Transcript Nikita Khrushchev`s Secret Speech

Nikita Khrushchev's Secret
Speech
Contents of Presentation
1. Background
information
2. Analysis of
speech
Background Information
What does this photo suggest about the state of the
Soviet Union after Stalin’s death?
Who is Nikita Khrushchev?
• leader of the Soviet Union during part of
the Cold War era
• one of the party officials competing for
leadership after the death of Stalin
• top party official during Stalin’s reign as
leader of the Soviet Union
When was the speech delivered?
• The speech began on February 24, 1956 just
before midnight.
• The speech took place less than three years
after Stalin’s death.
• The speech was a closed-door, secret meeting
during the 20th Communist Party Congress.
• The speech lasted for approximately four hours.
(It contained approximately 26,000 words!)
To whom was the speech
delivered?
• Party delegates (the most powerful
Communist leaders and figures at the
time) were summoned unexpectedly.
• Of these delegates, some were loyal to
Stalin, and many aided/supported Stalin
during his reign.
• Many of the delegates had benefitted from
Stalin’s reign of terror.
What was the speech’s purpose?
• to criticize and expose Stalin’s oppression
(e.g., purges of 1936-38)
• to continue the process of de-stalinization
• to denounce the “cult of personality” during
Stalin’s reign
• to embrace the true ideals of communism
How did the audience react?
• Party delegates were stunned
and listened in silence.
• Critics and victims of Stalin, the
intelligentsia, and reformers
hailed the speech.
• People in Georgia (Stalin’s
home province) protested.
• Leaders of other Communist
countries asked Khruschev to
renounce de-stalinization.
Analysis of
the Speech
What do you remember
about Stalin’s terror from our
study of Animal Farm?
“Cult of Personality”
Look at the propaganda
poster on the right.
What do you think the
term “cult of personality”
means?
“Cult of Personality”
“[The cult of personality]
elevate[s] one person, to
transform him into a superman
possessing supernatural
characteristics, akin to those
of a god. Such a man
supposedly knows everything,
sees everything, thinks for
everyone, can do anything, is
infallible in his behaviour.”
Lenin versus Stalin
• “genius of the revolution”
• “great modesty”
• “never imposed his views by
force”
• “gave instructions to stop mass
terror and to abolish the death
penalty”
• “impos[ed] his concepts”
• “demand[ed] absolute
submission to his opinion”
• “use[d] the cruellest
repression”
Khruschev’s Appeal to Authority
• Like Old Major, Lenin
represents the pure ideals
of communism.
• Khruschev describes
Lenin’s ideas as utopian
and Stalin’s reign as
dystopian.
• Khruschev continually
refers to Lenin’s ideas and
quotes Lenin often.
– “I will note comment on these
documents. They speak
eloquently for themselves.”
Lenin’s Opinion of Stalin
“After taking over the position of
general secretary, comrade Stalin
accumulated immeasurable power in
his hands and I am not certain
whether he will be always to use this
power with the required care…I
propose that the comrades consider
the method by which Stalin would be
removed from this position and by
which another man would be selected
for it, a man who, above all, would
differ from Stalin in only one quality,
namely, greater tolerance, greater
loyalty, greater kindness.”
Words Associated with Stalin
• “perversions of party
principles, of party
democracy, of revolutionary
legality”
• “deviated from [Lenin’s]
precepts”
• “brutal violation of socialist
legality”
• “violation of party
democracy”
• “deviations of all sorts”
• “vanishings of reality”
Tone, Voice and Language
• Khruschev was described as emotional
and passionate.
• He does not decorate his speech with
figurative language.
• He can be described as direct and
straightforward.
• His tone can also be described as factual.
Tone, Voice and Language
Khruschev does not
use propaganda:
his weapon is the
truth.
Rhetorical Strategies
• Khruschev uses rhetorical questions
often.
– How, then, can we believe that such people
had joined the camps of the enemies of
socialism?”
• Khruschev uses anaphora as he repeats
“Comrades!” often.
Rhetorical Strategies
• He uses figurative
language seldomly.
– METAPHOR: He
does not want to give
ammunition to his
enemies.
– ANALOGY: He does
not want to wash
dirty linen before
their enemies eyes.
Bibliography
Crozier, B. (2000). The rise and fall of the Soviet
Empire. Roseville: Forum.
Medvedev, R. (1978). Khruschev: The years in
power. New York: W. W. Norton and Company,
1978.
Siegelbaum, L. (2011). “1956: Khruschev’s secret
speech.” Seventeen points in Soviet history.
National Endowments for Humanities. Retrieved
4 April 2011
<http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=s
ubject&SubjectID=1956secret&Year=1956>