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Khrushchev's Secret Speech

Decent Essays

Can we really believe the notes inserted into this text, describing the audience’s reaction to the secret speech? Could there truly have been applause, laughter and support for Khrushchev’s speech? After all the thing that made Khrsuchev’s speech so shocking to the Soviet system was not just that he outlined the evils of Stalinism, it’s that he denounced them. Communism before Stalin’s death had no issue with the deaths of millions; they were seen as a means to a glorious, good end, and were therefore just. Khrushchev’s secret speech shocked the crowd because it didn’t praise Stalin’s tactics and instead condemned them, showing that the party’s pope, the embodiment of scientific infallible communism, was wrong. There are accounts of party members

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