Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich, << KROOSH chehf, nih KEE tuh surh GAY uh vihch >> (1894-1971), was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. He tried to raise the Soviet standard of living and greatly expanded his country’s exploration of space. Khrushchev had little pity for weaker nations and his political enemies. But he sometimes showed a good-natured humor and the simple tastes of his peasant background.
Khrushchev strongly criticized the cruelty of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union mostly by terror from 1929 to 1953. Khrushchev also worked to avoid war with the Western nations. This policy helped cause a split between the Soviet Union and China and contributed to Khrushchev’s fall from power.
Rise as a Communist.
Khrushchev was born on April 17, 1894, in Kalinovka, near Kursk, in southwestern Russia. His father was a poor peasant who also worked as a coal miner. In 1918, Nikita joined the Bolsheviks (later called Communists), who had seized control of Russia in 1917. In 1922, the Communist government established the Soviet Union. Khrushchev moved to Moscow in 1929 and soon afterward won the praise of leaders of the Communist Party in Moscow. By 1939, Khrushchev had become a member of Stalin’s top executive group, called the Politburo. In 1941, during World War II, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Ukraine, which was then a republic of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev helped organize troops to fight the Germans there and headed the effort to get war-torn Ukrainian farms, coal mines, and steel mills back into production.
In 1949, Khrushchev became a secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Stalin died in March 1953, and Georgi Malenkov became premier. Six months later, Khrushchev became first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of the country. Nikolai Bulganin succeeded Malenkov as premier of the Soviet Union in 1955.
In February 1956, Khrushchev criticized Stalin for committing mass murder and other crimes against the Soviet people. This attack began a program to dishonor Stalin that became known as destalinization. The government destroyed statues and pictures of Stalin and renamed many of the places that had been named for the former dictator.
In 1956, revolts took place against the Communist governments of Poland and Hungary. Khrushchev sent troops and tanks to crush the uprising in Hungary. See Hungary (Communist Hungary) .
Soviet dictator.
A number of Communist Party officials became jealous of Khrushchev’s growing power. However, he managed to remove them from their jobs. On March 27, 1958, Khrushchev replaced Bulganin as premier of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev became a strong dictator. But he did not rule by terror as Stalin had done, and he reduced the power of the country’s dreaded secret police.
Khrushchev worked to raise the standard of living in the Soviet Union. He began programs to increase the production of grain, housing, and such consumer goods as clothes and furniture. He also spent huge sums on weapons and space exploration. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first spacecraft to circle the earth. In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the earth.
Khrushchev’s policy in dealing with Western nations was a mixture of both gestures of peace and threats. His policy of peaceful coexistence with non-Communist countries caused bitter quarrels between the Soviet Union and China. The Chinese favored more warlike policies. See Cold War (The spirit of Geneva) .
In 1962, Khrushchev threatened the United States by installing missiles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy demanded the removal of the missiles, and Khrushchev withdrew them. Withdrawal of the missiles and the split between the Soviet Union and China disturbed many Soviet leaders. Further discontent with Khrushchev occurred during the early 1960’s, when many of his attempts to raise farm production failed and the rate of industrial growth slowed. Opposition to Khrushchev grew. In October 1964, high officials in the Communist Party forced Khrushchev to retire as both premier of the Soviet Union and first secretary of the party. Khrushchev spent his remaining years writing a book of memoirs called Khrushchev Remembers, which was published in English in 1970. He died on Sept. 11, 1971.
