Nikita S. Khrushchev

Author: Linda DeLaine
Website: RL Online
Department:
Page: 2   ( 3) pages

Summary: Part II of this feature

After Stalin died, the collective leadership of the Soviet Union began changing its foreign policy towards the West. Malenkov broke the ice by speaking out against nuclear war. At first, Khrushchev stated that civilization would not be destroyed in a nuclear war, only the demon capitalism. This was, of course, a rather bizarre statement, one that Khrushchev later turned away from.

In 1955, Khrushchev recognized permanent neutrality for Austria. Later in 1955, Khrushchev promised President Dwight D. Eisenhower the Soviet's commitment to peaceful coexistence with capitalism. Regarding the developing nations, Khrushchev endeavored to gain the friendship of their national leaders, instead of following the established Soviet policy of shunning the governments while supporting local communist parties. Soviet influence over the international alignments of India and Egypt, as well as of other Third World countries, began in the middle of the 1950s. Cuba's entry into the socialist camp in 1961 was a coup for the Soviet Union.

With the good came the bad. The basic ideals of de-Stalinization were the end of official state terror against the population and the decreased role of the KGB. At the same time, Soviet control of the Communist Party remained intact. This led to riots in Poland, which brought about a change in their communist party leadership in 1956. A popular uprising against Soviet control then broke out in Hungary, where the local communist leaders, headed by Imre Nagy, called for a multiparty political system and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet army crushed the revolt early in November 1956, causing numerous casualties. Although the Hungarian Revolution hurt Soviet standing in world opinion, it demonstrated that the Soviet Union would use force if necessary to maintain control over its satellite states in Eastern Europe.

Another fallout of Khrushchev's new policy of coexistence with the West was a schism in Sino-Russian relations. The Chinese Communist Party, under the dictate of Chairman Mao Zedong, considered Khrushchev's policies as a betrayal to Marxist - Lenin doctrine. China resented the weak support they received from Moscow regarding their disputes with Taiwan and India.

In 1960, China set forth its own nuclear arms program and declared that communism would defeat imperialism. Soon after, satellite nations took up sides. Albania and Romania sided with Beijing and other communist parties around the world proclaimed loyalty to Moscow or Beijing. The huge communist bloc had been shattered.

Soviet - U.S. relations had their ups and downs during the Khrushchev years. For his part, Khrushchev wanted peaceful coexistence with the West, not only to avoid nuclear war but also to permit the Soviet Union to develop its economy. This was demonstrated through Khrushchev's meetings with President Eisenhower in 1955 and John F. Kennedy in 1961. The Soviet leader's U.S. tour in 1959 proved to many his sincerity. In 1955 Khrushchev reopened diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, whose leader Josip Broz Tito had broken with Stalin in 1948. Khrushchev became known for his unconventional behavior. One of his best-known antics was when, to emphasize a point, he removed his shoe and began banging it on a table during a United Nations meeting in 1960.

While Khrushchev was making overtures to the West, he needed to show that he was still a strong defender of socialism. In 1958, he challenged the status of Berlin; when the West would not yield to his demands that the western sectors be incorporated into East Germany. Khrushchev approved the erection of the Berlin Wall between the eastern and western sectors of the city in 1961. To maintain national prestige, Khrushchev canceled a summit meeting with Eisenhower in 1960 after Soviet air defense troops shot down a United States reconnaissance aircraft over Soviet territory. Cold War distrust and fear grew as the West felt threatened by Soviet advances in space and the widening gap that Soviet military build up created.

There is usually two sides to every coin. While the West was in fear of the Soviets, the USSR felt threatened by the rearming of West Germany by the U.S. The West's superior economic strength also threatened the Soviet Union. To offset the United States military advantage and thereby improve the Soviet negotiating position, Khrushchev in 1962 tried to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, but he agreed to withdraw them after Kennedy ordered a blockade around the island nation.

After coming close to war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States took steps to reduce the nuclear threat. In 1963 the two countries established a "hot line" between Washington and Moscow to provide instant communication that would reduce the likelihood of accidental nuclear war. The line was tested but never used. In the same year, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which forbade nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere.

Next Page > Khrushchev's Reforms and Fall > Page 1, 2, 3

Photographs from Funet and U.S. Dept. of State

Nikita Khruschev
William Taubman (Editor) Sergei Khrushchev (Editor) Alla Bashenko (Translator)

Hardcover, 464pp.
Yale University Press
March 2000