In a closed session of the Twentieth Party Congress, Khrushchev spends four hours denouncing Stalin’s “cult of personality”. His speech is meant to stay secret, but is soon read across the Soviet Union.
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25 FEBRUARY 1956 · THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN, 1924–1953
The moment in context
On 1 March 1953 Stalin suffered a stroke at Kuntsevo, his dacha, or country house, outside Moscow. His guards were afraid to disturb him. He lay for hours before doctors were called and died on 5 March. The response of his colleagues revealed how much they had feared the man they served.
Why it happened — The system depended on one man. Stalin’s colleagues had approved and carried out his policies, even while fearing him and privately doubting many of them. His concentration of…
The turn — The Secret Speech, 25 February 1956. The Secret Speech transformed Stalin’s official place in the communist world from infallible leader to criminal. Khrushchev named the torture of…
What it changed — The return of the prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of political prisoners were released between 1954 and 1960, and many were formally rehabilitated, often after death. Historian…
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