Word: khrushchevism
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Yevgeni Yevtushenko, 53, has for three decades been the most famous poet in the Soviet Union, a country where poets often become national heroes. A young rebel in the late 1950s, he flourished during the cultural thaw of the Khrushchev years. After Brezhnev came to power in 1964, Yevtushenko adapted to more conservative times, becoming a supporter of the government and writing verse acceptable to the Kremlin. In this article written for TIME, he gives his views of the changes under Gorbachev...
Then we had our famous but short-lived thaw. It came to an end when Khrushchev, unnerved by the Cuban missile crisis, scornfully attacked a number of writers and artists. Later, during his retirement, Khrushchev asked me to convey his belated apologies to some of them. So, always in the past, when the international climate cooled, the ideological screws were tightened...
...precisely this group that ultimately defeated past attempts at reform, most recently those of Nikita Khrushchev and former Premier Alexei Kosygin. Today many top bureaucratic posts are still held by people who were appointed in the Brezhnev era. Often they simply do not want change and are in a position to block Gorbachev's reforms. In a speech last July in Vladivostok, the Soviet leader said acidly, "Those who attempt to suppress the fresh voice, the just voice, according to old standards and attitudes, need...
...nuclear might. They will not start a war. They're worried about one thing: if democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win. For this reason they have begun a campaign against our leadership, using all means, including terror. They write about the apparat that broke Khrushchev's neck, and about the apparat that will now break the neck of the new leadership...
...home, he has actually achieved few of his goals. To date, his policies have been more motion than movement. Despite the Soviet Union's rhetorical support for revolution and radical reforms, the country is very traditional, accepting change only gradually and slowly. Attempts by other Soviet leaders, notably Nikita Khrushchev, to reform the economy and give creative talents more freedom were defeated by entrenched bureaucracies and a privileged class that basically likes things the way they are. Gorbachev has made an impressive start, but it will take all his energy and willpower, and time, to press the Soviet monolith toward...