Heroic or reckless? How exactly did the irascible Khrushchev become the leader of the Soviet Union

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-03

On July 31, 1958, the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Khrushchev visited Beijing for the second time on behalf of the Soviet Union, this time Khrushchev visited China with a major political task, after the plane arrived in Beijing, Khrushchev and his entourage drove into Zhongnanhai again without any rest, ** met Khrushchev in the Yi Nian Hall, as usual, just entered the door and did not sit down Khrushchev said to *** in a hurry: "The current situation in the Taiwan Strait is tense, and the US 7th Fleet is frequently active, The fleet of the USSR has currently entered the Pacific Ocean, but we need to create a long-wave station in China and form a common fleet ... Before Khrushchev finished speaking, he interrupted him and said: "Comrade Khrushchev, please tell me, what is the common fleet", Khrushchev obviously did not understand the meaning of ***, but just said casually: "The so-called common means to discuss together", and then continued the previous topic and continued.

However, *** directly grasped the key point and continued to ask: "Please explain what a common fleet is", Khrushchev didn't seem to hear, and still explained the next deployment of the Soviet Union in the Pacific base without a margin, ** was a little annoyed, he stood up impatiently and said sharply: "You have been talking for most of the day, and I have listened to it for most of the day, but you have said a lot and have not yet entered the topic." I ask you, what is the common fleet? At this time, Khrushchev finally realized the seriousness of the matter, and he blushed and explained to ***: "What we mean is whether we can reach some kind of agreement so that our submarines can have a base in your country for refueling, repairs and short-term stays", and in the end, Khrushchev's trip to China was still fruitless, ** gave him a very resolute attitude: "No! I don't want to hear anyone talk about it again. ”

After Khrushchev left Beijing, ** commented on him: "Khrushchev has guts, but this man can also stab Lou Zi." I think he has many disasters and difficulties, and he may not have a good time in the future. A few years later, Khrushchev was not only driven out of the center of power in the Soviet Union by his henchman Leonid Brezhnev, but also lived under house arrest for 5 years, and today we will talk about Ruchev, a special Soviet leader.

On April 17, 1894, Khrushchev was born in a village and town in ** Kursk Province, like his predecessor Stalin, Khrushchev's family background was not good, his parents were poor peasants, and the poor family conditions made Khrushchev have to leave school, and entered the factory to work as a teenager, so later after becoming the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, his extremely scarce knowledge reserve often became the talk of leaders of various countries after dinner, due to the low level of education, The Marxist-Leninist theories he understood were not at all on the same level as those of his predecessors.

During his time working in the factory, Khrushchev also began to have a strong interest in some social issues, he often discussed with his fellow workers the unfair treatment of the people, participated in and led many local strikes and anti-war demonstrations, and in 1918 Khrushchev joined the Bolshevik Party, officially taking the first step on his political path.

Although Khrushchev's education level is not high, but he is still very good at doing social work, because he can speak well and has a certain ability to be in charge, he is deeply loved by the superiors, from an ordinary political commissar to the head of the Organization Department of the ** Committee of Ukraine, Khrushchev only took ten years, in 1929 Khrushchev, who was politically prosperous, got a chance to improve his education, under the recommendation of the Secretary of the Ukrainian Party Committee Lazar Kaganovich, Khrushchev entered the Stalin Industrial Institute to continue his education, and in this school he became acquainted with Stalin's wife, Aliluyeva. In order to make Aliluyeva say more good words for herself in front of Stalin, Khrushchev tried his best to show himself in front of her, but Aliluyeva did not interfere in all her husband's political affairs, and Khrushchev's efforts were not rewarded accordingly.

In 1934, at the age of thirty-nine, Khrushchev attended the 17th Party Congress, and the electoral process at that time was considered "very democratic" by Khrushchev, because he received as many votes against as Stalin did, with six votes. "This means that I am on a par with Stalin," Khrushchev later wrote proudly in his memoirs, which gave Khrushchev the idea of competing for first place for the first place.

In 1953, Khrushchev finally had the opportunity to realize his ideals, this year Stalin suddenly died of a stroke, and the power vacuum left by Stalin left made the Soviet Union open a scuffle for the pinnacle of power, at that time Khrushchev was already a member of the presidium and secretary, nominally and Malenkov, Beria formed a "troika" on a par with the Soviet Union, and was a popular candidate for Stalin's successor. But in fact, everyone who is close to the right ** is holding back a momentum, ready to pull down competitors at any time.

The first to act was Beria, who used his position as Minister of Internal Affairs to investigate the big and important cases of the Stalin period, and many wronged people got the opportunity to be rehabilitated, but what Beria didn't expect was that it was precisely because he was in the limelight too early that he became the target of public criticism, and those who had the opportunity to reach the top were looking for opportunities to kill him, and the most active among them was Khrushchev.

Khrushchev infinitely magnified Beria's ambitions internally, constantly reminding those around him not to forget that Beria was an important executor during Stalin's purges, and if such a person was in power, who could guarantee that he would not be the second Stalin? Khrushchev's propaganda was unanimously endorsed by the inner circle, which also included another titular successor to Stalin, namely Malenkov, chairman of the Council of Ministers.

On June 26, 1953, the CPSU ** convened a meeting of the Presidium as usual, which in Beria's opinion was an ordinary meeting, but at the beginning of the meeting Khrushchev made a preemptive strike, he excitedly accused Beria of putting the internal affairs organs above the party and undermining national unity, and soon after Khrushchev's speech, other members of the Presidium also pointed the finger at Beria, Beria was stunned at the time, and before he could fully react, A cold pistol pressed tightly against Beria's head.

This man with a gun pointed at Beria was Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov. Zhukov's appearance was actually Khrushchev's careful arrangement, in order to ensure that Beria could be controlled on the spot, Khrushchev specially found Zhukov before the meeting and asked him to come forward to deal with Beria together, Zhukov and Beria had contradictions, so he agreed without hesitation.

After the fall of Beria, the next thing is the double PK time of Malenkov and Khrushchev, when Stalin was alive, the Soviet Union concentrated all its resources on the construction of heavy industry, which led to the abnormal development of the entire Soviet Union, and the indicators of agriculture and light industry were not as good as year by year, Malenkov and Khrushchev both saw that this was the easiest gap for political achievements, as long as anyone could improve the economy of the Soviet Union and enhance the happiness index of the people, then who would be the one who reached the pinnacle of power.

Malenkov was a very pure man, and when he realized this, he immediately took action, and he called for a complete change in the Stalinist model, reducing the input of heavy industry, and putting light industry first, in short, no matter how much steel tanks are built, they are not as affordable as rice bread. Malenkov was right to want to improve the Soviet economy, but he seemed to forget that Stalin had only been dead for more than three months, and that such a radical reform was unacceptable to most Soviet people, and that they would rather see a change in their current situation without touching on major changes.

Seeing this, Khrushchev took advantage of the situation to stand up and refute Malenkov's reform policy, and proposed the simultaneous development of industry and agriculture, without touching the priority development of heavy industry, through the large-scale reclamation of wasteland, to improve the backward grain production of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev said this with a certain confidence, when he served as the first secretary of Ukraine, one of Khrushchev's main jobs was to improve Ukrainian agriculture, where Khrushchev discovered corn, through the comprehensive planting of corn, Ukraine's agriculture achieved an unprecedented bumper harvest, after returning to Moscow, Khrushchev also did a corn planting experiment next to his villa, and it was successful, so now he wants to spread the corn seeds he carefully cultivated on all the lands of the Soviet Union, Achieve a bumper harvest throughout the Soviet Union.

In the following days, Khrushchev began to sow corn seeds widely, and from time to time he would personally go to the countryside to inspect the corn planting situation, whenever he saw a place to achieve a bumper harvest, he would hold a large-scale commendation meeting, under his leadership, the country set off a corn boom, there are corn-themed films and advertisements, there are also special corn research institutes, in Khrushchev's view, the corn field is not only corn, but also his stepping stone to the pinnacle of power, so there was such a **, Khrushchev held a corn in his hand, held it high, and smiled from ear to ear. However, a few years later, after the Soviet Union had a large-scale grain harvest, Khrushchev discovered that not every territory of the Soviet Union was like Ukraine and Moscow, and that many high-latitude areas were so poor in temperature and light that corn did not even bear cobs.

Khrushchev's success in agriculture allowed him to completely occupy the initiative in the competition for the supreme leader, Malenkov convinced Khrushchev in his heart, not only took the initiative to give way, but also expressed his resolute support for Khrushchev's line, so far, Khrushchev's power life has reached the highest peak, he finally ascended to the supreme throne that he had in mind, but his IQ seemed to be all overdrawn in this power competition, and after coming to power, his changeable political methods made the Soviet Union ** completely confused, It may be that his position as the first secretary of some local units is good, but it does not mean that he is also good as the first secretary of the CPSU and the manager of the Soviet Union.

On February 24, 1956, at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev criticized Stalin's actions and ideas for five hours, which caused a huge shock to the minds of the entire Soviet Union and provided an opportunity for the invasion of Western culture. In 1958, Khrushchev unilaterally announced the abrogation of the Potsdam Agreement, provoking the Second Berlin Crisis. In 1959, Khrushchev declared that the Soviet Union would make missiles like a dachshund, and Eisenhower immediately invited Khrushchev to meet in Washington, although Khrushchev promised Eisenhower that he would act calmly, but before that they needed to promise him two things, one was to visit Disneyland, and the other was to have dinner with Marilyn Monroe. Although there were 400 people at the dinner with Marilyn Monroe, Khrushchev left Washington satisfied.

Khrushchev's whimsical governing style made him make a lot of wrong decisions, so many people later classified him as one of the "three sinners who caused the collapse of the Soviet Union", but it is undeniable that the Khrushchev era was also the era of the highest happiness of the Soviet people, and it was precisely because of the rough policies he promulgated that the Soviet Union's political, economic and military capabilities made a leap forward, and the people's living standards were greatly improved. It was the political and business elites at the top, whose interests were seriously touched by Khrushchev's reforms, which led to Brezhnev's coup d'état in 1964.

In general, Khrushchev was skillful in power and strategy, lacking in reform, slightly out of touch with the times in theoretical construction, and not weak in character; if you put aside the identity of a politician, he does have many shining points, but when these shining points appear in a politician, especially the leader of a superpower, the consequences often do not meet his expectations.

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