Vfrdtyky

Part of a series on
Marxism–Leninism
Concepts Anti-imperialism Anti-revisionism Commanding heights of the economy Communist society Communist state Democratic centralism Dialectical logic Dialectical materialism Economic planning Marxist–Leninist atheism One-party state People's democracy Popular front Proletarian internationalism Socialist patriotism Socialist state Theory of the productive forces Third Period Vanguardism Partiinost'
Variants Guevarism (Foco) Ho Chi Minh Thought Hoxhaism Husakism Juche Kadarism Khrushchevism Maoism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Prachanda Path Titoism Stalinism
People Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin Ernst Thälmann Earl Browder Enver Hoxha Gonchigiin Bumtsend Ho Chi Minh Mao Zedong Abimael Guzmán José Díaz Josip Broz Tito Enver Hoxha Palmiro Togliatti Che Guevara Kim Il-sung Mathieu Kérékou Agostinho Neto Samora Machel Thomas Sankara Fidel Castro Alfonso Cano
Literature Wage Labour and Capital Materialism and Empirio-criticism Imperialism   What Is to Be Done? The State and Revolution Dialectical and Historical Materialism Guerrilla Warfare Fundamentals of Marxism–Leninism
History October Revolution Soviet Union Comintern Hungarian Soviet Republic Spanish Civil War World War II Warsaw Pact Greek Civil War Chinese Revolution Korean War Cuban Revolution De-Stalinization Non-Aligned Movement Sino-Soviet split Vietnam War Portuguese Colonial War Black Power movement Nicaraguan Revolution Nepalese Civil War Naxalite insurgency Internal conflict in Peru
Related topics Bolshevism Marxism Leninism Trotskyism
Communism portal Socialism portal
v t e

De-Stalinization (Russian: десталинизация, destalinizatsiya) consisted of a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power.^[1]

The reforms consisted of changing or removing key institutions that helped Stalin hold power: the cult of personality that surrounded him, the Stalinist political system, and the Gulag labour-camp system, all of which had been created and dominated by him. Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in March 1953, consisting of Georgi Malenkov, Premier of the Soviet Union; Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Ministry of the Interior; and Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).

Terminology issues

The term "de-Stalinization" is one which gained currency in both Russia and the Western world following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and was never used during the Khrushchev era. However, de-Stalinization efforts were set forth at this time by Nikita Khrushchev and the Government of the Soviet Union under the guise of the "overcoming/exposure of the cult of personality", with a heavy criticism of Joseph Stalin's "era of the cult of personality".^[2] However, prior to Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress, no direct association between Stalin as a person and "the cult of personality" was openly made by Khrushchev or others within the party, although archival documents show that strong criticism of Stalin and his ideology featured in private discussions by Khruschchev at the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.^[2]

"Silent de-Stalinization"

There were dangers in denouncing Stalin as he was placed on a pedestal both at home and among communists abroad.^[3] In the years 1953–1955, a period of "silent de-Stalinization" took place, as the revision of Stalin's policies was done in secret, and often with no explanation. This period saw a number of non-publicised political rehabilitations,^[4] (such as Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Politburo members Robert Eikhe and Jānis Rudzutaks, and those executed in the Leningrad Affair^[5]) and the release of "Article 58ers".^[4] However, due to the huge influx of prisoners returning from the camps (90,000 prisoners in 1954–55 alone), this could not continue.^[4]

In December 1955 Khrushchev proposed a commission to be set up in order to investigate Stalin's activities on behalf of the Presidium; this investigation found out that out of the 1,920,635 arrested for anti-Soviet activities – who were arrested on fabricated evidence in the first place and confessed under torture authorized by Stalin – 688,503 were executed.^[6]

Khrushchev's "Secret Speech"

O kulcie jednostki i jego następstwach, Warsaw, March 1956, first edition of the Secret Speech, published for the inner use in the PUWP.

De-Stalinization meant an end to the role of large-scale forced labour in the economy. The process of freeing Gulag prisoners was started by Lavrentiy Beria. He was soon removed from power, arrested on 26 June 1953, and executed on 24 December 1953. Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the most powerful Soviet politician.^[7]

While de-Stalinization was quietly underway ever since Stalin's death, the watershed event was Khrushchev's speech entitled "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", concerning Stalin. On 25 February 1956, he spoke to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, delivering an address laying out some of Stalin's crimes and the "conditions of insecurity, fear, and even desperation" created by Stalin.^[1] Khrushchev shocked his listeners by denouncing Stalin's dictatorial rule and his cult of personality as inconsistent with communist and Party ideology. Among other points, he condemned the treatment of the Old Bolsheviks, people who had supported communism before the revolution, many of whom Stalin had executed as traitors. Khrushchev also attacked the crimes committed by associates of Beria.

Motivation

One reason given for Khrushchev's speech was his moral conscience; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that Khrushchev spoke out of a "movement of the heart". This, the Communists believed, would prevent a fatal loss of self-belief and restore unity within the Party.^[8]

Martin McCauley argues that Khrushchev's purpose was to "liberate Party officials from the fear of repression". Khrushchev argued that if the Party were to be an efficient mechanism, stripped from the brutal abuse of power by any individual, it could transform the Soviet Union as well as the entire world.^[9]

However, others have suggested that the speech was made in order to deflect blame from the Communist Party or the principles of Marxism–Leninism and place the blame squarely on Stalin's shoulders, thus preventing a more radical debate.^[8] However, the publication of this speech caused many party members to resign in protest, both abroad and within the Soviet Union.^[8][5]

By attacking Stalin, McCauley argues, he was undermining the credibility of Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich and other political opponents who had been within "Stalin's inner circle" during the 1930s more than he had been. If they did not "come over to Khrushchev", they "risk[ed] being banished with Stalin" and associated with his dictatorial control.^[9]

Changes

Improved prison conditions

Khrushchev attempted to make the Gulag labour system less harsh, by allowing prisoners to post letters home to their families, and by allowing family members to mail clothes to prisoners, which was not allowed under Stalin.^[10] When Stalin died, the Gulag was "radically reduced in size".^[11] On 25 October 1956, a resolution of the CPSU declared that the existence of the Gulag labour system was "inexpedient".^[12] The Gulag institution was closed by the MVD order No 020 of 25 January 1960.^[13]

Re-naming of places and buildings

Khrushchev renamed or reverted the names of many places bearing Stalin's name, including cities, territories, landmarks, and other facilities.^[14] The State Anthem of the Soviet Union was purged of references to Stalin. The Stalin-centric and World War II-era lines in the lyrics were effectively excised when an instrumental version replaced it. The Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland was renamed in 1956.

Destruction of monuments

The Statue of Stalin on Stalinallee in Berlin-Friedrichshain was removed in 1961.

The Yerevan monument was removed in spring 1962 and replaced by Mother Armenia in 1967. Thousands of Stalin monuments have been destroyed not only in the Soviet Union, but in other former Communist countries. In November 1961, the large Stalin Statue on Berlin's monumental Stalinallee (promptly renamed Karl-Marx-Allee) was removed in a clandestine operation. The Monument in Budapest was destroyed in October 1956. The biggest one, the Prague monument, was taken down in November 1962.

Re-location of Stalin's body

Given momentum by these public renamings, the process of de-Stalinization peaked in 1961 during the 22nd Congress of the CPSU. Two climactic acts of de-Stalinization marked the meetings: first, on 31 October 1961, Stalin's body was moved from Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square to a location near the Kremlin wall;^[15] second, on 11 November 1961, the "hero city" Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.^[16]

Extent of de-Stalinization

Contemporary historians regard the beginning of de-Stalinization as a turning point in the history of the Soviet Union that began during the Khrushchev Thaw. It subsided during the Brezhnev period until the mid-1980s, and accelerated again with the policies of perestroika and glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev.

De-Stalinization has been considered a fragile process. Historian Polly Jones said that "re-Stalinization" was highly likely after a brief period of "thaw".^[2]Anne Applebaum agrees: "The era which came to be called the 'Thaw' was indeed an era of change, but change of a particular kind: reforms took two steps forward, and then one step—or sometimes three steps—back."^[17]

See also

• Anti-fascism


• Anti-Stalinist left


• 
  History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964): De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era


• Kureika (village)


• List of places named after Joseph Stalin


• Denazification


• Decommunization

References