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)
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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
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