Stalin's Death and the Doctor's Plot By 1953 Stalin had isolated himself completely from the world and was loosing touch with reality. In January 1953 it looked like he was ready to begin another purge: Nine mostly-Jewish doctors in the Kremlin were arrested and accused of killing a top Russian leader five years earlier and accused of plotting to murder the Communist leadership.BR> This was thought to be a pretext for a purge of the Praesidium (Politburo), especially the powerful Beria. But before further action could be taken Stalin suffered a stroke and died on 5 March 1953. Stalin's body was put on display in the Kremlin and hundreds of thousands of Russians queued to pay their respect

Destalinisation As a reaction to Stalin's 'cult of personality' Khrushchev the new soviet leader began to 'destalinise' the USSR. - The Doctor's Plot was exposed as a fraud - Some of Stalin's prison camps were closed and some political prisoners freed. Victims of the purge were released and helped to resettle - The power of the NKVD was scaled down and renamed the KGB. Beria as head of the secret police was shot. - Moves made to make the USSR a more tolerant society - Wider range of goods available in shops - Housing programs put in place - Wages rose and working hours decreased - Travel restrictions removed - Scientists were allowed to have contact with overseas colleagues - Censorship restrictions lifted - Portraits of Stalin and statues slowly disappeared - Towns named after Stalin were renamed. e.g. Stalingrad became Volgagrad

The 20th Party Congress In February 1956 the CPSU held its first congress after Stalin's death Khrushchev made a 'secret' speech intended for delegates only (but widely reported) in which he denounced the terrors and tragedies of Stalin's rule Khrushchev critized much of Stalin's rule Stalin had lost touch with the Soviet Union But wanting to hold onto gains made from industrialisation, Khrushchev maintained that Stalin had been correct in his policies up to 1934 Stalin crimes began with Kirov's murder and the Great Purge These crimes committed by Stalin and his security chiefs Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria. No blame was to be attached to the party itself Khrushchev would not criticise the removal of the left and right party members, nor the human cost of collectivisation and industrialisation -> European Satellites demanded more freedom. If Stalin had been wrong then what he had done to Eastern Europe had been wrong also.

Destroying the Idol

• "Lenin's Testament" which critized Stalin became widely known
• Stalin had taken the revolution in the wrong direction
• Between 1956-61 official history of the Soviet Union argued that Stalin had prevented the true course of revolution by allowing the 'cult of personality' to develop and taking savage and unwarranted action against innocent communists in the purge
• Stalin's body was removed from Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square, cremated and buried in the Kremlin Wall.