This article gives a brief biography of N. S. Khrushchev, describes his political activities both within the country and abroad. The disadvantages of Khrushchev's rule and its advantages are also determined, and the activities of this political leader are assessed.
Khrushchev: biography. Career start
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (years of life: 1894-1971) was born in the Kursk province (village of Kalinovka) into a family of peasants. In the winter season he studied at school, in the summer he worked as a shepherd. He has been working since childhood. So, at the age of 12, N. S. Khrushchev already worked in a mine, and before that - at a factory.
During the First World War, he was not called to the front, as he was a miner. He took an active part in the life of the country. Nikita Sergeevich was admitted to the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and participated on their side in the Civil War.
After the formation of Soviet power, Khrushchev engaged in political and economic activities. In 1929 he entered the Industrial Academy in Moscow, where he was elected secretary of the party committee. He worked as the second, and then the first secretary of the CIM.
Khrushchev is quickly given a careergrowth. Already in 1938 he became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. During the Great Patriotic War he was appointed to the post of commissioner of the highest rank. For the first time after the end of the war, N. S. Khrushchev was the head of the government of Ukraine. Six months after Stalin's death in 1953, he became First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
Rise to power
After the death of Joseph Vissarionovich, there was an opinion in party circles about the so-called collective leadership. In reality, internal political struggle was in full swing in the ranks of the CPSU. The result of it was the arrival of Khrushchev to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in September 1953.
Such uncertainty about who should lead the country took place due to the fact that Stalin himself never looked for a successor and did not express preferences in who should lead the USSR after his death. Party leaders were absolutely unprepared for this.
However, before taking the main position in the country, Khrushchev had to get rid of other possible candidates for this post - G. M. Malenkov and L. P. Beria. As a result of the unsuccessful attempt to seize power in 1953 by the latter, Khrushchev decided to neutralize him, while enlisting the support of Malenkov. After that, the only obstacle preventing him in the face of Malenkov was also eliminated.
Domestic policy
The domestic policy of the country during Khrushchev's time cannot be considered unequivocally bad or unambiguously good. Much has been done to develop agriculture. This was especially noticeable before 1958. New virgin lands were developed, the peasants received greater freedoms, some elements of a market economy were born.
However, after 1958, the actions of the country's leadership, and Khrushchev in particular, began to aggravate the economic situation in the country. Methods of administrative regulation that hampered agriculture began to be applied. A partial ban on keeping livestock was imposed. Huge livestock was destroyed. The situation of the peasants worsened.
The controversial idea of mass corn farming has only made things worse for the people. Corn was also planted in those territories of the country where it obviously could not take root. The country is facing a food crisis. In addition, unsuccessful economic reforms, which practically led to a default in the country, had a negative impact on the financial opportunities of citizens.
However, one cannot fail to note the great achievements that the USSR achieved during the reign of Khrushchev. This is both a grandiose leap in the space sphere and a large-scale development of science, especially the chemical industry. Research institutes were created, vast territories were developed for agriculture.
In general, we can talk about the failure to achieve the goals set by Nikita Sergeevich both in the economic sphere and in the socio-cultural. In this regard, it should be noted that Khrushchev was going to create and educate a truly communist society in the next twenty years. For this, in particular, an unsuccessful school reform was carried out.
The onset of a thaw
The reign of Khrushchev marked a newsocial and cultural turn in the life of the country. Creative people received, in a certain sense, greater freedom, theaters began to open, new magazines began to appear. Artistic art, uncharacteristic for the existing socialist regime, began to develop in the USSR, exhibitions began to appear.
Changes have also affected freedom in the country as a whole. Political prisoners began to be released, the era of cruel repressions and executions was left behind.
At the same time, we can also note the increased oppression of the Orthodox Church by the state, the hardware control over the creative life of the intelligentsia. There were arrests and persecution of objectionable writers. So, Pasternak had to face them in full for the novel Doctor Zhivago he wrote. Arrests for “anti-Soviet activities” also continued.
De-Stalinization
Khrushchev's speech "On the cult of personality and its consequences" at the XX Party Congress in 1956 made a splash not only in the actual party circles, but also in the public consciousness as a whole. Many citizens thought about the materials that were allowed to be published.
The report did not talk about the flaws of the system itself, nor about the erroneous course of communism. The state itself was not criticized in any way. Only the cult of personality developed during the years of Stalin's leadership was subjected to criticism. Khrushchev mercilessly denounced crimes and injustices, spoke about the deported, about those illegally shot. Unfounded arrests and fabricated criminal cases were also criticized.
Khrushchev's rule, therefore, was to mark a new era in the life of the country, to proclaim the recognition of past mistakes and their prevention in the future. And indeed, with the advent of the new head of state, executions stopped, arrests decreased. The surviving prisoners of the camps began to be released.
Khrushchev and Stalin differed significantly in the methods of government. Nikita Sergeevich tried not to use Stalinist methods even in the fight against his political opponents. He did not carry out executions of his own opponents and did not organize mass arrests.
Transfer of Crimea to Ukrainian SSR
At present, speculations around the issue of the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine flare up with even greater force than before. In 1954, the Crimean peninsula was transferred from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR, initiated by Khrushchev. Ukraine thus received territories that had never belonged to it before. This decision caused problems between Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There are a huge number of opinions, including frankly improbable ones, about the real reasons that made Khrushchev take this step. They explained it both by a burst of generosity of Nikita Sergeevich, and by a sense of responsibility and guilt before the people of Ukraine for Stalin's repressive policy. However, only a few theories are the most likely.
Thus, there is an opinion that the peninsula was handed over by the Soviet leader as a payment to the Ukrainian leadership for help with promotion topost of First Secretary of the Central Committee. Also, according to the official point of view of that period, the reason for the transfer of the Crimea was a significant event - the 300th anniversary of the union of Russia with Ukraine. In this regard, the transfer of the Crimea was considered "evidence of the boundless trust of the great Russian people to the Ukrainians."
There are opinions that the Soviet leader had no authority to redistribute the borders within the country, and the separation of the peninsula from the RSFSR was absolutely illegal. Nevertheless, according to another opinion, this act was carried out for the benefit of the inhabitants of Crimea themselves. This is explained by the fact that as part of Russia, due to the unprecedented resettlement of entire peoples in the Stalin era, Crimea only worsened its economic indicators. Despite all the efforts of the country's leadership to voluntarily resettle people on the peninsula, the situation on it remained negative.
That is why the decision was made to redistribute the internal borders, which should have significantly improved economic ties between Ukraine and the peninsula and contributed to its greater settlement. In fairness, it should be noted that this decision subsequently brought a significant improvement in the economic situation in Crimea.
Foreign policy
Khrushchev, having come to power, understood the perniciousness and danger of the cold war between the Soviet Union and Western countries. Even before him, Malenkov suggested that the US improve interstate relations, fearing a possible direct clash of blocs after Stalin's death.
Khrushchev also understood that nuclearconfrontation is too dangerous and fatal for the Soviet state. During this period, he sought to find common ground with representatives of the West, and in particular the United States. Communism was not considered by him as the only possible way for the development of the state.
Thus, Khrushchev, whose historical portrait acquired some pliability in connection with the described actions, aimed his foreign policy in a sense at rapprochement with the West, where they also understood all the benefits of the upcoming changes.
Deteriorating international relations
At the same time, the debunking of Stalin's personality cult had a negative impact on relations between the USSR and communist China. In addition, the international situation began to slowly but surely heat up. The aggression of Italy, France and Israel directed at Egypt contributed a lot to this. Khrushchev perfectly understood the vital interests of the USSR in the East and noted that the Soviet Union could provide direct military assistance to those who were subjected to international aggression.
Increased creation of military-political blocs also began. So, in 1954, SEATO was created. In addition, Germany was admitted to NATO. In response to these actions of the West, Khrushchev created a military-political bloc of socialist states. It was created in 1955 and formalized through the conclusion of the Warsaw Pact. The countries participating in the Warsaw Pact were the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania, Hungary, Bulgaria.
In addition, relations with Yugoslavia have improved. Thus, the USSR also recognized a different model for the development of communism.
In this regardit should be noted discontent in the countries of the socialist camp, which significantly intensified after the already mentioned XX Congress of the CPSU. Particularly strong discontent erupted in Hungary and Poland. And if in the latter the conflict was resolved peacefully, then in Hungary the events led to a bloody climax, when Soviet troops were brought into Budapest.
First of all, Khrushchev's disadvantages in foreign policy, according to many historians, were his excessive emotionality and demonstrative manifestation of his character, which caused fear and bewilderment on the part of the countries - representatives of the Western bloc.
Caribbean Crisis
The intensity of relations between the USSR and the USA continued to put the world on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The first serious escalation occurred in 1958 after Khrushchev's proposal to West Germany to change its own status and create a demilitarized zone within itself. Such an offer was rejected, which caused the aggravation of relations between the superpowers.
Also, Khrushchev sought to support uprisings and popular discontent in those regions of the world where the United States enjoyed great influence. At the same time, the States themselves did their best to strengthen pro-American governments around the world and economically helped their allies.
In addition, the Soviet Union developed intercontinental ballistic weapons. This could not but cause concern in the United States. At the same time, in 1961, the Second Berlin Crisis was beginning to flare up. The leadership of West Germany began to createwall separating the GDR from the FRG. Such a move caused dissatisfaction with Khrushchev and the entire Soviet leadership.
However, the Caribbean crisis became the most dangerous moment in relations between the USSR and the USA. After Khrushchev's decision, shocking the West, to create a nuclear fist in Cuba directed against the United States, for the first time in history, the world was literally on the verge of destruction. Of course, it was Khrushchev who provoked the United States to retaliate. His historical portrait, however, is replete with such ambiguous decisions, which fit perfectly into the general manner of behavior of the first secretary of the Central Committee. The culmination of events occurred on the night of October 27-28, 1962. Both powers were ready to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on each other. However, both Khrushchev and Kennedy, then president of the United States, understood that a nuclear war would leave neither winners nor losers. To the relief of the world, the prudence of both leaders prevailed.
At the end of the reign
Khrushchev, whose historical portrait is ambiguous, due to his life experience and character traits, he himself exacerbated the already extremely tense international situation and sometimes nullified his own achievements.
In the last years of his reign, Nikita Sergeevich made more and more mistakes in domestic politics. The life of the population gradually became worse. Due to ill-conceived decisions, not only meat, but also white bread often did not appear on store shelves. Khrushchev's power and authority were gradually fading and losing strength.
In the party circle there werediscontent. The chaotic and not always considered decisions and reforms adopted by Khrushchev could not but cause fear and irritation among the party leadership. One of the last drops was the mandatory rotation of party leaders, which was accepted by Khrushchev. His biography during this period is marked by increasing failures associated with the adoption of ill-considered decisions. Nevertheless, Nikita Sergeevich continued to work with enviable enthusiasm and even initiated the adoption of a new Constitution in 1961.
However, the party leadership and the people as a whole are already tired of the often chaotic and unpredictable management of the country by the first secretary of the Central Committee. On October 14, 1964, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev, unexpectedly called from vacation, was removed from all previously held positions. Official documents stated that the change in party leader was due to Khrushchev's advanced age and he alth problems. After that, Nikita Sergeevich was retired.
Performance evaluation
Despite the fair criticism of historians regarding Khrushchev's internal and external political course, the oppression of cultural figures and the deterioration of economic life in the country, Nikita Sergeevich can be called exactly the person who led her to great national achievements. Among them are the launch of the first artificial satellite, and the spacewalk of the first man, and the construction of the world's first nuclear power plant, and the not so unambiguous test of the hydrogen bomb.
It should be understood that it was Khrushchev who significantly intensified the development of science in the country. historical portraithe, despite all the ambiguity and unpredictability of his personality, can be supplemented with a stable and strong desire to improve the life of ordinary people in the country, to make the USSR a leading world power. Among other achievements, one can note the creation of the Lenin nuclear icebreaker, which was also initiated by Khrushchev. Briefly, one can say about him as a person who sought to strengthen the country both internally and externally, but made serious mistakes in the process. Nevertheless, Khrushchev's personality rightfully takes its place on the pedestal of the great Soviet leaders.
