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Gorbachev, Khrushchev, and the Limits of De-Stalinization

Mikhail Gorbachev’s biological death is his second death. Symbolically, he died with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. His role was purely a negative one, that of a vanishing mediator. He “tore down the Wall,” he set in motion the disappearance of the Communist system, and he is remembered and praised for allowing this disappearance to take place in a peaceful way. Gorbachev played his role honestly, so what went wrong? Why did perestroika turn into katastroika?

When Nikita Khrushchev began his de-Stalinization in 1956, his wager was that his (limited) confession would strengthen the Communist movement, and in the short term he was right. One should always remember that the Khrushchev era was the last period of authentic Communist enthusiasm, of belief in the Communist project. During his visit to the U.S. in 1959, Khrushchev made his famous defiant statement to the American public that “your grandchildren will be Communists.” In doing so, he effectively spelled out the conviction of the entire Soviet nomenklatura.

His de-Stalinization was marked by a long process of “rehabilitation,” of admitting the “errors” of the Party’s past politics. The gradual rehabilitation of the demonized ex-leaders of the Bolsheviks can thus serve as perhaps the most sensitive index of how far (and in what direction) the “de-Stalinization” of the Soviet Union was going. The first to be rehabilitated were the high military leaders shot in 1937 (Tukhachevsky and others). The last to be rehabilitated (already in the Gorbachev era, just before the collapse of the Communist regime) was Bukharin. This last rehabilitation was a clear turn toward capitalism. He was the one who, in the ’20s, advocated the pact between workers and peasants (owners of their land), launching the famous slogan “Get rich!” and opposed forced collectivization.

Significantly, however, one figure was never rehabilitated (excluded by the Communists as well as by the anti-Communist Russian nationalists): Trotsky, the “wandering Jew” of the Revolution, the true anti-Stalin, the archenemy, opposing the idea of “building Socialism in one country” with his vision of a permanent revolution. After Khrushchev’s fall in 1964, a resigned cynicism prevailed in the Soviet Union until Gorbachev’s attempt at a more radical confrontation with the past. For Gorbachev, however, Lenin remained the absolute authority until the end of the USSR, while Trotsky continued to be a non-person for a good reason.

In his very last text, Christopher Hitchens wrote that “at the very end of his life, cut off in Mexico and aware of his own declining health, he [Trotsky] admitted, after the outbreak of the Second World War, that the conflict might just end without a Socialist revolution. In that event the whole Marxist-Leninist project would have to be abandoned.”83 Here is a passage from Trotsky’s last text:

We would be compelled to acknowledge that [Stalinism] was rooted not in the backwardness of the country and not in the imperialist environment, but in the congenital incapacity of the proletariat to become a ruling class. Then it would be necessary to establish in retrospect that … the present USSR was the precursor of a new and universal system of exploitation.

Trotsky is clear here: One must leave behind the very basic idea of the “proletarian power,” of the wretched of the earth to be able to organize alternate power. “In retrospect” means that this idea was doomed from the very beginning. This is the step Gorbachev was not ready to make when he launched the slogans of glasnost and perestroika—he failed to see that he unleashed an avalanche that changed the world.

练习题

According to the source, why is Gorbachev described as having had a “second death” with the dissolution of the Soviet Union?

A. Because he was personally responsible for founding a new Communist state after the USSR collapsed.

B. Because his symbolic political role ended when the Soviet system he helped dissolve disappeared.

C. Because he publicly rejected all reforms after the Berlin Wall fell.

D. Because he was rehabilitated only after the collapse of the Communist regime.

What was Khrushchev’s wager when he began de-Stalinization in 1956?

A. That exposing Stalinist errors would immediately abolish the Communist Party.

B. That a limited confession of past errors would strengthen the Communist movement.

C. That rehabilitating Trotsky would justify permanent revolution.

D. That abandoning Lenin would make Soviet reforms more radical.

Which sequence best matches the text’s account of rehabilitation during Soviet de-Stalinization?

A. Trotsky first, then Bukharin, then the military leaders shot in 1937.

B. Bukharin first, then Trotsky, while military leaders were never rehabilitated.

C. High military leaders shot in 1937 first, Bukharin last, and Trotsky never rehabilitated.

D. Lenin first, Khrushchev last, and Bukharin never rehabilitated.

Which statements correctly describe Bukharin’s significance in the passage? Select all that apply.

A. His rehabilitation occurred in the Gorbachev era just before the collapse of the Communist regime.

B. His rehabilitation is described as signaling a clear turn toward capitalism.

C. He advocated a pact between workers and peasants who owned their land.

D. He launched the slogan “Get rich!” and opposed forced collectivization.

E. He was the only figure never rehabilitated by either Communists or anti-Communist Russian nationalists.

Which statements correctly connect the source’s discussion of Trotsky with the limits of Gorbachev’s reform? Select all that apply.

A. Trotsky opposed “building Socialism in one country” with the idea of permanent revolution.

B. Trotsky was kept as a non-person even while Lenin remained an absolute authority for Gorbachev.

C. Trotsky suggested that if World War II ended without socialist revolution, the Marxist-Leninist project might have to be abandoned.

D. Trotsky’s final reflection raised the possibility that Stalinism was rooted in the proletariat’s incapacity to become a ruling class.

E. Gorbachev fully accepted Trotsky’s conclusion and explicitly abandoned the idea of proletarian power.

Khrushchev’s 1959 statement that “your grandchildren will be Communists” is presented as evidence of a lingering belief in the Communist project during his era.

After Khrushchev’s fall in 1964, the passage says the Soviet Union entered a period of renewed authentic Communist enthusiasm that lasted until Gorbachev.

The passage’s account of Bukharin’s rehabilitation can be connected to the prior claim that global capitalism may require strong nation-states, because both link capitalism with state power rather than with the simple disappearance of the state.

In the passage, the gradual ___ of demonized ex-Bolshevik leaders is called a sensitive index of how far and in what direction Soviet de-Stalinization was going.

For Gorbachev, ___ remained the absolute authority until the end of the USSR, while Trotsky continued to be a non-person.

Why does the passage claim that Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika became an uncontrollable “avalanche”?

Compare Trotsky’s possible conclusion about the failure of socialist revolution after World War II with the prior idea that “revolution will prevent the war or the war will trigger revolution.”

Which statement best connects Trotsky’s non-rehabilitation in the Soviet Union with the earlier distinction between authentic events and pseudo-events?

A. Trotsky was never rehabilitated because his idea of permanent revolution challenged both Stalinist state-centered socialism and nationalist pseudo-events by implying a universal revolutionary horizon.

B. Trotsky was never rehabilitated because he defended the idea of building Socialism in one country as the highest form of nation-state sovereignty.

C. Trotsky was never rehabilitated because he advocated a turn toward capitalism through a worker-peasant pact and the slogan “Get rich!”

D. Trotsky was never rehabilitated because he argued that modern war always preserves the victorious country intact.

Which claims correctly integrate the discussion of Soviet de-Stalinization with prior claims about capitalism, nation-states, and war?

A. Bukharin’s rehabilitation signaled a turn toward capitalism, which can be connected to the earlier claim that global capitalism may require strong nation-states to control the economy and hold society together.

B. Gorbachev’s peaceful role in allowing the Communist system to disappear contrasts with the earlier Hegelian view that relations among sovereign states remain under the shadow of potential war.

C. Khrushchev’s belief that limited de-Stalinization would strengthen Communism matches the earlier claim that national war is always an authentic universal event.

D. Trotsky’s exclusion is significant because his permanent revolution opposed “Socialism in one country,” which can be contrasted with exclusionary mobilization around one’s own state.

E. Bukharin was the first rehabilitated figure because he supported forced collectivization and rejected any market-oriented compromise.

True or false: The text’s account of Gorbachev suggests that glasnost and perestroika became catastrophic partly because he was willing to make Trotsky’s final step of abandoning the idea of proletarian power, just as the earlier discussion recommends nationalist war as an authentic event.

In the text, Trotsky’s vision of ___ opposed “building Socialism in one country,” making him difficult to reconcile with state-centered or nationalist forms of political mobilization.

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