Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

1. SOVIET CONTROL
EASTERN EUROPE
THE RISE OF
KHRUSHCHEV

2. Cambridge Bibliography
• Allan Todd. The European Dictatorships. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini (2002).
• Allsopp John. Challenge and Response (1980).
• Anne Applebaum. The crushing of Eastern Europe (2013).
• Andrew Heywood. Politics (1997).
• BBC Bitesize. GCSE-CCEA (2023).
• Ben Walsh. Modern World History (2001).
• Colin Pearce. Representations of 20th Century History (1995).
• John Martell. The Twentieth-Century World (1980).
• Philip Ingram. Russia and the USSR, 1905-1991 (1997).
• Ralph Levering. Debating the Origins of the Cold War. American and Russian Perspectives
(2001).
• Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler (2008).
• Tony McAleavy. Twentieth Century History. International Relations Since 1919 (2002).
• Steve Phillips. Lenin and the Russian Revolution (2000).

3. Nikita Khrushchev
Stalin was a hero and a villain.
He managed to defeat Hitler and he gave Russians a great empire in
Eastern Europe. He also made USSR a nuclear superpower.
He was a villain because he killed millions of Russians in the Gulag and
purge trials. When he died in 1953, many people rise the matter of
succession.
The new leader was Nikita Khrushchev.
He seemed a very different leader from Stalin.
He stopped arguing with China and Yugoslavia.
He discussed with the West about “peaceful co-existence”.
He made plans to reduce the expenses on arms.
He attended a post-war summit in 1955, between USSR, America, France
and Britain.

4. Relaxing the Iron Control
Khrushchev also relaxed the IRON CONTROL of the Soviet Union.
He closed down COMINFORM.
He released thousands of political prisoners.
He agreed to pull Soviet troops out of Austria.
He signaled to the countries of Eastern Europe that they would be allowed
much greater independence to control their own affairs.

5. This is a 1959 Soviet cartoon. The writing on the
snowman’s hat reads “cold war”. Khrushchev is drilling
through the cold war using what the caption calls “miners”
methods.
Look at the source.
1. Make a list of the features of the cartoon which show
Khrushchev as a new type of leader.
2. Explain why is he destroying the snowman and what
this is supposed to suggest about his attitude to the
Cold War.
3. Design another cartoon which shows him relaxing the
Soviet grip on Eastern Europe. Think about how you
should show Khrushchev, how you would represent
the states of Eastern Europe (maps, people…) and how
you would represent Soviet control (rope,
handcuffs…).
You could draw the cartoon or write instructions for an
artist to do so.
Different sources and individual study guidance
DESTROYING THE COLD WAR
TASK

6. The message is that a smiling Khrushchev is putting an end to the Cold War.
Khrushchev is portrayed in a Communist way, as a workman.
He is drilling the snowman, which means that he wants to destroy the Cold
War.
When he came to power, in 1955, he began making changes which
symbolized he wanted to put an end to the Cold War.
He even discussed about the concept of a peaceful co-existence with the West.
After Stalin’s death, Khrushchev said that “there are different roads to
communism”.
In 1961, Khrushchev declared that the period of “dictatorship of the
proletariat” is finished and that he would bring instead “the state of the whole
people”.
Different sources and individual study guidance
DESTROYING THE COLD WAR
Answer

7. “You do not like communism. We do not like capitalism.
There is only one way out – peaceful co-existence.”
Khrushchev, speaking on a visit to Britain in 1956.
What can we learn from Source A about Khrushchev’s attitudes
towards peaceful co-existence?
Different sources and individual study guidance
PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE
TASK

8. “We must produce more grain. The more grain there is, the
more meat, land and fruit there will be. Our tables will be
better covered. Marxist theory helped us win power and
consolidate it. Having done this, we must help the people eat
well, dress well and live well. If after 40 years of communism,
a person cannot have a glass of milk or a pair of shoes, he will
not believe Communism is a good thing, whatever you tell
him.”
Khrushchev, speaking in 1955.
What are Khrushchev’s ideas about communism? How is he
describing it?
Different sources and individual study guidance
EXPLAINING COMMUNISM
TASK