Khrushchev attempts to reform government, deStalinisation

• • Attempted to remove Stalinists.
  • Encouraged genuine debate.
  • Reversed centralisation.
  • Socialist Legalism
• • From 1953-56, Khrushchev replaced half of all regional party secretaries.
  • Khrushchev replaced 33% of the Central Committee.
  • Khrushchev allowed a 3 day meeting to discuss his leadership.
  • In 1954, Khrushchev cut the number of central Soviet ministries from 55 to 25.
• • 24 February 1956: Khrushchev's main attempt to distance himself from Stalin was through the speech he gave at the Twentieth Party Congress.
  • The speech was 20,000 words long.
  • Khrushchev accused Stalin of abusing his power, including through his brutality and the cult of personality.
  • He used Lenin's testament to show that the founder of the USSR had not wanted Stalin to be leader.