Mao had defended Stalin when Khrushchev attacked him after his death in 1956, and treated the new Soviet leader as a superficial upstart, accusing him of having lost his revolutionary edge.

Pollitt faced another crisis when Nikita Khrushchev, in his 1956 Secret Speech, attacked the legacy of Stalin.

Under Khrushchev, an investigation into the matter concluded that the Central Committee had lost its ruling function under Stalin ; from 1929 onwards all decisions in the Central Committee were taken unanimously.

At the 20th Party Congress Khrushchev, in his speech " On the Personality Cult and its Consequences ", stated that Stalin, the Stalinist cult of personality and Stalinist repression had deformed true Leninist legality.

Khrushchev had began to initiate nepotistic policies, initiated policies without the consent of either the Presidium or the Central Committee, a cult of personality had developed and, in general, Khrushchev had developed several characteristics which he himself criticised Stalin of having at the 20th Party Congress.

At the 21st Party Congress Khrushchev boldly declared that Leninist legality had been reestablishing, when in reality, he himself was beginning to following some of the same policies, albeit not at the same level, as Stalin had.

In 1956 at the Twentieth Party Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Khrushchev condemned the cult of personality that had been built up around Joseph Stalin and also accused him of many grave mistakes.

* 1956 – In his speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.

Stalin and his regime have been condemned on numerous occasions, the most significant being the in 1956, when Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev denounced his legacy and initiated a process of de-Stalinization.

Accounts by Nikita Khrushchev and Anastas Mikoyan claim that, after the invasion, Stalin retreated to his dacha in despair for several days and did not participate in leadership decisions.

Nikita Khrushchev wrote that Stalin hinted him to incite anti-Semitism in the Ukraine, telling him that " the good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews.

Regarding the origins of the plot, people who knew Stalin, such as Khrushchev, suggest that Stalin had long harbored negative sentiments toward Jews, and anti-Semitic trends in the Kremlin's policies were further fueled by the exile of Leon Trotsky.

Regardless of whether a plot to deport Jews was planned, in his " Secret Speech " in 1956, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stated that the Doctors Plot was " fabricated ... set up by Stalin ", that Stalin told the judge to beat confessions from the defendants and had told Politburo members " You are blind like young kittens.

On the early morning hours of 1 March 1953, after an all-night dinner and a movie Stalin arrived at his Kuntsevo residence some 15 km west of Moscow centre with interior minister Lavrentiy Beria and future premiers Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev where he retired to his bedroom to sleep.

Khrushchev wrote in his ( unreliable ) memoirs that Beria had, immediately after the stroke, gone about " spewing hatred against and mocking him ", and then, when Stalin showed signs of consciousness, dropped to his knees and kissed his hand.

In his " Secret Speech ", On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, delivered to a closed session of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his cult of personality, and his regime for " violation of Leninist norms of legality ".

Khrushchev reports in his memoirs that Stalin was fond of American cowboy movies.

Khrushchev opposed Stalinism and initiated de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, ending the personality cult of Stalin, purging Stalinists from the Communist Party, and increased the level of freedom of expression permitted in the country.

With the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev gradually ascended to power in the Soviet Union and announced a radical policy of de-Stalinization of the Communist Party and the country, condemning Stalin for excesses and tyranny.

Then in 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev made a sweeping denunciation of Stalin, which sent shock waves throughout the communist world.

After Stalin's death and a short period of collective rule, new leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced the cult of personality of Stalin and launched the policy of de-Stalinization.

This led to the rise of Nikita Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin and pursued a more liberal domestic and foreign policy, stressing peaceful competition with the West rather than overt hostility.

* February 25 – Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a " cult of personality ".

The widespread purge that has taken place the past twelve months or so among Communist leaders in the provinces gives assurance that the party officials who will dominate the Congress, and the Central Committee it will elect, will all have passed the tightest possible Khrushchev screening, both for loyalty to him and for competence and performance on the job.

In The Oak and the Calf, Alexander Solzhenitsyn sharply criticized Pasternak, both for declining the Nobel Prize and for sending such a letter to Khrushchev.

Brezhnev was able to succeed Khrushchev because a majority in the Central Committee voted in favour of removing Khrushchev from office as both First Secretary and Chairman of the Council of Ministers

There, a convened Central Committee voted Khrushchev out of office, both as First Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

In 1956, Khrushchev denounced both Stalin and his policies and subsequently set about implementing post-Stalinist economic reforms.

Khrushchev was reportedly taken aback and denied he had meant to interfere in the UAR's affairs and the issue was settled since both leaders did not want a rift between their two countries.

In a dramatic standoff in Kremlin, Malenkov was severely ostracized for the treason by both Khrushchev and Zhukov, who alerted all military forces to be ready to fight against Malenkov and his pro-Stalinist group.

Originally conceived as a collective leadership, Khrushchev removed his rivals from power in both 1955 and 1957 and reinforced the supremacy of the First Secretary.

Following the leadership of Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Party of Labour, Bains ' anti-revisionism deepened in the sense of opposition both to the European revisionism ( Khrushchev, Josip Broz Tito and Eurocommunism ) and to the Chinese revisionism.

Khrushchev ’ s plan both expanded the reforms that Malenkov began and proposed that 13 million hectares ( 130, 000 km2 ) of previously uncultivated land be plowed and cultivated by 1956.

In 1963 photos of Fidel and Nikita Khrushchev, taken by Korda, illustrated the differences in both men that were evident in their respective politics.

The temporary union between Nikita Khrushchev and Marshal Georgy Zhukov was founded on their similar backgrounds, interests and weaknesses: both were peasants, both were ambitious, both were abused by Stalin, both feared the Stalinists, and both wanted to change these things.

Khrushchev was saved by several strong appearances in his support, especially powerful was support from both Zhukov and Brezhnev.

Under Khrushchev the retail sectors gained prevalence as Soviet department stores GUM ( department store ) and TsUM ( Central Department Store ), both located in Moscow, began to focus on trade and social interaction.

Although they led the Soviet Union in different eras, both Khrushchev and Gorbachev had initiated dramatic reforms.

According to the controversial testimony of Ruben Kipiani, later tried as an author of this petition, the demands were: first, return of the " closed letter " on Stalin to the CPSU Central Committee ; second, removal of Anastas Mikoyan, Nikolai Bulganin, and Nikita Khrushchev from both party and government positions ; third, creation of a new government ; fourth, release of the Azerbaijan SSR first secretary Mir Jafar Baghirov from prison ; fifth, promotion of the Soviet Georgian officials Akaki Mgeladze and Mzhavandze to the Central Committee Presidium ; sixth, appointment of Stalin's son Vasily to the Central Committee ; seven, institution of an amnesty.

Khrushchev wanted the removal of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact, to be replaced by a new system of collective security.

Larsen ’ s doubt was however short-lived and he was only strengthened in his views by Nikita Khrushchev ’ s thaw both inside the Soviet Union and internationally.