Word: khrushchevism
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Cowboy Movies. "Those last years with Stalin were hard times," says Khrushchev. "The government virtually ceased to function. Stalin selected a small group which he kept close to him at all times." Another group was purposely-and ominously-uninvited. Says Khrushchev: "Any one of us could find himself in one group one day and the other group the next...
...during World War II, says Khrushchev, "that Stalin started to be not quite right in the head." Khrushchev, then party boss of the Ukraine, faced an appalling food shortage caused by war damage and a severe drought. Thousands died of starvation, and Khrushchev even began hearing of cannibalism, including one report that a human head and a pair of feet-apparently all that remained after a corpse had been eaten-had been found under a bridge. Yet Stalin refused to provide food-rationing cards or reduce quotas on farm produce that was shipped out of the Ukraine. "He would...
...street plan of Moscow and worked out a different route every time. He didn't even tell his bodyguard in advance." Stalin refused to eat anything until someone else first tried it. He would say: "Look, here are the giblets, Nikita. Have you tried them yet?" Khrushchev, knowing that his host wanted some for himself but was afraid to be first, would reply, "Oh, I forgot." The only member of his circle exempt from this tasting ritual was NKVD Chief Lavrenty Beria, who ate only food transported from his own dacha...
...Trust. To prepare for these dinners, Khrushchev made it a point to take a nap during the day; anyone who grew drowsy at Stalin's table was not likely to remain in the dictator's favor for long, Khrushchev explains. Moreover, Stalin's soirees included a good deal of heavy drinking: Khrushchev recalls that Beria, Georgi Malenkov and Anastas Mikoyan once had to arrange to be served colored water rather than wine because they could not match Stalin's capacity. Stalin, says Khrushchev, "found the humiliation of others very amusing. Once Stalin made me dance...
Each year, says Khrushchev, it became more evident that Stalin was a failing man. Once, while vacationing in Afon on the Black Sea, the dictator strolled past Khrushchev and Mikoyan, muttering, "I'm finished. I trust no one, not even myself." On another occasion, he forgot Bulganin's name. At his last New Year's celebration, a drunken Stalin ordered his daughter Svetlana to dance in front of the guests. "Stalin grabbed her by the forelock with his fist and pulled. I could see her face turning red and tears welling up in her eyes. He pulled...