20th Congress of the CPSU
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The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during February 14—February 26, 1956. It is known especially for Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech, which denounced the recently deceased Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
During the morning closed session of the last day of the Congress, Khrushchev, the Communist Party Secretary, took the opportunity to give a stinging rebuke of the policies of Stalin, his late predecessor. Khrushchev denounced Stalin's cult of personality, and Stalin's apparent support of the concept of individuality. He went on to denounce a list of crimes committed by Stalin's supporters, many of which had previously been denied by the Soviet Union.
The speech shocked delegates to the congress, as it flew in the face of years of Soviet propaganda, which had claimed that Stalin was a wise, peaceful, and fair leader. After long deliberations, in a month the speech was reported to the general public, but the full text was published only in 1989.
One of its most notable fallouts was the collapse of the United States Communist Party which had previously been composed of many die-hard Stalinists. Stalin's fall from grace left the party badly factionalized, and it never regained its former influence.
[edit] See also
| Congresses of the RSDLP, RCB(b), VKP(b), CPSU |
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1st Congress, 1898 | 2nd Congress, 1903 | 3rd Congress, 1905 | 4th Congress, 1906 | 5th Congress, 1907 | 6th Congress, 1917 | 7th Congress, 1918 | 8th Congress, 1919 | 9th Congress, 1920 | 10th Congress, 1921 | 11th Congress, 1922 | 12th Congress, 1923 | 13th Congress, 1924 | 14th Congress, 1925 | 15th Congress, 1927 | 16th Congress, 1930 | 17th Congress, 1934 | 18th Congress, 1939 | 19th Congress, 1952 | 20th Congress, 1956 | 21st Congress, 1959 | 22nd Congress, 1961 | 23rd Congress, 1966 | 24th Congress, 1971 | 25th Congress, 1976 | 26th Congress, 1981 | 27th Congress, 1986 | 28th Congress, 1990 |
