Transformation of the Soviet Myth of Communism in the Era of Nikita Khrushchev (1953—1964)

Throughout Soviet history, the primacy of communism and the totality of general ideas about it as the highest phase of the Soviet political process remained unchanged. After the death of Joseph Stalin, the new party leader Nikita Khrushchev dismantled his cult. At the same time, it was important for Khrushchev to convince the country that he was returning the party and the Soviet state to the ‘primary source’ — ideas of Vladimir Lenin. Lenins image became a kind of sacred symbol. A monumental cult of Lenin was being built, in the shadow of which a worthy place was given to the “theorist of communism” N. Khrushchev. The USSR seemed to be returning to the revolutionary and romantic 1920s, when people who believed the Bolsheviks hoped for a bright future — communism. The myth of communism in the 1960s was enriched with new features and replicated by Soviet propaganda in millions of images throughout the country and beyond. According to Khrushchev, this was supposed to displace the cult of Stalin from the public consciousness and open up new horizons for the Soviet people. This article is devoted to the analysis of changes in the image of communism in the USSR during the leadership of the country by N. Khrushchev.