De-Stalinization (Russian:десталинизация,romanized: destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in theSoviet Union afterthe death of long-time leaderJoseph Stalin in 1953, andthe thaw brought about by ascension ofNikita Khrushchev to power,[1] and his 1956 secret speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", which denouncedStalin's cult of personality and theStalinist political system.
Monuments to Stalin were removed, hisname was removed from places, buildings, andthe state anthem, and his body was removed from theLenin Mausoleum (known as the Lenin and Stalin Mausoleum from 1953 to 1961) and buried. These reforms were started by thecollective leadership which succeeded him after his death on 5 March 1953, comprisingGeorgi Malenkov,Premier of the Soviet Union;Lavrentiy Beria, head of theMinistry of the Interior; and Nikita Khrushchev,First Secretary of theCentral Committee of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
The termde-Stalinization is one which gained currency in bothRussia and theWestern world following thedissolution of the Soviet Union, but was never used during theKhrushchev era. However, de-Stalinization efforts were set forth at this time by Khrushchev and theGovernment of the Soviet Union under the guise of the "overcoming/exposure of the cult of personality", with a heavy criticism ofJoseph Stalin's "era of the cult of personality".[2] However, prior toKhrushchev's "Secret Speech" to the20th 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 andhis ideology featured in private discussions by Khruschchev at thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet.[2]
De-Stalinization meant an end to the role of large-scaleforced labour in the economy. The process of freeingGulag prisoners was started byLavrentiy Beria. He was removed from power, arrested on 26 June 1953, and executed on 23 December 1953. Khrushchev soon emerged as the most powerful Soviet politician.[3] A period of "silent de-Stalinization" subsequently took place, as the revision of Stalin's policies was done in secret, and often with no explanation.[4] There were dangers in denouncing Stalin as he was placed on a pedestal both at home and amongcommunists abroad.[5] This period saw a number of non-publicizedpolitical rehabilitations,[4] by way of persons and groups such as MarshalMikhail Tukhachevsky,Politburo membersRobert Eikhe andJānis Rudzutaks, those executed in theLeningrad Affair,[6] 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]
Anastas Mikoyan, a close ally of Khrushchev, played a significant role in the early de-Stalinization process. In March 1954, he called for the rehabilitation of the poetYeghishe Charents, a victim of the Purges, in a speech inYerevan in his nativeArmenia.[7][8] He subsequently played a leading role in the rehabilitation ofpolitical prisoners, and worked withLev Shahumyan (son of Bolshevik revolutionaryStepan Shahumyan) andGulag returneesAlexei Snegov andOlga Shatunovskaya to convince Khrushchev of the necessity of denouncing Stalin.[9][10] In December 1955, Khrushchev proposed thata commission be set up in order to investigate Stalin's activities on behalf of the Presidium. This investigation determined that out of the 1,920,635 arrested for anti-Soviet activities, 688,503 (35.8 per cent) were executed.[11]
While de-Stalinization had been 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, de-Stalinization became official when he spoke to a closed session of the20th Party Congress of theCommunist 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 hiscult of personality as inconsistent with communist and Party ideology. Among other points, he condemned the treatment of theOld 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.
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.[12]
HistorianMartin 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.[13]
However, others have suggested that the speech was made in order to deflect blame from the Communist Party or the principles ofMarxism–Leninism and place the blame squarely on Stalin's shoulders, thus preventing a more radical debate.[12] The publication of this speech caused many party members to resign in protest, both abroad and within the Soviet Union.[12][6]
By attacking Stalin, McCauley argues, he was undermining the credibility ofVyacheslav Molotov,Georgy Malenkov,Lazar 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.[13]
On the other hand, historianA. M. Amzad argues that the speech was "deliberate" and "was designed to determine Khrushchev's political fate", as, according to him, necessary initiatives were already taken "to resolve the ills of Stalin's dictatorship".[14]
Theamnesty of 1953 and the subsequentrehabilitation processes began the release of most prisoners.[15] Former political prisoners often faced ingrained hostility upon their return, which made it difficult to reintegrate into normal life.[16] On 25 October 1956, a resolution of the CPSU declared that the existence of the Gulag labour system was "inexpedient".[17] The Gulag institution was closed by theMinistry of Internal Affairs (MVD) order No 020 of 25 January 1960.[18]
For those who remained, 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.[19]
Khrushchev renamed or reverted the names of manyplaces bearing Stalin's name, including cities, territories, landmarks, and other facilities.[20] TheState Anthem of the Soviet Union was purged of references to Stalin, and so were the anthems ofits republics. The Stalin-centric andWorld War II-era lines in the lyrics were effectively excised when aninstrumental version replaced it. TheJoseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science inWarsaw, Poland was renamed in 1956. Stalin Peak, the highest point in the USSR, was renamed Communism Peak. After the collapse of the USSR, the mountain was renamedIsmoil Somoni Peak. InEast Germany,Stalinstadt was renamed toEisenhüttenstadt in 1961. InMoscow, theMoscow Metro stationStalinskaya on theArbatsko-Pokrovskaya line was renamed toSemyonovskaya.[21]
Following the momentum of these public renamings, the Soviet government dismantled hundreds ofStalin monuments across the USSR. For example, the monument to Stalin in the Armenian capital Yerevan was removed in spring 1962 and replaced byMother Armenia in 1967.[22] Several more monuments were dismantled or destroyed across theEastern Bloc. In November 1961, the largeStalin Statue on Berlin's monumental Stalinallee (promptly renamedKarl-Marx-Allee) was removed in a clandestine operation. TheMonument in Budapest was destroyed in October 1956. The biggest one, thePrague monument, was taken down in November 1962.
The process of de-Stalinization peaked in 1961 during the22nd Congress of the CPSU. Two climactic acts of de-Stalinization marked the meetings: first, on 31 October 1961, Stalin's body was moved fromLenin's Mausoleum inRed Square to theKremlin Wall Necropolis;[23] second, on 11 November 1961, the "hero city"Stalingrad was renamedVolgograd.[24]
In the aftermath of the Stalin era, Khrushchev defined Soviet foreign policy during theCold War. The biggest change to foreign policy dealt with "uncommitted nations". There were two types of neutrality according to the Soviets, those by ideology and those by circumstance.[25] Many of the nations that were neutral came from both of these groups and were former colonies of European powers. During Stalin there was no room for neutral countries and the idea of neutral powers came about under Khrushchev.[25] Khrushchev's biggest contribution to foreign policy is taking advantage of other aspects of de-Stalinisation to try to show the world a different Soviet Union more in line with traditional socialist ideals in Lenin era.[26]
Contemporary historians regard the beginning of de-Stalinization as a turning point in thehistory of the Soviet Union that began during theKhrushchev Thaw. The de-Stalinization process stalled during theBrezhnev period until the mid-1980s, and accelerated again with the policies ofperestroika andglasnost underMikhail 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."[27]
(October 31) 1961, Russia's de-Stalinisation program reached a climax when his body was removed from the mausoleum in Red Square and re-buried.
MOSCOW, Saturday, Nov. 11 (Reuters) – The 'Hero City' of Stalingrad has been renamed Volgograd, the Soviet Communist party newspaper Pravda reported today.
Media related toDe-Stalinization at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition ofde-stalinization at Wiktionary
