Mao Zedong and Stalin (BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35427926) On February 24th, 1956 Nikita Khrushchev gave his “Secret Speech” “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences” to the assembled delegates of the Communist Party’s Twentieth Congress. In it, Khrushchev harshly criticized Stalin both politically and personally for the violent nature of his government, the cult that surrounded … Continue reading The Sino-Soviet Split →
Tag: De-Stalinization
Betrayal at the Kremlin!
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Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev on the tribune of Lenin’s Mausoleum, Moscow, Soviet Union, c1935-c1937. Look at these two men! Don’t they look like they could be best friends? Don’t you think they would share a bottle of good ol’ Russian vodka together? Khrushchev was a member of Stalin’s inner circle. Within 6 months of…
Freedom from the Gulags
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After Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953, a lot of changes would soon be occurring in the Soviet Union; one of them being the De-Stalination of the Gulags. On March 27, 1953, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued an amnesty to release prisoners that fall under the following: “persons sentenced for … Continue reading Freedom from the Gulags
Cult of Not Stalin
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Stalin, both famous and infamous in his own ways, met his end in 1953 but not before creating a cult in the Soviet people in his light (Source). Stalin used force, propaganda, and even famine in order to keep created a god-like persona for himself in the helm of communism and the Soviets. A land […]
A new direction in the Soviet Union
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After the end of World War Two, the everyday life conditions of Europe changed vastly. World War Two affected all of the world in a variety of different ways. The reconstruction of Europe was the great challenge that each country was faced with resolving. They were also faced with the question of how territory would …
Prisoners of War and “de-Stalinization”
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Last week, I discussed the return of soldiers back into the normalcy of everyday life in Russia. More specifically, the troubles they had to regain that normalcy that they lost by going into war. This week I was interested in exploring another avenue of people returning to society. That being prisoners of the Soviet Union … Continue reading “Prisoners of War and “de-Stalinization””
