Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations, Figures, Maps, and Table
- Preface
- Chronology of Major Events
- Abbreviations
- Map Administrative divisions of China
- Introduction
- Part One Coming to Terms with the “Cult of the Individual”
- 1 The Secret Speech and Its Impact
- 2 The Dual Nature of Commodities
- 3 Redefining the Cult
- Part Two Charismatic Mobilization
- Part Three Cult and Compliance
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- Index
1 - The Secret Speech and Its Impact
from Part One - Coming to Terms with the “Cult of the Individual”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations, Figures, Maps, and Table
- Preface
- Chronology of Major Events
- Abbreviations
- Map Administrative divisions of China
- Introduction
- Part One Coming to Terms with the “Cult of the Individual”
- 1 The Secret Speech and Its Impact
- 2 The Dual Nature of Commodities
- 3 Redefining the Cult
- Part Two Charismatic Mobilization
- Part Three Cult and Compliance
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
Three years after Stalin’s death, the Twentieth CPSU Congress convened in Moscow. The secret speech that First Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev delivered on 25 February 1956 shattered Stalin’s image as omniscient and wise leader of the communist movement and revealed the crimes committed during his rule. The Soviet Central Committee’s attitude toward Stalin and his legacy had by no means been straightforward after his death. Only in late 1955 had it been agreed upon that a commission was to investigate Stalin’s role in the Great Terror of 1936–7, when Stalin had consolidated his monocracy by having millions of potential opponents killed or sent to work camps. The commission’s findings were incorporated into a long report, which the Central Committee, after a controversial dispute, decided to read out on the last day of the Twentieth CPSU Congress to the Soviet delegates only.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mao CultRhetoric and Ritual in China's Cultural Revolution, pp. 27 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011