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KHRUSHCHEV==========

His story is something like a fairy tale. A humble young peasant boy, bornto a world of famine and poverty with 100 million peasants just like him, worksand fights his way up the political ladder of Russia to one day become its mostpowerful force, simultaneously holding the offices of Premier of the U.S.S.R.and First Secretary of the Communist Party. It seems incredible, but it should

be remembered that Nikita Khrushchev did not accomplish this feat without muchsacrifice and hard work on his part. Coming from virtually nothing, hestruggled for many years to rise among the ranks in Revolutionary Russia beforehe achieved the position of a widely-loved ruler and powerful, determiningforce in international affairs. And although, in the end, he was cast downfrom this climactic position, it was not before this loquacious and personableman had employed his keen and incisive mind toward making many gains for andimprovements in twentieth-century Russia.

To truly understand how humble and common his beginnings were, one mustunderstand the situation in Russia toward the end of the nineteenth century.Serfdom had only recently been abolished, and, as a result, there was a severeshortage of land and widespread poverty and illiteracy. Only the strongest and

cleverest were able to make a living from their new-found freedom; most juststruggled to survive. It was among this majority, on April 17, 1894, thatNikita Sergeievich Khrushchev was born. As a boy, he lived in Kalinovka, apoor villiage in the Ukraine, in an izba, a mud hut with a thatched roof, withhis grandfather, a large family, and the family's animals. His father, it issaid, lived his life with the ambition to buy a horse, but he never savedenough money to do so. In the end, the family was forced to give up their homeand move to Yuzovka in another part of the Ukraine.

Throughout his childhood, Nikita was forced to work to survive. Hiseducation amounted to only two or three years in the village school, for he wasforced to go to work herding cows when he was nine. Following that, he was em-ployed as many things, including a farm hand, a factory worker, and finally a

miner in the coal pits. It was at this time that his determination to betterhimself was first made apparent, for, rather than letting himself be destinedforever to work in the pits, he offered his services in all areas of the job,including the development of pit-heads, elevators for the mines. This was alsothe time in which the young Khrushchev's rebellious nature began to surface,but rather than to striking or union-organizing, it was applied towardpolitics. It all began with a visit to the mines in 1917 by a man calledKaganovich, who was sent to recruit miners for the Revolution. Nikita, who was23 and viewed this man as both a romantic figure and an opportunity to breakfrom his social boundaries, joined his Bolshevik group and, by doing so, tookhis first of many steps in his forthcoming rise to political power.

Soonafter, Khrushchev, a loyal but not very active Bolshevik member, became

involved with the Communist party as well. Prior to this point, he had beenexempt from military service due to his indispensibility in the local coalindustry. Also, he had been responsible for a family, as he had married hiswife, Galina, during his years in the coal mines, and now had two children(Leonid and Julia), which made him want to remain near Yuzovka. However, in1919, that rebellious, power-seeking inner sense of Nikita's got the best ofhim, and he went off to join the Red Army. When the war ended, Khrushchev,whose main objective had been to emerge as a politician until he found howdifficult it was to compete with the "higher-born," at least had succeeded inproving himself to be a loyal and useful figure. Soonafter, he returned homewith the task of organizing a local Communist party.

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When he arrived back in Yuzovka, however, he found the area, along with muchof the Ukraine, suffering due to a great famine. Peasants were forced to eatbark, grass, leather and one another to survive, and many died, includingKhrushchev's wife. It was a very sad and difficult time for Nikita, but heretaliated against his depression by devoting himself wholeheartedly toward thereorganization of Russia. At once he set about to restore local factories andincrease coal production, steps he considered vital in order to get the economy

going. It took much toughness and courage to get men to work under suchconditions, but Khrushchev, gifted with a talent for organizing and motivatingpeople, was able to succeed. In 1921, he sent his children to live with hisparents and enrolled in a mining technology school, where he further developedhimself in engineering and politics and learned how to read. A quick learner,Khrushchev finished school in four years, literate and with a comprehensiveknowledge of Leninist views. He married again, this time to a schoolteachernamed Nina Petrovna, and, at the age 31, encountered the first of a series ofvery rapid steps to the supreme position he would one day hold as Premier ofthe U.S.S.R.

In 1925, Khrushchev was appointed to his first full-time and very importantParty position, Party Secretary of Petrovsko, a district of about 400 square

miles in the Ukraine. For the two years that he held that office, Nikitaencouraged peasants to work and reopened factories, unemployment dropped andbands of mutinous peasants which roamed the countryside were wiped out. Inaddition, bands of wild Russian children, called besprisorni, were rounded upand either put to work or shot. By the end of his term there, he had grownenough in importance to be a non-voting member of the All Union PartyCongress-in other words, in just seven years, Krushchev had earned his way intothe top 1300 of over one million Party members.

His next step was to go to Moscow, where he studied engineering and workedactively in the Party cell of the Moscow Industrial Academy. Working closelywith important political figures, even including Stalin's wife, Khrushchevcontinued to rise in importance and popularity. By 1932, he had reached a

point where he was second in command of the Party for all of Moscow. With thispower, he attempted to more or less renovate Moscow. Its living conditionswere deplorable and dreary. There was a severe shortage of food, familieslived huddled two or three to a room, buildings were falling apart. As Peterthe Great had done many years before, Nikita attempted to "drag Russia into thetwentieth century." He made many reforms, including the construction of theMoscow Metro, and as a result was soon appointed to the Central Committees ofthe All-Union Communist Party and the Supreme Soviet.

It should be noted that, having always concentrated on technical rather thanpolitical accomplishment, Khrushchev was able to escape the Great Purge, aperiod in the thirties in which those considered "enemies of the people"according to Stalin were to be arrested, deported or even executed. Rather, he

was even rewarded for his service to the country. In 1938, Khrushchev returnedto the Ukraine as first secretary of he Ukrainian Communist Party and focusedhis attention primarily on agriculture, in which he gained a reputation as anexpert. When he gained full membership in the Politburo in March of 1939,Khrushchev became one of the most powerful men in the U.S.S.R.

With World War II came more accomplishments and recognition for Khrushchev.He supervised the annexation of Polish territory, helped supervise theevacuation of Ukranian industry when Germany attacked, and eventually helped toexpel the Germans from the Soviet Union. After the war, he was brought againto Moscow, where he served in the Secretariat and the Politburo and was again

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head of the Moscow regional committee. It was those positions, and hisreputation as an agricultural expert, that soon propelled him to power.

Upon Stalin's death, Khrushchev kept a place in power as "collectiveleadership" came into being, which consisted primarily of him, Beria, Bulganin,Malenkov, Kaganovich and Molotov. There were many problems with this conceptat first, and leadership changed hands frequently. Finally, in 1957,Khrushchev himself was nominated for the top position as Premier, despite the

others' attempts to gain the position for themselves. When problems arose dueto this appointment, Khrushchev, who had previously kept a low profile and notinvolved himself much in the power struggle, suddenly, at the 20th PartyCongress that year, gave his famous six-hour "secret speech" denouncing the"crimes of the Stalin era." By doing so, many old-time Party leaders felt thathe had gone too far; there were two attempts on his life later that year.However, Khrushchev remained strong and exposed a plot by Malenkov, Molotov andKaganovich to oust him from leadership; in doing so, he solidified his power,becoming both Premier and Party Secretary in 1958.

It should be noted now that Khrushchev, although acting as supreme ruler ofthe Soviet Union, possessed certain personal characteristics that made himlesser in the eyes of the world. He was a stout, "bullet-headed" man who liked

to joke and talk, and, though his important positions had trained him to carryhimself as a supreme ruler would, he was still rough and a countryman at heart.He often dressed in simple peasant smocks or plain shirts, clothing heconsidered to be representative of what Communist stood for, and he didn't seeany harm in getting drunk in public. By many he was nicknamed "the peasantruler of backward Russia," and laughed at. An example of this was Khrushchev'sfirst trip outside the boundaries of Russia, a visit to Marshal Tito ofYugoslavia in the late 50's that had been to make peace after the damage Stalinhad vainly sought to inflict. The Premier, believing that he was making such agrand jesture of reconciliation-having great Russia bow down to insignificantYugoslavia, was instead greeted by an arrogant ruler who intended to mock,ridicule and disgrace him. Tito began by walking out during a speech in whichKhrushchev was apologizing for the actions of Stalin. He then proceeded to

parade the Russian ruler, who was used to bullet-proof cars, around in aconvertible. Finally, at what was to be an informal dinner, Tito had all hisofficials wear full evening dress when he knew that the Russians would arrivewearing their simple summer suitings, as an attempt to embarrass them and makethem look foolish. Khrushchev, though, surprised everyone by overcoming thischildishness and concentrating on the business at hand, much to Tito's dismay.Events like this helped to gain this grandfather-like ruler both popularity andgreat respect.

Although for several years Khrushchev's popularity existed in Russia also,several crucial incidents caused it to deteriorate just as quickly. One suchevent was the "U-2 Incident" in 1960, when an American spy plane was shot downover the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower, who was considered by Khrushchev

to be a trusted friend, took responsibility for the affair and, by doing so,greatly embarrassed the Soviet Premier. Then, just a few years later, when theSoviet Union was caught positioning missiles in Cuba, Khrushchev was forced toremove them and leave Cuba. Incidents like this began to mount, and many Partymembers sought to remove him. Finally, in October 1964, he was forced out ofoffice. His remaining years were spent in "quiet retirement" in the outskirtsof Russia. He died on September 11, 1971.

Although those who Khrushchev had once struggled to and succeeded inovercoming were able to remove him from power in the end, the vast changes thispeasant-turned-Premier had unleashed in the U.S.S.R. could not be undone, and

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his years in power have had a lasting effect on the Soviet Union ever since.

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