Nikita Khrushchev: The Transformation Of Soviet Communism

The events that took place subsequent to Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953 transformed the Soviet Communism and way of life in many different ways. Essentially, the transformation of Soviet life after the Thaw can be said to have undergone three phases: introduction of reforms during Khrushchev’s era, the Brezhnev stagnation, and Gorbachev reforms that ultimately led to the Soviet Union dissolving in 1991. When Nikita Khrushchev rose to power, he made significant reforms including policies of peace between the Soviet and other nations and de-Stalinization (Hosking, 1993). The period between 1950s and early 1960s, the Thaw, represented the reverse of suppression of the proletariat and censorship of information in the Soviet Union. In addition, …show more content…
In particular, the liberation of the Soviet society resulted in the appearance of a cultural realm that existed without boundaries. Some of the examples of this culture include stilyagi and other literary figures that aimed to publish uncensored materials. The two types of cultures interacted in academic seminars and apartments unsanctioned by the authorized academic institutions (Savitsky, n.d). According to Stites (1992), the uncensored songs, poetry, and books publication significantly transformed the Soviet Union social, economic, and cultural aspects. The period allowed more artists to portray their creative and communicate more freely with the public. In this regard, a significant characteristic of the Thaw period was the emergence of popular stars including singers/songwriters and poets such as Bella Akhmadulina, who had a great impact in shaping the new Soviet Union. This period also saw the rise of popular spokespeople and artists such as Vladimir Vysotsky (Stites, 1992). Their contributions in the Soviet culture significantly changed the Soviet world by liberating the public consciousness and revealing the importance of independent channels of thinking and providing …show more content…
Some of the important innovations of his time include encouraging peasants to grow more on their private plots, more investments in agriculture, and increased payments for crops grown on collective farms. For instance, in the Virgin Lands Campaign of 1950s, Khrushchev opened large tracts of land for farming in Kazakhstan and areas surrounding Russia (Wallace, 1990). In an attempt to bring more reforms by equality, he ordering his government to give Soviet peasants identification and passports to allow them to move from poor villages to the rich big towns and cities. In order to achieve this, he introduced krushchevkas or the massive construction of cheap and basic residential houses/blocks that could accommodate landless peasants that migrated to the cities. This reform had the substantial impact of changing the demographic picture of the Soviet Union. Eventually, it led to the decline and decay of the Russian peasantry (Wallace,