1. After Stalin

2. 1952-53: start of a new phase in the Cold War Nov. 1952:  Gen. Dwight Eisenhower is elected US President with a commitment to victory in the Cold War  First hydrogen bomb tested by the US Stalin considers a new world war inevitable

3. 1949: Celebrating Stalin’s 70 th birthday, Molotov delivering report

4. American soldiers in the Korean War

5. Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as US President

6. March 1953:  Stalin dies, a new leadership emerges in the Kremlin. It proclaims the goal of peaceful coexistence  Release of GULAG prisoners begins May 1953:  The war in Korea continues. Pres. Eisenhower approves a military plan for winning in Korea which includes use of atom bombs July: Armistice signed in Korea

7. Moscow, March 1953: Stalin’s funeral

8. Survivors (L to R): Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Premier Nikolai Bulganin, Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Geneva, 1955

9. STALIN’S LEGACY The USSR is a superpower: major resources which can be used in various ways:  to promote revolution  to seek peaceful coexistence with the West Did Moscow need to choose? How viable is the Soviet system – in Russia and abroad? Issue of reform and liberalization The Global Left and the USSR: what should be the Soviet role?

10. The paradox of Stalin’s legacy. He left his successors:  Huge positions of strength  An unviable system.  Traditions of Machiavellian pragmatism: the end justifies the means. But what is the end? Defence of the Motherland? Prevention of a new world war? Victory of communism worldwide? Making socialist societies livable? Interests of the state? Perpetuation of bureaucratic rule? All of the above?

11. POST-STALIN RATIONALIZATION OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY Dismantle some elements of the totalitarian system Work to end the Korean War Relaxation of tensions with the West Steps toward arms control Development of ties with newly independent states in the Third World Expand influence with the Global Left

12. A WIDE VARIETY OF MEANS AVAILABLE Military power Alliances with other communist states in Europe and Asia (Warsaw Pact, USSR-China) Active diplomacy vis-a-vis the West, the Third World (including economic assistance), in the UN Cultivation of ties with various left-wing forces and movements Propaganda (more effective with de-Stalinization)

13. ROLE OF IDEOLOGY Khrushchev’s conviction: the global revolutionary process continues leading to ultimate victory of communism over capitalism How will communism win? By creating better conditions of life for working people: Peaceful competition between the two social systems, struggle for people’s minds and hearts Meanwhile. the two systems can and must avoid war and promote mutual cooperation

14. A stronger commitment to the Global Left Support of non-alignment in the Global South Issues in Eastern Europe Relations with China

15. February 1956, 20 th Party Congress:  Exposing and condemning Stalin’s rule of terror  War is not inevitable: proclaiming peaceful coexistence between East and West as a realistic policy  Socialism means improvement of the people’s living conditions  Khrushchev establishes his primacy in the leadership

16. Khrushchev spoke for 5 hours at the 20 th Congress

17. As Khrushchev was exposing Stalin’s crimes at the Congress, someone in the audience asked:  “If you knew about these mass repressions, why did you keep silent? Khrushchev responded:  “Who said this?” There was no answer.  “So, you keep your mouth shut, eh? Well, I kept mine shut, too.”

18. Poland, October 1956: reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka comes to power

19. Imre Nagy, reformer at the head of the Hungarian Communist Party, 1956

20. Hungary, October 1956: Overthrowing Stalinism

22. The Hungarian Revolution, 1956

23. Hungarian revolutionaries in Budapest

24. Soviet troops move in to save the Communist regime

25. Aftermath of street battle in Budapest

26. "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in" – K to Western Ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow, Nov. 1956 K in Yugoslavia, August 1963: "I once said, 'We will bury you,' and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you,” – He was referring to the Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism”, based on the concluding statement in Chapter 1 of the Communist Manifesto: "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable".

27. June 1957: Minister of Defence Zhukov acted decisively to prevent an attempt by Stalinists to oust Khrushchev

28. After the 1957 plot against K. collapsed, one of the plotters, Lazar Kaganovich, phoned K. and asked: “What are you going to do to us, Nikita? Send to the camps? K. “Why don’t you just go and screw yourselves!” and hung up A MAJOR CHANGE OF RULES OF POWER

29. The Space Era starts on Oct.4, 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, Soviet- made Earth satellite

30. In September 1959, the Soviets were the first to put a space probe, Luna-2, on the Moon

31. Sergei Korolev, head of the Soviet space program

33. In 1957, Moscow opens to the world: International Festival of Youth and Students, Russians welcoming American participants

34. Summer 1959: US National Exhibition in Moscow. Vice President Nixon showing K. a typical American kitchen

35. The Kitchen Debate

36. Khrushchev and Nixon, press- conference in Moscow, July 1959: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Hq OrAakco&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Hq OrAakco&feature=related

37. Sept – Oct. 1959 History’s first visit by a top Russian leader to America K. on arrival: "I have not come to the United States to learn anything about America." In fact, he spent two weeks travelling across the country, seeking to learn as much as he could – and came away profoundly impressed

38. K. arrived in a brand new Soviet superliner, Tu-114

39. Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bomber patrolling over the Arctic, 2008

41. K goes on a “peace offensive”: Proposes a program for general and complete disarmament

43. Iowa

45. Hollywood

46. With Shirley McLaine: “Yes, you can… Can-Can!”

48. The next day, K. branded the show as “decadent capitalist pornography”, adding: “A human face is more beautiful than a human backside."

49. 400 Hollywood celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, accepted invitation to dine with Khrushchev; a few, including Ronald Reagan and Bing Crosby, declined

50. Spiros Skouros, President of 20 th Century Fox and Khrushchev: extolling the virtues of democracy, each in his own way

51. Pittsburgh

52. Back in Moscow, K. mused among his close confidants: “They have already built communism in America…”

53. Extolling virtues of corn to comrades

54. The Mao challenge Khrushchev needs a strong relationship with Communist China to back him up in his foreign policy From mid-1950s, he orders massive assistance to China in all areas This includes China’s nuclear program But Mao moves into an increasingly hostile posture – in a huge irony, as K. gave him much more than Stalin would ever agree  K’s anti-totalitarian reforms threaten Mao’s own grip on power and Stalinist policies  Mao is wary of K’s rapprochement with the West

55. K. on Mao: “Old rubber”. Mao on K.: “Rotten egg” (in Chinese, one of the most offensive epithets)

56. In 1960-61, the frictions and tensions explode in an open political conflict Mao openly charges K. with betrayal of the world revolution K. terminates the Soviet assistance program Mao begins unofficial contacts with the Americans In Moscow, K’s China policy is viewed by his critics as a disaster

57. 1960 Presidential election campaign in the US Eisenhower seeks to show that relations with Russia are improving In May, Ike and K are planning to hold a summit in Paris and agree on a number of steps to improve relations

58. Francis Gary Powers

59. Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane

60. This type of missile shot down Powers on May 1, 1960

61. K examining the U2’s debris

62. Powers testifying at his trial in Moscow

63. JFK attacks the Republicans America is losing the Cold War because of the Republicans:  Falling behind in economic growth  Falling behind in military power  Ineffective in the struggle for the Third World JFK would go on the offensive against communism to win

64. History’s first televised debate: JFK vs. Richard Nixon, Sept 26, 1960: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrcRKqLSRwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrcRKqLSRw

65. Real balance of power:  Huge superiority on the US side US surrounds USSR with military bases, alliances and nuclear weapons It is ready to start nuclear war on a moment’s notice But the Soviets now have intercontinental ballistic missiles – nuclear deterrent JFK charges “a missile gap” Using K’s bravado against Republicans Urging overthrow of Fidel Castro

66. But K. still preferred JFK Not only because he detested Nixon More importantly -  Because JFK would usher in changes, new thinking which would allow to bring East-West tensions down Because he was a reformer like K himself So, K refused to help Nixon become President (the RB-47 incident)

67. Kennedy in a July 1959 private conversation: “I don’t think there’s any magic solution to solve or really ease East-West at the present time… The magic power really is the desire of everyone to be independent and every nation to be independent. That’s the basic force which is really, I think, the strong force on our side. That’s the magic power, and that’s what’s going to screw the Russians ultimately.” (Michael Beschloss, The Crisis Years, p.19)

68. In a campaign speech, Sept. 1960: The enemy is the communist system itself – implacable, insatiable, unceasing in its drive for world domination… This is not a struggle for supremacy of arms alone. It is also a struggle for supremacy between two conflicting ideologies: freedom under God versus ruthless, godless tyranny” (Michael Beschloss, The Crisis Years, p.23)

70. JFK’s inaugural address is reprinted in full in Pravda Then K gives a speech: imperialism is retreating, socialism is winning, war is impossible, revolution is rising in the Third World

72. JFK: “Being President would be the best job in the world if it weren’t for the Russians… You never know what those bastards are up to” (Beschloss, p.11)

73. Ask not

75. On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter outer space

78. May 25, 1961: Announcing the Apollo Program: “Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”