Two years ago, I dwelled in detail directly on the personality of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth. The first leader after Stalin Soviet state, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU, died exactly 45 years ago, on September 11, 1971. He stayed at the helm of the Country of Soviets for 11 years until his 70th birthday, after which he was removed from his post as a result of an intragovernmental conspiracy. He spent the last 7 years in disgrace. How the USSR lived under Khrushchev and how it was left behind by the third (or rather the 4th; G.M. Malenkov was appointed acting head of state after Stalin's death) Soviet leader - we will now turn to this.

repeat in again I am by no means going to biography of Khrushchev. Suffice it to say that he was one of Stalin's most devoted servants and one of his followers. The hot character of Nikita Sergeyevich is largely due to the fact that southern blood flowed in his veins, and in many respects this is why Stalin appointed him one of the leaders of the Communist Party Ukrainian SSR. When Stalin died, Georgy Malenkov was appointed interim head of state. He was also instructed to develop an economic program for the development of the country. Khrushchev, on the other hand, was the main contender for the post of party secretary general, and, accordingly, head of the Land of Soviets.

The starting point of the “Khrushchev thaw” was the death of Stalin in 1953. The “thaw” also includes a short period when Georgy Malenkov was with the country’s leadership and major criminal cases (“Leningrad Case”, “Doctors’ Case”) were closed, an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes passed. During these years, uprisings of prisoners broke out in the Gulag system: the Norilsk uprising, the Vorkuta uprising, the Kengir uprising, etc.
With the strengthening of Khrushchev's power, the "thaw" became associated with the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult. At the same time, in 1953-1956, Stalin still continued to be officially revered in the USSR as a great leader; during that period, they were often depicted in portraits together with Lenin. At the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, N. S. Khrushchev made a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences”, in which the cult of personality of Stalin and Stalinist repressions were criticized, and in the foreign policy of the USSR the course for “peaceful coexistence” with the capitalist the world. Khrushchev also began rapprochement with Yugoslavia, relations with which had been severed under Stalin.

Generally new course was supported at the top of the party and corresponded to the interests of the nomenklatura, since earlier even the most prominent party leaders who fell into disgrace had to fear for their lives. Many survivors political prisoners in the USSR and countries socialist camp were released and rehabilitated. Since 1953, commissions have been formed to review cases and to rehabilitate. Most of the peoples deported in the 1930s-1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.

liberalized labor law(in 1956, absenteeism was abolished as a criminal offence).


From left to right: N.A. Bulganin (opened his mouth), N.S. Khrushchev (smiling), M.A. Suslov (neighing)
Tens of thousands of German and Japanese prisoners of war were sent home. In some countries, relatively liberal leaders came to power, such as Imre Nagy in Hungary. An agreement was reached on the state neutrality of Austria and the withdrawal of all occupation troops from it. In 1955, Khrushchev met in Geneva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and the heads of government of Great Britain and France.

At the same time, de-Stalinization had an extremely negative impact on relations with Maoist China. The CCP condemned de-Stalinization as revisionism.

In 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR banned the assignment of names of party leaders to cities and factories during their lifetime.

On the night of October 31 to November 1, 1961, Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum and reburied near the Kremlin wall.

Under Khrushchev, Stalin was treated neutrally. In all Soviet publications Khrushchev's thaw, Stalin was called a prominent figure in the party, a staunch revolutionary and major theorist party, who rallied the party during the period severe trials. But at the same time, in all publications of that time, they wrote that Stalin had his shortcomings and that in last years In his life he made major mistakes and excesses.

The thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, clear boundaries of the policy of openness appeared. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist speeches and violence, respectively, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the text of the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements." It said: " Central Committee Communist Party Soviet Union considers it necessary to appeal to all party organizations ... in order to attract the attention of the party and mobilize communists to intensify political work among the masses, to fight decisively to stop the attacks of anti-Soviet elements, which in recent times, due to some exacerbation international situation, intensified their hostile activities against the Communist Party and the Soviet state. Further, it was said about the recent "intensification of the activities of anti-Soviet and hostile elements." First of all, this is a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people”, conceived under the guise of “false slogans of freedom and democracy” using “the discontent of a significant part of the population caused by serious mistakes made by the former state and party leadership of Hungary”. It was also stated: “Recently, among individual workers in literature and art, who are slipping from party positions, politically immature and philistine-minded, there have been attempts to question the correctness of the party line in the development of Soviet literature and art, to move away from the principles of socialist realism to positions of unprincipled art, put forward demands to “liberate” literature and art from the party leadership, to ensure “freedom of creativity”, understood in the bourgeois-anarchist, individualistic spirit”. The letter contained instructions to the communists working in the organs state security, "to vigilantly guard the interests of our socialist state, to be vigilant against the intrigues of hostile elements and, in accordance with the laws Soviet power to prevent criminal acts in a timely manner. A direct consequence of this letter was a significant increase in 1957 in the number of those convicted for "counter-revolutionary crimes" (2948 people, which is 4 times more than in 1956). Students for critical statements were expelled from institutes.

Khrushchev, who paid great attention to the Komsomol and staked "on the youth", in 1958 appointed a young 40-year-old Shelepin, a non-Chekist who had previously held leadership positions in the Komsomol, to the post of chairman of the KGB. This choice corresponded to the new image of the KGB, responded to the desire to create a strong association with the forces of renewal and revival. During the personnel changes that began in 1959, total strength KGB personnel were reduced, but there was also a recruitment of new Chekists, attracted mainly from the Komsomol. The image of the security officer in the cinema has also changed: instead of people in leather jackets from the beginning of the 1960s. young neat heroes in strict suits began to appear on the screens; now they were respected members of society, fully integrated into the Soviet state system, representatives of one of state institutions. The increased level of education of the Chekists was emphasized; Thus, in the newspaper "Leningradskaya Pravda" it was noted: "today absolute majority employees of the State Security Committee have higher education, many speak one or more foreign languages, ”while in 1921 1.3% of Chekists had a higher education

In 1956, the anti-religious struggle began to intensify. The secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the note of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics" On the Shortcomings of Scientific and Atheistic Propaganda "" dated October 4, 1958 obliged the party, Komsomol and public organizations launch a propaganda offensive against "religious survivals"; government agencies it was ordered to carry out administrative measures aimed at tightening the conditions for the existence of religious communities. On October 16, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the Decrees “On Monasteries in the USSR” and “On Increasing Taxes on Income of Diocesan Enterprises and Monasteries”

The secret instruction on the application of the legislation on cults in March 1961 addressed Special attention to the fact that clergy have no right to interfere in the administrative, financial and economic activities of religious communities. For the first time, the instructions identified “sects whose doctrine and nature of activity are anti-state and savage in nature, which were not subject to registration: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, Adventist Reformists,” which were not subject to registration.

AT mass consciousness there is a statement attributed to Khrushchev from the period in which he promises to show the last priest on TV in 1980.

How many generations are left who can personally remember the thaw in the USSR. Many of those who saw Khrushchev in 1960 - knocking his shoe at the UN, are still asking themselves the question: where did the leader of the USSR want to get through? Agree, until that time, not a single Russian and Soviet ruler allowed himself this.

The thaw period in the USSR is illustrated even more beautifully by the frightened faces of three currency traders sentenced to death in 1962. Faibyshenko, Rokotov, Yakovlev were shot by Khrushchev's personal order. He could not bear Nixon's bullying phrases that the USSR was systematically raising the US economy - after all great amount American currency walks in our country.

The USSR during the years of the thaw is a kind of theater of the absurd of one Khrushchev. Crimea, given to Ukraine, reacted instantly - Ukrainian names began to be screwed next to Russian ones. It was fun local residents, and only. My father told me that the only thing they were afraid of was that they would be obliged to teach Ukrainian in schools, but this did not happen under Nikita Sergeyevich. The same Crimea in the USSR, only in a Ukrainian shirt.

During the years of the thaw, the Soviet state riveted the eyes of the entire planet. Flights of dogs, satellites, people - made it clear to the whole world - who has already gone beyond earthly influences and rushed to infinity.

During the thaw period, the Soviet Union continued to strengthen its ideological influence, both on its own continent (Eastern Europe, Asia) and beyond its borders (Cuba), getting close to the United States. Young President John F. Kennedy wanted to easily solve the issue of influence in Europe - but in return he received the famous Berlin Wall.

During the years of the thaw, the Soviet Union often upset the United States, sometimes with nuclear submarines, sometimes with powerful icebreakers. That and at all - Kuzkina's mother - a thermonuclear bomb. In general, everything is in the Russian spirit.

But there was another side to the thaw. As paradoxical as it may sound, it is with the beginning of the Khrushchev era that the USSR turns into a leading sports power. Soviet athletes made their debut on Olympic Games only in 1952, under Stalin, when Nina Ponomareva (Romashkova) brought the first Olympic gold medal. At the same time, the debut of the football team at the Helsinki Olympics took place. Having started the Olympic football chronicle with a victory over the Bulgarians, the Soviet team, which included Vsevolod Bobrov, Anatoly Ilyin and others, lost in the next two matches to the SFRY team, playing one of the matches in a heroic draw 5:5. In the replay, the Soviets lost 1:3, largely due to fatigue. For the USSR national team, this was generally only the 3rd official match in history, while for the Balkan allied team the 153rd! After the failure in Helsinki, the USSR football team was disbanded and did not gather for two years.

But already in 1954, Soviet football began to take off. Despite a draw with Ferenc Puskas, the finalists of the World Cup 54, the Hungarians, in another friendly match with the world champion team of Germany, the Soviets achieved a 3-2 victory. With a victory, the USSR national team also began the Olympic football tournament in Melbourne in 1956, where West Germans became the first victim of the Soviet team. Conceived as a rematch for the defeat in Moscow, he knocked out the German national team already at the 1/8 final stage. And the USSR team eventually became the Olympic champion, taking revenge in the final for the defeat in Helsinki from the Yugoslavs. 1.5 years after the “golden Melbourne”, the “red football car” made its successful debut at the world championships, and in 1960 became the pioneer winner at the I European Football Cup.


The country lived not only by football. From its debut in major competitions in 1952 until its collapse, Soviet sport reigned supreme over the world, leaving its main competitor, the United States, far behind. Only once did the Americans manage to break the hegemony of the Soviets in the distant 84th, but all this was the result of political intrigues that forced Soviet leadership boycott games in Los Angeles.
It is also worth noting that the launch of the first artificial satellite Earth, the first flight of man into space, and then women and animals also took place under Khrushchev.


The USSR during the thaw years is the taste of corn in all foods and even drinks, but the country really defeated hunger. These are the years of discoveries and accomplishments. This is the hope of millions of people that the nightly fear of waiting for arrests, the loss of loved ones, accused of treason, will never return.


It wasn't freedom yet. But only her taste. But those who remember that time, who lived in it, say that even the subsequent years of stagnation, then perestroika, and even more so these days, did not arouse such enthusiasm in our compatriots.

Sources at the heart of the material: Wikipedia, 22-91.ru

Conditional name, fixed for the period of the second half of the 50s - early 60s, associated with political course in domestic and foreign policy.

The term was introduced Soviet writer I. Ehrenburg, who published the story "The Thaw" in the journal " New world” in 1954. Signs of a “thaw” began to appear in the life of the country after Stalin’s death: there was a relative liberalization in the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR.

Report onXX congress. Criticism of the cult of personality.

Significant event in political life the country was the report "On the cult of personality and its consequences", read by Khrushchev at a closed meeting of the XX Congress of the CPSU in February 1956 and which became an absolute surprise for the congress delegates. The report spoke for the first time about the crimes of I.V. Stalin against the party, he was opposed to V.I. Lenin. It contained not only general discussions, but also a story about the fate of several arrested people. These were members of the Central Committee and the Politburo: N. Voskresensky, A. Kuznetsov, N. Postyshev and others. Khrushchev spoke about the torture of them and their letters before the execution. Interestingly, in the USSR, the full text of Khrushchev's report was first published in the open press only in 1989.

In 1957, a decree was issued prohibiting the assignment of the names of state and public figures streets and cities. On the other hand, criticism of the "cult of personality" allowed Khrushchev to deal with his political opponents within the country, as well as to change the leadership in a number of countries. of Eastern Europe. The foreign policy effect of the report was also ambiguous and led to a serious cooling of relations with Albania, China, North Korea and Romania. In 1956 there were major unrest in Poland and Hungary.

Rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation of the victims of Stalinism began almost immediately after the death of I.V. Stalin and the execution of L.P. Beria, but it received a greater scope after the report of N.S. Khrushchev, when a commission headed by was created to investigate violations of the law during the period of the cult of personality. By the autumn of 1956, most of the political prisoners were released, among them were party leaders, as well as miraculously surviving Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. At the same time, the rehabilitation did not affect the "dispossessed" and a number of prominent party leaders: G.E. Zinoviev, L.B. Kameneva, N.I. Bukharin and others. A reform of the legislation was carried out: “declaring an enemy of the people” was excluded from the list of punishments, the number of articles on liability for political crimes was reduced. The number of prisoners in the Gulag has decreased by more than 2 times.

In 1956-1957. the statehood of a number of republics, arbitrarily liquidated under Stalin, was restored, and their inhabitants (Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks, etc.) were allowed to return to their native places. However, even here the leaders of the CPSU were inconsistent: Crimean Tatars and the Volga Germans were not given such permission.

On the XXII congress The CPSU in October 1961 again heard the words of N.S. Khrushchev, who condemned Stalin and his defenders. According to the decision of the congress, on the night of October 31 to November 1, Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum and buried in a grave near Kremlin wall. Also, monuments to Stalin were tacitly demolished all over the country. The only exception was the monument in its hometown Burn. On November 30, the Moscow metro station named after the leader was renamed Semenovskaya. Stalin's closest associates sent to retirement: Kaganovich, Malenkov and Molotov were expelled from the party.

Economic and social reforms.

During the "thaw" period, the modernization of the Soviet economy took place, space exploration began, in 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly into space. The social obligations of the state were expanded, pensions were introduced, the working day was shortened, education fees were abolished, and the standard of living in the city and countryside rose noticeably. However, acute social contradictions which led to conflicts, the most famous of which were unrest in

Foreign policy.

Economic successes enabled the USSR to solve broad foreign policy tasks - to maintain its sphere of influence (including by military means, as in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution of 1956) and to expand the "socialist camp". One of the first initiatives of N.S. Khrushchev was the restoration of Soviet-Yugoslav relations in 1955. In the 50-60s. Communists and their allies came to power in a number of countries in Asia and Africa, and even in the immediate vicinity of the United States in Cuba. The new principles of the foreign policy of the USSR were proclaimed: the variety of forms of transition of various countries to socialism, the need for peaceful coexistence, and the possibility of preventing hostilities.

In confirmation of the new foreign policy The USSR almost halved its armed forces. From 5.8 million people at the beginning of 1955, the number was increased to 3.6 million people by December 1959. As part of this, military bases around the world were liquidated. In the spring of 1958, tests of thermonuclear weapons ceased.

The first post-war meetings take place on top level between the USSR and the USA. Despite this, in 1962 an acute outbreak broke out, putting the world before the immediate threat of a nuclear war. AT next year there was a split in the "socialist camp" associated with the Soviet-Chinese conflict.

"The Sixties".

Criticism of the "cult of personality", the beginning of the rehabilitation of the repressed, some freedom and successes of Soviet society (in science and technology) aroused the enthusiasm of the intelligentsia, especially young people, who later made up a whole generation social movement, known as the "sixties". That was the title of an article by S. Rassadin, published in the journal Yunost in 1960, which dealt with writers and readers of the new generation. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the art song genre became popular. The founder and most prominent representative of this direction was Bulat Okudzhava. Together with talented poets of that time: R.I. Rozhdestvensky, E.A. Evtushenko, A.A. Voznesensky and B.A. Akhmadulina, he spoke at the very popular evenings at the Polytechnic Museum. At the same time, both in society and in the party, there were heated discussions between "physicists" (technocrats) and "lyricists" (humanitarians), between Stalinists and anti-Stalinists.

Expansion of cultural ties.

Expanding cultural contacts between the USSR and outside world. In 1956, on the initiative of I. Ehrenburg, the first exhibition of forty works by Picasso took place in Moscow. She immediately revealed an ambivalent attitude towards him - a restrained official reaction and thousands of queues at the Museum fine arts them. A.C. Pushkin, where she passed. In the summer of 1957, Moscow hosted International Festival youth and students. In 1959, at the initiative of the Minister of Culture E.A. Furtseva, the Moscow International Film Festival was resumed. The big prize of the festival was won by S. Bondarchuk's film "The Fate of a Man". In 1963, a scandal erupted, as the main prize was given to Federico Fellini's cinematic fantasy "8 ½".

Literary magazines.

For the first time in the history of the USSR, literary journals became platforms where supporters different opinions got the opportunity to publish their articles. Conservative authors who considered the "thaw" a harmful deviation from the course towards building communism published mainly in the journals Oktyabr and Neva. Anti-Stalinist positions were occupied by the editorial offices of the magazines Yunost and Novy Mir, as well as Literaturnaya Gazeta (since 1959). At the same time, supporters of both directions referred to the ideas of Lenin, but had a different attitude to the era of Stalin. In the 1950s films were released that both glorified the party (Communist, directed by Y. Raizman), and ridiculed Soviet leaders(“Carnival Night”, directed by E.A. Ryazanov). Films also appear that were not of an ideological nature, but turned to the theme of war in a new way: G.N. Chukhrai "The Ballad of a Soldier", M.M. Kalatozov "The Cranes Are Flying", which became the winner of the "Palme d'Or" at the International Cannes Film Festival in 1958.

Participants in the legal disputes of that time did not go beyond the ideology of building socialism. Even attempts famous writers to go beyond these limits were considered unacceptable. So, in 1957, he published in the West the novel Doctor Zhivago, which described the events civil war from non-Bolshevik positions. For this novel in 1958 B.L. Pasternak was awarded the prestigious international Nobel Prize in the field of literature. But in the USSR, Pasternak's work was condemned as anti-Soviet, and under pressure from the authorities, he was forced to refuse the prize.

attitude towards the church.

At the end of the 50s. in connection with the course towards the construction of communism, the policy of the state towards the church is again tightened, the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church has resumed. Secretary of the Central Committee L.F. Ilyichev, in a speech in December 1961, announced: “Religion, which has always been in modern conditions anachronism, is now becoming an intolerable hindrance on our path to communism. Achieving a "society without religion" was declared a program goal. Not only did atheistic propaganda intensify, but also a reduction in the number of religious associations. So in 1958 there were only 18.6 thousand, including Orthodox - 13.4 thousand, in 1961 - 16 and 11 thousand, respectively.

The end of the "thaw".

On December 1, 1962, an exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists (MOSH) of the USSR was to open in the Moscow Manege. The exposition was approved by E.A. Furtseva. Part of the works of the exhibition was presented by the exposition “ new reality”, prepared by more than 60 artists representing the artistic direction, organized in the late 1940s by the painter E.M. Belyutin, who carried on the traditions of the Russian avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century. Khrushchev, who came to the exhibition, walked around the large hall where the exposition was located three times. He either moved swiftly from one picture to another, then returned back, gradually losing his temper, he moved on to swearing in the areal in relation to the artists and their works. The next day, immediately after the release of the Pravda newspaper with an accusatory article, many Muscovites came to the Manege, but the exposition had already been removed. However, there was no persecution of the artists.

On November 29, 1963, the feuilleton “Near-Literary Drone” appeared in print, in which the poet Joseph Brodsky was ridiculed. The writer was arrested and sentenced to 5 years of exile for parasitism. After that, something unprecedented for Soviet society happened: an open campaign began in defense of the poet. About two dozen writers supported his justification. Letters in defense of Brodsky were signed by D.D. Shostakovich, S.Ya. Marshak, K.I. Chukovsky, K.G. Paustovsky, A.T. Tvardovsky, Yu.P. Herman and others. Under the pressure of a wide public outcry, in 1965 the poet was returned from exile. In 1972, I. Brodsky left the country, and in 1987 he became a Nobel Prize winner.

As part of the campaign to debunk the "cult of personality" I.V. Stalin, the former prisoner A. Solzhenitsyn was allowed to publish the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, which tells about life in Stalinist camps. This story, shocking in its cruel truth, was published in Novy Mir in November 1962 with special permission from the Presidium of the Central Committee, and brought Solzhenitsyn great fame. The issue of the magazine became a real rarity, many began to rewrite the story by hand, so "samizdat" arose. The duality of the era of the “thaw” is evidenced by the fact that, having allowed the publication of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the party leadership at the same time banned the publication of the novel in the First Circle, which tells about Solzhenitsyn’s work during the years of imprisonment in the “sharashka” in Marfino.

Strengthening voluntarism in Khrushchev's policy, endless reforms and transformations, plans to reform the party, the introduction of the principle of rotation in appointments, as well as the rudeness of the First Secretary in communication gradually led him to isolation, undermined Khrushchev's authority both among the people and in the party leadership. Under these conditions, Khrushchev's inner circle decided to remove him from power, which was done at the October 1964 plenum. The country calmly met Khrushchev's removal from office and the completion of the "thaw". Here is what N.S. himself wrote. Khrushchev in his memoirs about this controversial period: “Deciding on the arrival of the thaw, and going for it consciously, the leadership of the USSR, including myself, was at the same time afraid of it: no matter how flood comes from it, which will overwhelm us, and with which we it will be difficult to cope ... We wanted to release creative forces people, but in such a way that new creations contribute to the strengthening of socialism. Like what, as the people say, you want, and prick, and your mother does not order. So it was"

Candidate members of the Politburo
Komsomol
Truth
Lenin Guard
Opposition in the CPSU(b)
Great terror
Anti-party group
peaceful coexistence
General line of the party

Khrushchev thaw- an unofficial designation of the period in the history of the USSR after the death of I.V. Stalin (mid-1950s - mid-1960s). In the internal political life of the USSR, it was characterized by the liberalization of the regime, the weakening of totalitarian power, the emergence of some freedom of speech, the relative democratization of the political and public life, openness Western world, greater freedom creative activity. The name is associated with the tenure of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. Khrushchev (-).

The word "thaw" is associated with the story of the same name by Ilya Ehrenburg.

Story

The starting point of the "Khrushchev thaw" was the death of Stalin in 1953. The “thaw” also includes a short period when Georgy Malenkov was with the country’s leadership and major criminal cases were closed (“Leningrad case”, “Doctors’ case”), an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes passed. During these years, uprisings of prisoners broke out in the Gulag system: the Norilsk uprising, the Vorkuta uprising, the Kengir uprising, etc.

De-Stalinization

With the strengthening of Khrushchev in power, the "thaw" became associated with the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult. At the same time, in 1953-55, Stalin still continued to be officially revered in the USSR as a great leader; during that period, they were often depicted in portraits together with Lenin. At the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, N. S. Khrushchev made a report " On the cult of personality and its consequences", in which Stalin's personality cult and Stalinist repressions were criticized, and in the foreign policy of the USSR the course for "peaceful coexistence" with the capitalist the world. Khrushchev also began a rapprochement with Yugoslavia, relations with which were severed under Stalin.

In general, the new course was supported at the top of the party and corresponded to the interests of the nomenklatura, since earlier even the most prominent party leaders who fell into disgrace had to fear for their lives. Many surviving political prisoners in the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp were released and rehabilitated. Since 1953, commissions have been formed to review cases and to rehabilitate. Most of the peoples deported in the 1930s-1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.

Tens of thousands of German and Japanese prisoners of war were sent home. In some countries, relatively liberal leaders came to power, such as Imre Nagy in Hungary. An agreement was reached on the state neutrality of Austria and the withdrawal of all occupying troops from it. In the city of Khrushchev, he met in Geneva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and the heads of government of Great Britain and France.

At the same time, de-Stalinization had an extremely negative impact on relations with Maoist China. The CCP condemned de-Stalinization as revisionism.

In 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR banned the assignment of names of party leaders to cities and factories during their lifetime.

The Limits and Contradictions of the Thaw

The thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, clear boundaries of the policy of openness appeared. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist speeches and violence, respectively, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the text of the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements." It stated: “The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union considers it necessary to appeal to all party organizations ... in order to attract the attention of the party and mobilize the communists to intensify political work among the masses, to resolutely fight to suppress the attacks of anti-Soviet elements, which in recent times, in due to some aggravation of the international situation, have intensified their hostile activities against the Communist Party and the Soviet state. Further, it was said about the recent "intensification of the activities of anti-Soviet and hostile elements." First of all, this is a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people”, conceived under the guise of “false slogans of freedom and democracy” using “the discontent of a significant part of the population caused by serious mistakes made by the former state and party leadership of Hungary”. It was also stated: “Recently, among individual workers in literature and art, who are slipping from party positions, politically immature and philistine-minded, there have been attempts to question the correctness of the party line in the development of Soviet literature and art, to move away from the principles of socialist realism to positions of unprincipled art, put forward demands to “liberate” literature and art from the party leadership, to ensure “freedom of creativity”, understood in the bourgeois-anarchist, individualistic spirit”. The letter contained an instruction to communists working in the organs of state security "to vigilantly guard the interests of our socialist state, to be vigilant against the intrigues of hostile elements and, in accordance with the laws of Soviet power, to stop criminal acts in a timely manner" . A direct consequence of this letter was a significant increase in 1957 in the number of those convicted for "counter-revolutionary crimes" (2,948 people, which is 4 times more than in 1956. ) . Students for critical statements were expelled from institutes.

Thaw in art

Thaw in architecture

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Increasing pressure on religious associations

In 1956, the anti-religious struggle began to intensify. The secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the Note of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics" On the Shortcomings of Scientific and Atheistic Propaganda "" dated October 4, 1958, obliged party, Komsomol and public organizations to launch a propaganda offensive against "religious survivals"; state institutions were ordered to carry out administrative measures aimed at tightening the conditions for the existence of religious communities. On October 16, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the Decrees "On Monasteries in the USSR" and "On Increasing Taxes on Income of Diocesan Enterprises and Monasteries".

On April 21, 1960, the new chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kuroyedov, appointed in February of the same year, in his report at the All-Union Conference of the Commissioners of the Council, characterized the work of its former leadership as follows: Main mistake Affairs Council Orthodox Church consisted in the fact that he inconsistently pursued the line of the party and the state in relation to the church and often slipped into positions of service church organizations. Occupying defensive positions in relation to the church, the council led the line not to combat violations of the legislation on cults by the clergy, but to protect church interests.

The secret instruction on the application of the legislation on cults in March 1961 paid special attention to the fact that clergymen do not have the right to interfere in the administrative, financial and economic activities of religious communities. For the first time, the instructions identified “sects whose doctrine and nature of activity are anti-state and savage in nature, which were not subject to registration: Jehovists, Pentecostals, Adventist reformists” that were not subject to registration.

A statement attributed to Khrushchev from that period has been preserved in the mass consciousness, in which he promises to show the last priest on TV in 1980.

The end of the thaw

The completion of the "thaw" is considered the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev in the year. However, the tightening of the internal political regime and ideological control was begun during the reign of Khrushchev after the end of Caribbean Crisis. De-Stalinization was stopped, and in connection with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War the process of exalting the role of victory began Soviet people in the war. They tried to bypass Stalin's personality as much as possible, he was never rehabilitated. A neutral article about him remained in the TSB. In 1979, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stalin, several articles were published, but no special celebrations were held.

Massive political repression, however, was not resumed, and Khrushchev, deprived of power, retired and even remained a member of the party. Shortly before this, Khrushchev himself criticized the concept of "thaw" and even called Ehrenburg, who invented it, a "swindler."

A number of researchers believe that the thaw finally ended in 1968 after the suppression of the Prague Spring. With the end of the thaw, criticism of Soviet reality began to spread only through unofficial channels, such as samizdat.

Mass riots in the USSR

• June 10-11, 1957, an emergency in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. The actions of a group of citizens who spread rumors that police officers killed the detained driver. The number of "groups of drunken citizens" - 3 thousand people. 9 instigators were prosecuted.
• January 15, 1961, the city of Krasnodar. Reasons: the actions of a group of drunken citizens who spread rumors about the beating of a serviceman when he was detained by a patrol for violation of wearing a uniform. The number of participants is 1300 people. Firearms were used, one person was killed. 24 people were brought to criminal responsibility. See Anti-Soviet rebellion in Krasnodar (1961).
• On June 21, 1961, in the city of Biysk, Altai Territory, 500 people participated in riots. They stood up for a drunkard whom the police wanted to arrest in the central market. The drunk citizen resisted the security guards during the arrest public order. There was a fight with the use of weapons. One person was killed, one was wounded, 15 were prosecuted.
• On June 30, 1961, in the city of Murom, Vladimir Region, over 1.5 thousand workers of the local plant named after Ordzhonikidze almost destroyed the construction of a sobering-up honey tank, in which one of the employees of the enterprise, brought there by the police, died. Law enforcement officers used weapons, two workers were injured, 12 men were put on trial.
• On July 23, 1961, 1,200 people took to the streets of the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, and moved to the city police department to rescue two of their detained comrades. The police used weapons, as a result of which four were killed, 11 wounded, 20 people were put in the dock.
• September 15-16, 1961, street riots in the North Ossetian city of Beslan. The number of rebels - 700 people. The riot arose because of an attempt by the police to detain five people who were in a state of intoxication in public place. Armed resistance was provided to the guards. One is killed. Seven have been put on trial.
• July 1-3, 1962, Novocherkassk Rostov region, 4 thousand workers of the electric locomotive plant, dissatisfied with the actions of the administration in explaining the reasons for the increase in retail prices for meat and milk, came out to protest. The protesting workers were dispersed with the help of troops. 23 people died, 70 were injured. 132 instigators were brought to justice, of which seven were later shot (See Novocherkassk execution)
• June 16-18, 1963, the city of Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk region. About 600 people took part in the performance. The reason is the resistance to police officers by a serviceman who was in a state of intoxication during his arrest and the actions of a group of people. Four killed, 15 wounded, 41 put on trial.
• November 7, 1963, the city of Sumgayit, more than 800 people came to the defense of the demonstrators who were walking with photographs of Stalin. Police and vigilantes tried to take away unauthorized portraits. Weapons were used. One demonstrator was wounded, six sat in the dock (See Riots in Sumgayit (1963)).
• On April 16, 1964, in Bronnitsy near Moscow, about 300 people defeated the bullpen, where a resident of the city died from beatings. The police, by their unauthorized actions, provoked popular indignation. No weapons were used, there were no dead or wounded. 8 people were brought to criminal responsibility.

see also

Notes

Footnotes

Links

• Rudolf Pikhoya. Slowly melting ice (March 1953 - late 1957)
• A.Shubin Dissidents, informals and freedom in the USSR
• And I gave my heart to search and try with wisdom all that is done under heaven...

Periods Soviet history

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It was characterized in the internal political life of the USSR by the condemnation of the personality cult of Stalin, the repressions of the 1930s, the release of political prisoners, the liquidation of the Gulag, the weakening of totalitarian power, the emergence of some freedom of speech, the relative liberalization of political and public life, openness to the Western world, greater freedom of creative activity.

The name is associated with the tenure of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964).

The word "thaw" is associated with the story of the same name by Ilya Ehrenburg.

Story

The starting point of the “Khrushchev thaw” was the death of Stalin in 1953. The “thaw” also includes a short period when Georgy Malenkov was with the country’s leadership and major criminal cases (“Leningrad Case”, “Doctors’ Case”) were closed, an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes passed.

During these years, uprisings of prisoners broke out in the Gulag system: the Norilsk uprising, the Vorkuta uprising, the Kengir uprising, etc.

De-Stalinization

With the strengthening of Khrushchev's power, the "thaw" became associated with the debunking of Stalin's personality cult. At the same time, in 1953-1956, Stalin still continued to be officially revered in the USSR as a great leader; during that period, they were often depicted in portraits together with Lenin. At the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, N. S. Khrushchev made a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences”, in which the cult of personality of Stalin and Stalinist repressions were criticized, and in the foreign policy of the USSR the course for “peaceful coexistence” with the capitalist the world. Khrushchev also began rapprochement with Yugoslavia, relations with which had been severed under Stalin.

In general, the new course was supported at the top of the party and was in line with the interests of the nomenklatura, since previously even the most prominent party leaders who fell into disgrace had to fear for their lives. Many surviving political prisoners in the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp were released and rehabilitated. Since 1953, commissions have been formed to review cases and to rehabilitate. Most of the peoples deported in the 1930s and 1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.

Labor legislation has been liberalized (in 1956, criminal liability for absenteeism was abolished).

Tens of thousands of German and Japanese prisoners of war were sent home. In some countries, relatively liberal leaders came to power, such as Imre Nagy in Hungary. An agreement was reached on the state neutrality of Austria and the withdrawal of all occupation troops from it.

In 1955, Khrushchev met in Geneva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and the heads of government of Great Britain and France.

unknown , Public Domain

At the same time, de-Stalinization had an extremely negative impact on relations with Maoist China. The CCP condemned de-Stalinization as revisionism.

In 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR banned the assignment of names of party leaders to cities and factories during their lifetime.

Under Khrushchev, Stalin was treated neutrally positively. In all Soviet publications of the Khrushchev thaw, Stalin was called a prominent figure in the party, a staunch revolutionary and a major party theorist who rallied the party during a period of severe trials. But at the same time, all publications of that time wrote that Stalin had his shortcomings and that in the last years of his life he made major mistakes and excesses.

The Limits and Contradictions of the Thaw

The thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, clear boundaries of the policy of openness appeared. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist speeches and violence, respectively, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the text of the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements."

It said:

“The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union considers it necessary to appeal to all party organizations ... in order to attract the attention of the party and mobilize communists to intensify political work among the masses, to resolutely fight to stop the attacks of anti-Soviet elements, which in recent times, due to some aggravation international situation, intensified their hostile activities against the Communist Party and the Soviet state.

Further, it was said about the recent "intensification of the activities of anti-Soviet and hostile elements." First of all, this is a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people”, conceived under the guise of “false slogans of freedom and democracy” using “the discontent of a significant part of the population caused by serious mistakes made by the former state and party leadership of Hungary”.

It also stated:

“Recently, among individual workers in literature and art, who are slipping from party positions, politically immature and philistine-minded, there have been attempts to question the correctness of the party line in the development of Soviet literature and art, to move away from the principles of socialist realism to positions of unprincipled art, demands have been put forward to “liberate “literature and art from the party leadership, to ensure “freedom of creativity”, understood in a bourgeois-anarchist, individualistic spirit.”

A direct consequence of this letter was a significant increase in 1957 in the number of those convicted for "counter-revolutionary crimes" (2948 people, which is 4 times more than in 1956). Students for critical statements were expelled from institutes.

• 1953 - mass protests in the GDR; in 1956 - in Poland.
• 1956 - the pro-Stalinist protest of the Georgian youth in Tbilisi was suppressed.
• 1957 - Boris Pasternak is persecuted for publishing a novel in Italy.
• 1958 - mass unrest in Grozny was suppressed. In the 1960s, the Nikolaev dockers, during interruptions in the supply of bread, refused to ship grain to Cuba.
• 1961 - Rokotov and Faibishenko, the money changers, were shot in violation of the current legislation (the Rokotov-Faibishenko-Yakovlev Case).
• 1962 - the performance of workers in Novocherkassk was suppressed with the use of weapons.
• 1964 - Joseph Brodsky was arrested. The trial of the poet became one of the factors in the emergence of the human rights movement in the USSR.

Thaw in art

During the period of de-Stalinization, censorship was noticeably weakened, primarily in literature, cinema and other forms of art, where more critical coverage of reality became possible.

The "first poetic bestseller" of the thaw was a collection of poems by Leonid Martynov (Poems. M., Young Guard, 1955).

The main platform of supporters of the "thaw" was literary magazine"New world". Some works of this period gained popularity abroad, including Vladimir Dudintsev's novel "Not by Bread Alone" and Alexander Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

In 1957, Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago was published in Milan. Other significant representatives of the thaw period were writers and poets Viktor Astafiev, Vladimir Tendryakov, Bella Akhmadulina, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Film production has been dramatically increased.

Grigory Chukhrai was the first in cinematography to touch upon the topic of de-Stalinization and thaw in the film “ Clear sky» (1963). The main film directors of the thaw are Marlen Khutsiev, Mikhail Romm, Georgy Danelia, Eldar Ryazanov, Leonid Gaidai. An important cultural event was the films - "Carnival Night", "Outpost of Ilyich", "Spring on Zarechnaya Street", "Idiot", "I'm walking around Moscow", "Amphibian Man", "Welcome, or No Outsiders" and other.

In 1955-1964, television broadcasting was distributed throughout most of the country. Television studios are open in all the capitals of the Union republics and in many regional centers.

In 1957, Moscow hosted the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students.

The new face of the security forces

The Khrushchev era was a time of transformation of the Soviet security agencies, which was complicated by the backlash caused by the Khrushchev report of 1956, when the role of the special services in the Great Terror was condemned. At that time, the word "chekist" lost its official approval, and its very mention could cause sharp reproaches. However, soon, by the time Andropov was appointed to the post of chairman of the KGB in 1967, it was rehabilitated: it was in the Khrushchev era that the term “chekist” was cleared, and the reputation and prestige secret service gradually restored. The rehabilitation of the Chekists included the creation of a new series of associations, which were supposed to symbolize a break with the Stalinist past: the term "Chekist" received a new birth and acquired a new content. As Sakharov would later say, the KGB "became more 'civilized', acquired a face, albeit not entirely human, but in any case not a tiger."

Khrushchev's reign was marked by a revival and re-establishment of the veneration of Dzerzhinsky. In addition to the statue on the Lubyanka, opened in 1958, the memory of Dzerzhinsky was immortalized in the late 1950s. throughout the Soviet Union. Untainted by participation in the Great Terror, Dzerzhinsky was supposed to symbolize the purity of the origins of Soviet Chekism. In the press of that time, there was a noticeable desire to separate the legacy of Dzerzhinsky from the activities of the NKVD, when, according to the first chairman of the KGB Serov, “provocateurs” and “careerists” filled the secret apparatus. The gradual official restoration of confidence in the state security agencies during the Khrushchev era relied on the strengthening of continuity between the KGB and the Dzerzhinsky Cheka, while Great terror portrayed as a retreat from the original KGB ideals - a clear historical border was drawn between the Cheka and the NKVD.

Khrushchev, who paid great attention to the Komsomol and staked "on the youth", in 1958 appointed a young 40-year-old Shelepin, a non-Chekist who had previously held leadership positions in the Komsomol, to the post of chairman of the KGB. This choice corresponded to the new image of the KGB, responded to the desire to create a strong association with the forces of renewal and revival. During the personnel changes that began in 1959, the total number of KGB cadres was reduced, but there was also a recruitment of new Chekists, attracted mainly from the Komsomol. The image of the security officer in the cinema has also changed: instead of people in leather jackets from the beginning of the 1960s. young neat heroes in strict suits began to appear on the screens; now they were respected members of society, fully integrated into the Soviet state system, representatives of one of the state institutions. The increased level of education of the Chekists was emphasized; So, in the newspaper "Leningradskaya Pravda" it was noted:

“Today, the vast majority of employees of the State Security Committee have a higher education, many speak one or more foreign languages,” while in 1921 1.3% of Chekists had a higher education.”

Selected writers, directors and historians were given access to previously closed sources about the activities Soviet officers intelligence; materials were declassified on several Soviet intelligence operations(for example, for Operation Trust) and individual officers (including Rudolf Abel and Jan Buikis).

Increasing pressure on religious associations

In 1956, the anti-religious struggle began to intensify. The secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the Note of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics" On the Shortcomings of Scientific and Atheistic Propaganda "" dated October 4, 1958, obliged party, Komsomol and public organizations to launch a propaganda offensive against "religious survivals"; state institutions were ordered to carry out administrative measures aimed at tightening the conditions for the existence of religious communities. On October 16, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the Decrees "On Monasteries in the USSR" and "On Increasing Taxes on the Income of Diocesan Enterprises and Monasteries."

On April 21, 1960, the new chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Kuroyedov, appointed in February of the same year, in his report at the All-Union Conference of the Commissioners of the Council, characterized the work of its former leadership as follows:

“The main mistake of the Council for the Affairs of the Orthodox Church was that it inconsistently pursued the line of the party and the state in relation to the church and often slipped into positions of serving church organizations. Occupying defensive positions in relation to the church, the council led the line not to combat violations of the legislation on cults by the clergy, but to protect church interests.

The secret instruction on the application of legislation on cults in March 1961 paid special attention to the fact that clergymen have no right to interfere in the administrative, financial and economic activities of religious communities. For the first time, the instructions identified “sects whose doctrine and nature of activity are anti-state and savage in nature, which were not subject to registration: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, Adventist Reformists,” which were not subject to registration.

A statement attributed to Khrushchev from that period has survived in the mass consciousness, in which he promises to show the last priest on TV in 1980.

The end of the "thaw"

The end of the “thaw” is considered the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev in 1964. However, the tightening of the domestic political regime and ideological control was begun during the reign of Khrushchev after the end of the Caribbean crisis.

U. S. Department of State , Public Domain

De-Stalinization was stopped, and in connection with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the process of exalting the role of the victory of the Soviet people in the war began. They tried to bypass Stalin's personality as much as possible, he was never rehabilitated. In the third edition of the Great Soviet encyclopedia(1976), a neutral article about him remained. In 1979, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stalin, several articles were published, but no special celebrations were held.

Massive political repression, however, was not resumed, and Khrushchev, deprived of power, retired and even remained a member of the party. Shortly before this, Khrushchev himself criticized the concept of "thaw" and even called Ehrenburg, who invented it, a "swindler."

A number of researchers believe that the thaw finally ended in 1968 after the suppression of Prague Spring.

With the end of the thaw, criticism of Soviet reality began to spread only through unofficial channels, such as samizdat.

Photo gallery

The date of the beginning: mid 1950s

Expiration date: mid 1960s

Useful information

Khrushchev thaw

Mass riots in the USSR

• June 10-11, 1957, an emergency in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. The actions of a group of citizens who spread rumors that police officers killed the detained driver. The number of "groups of drunken citizens" - 3 thousand people. 9 instigators were prosecuted.
• August 23-31, 1958, the city of Grozny. Reasons: the murder of a Russian guy against the backdrop of escalated ethnic tensions. The crime caused a wide public outcry, and spontaneous protests grew into a large-scale political uprising, for the suppression of which troops had to be sent into the city.
• January 15, 1961, the city of Krasnodar. Reasons: the actions of a group of drunken citizens who spread rumors about the beating of a serviceman when he was detained by a patrol for violation of wearing a uniform. The number of participants is 1300 people. Firearms were used, one person was killed. 24 people were brought to criminal responsibility.
• On June 25, 1961, 500 people took part in the riots in the city of Biysk, Altai Territory. They stood up for a drunkard whom the police wanted to arrest in the central market. The drunk citizen during the arrest resisted the officers of the protection of public order. There was a fight with the use of weapons. One person was killed, one was wounded, 15 were prosecuted.
• On June 30, 1961, in the city of Murom, Vladimir Region, over 1.5 thousand workers of the local plant named after Ordzhonikidze almost destroyed the construction of a sobering-up station, in which one of the employees of the enterprise, brought there by the police, died. Law enforcement officers used weapons, two workers were injured, 12 men were put on trial.
• On July 23, 1961, 1,200 people took to the streets of the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, and moved to the city police department to rescue two of their detained comrades. The police used weapons, as a result of which four were killed, 11 wounded, 20 people were put in the dock.
• September 15-16, 1961, street riots in the North Ossetian city of Beslan. The number of rebels - 700 people. The riot arose because of an attempt by the police to detain five people who were in a state of intoxication in a public place. Armed resistance was provided to the guards. One is killed. Seven have been put on trial.
• June 1-2, 1962, Novocherkassk, Rostov region, 4 thousand workers of the electric locomotive plant, dissatisfied with the actions of the administration in explaining the reasons for the increase in retail prices for meat and milk, came out to protest. The protesting workers were dispersed with the help of troops. 23 people died, 70 were injured. 132 instigators were brought to justice, seven of whom were later shot.
• June 16-18, 1963, the city of Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk region. About 600 people took part in the performance. The reason is the resistance to police officers by a serviceman who was in a state of intoxication during his arrest and the actions of a group of people. Four killed, 15 wounded, 41 put on trial.
• November 7, 1963, the city of Sumgayit, more than 800 people stood up to protect the demonstrators who were walking with photographs of Stalin. Police and vigilantes tried to take away unauthorized portraits. Weapons were used. One demonstrator was injured, six sat in the dock.
• On April 16, 1964, in Bronnitsy near Moscow, about 300 people defeated the bullpen, where a resident of the city died from beatings. The police, by their unauthorized actions, provoked popular indignation. No weapons were used, there were no dead or wounded. 8 people were brought to criminal responsibility.

The period in history from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s is conventionally referred to as the “Khrushchev thaw”. (this period was named after the eponymous novel by Ilya Ehrenburg “The Thaw”). This period is characterized by a number of essential features: condemnation of the personality cult of Stalin and the repressions of the 1930s, the liberalization of the regime, the release of political prisoners, the liquidation of the Gulag. There was some freedom of speech, relative democratization of political and public life.

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (1953 - 1964).

In 1953-1955, Stalin still continued to be officially revered in the USSR as a great leader.

At the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, N. S. Khrushchev made a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences”, in which the cult of personality of Stalin and Stalinist repressions were criticized, and in the foreign policy of the USSR the course for “peaceful coexistence” with the capitalist the world. Khrushchev also began rapprochement with Yugoslavia, relations with which had been severed under Stalin.

In general, the new course was supported at the top of the party and corresponded to the interests of the nomenklatura, since earlier even the most prominent party leaders who fell into disgrace had to fear for their lives. Many surviving political prisoners in the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp were released and rehabilitated. Since 1953, commissions have been formed to review cases and to rehabilitate. Most of the peoples deported in the 1930s-1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.

Labor legislation has been liberalized (in 1956, criminal liability for absenteeism was abolished).

Tens of thousands of German and Japanese prisoners of war were sent home. In some countries, relatively liberal leaders came to power, such as Imre Nagy in Hungary. An agreement was reached on the state neutrality of Austria and the withdrawal of all occupying troops from it. In 1955, Khrushchev met in Geneva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and the heads of government of Great Britain and France.

At the same time, de-Stalinization had an extremely negative impact on relations with Maoist China. The CCP condemned de-Stalinization as revisionism.

In 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR banned the assignment of names of party leaders to cities and factories during their lifetime.

Limits and contradictions of the thaw[edit | edit wiki text]

The thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, clear boundaries of the policy of openness appeared. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist speeches and violence, respectively, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the text of the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements." It said: " The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union considers it necessary to appeal to all party organizations ... in order to attract the attention of the party and mobilize communists to intensify political work among the masses, to fight resolutely to stop the sorties of anti-Soviet elements, which in recent times, in connection with some aggravation of international situation, intensified their hostile activities against the Communist Party and the Soviet state". Further, it was said about the recent "intensification of the activities of anti-Soviet and hostile elements." First of all, this is a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people”, conceived under the guise of “false slogans of freedom and democracy” using “the discontent of a significant part of the population caused by serious mistakes made by the former state and party leadership of Hungary”. It was also stated: “Recently, among individual workers in literature and art, who are slipping from party positions, politically immature and philistine-minded, there have been attempts to question the correctness of the party line in the development of Soviet literature and art, to move away from the principles of socialist realism to positions of unprincipled art, put forward demands to “liberate” literature and art from the party leadership, to ensure “freedom of creativity”, understood in the bourgeois-anarchist, individualistic spirit”. The letter contained an instruction to communists working in the organs of state security "to vigilantly guard the interests of our socialist state, to be vigilant against the intrigues of hostile elements and, in accordance with the laws of Soviet power, to stop criminal acts in a timely manner" . A direct consequence of this letter was a significant increase in 1957 in the number of those convicted for "counter-revolutionary crimes" (2948 people, which is 4 times more than in 1956). Students for critical statements were expelled from institutes.

· 1953 - mass protests in the GDR; in 1956 - in Poland.

· 1956 - the pro-Stalinist protest of the Georgian youth in Tbilisi was suppressed.

· 1957 - persecution of Boris Pasternak for publishing a novel in Italy.

· 1958 - mass unrest in Grozny was suppressed. In the 1960s, the Nikolaev dockers, during interruptions in the supply of bread, refused to ship grain to Cuba.

· 1961 - in violation of the current legislation [Note. 1] money-changers Rokotov and Faibishenko were shot (the Case of Rokotov-Faibishenko-Yakovlev).

· 1962 - the performance of workers in Novocherkassk was suppressed with the use of weapons.

1964 - arrested Joseph Brodsky [Note. 2] The trial of the poet became one of the factors in the emergence of the human rights movement in the USSR.

Thaw in art[edit | edit wiki text]

During the period of de-Stalinization, censorship was noticeably weakened, primarily in literature, cinema and other forms of art, where more critical coverage of reality became possible. The "first poetic bestseller" of the thaw was a collection of poems by Leonid Martynov (Poems. M., Young Guard, 1955). The literary magazine Novy Mir became the main platform for supporters of the “thaw”. Some works of this period gained popularity abroad, including Vladimir Dudintsev's novel "Not by Bread Alone" and Alexander Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". Other significant representatives of the thaw period were writers and poets Viktor Astafiev, Vladimir Tendryakov, Bella Akhmadulina, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Film production has been dramatically increased.

Grigory Chukhrai was the first in cinematography to touch upon the topic of de-Stalinization and the thaw in the film Clear Sky (1963). The main film directors of the thaw are Marlen Khutsiev, Mikhail Romm, Georgy Danelia, Eldar Ryazanov, Leonid Gaidai. An important cultural event was the films - "Carnival Night", "Outpost of Ilyich", "Spring on Zarechnaya Street", "Idiot", "I'm walking around Moscow", "Amphibian Man", "Welcome, or No Outsiders" and other.

In 1955-1964 television broadcasting was extended to the territory of most of the country. Television studios are open in all the capitals of the Union republics and in many regional centers.

In 1957, Moscow hosted the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students.

Thaw in architecture[edit | edit wiki text]

Main articles: On the elimination of excesses in design and construction, Khrushchev

Increasing pressure on religious associations[edit | edit wiki text]

Main article: Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign

In 1956, the anti-religious struggle began to intensify. The secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the Note of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics" On the Shortcomings of Scientific and Atheistic Propaganda "" dated October 4, 1958, obliged party, Komsomol and public organizations to launch a propaganda offensive against "religious survivals"; state institutions were ordered to carry out administrative measures aimed at tightening the conditions for the existence of religious communities. On October 16, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the Decrees "On Monasteries in the USSR" and "On Increasing Taxes on Income of Diocesan Enterprises and Monasteries".

On April 21, 1960, the new chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Kuroyedov, appointed in February of the same year, in his report at the All-Union Conference of the Commissioners of the Council, characterized the work of its former leadership as follows: “The main mistake of the Council for the Orthodox Church was that it inconsistently pursued the line parties and the state in relation to the church and often slipped into positions of serving church organizations. Occupying defensive positions in relation to the church, the council led the line not to combat violations of the legislation on cults by the clergy, but to protect church interests.

The secret instruction on the application of the legislation on cults in March 1961 paid special attention to the fact that clergymen do not have the right to interfere in the administrative, financial and economic activities of religious communities. For the first time, the instructions identified “sects whose doctrine and nature of activity is anti-state and savage in nature, which were not subject to registration: Jehovists, Pentecostals, Adventist reformists” that were not subject to registration.

A statement attributed to Khrushchev from that period has been preserved in the mass consciousness, in which he promises to show the last priest on TV in 1980.

The end of the "thaw"[edit | edit wiki text]

The end of the “thaw” is considered the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev in 1964. However, the tightening of the domestic political regime and ideological control was begun during the reign of Khrushchev after the end of the Caribbean crisis. De-Stalinization was stopped, and in connection with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the process of exalting the role of the victory of the Soviet people in the war began. They tried to bypass Stalin's personality as much as possible, he was never rehabilitated. A neutral article about him remained in the TSB. In 1979, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stalin, several articles were published, but no special celebrations were held.

Massive political repression, however, was not resumed, and Khrushchev, deprived of power, retired and even remained a member of the party. Shortly before this, Khrushchev himself criticized the concept of "thaw" and even called Ehrenburg, who invented it, a "swindler."

A number of researchers believe that the thaw finally ended in 1968 after the suppression of the Prague Spring.

With the end of the thaw, criticism of Soviet reality began to spread only through unofficial channels, such as samizdat.

Mass riots in the USSR[edit | edit wiki text]

· June 10-11, 1957, an emergency in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. The actions of a group of citizens who spread rumors that police officers killed the detained driver. The number of "groups of drunken citizens" - 3 thousand people. 9 instigators were prosecuted.

· August 23-31, 1958, the city of Grozny. Reasons: the murder of a Russian guy against the backdrop of escalated ethnic tensions. The crime caused a wide public outcry, and spontaneous protests grew into a large-scale political uprising, for the suppression of which troops had to be sent into the city. See Mass riots in Grozny (1958)

January 15, 1961, the city of Krasnodar. Reasons: the actions of a group of drunken citizens who spread rumors about the beating of a serviceman when he was detained by a patrol for violation of wearing a uniform. The number of participants is 1300 people. Firearms were used, one person was killed. 24 people were brought to criminal responsibility. See Anti-Soviet rebellion in Krasnodar (1961).

On June 25, 1961, 500 people took part in the riots in the city of Biysk, Altai Territory. They stood up for a drunkard whom the police wanted to arrest in the central market. The drunk citizen during the arrest resisted the officers of the protection of public order. There was a fight with the use of weapons. One person was killed, one was wounded, 15 were prosecuted.

On June 30, 1961, in the city of Murom, Vladimir Region, over 1.5 thousand workers of the local plant named after Ordzhonikidze almost destroyed the construction of a sobering-up honey tank, in which one of the employees of the enterprise, brought there by the police, died. Law enforcement officers used weapons, two workers were injured, 12 men were put on trial.

· On July 23, 1961, 1,200 people took to the streets of the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, and moved to the city police department to rescue two of their detained comrades. The police used weapons, as a result of which four were killed, 11 wounded, 20 people were put in the dock.

· September 15-16, 1961, street riots in the North Ossetian city of Beslan. The number of rebels - 700 people. The riot arose because of an attempt by the police to detain five people who were in a state of intoxication in a public place. Armed resistance was provided to the guards. One is killed. Seven have been put on trial.

· June 1-2, 1962, Novocherkassk, Rostov region, 4 thousand workers of the electric locomotive plant, dissatisfied with the actions of the administration in explaining the reasons for the increase in retail prices for meat and milk, came out to protest. The protesting workers were dispersed with the help of troops. 23 people died, 70 were injured. 132 instigators were brought to justice, of which seven were later shot (See Novocherkassk execution)

· June 16-18, 1963, the city of Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk region. About 600 people took part in the performance. The reason is the resistance to police officers by a serviceman who was in a state of intoxication during his arrest and the actions of a group of people. Four killed, 15 wounded, 41 put on trial.

· November 7, 1963, the city of Sumgayit, more than 800 people came to the defense of the demonstrators who were marching with photographs of Stalin. Police and vigilantes tried to take away unauthorized portraits. Weapons were used. One demonstrator was wounded, six sat in the dock (See Riots in Sumgayit (1963)).

On April 16, 1964, in Bronnitsy near Moscow, about 300 people defeated the bullpen, where a resident of the city died from beatings. The police, by their unauthorized actions, provoked popular indignation. No weapons were used, there were no dead or wounded. 8 people were brought to criminal responsibility.

De-Stalinization- the process of overcoming the cult of personality and the elimination of the political and ideological system created in the USSR during the reign of I.V. Stalin. This process led to a partial democratization of public life, called the "thaw". The term "de-Stalinization" is used in Western literature since the 1960s.

Sometimes they talk about three so-called "waves" of de-Stalinization.

1 Khrushchev thaw

o 1.1 Khrushchev's indecisiveness

2 Brezhnev era

3 Perestroika

4 Overcoming the Past

5 After 2000

6 Destalinization support

7 Criticism of the de-Stalinization program

· eight Public opinion about de-Stalinization

· 9 Separate opinions

10 See also

11 Notes

Khrushchev thaw[edit | edit wiki text]

Main articles: Khrushchev thaw, XX Congress of the CPSU, About the cult of personality and its consequences

The process of partial transformation of the Soviet state-political system began already in 1953, when the first steps were taken to eliminate the consequences of Stalin's repressive policy, to partially restore law and order. Already in the theses of the department of propaganda and agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Institute of Marx - Engels - Lenin - Stalin under the Central Committee of the CPSU for the fiftieth anniversary of the CPSU, it was said: “The cult of personality contradicts the principle of collective leadership, leads to a decrease in creative activity party masses and the Soviet people and has nothing in common with the Marxist-Leninist understanding of the high importance of guiding activity governing bodies and leaders... This statement marked the beginning of the process of de-Stalinization both in the country and in the party leadership.

In February 1956, the XX Congress of the CPSU was held, at which the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. S. Khrushchev made a report "On the cult of personality and its consequences", where he condemned the practice mass repression in the USSR and dated their beginning to 1934, thereby excluding “dispossession” from the list of crimes of the Stalinist regime, as well as political repressions of the early 1930s. Stalin's political behavior was opposed to the "correct" Bolshevik policy, which was generally recognized as legitimate and in line with Lenin's ideological principles. The entire burden of blame for unleashing political repressions was placed on I. V. Stalin and his inner circle. At the same time, Khrushchev sought to exclude his involvement in Stalin's political terror, so criticism of Stalinism was limited, reliable information about political repression was strictly dosed and presented Soviet society with the sanction of the highest party-state leadership. The exposure of Stalinism begun by Khrushchev from the 20th Congress did not affect the essence of the Soviet command and administrative system, reducing all the shortcomings of the system to Stalin's personality cult.

Khrushchev's campaign to purge Stalin's legacy public sphere was carried out in the late 1950s. In the process of de-Stalinization, all settlements, streets and squares, enterprises and collective farms that bore the name of Stalin were renamed everywhere. Stalinabad, capital Tajik SSR, received former name Dushanbe. Staliniri, the capital of the South Ossetian Autonomous Okrug, was returned historical name Tskhinvali. Stalino (formerly Yuzovka) was renamed Donetsk. Stalinsk ( oldest city Kuznetsk) was named Novokuznetsk. The Stalinskaya metro station in Moscow was renamed Semyonovskaya (1961). In Bulgaria, the city of Stalin was given back the name of Varna, in Poland, Stalinogrud again became Katowice, in Romania, the city of Stalin was given back the name of Brasov, etc.

In the same period, monuments and monumental images of Stalin were also dismantled in the USSR with almost 100% coverage - from gigantic ones, 24 m high (on the banks of the Volga at the entrance to Volga-Don Canal), to his images in interiors, for example, in the Moscow Metro.

In the same way, the names of Stalin's closest associates, declared members of the "anti-party group" were erased from the map of the USSR: the city of Molotov was returned the name Perm, Molotovsk - Nolinsk, the Moscow Metro, which bore the name of Kaganovich from the opening in 1935, was renamed in honor of V. .AND. Lenin.

The process of official de-Stalinization, begun in 1956, reached its peak in 1961 at the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As a result of the congress, two of the most significant acts of de-Stalinization were adopted: on October 31, 1961, Stalin's body was removed from the Mausoleum and buried in Red Square, and on November 11, 1961, Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.

Khrushchev's indecisiveness[edit | edit wiki text]

Information about Stalinist repressions submitted by Khrushchev to the 20th Congress were far from complete. Some old communists who went through the Gulag, such as A. V. Snegov and O. G. Shatunovskaya urged Khrushchev to bring de-Stalinization to its logical end, publish documents from Stalin's personal archive and investigate the perpetrators of repression. Otherwise, in their opinion, the danger of revenge by the Stalinists, who have settled in the highest echelons of power, will remain. However, Khrushchev rejected these proposals and arguments, fearing that “the settling of scores would cause new wave violence and hatred." Instead, he suggested postponing the publication archival documents exposing Stalin for 15 years.

State University Office

Institute of National and World Economy

Specialty: Organization management

Department of Cultural Studies.

Abstract on the topic:

"Thaw" in cultural life countries (mid-50s-60s)"

Checked by: Lyudmila Nikolaevna Levkovich

Completed by: student of the 1st year of the 3rd group

Moscow 2004.

Plan:

1. Introduction…………………………………………………….1

2. Literature………………...………………………………...2

3. Sculpture and architecture………………………………...3

4. Music……………………………………………………..5

5. Theater………………………………………………………...6

6. Cinematography………………………………………………8

7. Conclusion………..………………………………………..10

8. List of references……………………………………………………11