Joseph Stalin was a murderous piece of shit, and after he finally went off to Godless Communist Hell, his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, began a process called “De-Stalinization.”
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: March 5, 1953--
A kind estimate is that Stalin’s three-decade rule of the Soviet Union was responsible for 10 million deaths. There were massive purges of people who he didn’t like, people who he didn’t like dying in Gulags, intentional famines killing people who he didn’t like . . . you get the idea. But when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on March 5, 1953, many mourned. And yet, Khrushchev dragged that fucker. He waited a few years though.
One thing we’ve seen throughout history is that the cult of personality is bad, and Stalin definitely had that. If people are beholden to a leader rather than a system of government, not only does it allow leaders to get away with whatever the fuck they want, it makes transition to new leadership all the more challenging. There was a reason many wanted Rome to remain a republic rather than transform into an empire under Julius Caesar, because it places a nation under the whim of a very mortal ruler. They may be great, they may be horrible, but either way they eventually die. Strong systems of government, however, can survive no matter who is in charge.
Stalin’s image was everywhere, with him presented as the all-powerful and all-knowing leader. Kind of like what they have going on in North Korea. MAGA hats were a similar idea, embodying that twice-impeached, peach-colored pus bucket. Despite Comrade Joseph being made of ass, love for Stalin was so great that Khrushchev needed to engage in “silent de-Stalinization” so people didn’t get their knickers twisted over disrespect for the memory of their lauded leader.
Khrushchev created a more collective leadership and eased Stalin’s one-party totalitarian system of government. The Gulags were mostly emptied. Stalin’s image was gradually purged from public view; cities, landmarks, and facilities bearing his name reverted to their former names. The State National Anthem and anthems of various republics were changed to get rid of any mention of the mustachioed motherfucker.
On February 25, 1956, Khrushchev finally called Stalin out in a “secret speech” made to the Communist Party. The speech leaked, and even though it had been three years since Stalin died, people were fucking pissed. There were riots. In the U.S., the speech decimated the American left, resulting in a rapid exodus of 30,000 members from the U.S. Communist Party.
This time of relaxed repression and censorship became known as the Khrushchev Thaw.
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"Mustachioed motherfucker" is going in my regular vocabulary rotation! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂👍
Side note: anytime I hear the name Stalin, it gives me a good chuckle, because I hear Moe Howard (of The Three Stooges) saying, "QUIT LYIN', YOU'RE ONLY STALIN'!" Dumb, but funny. 😆👍