After Stalin's death, the party leadership did not dare to continue his life's work. The party abandoned its role as the main (conceptual and ideological) force in the development of society, the moral and intellectual leader of Soviet civilization. The party elite preferred the struggle for power and gradually degenerated into a new class of "masters", which ended in a new civilizational and geopolitical catastrophe in 1991.
Therefore, the party leadership began to curtail the Stalinist "mobilization model" by first breaking the ideological basis, and then the organizational one. The first step in the mainstream of the policy of populism was the elimination of the Minister of Internal Affairs L. P. Beria and his assistants. Beria was dangerous as an ally of Stalin, the "best manager" of the 20th century (Black myth of the "bloody" Beria; Part 2), a person who controlled the special services. He could well become the new leader of the Union. Therefore, he was killed and blamed for "arbitrariness and massive repression." At the same time, they reorganized and cleaned the security structures. The separate MVD and MGB (state security) were merged. Then the staff was reduced and a major purge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was carried out. Some of the employees were put on trial and sentenced to various terms, while others were administratively punished. In 1954, the State Security Committee (KGB) under the Council of Ministers of the USSR was separated from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Special Meeting under the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (OSO) was liquidated. During its existence, the CCA from 1934 to 1953 sentenced 10,101 people to death. Although the publicistic literature on repressions presented the CCO as the body that passed almost most of the sentences.
In light of the particular attention to the topic of repression, changes were made in the criminal law. In 1958, the Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics were adopted; In 1960, a new Criminal Code, developed on the basis of the Fundamentals, was adopted, which replaced the 1926 Code. Also, a lot of work was done to review cases of repression and rehabilitation. The restoration of the rights of state education of the deported peoples began. So, in 1957, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was restored (it existed from 1936 to 1944), and on a larger scale than it was before. After the rehabilitation of the Karachais, the Cherkess Autonomous Region was transformed into the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous District, three districts of the Stavropol Territory were transferred to it. The Kabardin ASC, after the rehabilitation of the Balkars, was again transformed into the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR (existed in 1936-1944). In 1957, the Kalmyk Autonomous Region was restored: in 1935-1947. the Kalmyk ASSR existed. In 1958, the autonomous region was transformed into the Kalmyk ASSR. In 1956, after strengthening friendship with Finland, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was transformed into the Karelian ASSR as part of the RSFSR. Thus, from that moment on, there were 15 republics in the USSR, and their rights were significantly expanded. That is, Stalin's policy to strengthen the unity of the USSR was violated, which ultimately would become one of the reasons for the death of the Union. A national mine will again be brought under the USSR.
In 1956, the evolutionary (hidden) de-Stalinization gave way to a radical break with the past: at a closed meeting of the XX Congress of the Communist Party, N. S. Khrushchev made a report exposing the personality cult of Stalin. It was a powerful blow to the foundation of the Soviet project., Soviet civilization and state. This was the first step towards the destruction of its legitimacy. The same destructive process began, which led to the catastrophe of 1917 - the divergence of the civilization project (supported by the people under Stalin) with the political projects of its own elite. It was this basic contradiction that blew up the country in 1917 and 1991. (the current RF is going along the same path, but much faster). This tragic discord, defect does not allow Russia-Russia to come to harmony, to realize the ideals of Light Russia.
In addition, as a result of the XX Congress, a crisis of the communist movement arose, which marked the beginning of the liquidation of the communist movement in Europe. There was a split in the socialist camp. In particular, China did not accept Khrushchev's revisionism. Moscow has lost its strategic alliance with the "second humanity." At the same time, Beijing continued to use the military, technical, atomic, missile and other achievements of the USSR for its development.
It was not a matter of “correcting mistakes and restoring the truth,” and it was not an attempt by the new government to denigrate the old in order to strengthen its own. It was precisely a blow to the foundations of Soviet civilization. The party elite was frightened by the new reality that Stalin created, the high mission and responsibility to the people. Party functionaries preferred stabilization instead of development, and inviolability instead of changes. The party elite preferred to come to terms with the old world, to agree on coexistence: the first step, then there will be an attempt to merge. They relied on material needs and personal interest. This will lead to decay and degeneration of the party elite, to the capitulation of 1985-1991.
Therefore, Khrushchev went to an outright and big lie. He filled up the grave of the red emperor with rubbish, blackened his image in order to exclude the possibility of a return to the Stalinist course in the future. For example, it was then, with the help of Khrushchev, and then Solzhenitsyn, that the myth of “millions of innocent repressed”, “victims of Stalinist repressions” was created (for more details, see articles on VO: The myth of “Stalin's bloody genocide”; Solzhenitsyn's propaganda lies; GULAG: Archives Against Lies). So, Khrushchev said in his report: "When Stalin died, there were up to 10 million people in the camps." In reality, on January 1, 1953, 1.7 million prisoners were held in the camps, which Khrushchev should have known about. He was informed about this by a memorandum. In February 1954, he was presented with a certificate signed by the Prosecutor General of the USSR, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Minister of Justice of the USSR, which contained accurate information on the number of those convicted by all types of judicial bodies during the period from 1921 to February 1, 1954. Thus, in his report to the XX Congress of the CPSU and in many other speeches, Khrushchev distorted the truth deliberately, for political purposes.
From that moment on, the topic of repression became almost the main information weapon of the new "fifth column" (dissidents) and the "world community" during the Cold War against the USSR. The West received a powerful weapon against the USSR and began to spin the myth of "Stalin's bloody repressions." The Soviet Union lost the support of the liberal and leftist intelligentsia of the world community, which until that moment believed in the Soviet project of the co-prosperity of peoples and in the victory of socialism over capitalism. The world community began to turn towards the opponents of the USSR in the Cold War. This process was actively introduced with the Soviet and national intelligentsia, which was facilitated by the Khrushchev "thaw". The Soviet intelligentsia, like the Russian intelligentsia before 1917, is becoming a weapon of the West against its own state. In addition, the "oppressed" national minorities were pitted against the Russians - the "occupiers" and "Stalin's executioners". Thus, the topic of repression became a powerful informational and psychological weapon against the Soviet people and the country.
Khrushchev managed to deprive the sanctity of Soviet civilization, the state, to destroy its spiritual ties with the people, to tear the party away from the people and at the same time create a complex of guilt in those who built and defended the Union. Former heroes, defenders and creators became "bloody executioners" or "henchmen of executioners", "cogs" of the Stalinist "evil empire".
Also happened destruction of the ideocratic basis of the state (a big idea, an image of a brighter future). It went through materialization, “the landing of ideals” - the replacement of the distant image of a just and fraternal life in the Soviet community (“a bright future” for all) with a Western-style consumer society. The ideocratic foundation includes utopia (ideal, big idea) and theory, program (rational explanation of life and the project of the future). Khrushchev's "perestroika" spoiled both parts and separated them. The idea was destroyed by the vilification of the image of Stalin, its approach ("the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism") and vulgarization (materialization). The theory was spoiled by a departure from common sense when implementing even well-grounded programs like the development of virgin lands, as well as various campaigns - "meat", "dairy", "corn", "chemicalization of the national economy", refusal from excessive militarization, etc.
In the field of state structure, radical de-Stalinization was reduced to a sharp decentralization and division of the entire government system. From the union to the republican administration in 1954-1955. more than 11 thousand enterprises were transferred. In 1957, the sectoral management system was changed to a territorial one. The Supreme Soviets of the republics formed 107 economic regions (70 of them in the RSFSR), in which collegial governing bodies were established - economic councils (SNKh). 141 union and republican ministries were disbanded. There were 107 small governments with sectoral and functional departments. The republican SNKh was built over them - in parallel with the remaining councils of ministers. The division of the management of the economy led to the division of the organs of power. In 1962, in most of the territories and regions, two Soviets of Working People's Deputies were created - an industrial one and a rural one.
In 1962, the economic councils enlarged and established the all-Union Economic Council of the USSR, and in 1963 - the Supreme Council of the National Economy of the USSR, to which the State Planning Committee, the State Construction Committee and other economic committees were subordinate. Decentralization led to a decrease in the technical level of production, and the liquidation of ministries deprived the USSR of the most important advantage - the ability to concentrate forces and means for the development of science and technology, to pursue a single technological policy throughout the Soviet state and to extend the best achievements to all industries.
Khrushchev's "perestroika" did not bring the USSR to collapse. In 1964 he was removed from power. The party elite was afraid of Khrushchev's radicalism and voluntarism. She wanted stability and was not yet ready for the collapse of the USSR. Some of the previous reforms were curtailed. The union of industrial and agricultural regional party organizations was carried out; the sectoral principle of industrial management was restored, the republican SNKh and SNKh of economic regions were abolished.
The Soviet system and economy were so stable that the unjustified or sabotage actions of the supreme power could not immediately cause a catastrophe. Radical movements were "extinguished" within the system. Therefore, by inertia, the USSR was still moving forward, science, technology and education, the military-industrial complex, the armed forces, mass housing construction, improved the well-being of the people. Major programs launched under Stalin, in particular, the space program, began to bear fruit. The Soviet Union was a superpower, whose positions determined the balance of power in the world, which made it possible to avoid a new world and major regional wars. In particular, America's inability to liquidate the revolutionary regime in Cuba (under its very nose) made a great impression on world opinion. There were many other positive developments: in foreign policy, economy, space, the armed forces, sports, science and education, and culture.
However, Khrushchev did the main thing: his de-Stalinization, "perestroika-1" dealt a mortal blow to the ideological basis of Soviet civilization. The destruction processes were launched and led to the disaster of 1991.
