“Despite the policy of Destalinisation, the main features of Stalinism were still intact in the USSR at the time of Khrushchev’s fall from power in 1964” Assess the validity of this view

Stalinism is defined as the ideological pursuits of Stalin’s reign, seen in the command centralised economy, and the application of a totalitarian rule to reach Communism. De-stalinisation refers to the process of eradicating both the pursuits and the emotional ties to those pursuits. Khruschev’s work to attack the reputation of Stalin, humanise some of his more detrimental schemes, and decentralise the regime, worked to undermine Stalin’s cult of personality. Nonetheless, his work in subverting the centralised government and allowing further freedom was much less successful. 
Khrushchev’s initial attack on the emotional attachment of the nation to the figure of Stalin can be seen in the ‘Secret Speech’ of 1956. The outright condemnation of Stalin’s work was unprecedented. Khrushchev drew on word of Lenin in 1924 to directly criticise Stalin’s work, featuring Kirov’s murder, and his politics in the Great Terror. Highlighting the rift between Stalin’s work and the theory of Marxism-Leninism, Khrushchev undermined Stalin’s reliance on Lenin’s to hold power, crippling his status. Despite this, Khrushchev neglected commentary on the downfalls of the Communist system, accentuated the benefits of some of Stalin’s horrific schemes, and offered no plan for the future of the USSR. A lack of a vision was central to Khruschev’s rule, seen in his continuation of Stalin’s pitfalls in industry. The speech, therefore, had a relatively limited impact, with areas such as Stalingrad changed to Volgograd, and the removal of statues of Stalin. Whilst the grip of Stalin’s cult of personality began to disintegrate, few permanent plans for change were launched. 

Khrushchev did offer some revolution in the industry. The Seven Year Plan, launched in 1956, whilst slightly less ambitious than Stalin’s infamously impossible Five Year Plans, the retained focus on targets pushed the USSR to its limits, forcing corruption. However, the de-centralisation of economic national ministries, in the form of 105 regional economic councils, along with an increase in levels of bureaucracy, ensured power was dispersed through the people. This limited the potential of a megalomaniacal leader. He also created a Supreme Economic Council in Moscow, working to decentralise power further. Placing a higher emphasis on scientific discovery through an engagement with the Space Race, in 1965 Russia possessed over 4700 scientific establishments. These changes, both in the priority and structure of industrial activity, illustrate Khrushchev’s continued attempts to undermine Stalin’s extreme stronghold and prevent a future occurrence of excessive centralisation of power. 
Khrushchev did launch ‘Reform Communism’, proposing to de-stalinise through decentralisation and eradication of the previous regime. His cultural reforms, placing consent at the centre, seemed revolutionary. Focusing on freedom, he worked against the isolationist policy of the USSR, welcoming foreign visitors from non-Communist regions, limited censorship, and decentralising leadership. Culturally then, Soviet Russia was in a thaw. Khrushchev encouraged Shostakovich, who was considered excessive in Stalin’s rule, to create and play his music. Nonetheless, the continued pressure on religious groups left only 7500 places of worship for Orthodox Christians. Culturally, Khrushchev retained many restrictions on the freedom of writers, poets and musicians, routinely stamping out the voices of artists. Many were imprisoned for their work, due to their emulation of Western principles and ideas. Pop music and youth ‘hooliganism’ was seen as directly lifted from Western pop culture. The massacre of certain religious groups revealed a similar excitement as Stalin’s regime, with Khrushchev recreating the anti-religion regime of Stalin from 1920s-30s with all religions being persecuted. Atheism was taught in school and an emphasis was placed on attacks on places of worship. Despite his decentralisation of power in industry, he retained a strong grip over the cultural freedom of his nation. 
  In conclusion, Khrushchev was under pressure to remove central power, humanise the occurrences in Russia and undermine the cult of personality of Stalin if he was to achieve de-Stalinization. His ‘Reform Communism’ ideas were certainly a step in an alternative direction, however, Khrushchev still understood and enforced the necessary restrictions on the society to continue the journey toward Communism. His focus on Marxism inevitably ensured that a fairly centralised and industry-led society was paramount; despite his more altruistic nature he still required a strong grip to ensure the progression to Communism was possible. Therefore, whilst Stalin’s cult of personality was removed, a humane and decentralised State was still far from reality.