— Ch. 1 · Background To The Speech —
On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
Nikita Khrushchev stood before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the 25th of February 1956. He was about to deliver a report that would shake the foundations of the Soviet state. This moment did not happen in isolation. It followed years of silence and fear under Joseph Stalin, who died in March 1953. After his death, thousands of political prisoners returned to the USSR. Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin's influential police chief, was arrested and executed. His downfall expanded knowledge of Stalin's crimes among Soviet leaders.
The Pospelov Commission had been created by Khrushchev on the 31st of December 1955. Pytor Pospelov chaired this commission alongside P.T. Komarov, Averky Aristov, and Nikolai Shvernik. They investigated repressions against delegates of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1934. The commission met in early 1956 and presented shocking evidence. In 1937 and 1938, during the Great Purge, Stalin had over one-and-a-half million individuals arrested for anti-Soviet activities. More than 680,500 were executed. Most victims were long-time members of the Communist Party.
Khrushchev decided he had an obligation to expose these crimes after hearing the commission's report. On February 13th, the Secret Speech was authorized. In the days that followed, Khrushchev, Pospelov, Aristov, and other party members worked together to create and edit the speech. This preparation laid the groundwork for what would become a defining moment in Cold War history.
The Closed Session Delivery
The public session of the 20th Congress ended on the 24th of February 1956. Delegates received word to return to the Great Hall of the Kremlin for an additional closed session. Journalists, guests, and foreign delegates were excluded from this gathering. Special passes were issued to eligible participants. One hundred former party members recently released from Soviet prison camps joined the assembly to add moral effect.
Premier Nikolai Bulganin called the session to order and immediately yielded the floor to Khrushchev. He began his speech shortly after midnight on the 25th of February. For four hours, Khrushchev delivered his address before stunned delegates. Several people became ill during the tense report and had to be removed from the hall. The atmosphere grew increasingly heavy as accusations mounted against the late leader.
Khrushchev read from a prepared report without any stenographic record being kept. No questions or debate followed his presentation. Delegates left the hall in acute disorientation. That same evening, foreign communist party delegates were summoned to the Kremlin. They received copies of the text, which was treated as top secret state document. The silence that followed the delivery would echo across decades.