CHRUSZCZOW N[ikita] S. - On the cult of the individual and its consequences. A paper by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Comrade ... At the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Warsaw, III 1956. published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 8, pp. 71, [1]. broch.
Spine a bit yellowed and slightly worn, covers a bit scuffed, minor folding of page corners. Issued "exclusively for the use of party organizations," ex. No. 1794. Khrushchev delivered his secret paper on the last day of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, at a closed session held on the night of Feb. 24-25, 1956. In it, he outlined the enormity of Stalin's crimes, criticized Stalin's system of governance, and declared Stalin himself a paranoid and torturer suffering from a mania for greatness, who had led the country into a critical economic situation. It was the author's intention that his speech should remain known only to trusted Communist Party members, beyond the reach of the media. The text was given to the delegates of the "brother parties" and soon its contents were made public by Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. In the Soviet Union, the text was unavailable until 1989. The information contained in the paper caused "a shock primarily in communist circles and communist intellectuals, treating previous reports of terror and crimes in the USSR as anti-communist propaganda" (Wikipedia). In Georgia, on the other hand, during several days of riots, demands were made for Stalin's rehabilitation and Khrushchev's removal from power. In Poland, the release of the paper resulted in numerous anti-Stalinist speeches (including within the PZPR), the June demonstrations in Poznan, and ultimately the events of Polish October. Khrushchev's secret paper on the cult of the individual in the USSR is one of the most important historical documents of the 20th century.
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