The Khrushchev Thaw

Overview

• Period during the 1950s and early 1960s
• Known for being open, prosperous, and promising
• Nikita Khrushchev's leadership marked the end of Stalin's reign of terror and improved living standards

Struggle for Power

• Began after Stalin's death in 1953
• Main contenders: Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Malenkov, and Nikita Khrushchev
• Khrushchev gained the upper hand over the next few years

Agricultural Reform

• Khrushchev's background: self-educated countryman
• Aim: Reform the agricultural sector
• Initiated the "Virgin Lands Campaign"
  • Encouraged peasants to farm in Central Asia
  • Harvested land increased by 50% in the mid-1950s

The Thaw

• More relaxed atmosphere in everyday life
• Began with the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956
• Khrushchev's secret speech criticized Stalin's tyranny
  • Ended Stalin’s cult of personality
• Freed political prisoners from Gulag camps
• Some of Stalin's victims were rehabilitated

Hungarian Uprising (1956)

• Popular uprising against Soviet hegemony
• Put down mercilessly by Soviet tanks
• Approximately 3,000 civilian deaths
• Despite this, Khrushchev's popularity grew

International Relations

• 1959: First Soviet leader to visit the United States
• Soviet Union's achievements in the Space Race
  • 1957: Sputnik 1 (first satellite)
  • 1961: Yuri Gagarin (first man in space)
• Advocated for peaceful coexistence with the United States

Failures

China

• Differences with Mao Zedong
• From the 1960s: More competition than cooperation with China

Cuba

• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis harmed Soviet prestige

Corn

• Khrushchev's agricultural plans with corn growing failed

Downfall and Legacy

• 1964: Khrushchev was ousted by more conservative party members
• Succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev
• Lived quietly until his death in 1971