• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Russian Best

Russian Life & People Digest

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Questions and Answers
    • History and Politics
    • Culture and Science
    • People and Language
    • Lifestyle and Attributes
    • Russian Sports
    • Food and Drinks
    • Traveling Russia
    • Economy and Geography
    • Russian Military
    • Books & Movies
Browse: Home / Featured

Major differences in Soviet life and policy between Stalin and Khrushchev?

Question by Chandra Kay: What are some major differences in Soviet life and foreign policy between Stalin and Khrushchev?
I’m curious to see how many people have general answers and how many people are a little more passionate about how different these two men were. Look forward to reading responses on this one. :o)

Khrushchev in the us
Photo Credit: manhhai/Flickr

Answers and Views:

Answer by Natalia Brinskevesky
Khrushchev was more of a reformer. Despite his “iron fist” rule in countries such Hungary and Czechoslovakia, such actions were really because the Soviet Union could not afford to expend any troops in keeping down preventable rebellions. Not to mention his “secret speech” that denounced Stalin, which effectively put all of Stalin’s supporters out of power.

Answer by Yogi bear BAV ILF
Stalin was more of a dictator and killed those around him if he even had a bad dream about that person. He was extremely paranoid and his dealings with other nations showed that as well. Under Stalin they built fallout shelters under the streets of Moscow almost 300 feet deep and they became the famed Moscow Metra system of transport. The escalators seem to go down forever as they go down on an angle.

Also under Stalin the Soviets did huge forced migrations of native peoples and then native Russians moved in to ‘Rusify’ the land. For example, almost 40% of the native Ukrainian people were forced to relocate to Siberia to help settle that vast cold and inhospitable place. They were forced to work in labor camps plus Gulags. SAme with Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, Georgia plus other countries who were in the former Soviet Union. This is one of the excuses Moscow uses today to interfere with it’s neighboring countries, to protect the Russian people who have been living there over 50 years now.

Khrushchev did far less terrible things then Stalin did, yet he was also a ruthless dictator. He was instrumental with the Cold war heating up as well as th space race. He brutally put down the Hungarian revolution with tanks and soldiers.

Day to day life under both rulers was very similar, food shortages and long lines waiting for hours just to buy toilet paper (for example) were common

Read all the answers in the comments. Give your own answer to this question!

See other posts in Featured, History and Politics

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Popular Posts

Pushkin's Tatiana writing a letter to Onegin

Onegin’s Tatiana Was Only Thirteen?

Russian shashlik

My Favorite Russian Food

Dacha – Home Away From Home

Subway Dog

Subway Dogs of Moscow

Cape Cod on the Rocks

What is a cocktail with vodka and cranberry juice called?

Categories

Recent Comments

  • Pat on What does Nazdrovia actually mean?
  • Ted on Where can i send free SMS messages to Russian mobiles?
  • PutinPow on What does Nazdrovia actually mean?
  • bigdogg on What does Nazdrovia actually mean?
  • HAMISH A McDONALD on What Russia would be like today if Nicholas II had not been executed?

Copyright RussianBest.com © 2025 · About · Privacy Policy · Disclaimer: RussianBest.com is an informational website, and its content does not constitute professional advice of any kind.