The Khrushchev Thaw (or Khrushchev's Thaw; Russian: Хрущёвская о́ттепель, Khrushchovskaya Ottepel; or simply Ottepel) refers to the period from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labor camps, due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful coexistence with other nations.
The Thaw became possible after the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953. Khrushchev denounced Stalin in "The Secret Speech" at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, then ousted the pro-Stalinists during his power struggle in the Kremlin. The term was coined after Ilya Ehrenburg's 1954 novel The Thaw, "Оттепель", sensational for its time. The Khrushchev Thaw was highlighted by Khrushchev's 1954 visit to Beijing, People's Republic of China, his 1955 visit to Belgrade, Yugoslavia and his subsequent meeting with Dwight Eisenhower later that year, culminating in Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the United States.
The Thaw initiated irreversible transformation of the entire Soviet society by opening up for some economic reforms and international trade, educational and cultural contacts, festivals, books by foreign authors, foreign movies, art shows, popular music, dances and new fashions, massive involvement in international sport competitions; it was a chain of unprecedented steps to free people from fear and dictatorship that culminated in the removal of Stalin's body from Lenin's Mausoleum. Although the power struggle between liberals and conservative pro-Stalinists never stopped, it eventually weakened the Soviet Communist Party.
Khrushchev's Thaw allowed some freedom of information in the media, arts and culture; international festival, foreign films, uncensored books, and new forms of entertainment on the emerging national TV, ranging from massive parades and celebrations to popular music and variety shows, satire and comedies, and all-star shows, like Goluboy Ogonek. Such political and cultural updates all together helped liberate minds of millions and changed public consciousness of several generations of people in the Soviet Union.
Read more about Khrushchev Thaw: Khrushchev and Stalin, 1956 Khrushchev's Speech Denouncing Stalin, Openness and Liberalisation in The Thaw, Khrushchev's Thaw in The World, Social, Cultural and Economic Reforms, Khrushchev's Dismissal and The End of Reforms, Timeline of The Khrushchev Thaw, History Repeated
Famous quotes containing the word thaw:
“So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand—Did one but know!”
—Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)