[MUSIC] Welcome, today we shall discuss Stalinism after Stalin's death. The Soviet elite saw the need for reform. It started to reform the Soviet system, but there was no unity as to where and how to go. Plus, of course, there was power struggle. Lavrentiy Beria moved fast, he concentrated a lot of power in his hands, so that other leadership was afraid. In June 1953, Beria was arrested and charged with treason, espionage and attempt to return capitalism to the Soviet system. And also, he was organizing illegal repression. All the usual charges of the Stalin era except organizing illegal repression. In December, he was executed. There are other versions, some say that Beria was killed immediately after the arrest. Khrushchev was the initiator of Beria's fall. He was soon elected the party's first secretary. He continued with reforms, but cautiously. He wanted to stop the 'perpetuum mobile' of Stalin's killer machine. But in such a way, as to avoid accusations of complicity and to keep the rest of the Stalin system in place, he had to tread carefully because after Stalin's death and after the East German party leadership admitted its former mistakes, this encouraged an uprising. In June 1953, it had to be put down by Soviet tanks. In February 1956, the 20th congress of the Soviet Communist Party was convened. Nobody expected any surprises, and indeed the congress duly came to an end, when Khrushchev unexpectedly announced a final closed session. At the session, Khrushchev presented a report on Stalin's cult of personality. He described the excesses of Stalin's era. He presented these excesses as Stalin's only. He said that Stalin put security organization above the party, and outside its power. Party was presented as victim, not as an accomplice. It was time now to revive Lenin's testament and correct the mistakes of the Stalin era. The report remained, well, half secret for a long time because local party organizations received only a short version of the report. Parties of the socialist countries received a full version, and from there it got to the rest. But, not until now, the full version of the report is available, because, it is said, there was no shorthand of the report. This report opened what became known as 'Khrushchev's Thaw'. What it meant was that ideological control, first of all in literature and arts, was relaxed. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, for example, was allowed to publish his short novel 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'. This was an account of a Gulag prisoner. This was something the Soviet people had never read. And it made an incredible impression. There was more, Bella Akhmadulina, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Andrei Voznesensky. This was an era of poets, these poets in particular. Their evenings, their concerts drew thousands of listeners. They were not anti-Soviet but they were just different. They were non-conformist. They became a symbol and a spirit of the new era of the Thaw. A more open debate, particularly within the party organizations was allowed. Magazines published more open material. Such magazines for example as 'Noviy Mir', The New World. Rehabilitated inmates were returning home. Agriculture and light industries got a boost. But the basics of the system remained intact. First of all, members of various opposition groups among Stalin's victims were not rehabilitated. The deported ethnic groups were not returned. The party retained its full monopoly on power. It defined the policy and controlled the economy, media, education and culture. The official ideology remained intact. Apart from the assessment of Stalin's personal role. There were no independent institutions of any kind. The economy, like every other aspect of Soviet life, was managed by decree. There were no market mechanisms. The only difference was that the party was led, not by a dictator, but by a group of leaders. Khrushchev tried to assume the role of the dictator, but he failed. For many, even Khrushchev's modest reforms were too bold. He was accused of anti Sovietism. Even now some communists call Khrushchev's speech 'a Victory of Opportunism'. [MUSIC]
