jeˌviʧ ˈxru.ʃʧʲof/}} {{Audio|Ru Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev.ogg|listen}}, April 17, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. He was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

Legacy

He has one of the highest posthumous reputations of any leader of the Soviet era, both in Russia and overseas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the positive side, he was admired for his efficiency and for maintaning an economy which, during the 1950s and '60s, had growth rates higher than most Western countries, contrasted with the stagnation beginning with his successors. He is also renowned for his liberal policies, whose results began with the widespread re-habilitations of political prisoners from the Gulag, as well as overturning convictions of millions of victims.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Stalin era, when one person was declared guilty, he and his entire family were evicted and vanished from their homes, schools and jobs. With Khrushchev's amnesty programme, the ex-prisoners and their surviving relatives could now live a normal life without the infamous "wolf ticket".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His policies also increased the importance of the consumer, since Khrushchev himself placed more resources in the production of consumer goods and housing instead of heavy industry, precipitating a rapid rise in living standards.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The arts also benefited from this environment of liberalisation, where works like Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich created an attitude of dissent that would escalate during the subsequent Brezhnev-Kosygin era.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He also allowed Eastern Europe to have a greater freedom of action in their domestic and external affairs, without the intervention of the Soviet Union.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His De-Stalinsation caused a huge impact on young Communists of the day. Alexander Dub?ek, who became the leader of Czechoslovakia in January 1968, accelearated the process of liberalisation in his own country with his Prague Spring programme. Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the Soviet Union's leader in 1985, was inspired by it and it become evident with his policies of glasnost and perestroika.

Related Topics:
Alexander Dub?ek - Prague Spring - Mikhail Gorbachev - Glasnost - Perestroika

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the negative side, he was criticised for his ruthless crackdown in Hungary, where a revolt broke out and for encouraging the East German authorities to set up the notorious Berlin Wall in August 1961. He also had very poor diplomatic skills, giving the reputation of being a rude, uncivilised peasant in the West and as an irresponsible clown in his own country.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His methods of administration, although efficient, were also known to be erratic since they threatened to disband a large number of Stalinist-era agencies. He made a dangerous gamble in 1962 over Cuba, which almost made a Third World War inevitable. Agriculture barely kept up with population growth as bad harvests mixed with good ones, culminating with a disastrous one in 1963 that was triggered by bad weather. All this damaged his prestige after 1962 and was enough for the Central Commitee, Khrushchev's critical base for support, to take action against him. They used his right-hand man Leonid Brezhnev to lead the bloodless ouster.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Due to the results of his policies, as well as the increasingly regressive attitude of his successors, he became more popular after he gave up power, which led many dissidents to view his era with nostalgia as his successors began discrediting or slowing down his reforms.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~