De-Stalinization Following the death of Stalin, his successors reformed the Soviet system and improved the lives of its people.

After the death of Stalin in 1953, the new premier Nikta Khrushchev denounced the crimes of Stalin. In 1956, Khrushchev initiated his program of de- Stalinization. ◦Secret police restricted, labor camps closed, more open political discussion allowed, and artists were given greater freedom ◦Khrushchev moved Soviet foreign policy toward “peaceful coexistence” with the West However, liberal movements in the Soviet satellite countries of Poland and Hungary were suppressed in 1956 and he did order the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

After the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Khrushchev lost support and was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964 Reform slowed under Brezhnev ◦Domestically, Brezhnev place tighter controls on speech ◦In 1968, Czechoslovakia attempted to open their political system to more parties but the Soviets quickly restored the one-party state. ◦Following the events in Czechoslovakia, the Brezhnev Doctrine was announced asserting the right of the Soviet Union to intervene in the domestic affairs of its satellite states.

Many things improved under Brezhnev ◦The Brezhnev period ( ) was the period of “détente”, a reduction of tensions between the US and the USSR. ◦Cult of Personality associated with Stalinism disappeared ◦Standard of living Improved  partially produced by a turn toward consumer goods and expansion of educational opportunities ◦A highly educated, prosperous technocratic class emerge  By the 1980s this large, well-educated, urbanized elite was ready for change.