Khrushchev’s dynamism and experimentation
alarmed the party bureaucracy. His lack of
success, especially in agriculture, did nothing to
compensate for the constant upsets he inflicted
on the power establishment. He probably paid
less and less attention to other members of the
Praesidium, and in due course they decided to
get rid of him, having had enough of his erratic
policies or ‘hare-brained schemes’, to use their
phrase. In October 1964, while he was holiday-
ing on the Black Sea, his removal from the lead-
ership was announced in Moscow. He was
allowed to retire quietly and died in obscurity in
1971 – at least that had been the intention of the
new Soviet leaders. They underlined their con-
tempt by not honouring his remains with a state
funeral or a burial place close to Lenin. But
Khrushchev refused to become a nonentity and
had one more surprise in store before his uncer-
emonious end. He had recorded his memoirs on
tape and shortly before his death saw their first
publication in the West. Like his other breaches
with the past, this was a first in Soviet history. In
the decades between Stalin and Gorbachev,
Khrushchev did more to change the Soviet Union
than any other leader, albeit without finding
remedies for the shortcomings of communist rule
of the economy. Nor could communism be rec-
onciled with basic freedoms. History will never-
theless accord him a more important place than
the Soviet leadership was willing to acknowledge.
From a later vantage point, Khrushchev’s years
of power are viewed in a different light inside and
outside the Soviet Union. The Russian people
could look back on Khrushchev with gratitude for
introducing the first breath of fresh air and free-
dom, although it was stifled again during the long
interlude of the Brezhnev decades. Banished from
Red Square, Khrushchev lies buried in the
Novodevichy Convent grounds with other famous
Russians, Chekhov, Scriabin and Gogol. The
grave is not neglected, but is covered with flowers
in memory of the man who first opened the gates
of the vast prison complex of Stalin’s Gulag.
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THE FALL OF KHRUSHCHEV 485
