Khrushchev and the elimination of Beria
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became a kind of "ram", with the help of which the plans of Stalin and Beria were crushed. And on the basis of his memoirs, many "black" myths defaming the Stalin era were formed. Although a number of anti-Stalinist historians, such as N. Werth, recognize that Khrushchev’s memories must be “treated with caution.” Although to put it bluntly, they are false. Lied Khrushchev boldly, do not hesitate.
Suffice to say about the so-called. “Stalinist orgies”, where the leader allegedly drunk guests into death, etc. For some reason, only Khrushchev remembered these “orgies”, other politicians, military leaders who had been at Stalin’s lunches and dinners, do not remember them. Or remember history about the "missing" at the beginning of the war, Stalin, who allegedly ran in panic to the country. Although there are already published documents, including the journal of Stalin’s visitors, saying that the head of the USSR was in the workplace and worked hard.
Khrushchev himself was a “repentant” Trotskyist, who at the beginning of the 1920s was almost ousted from the party for “occupying”, that is, for his personal enrichment. He repented of these sins before Kaganovich, who became his first patron. At the beginning of 1930, he was secretary of party organization in the Industrial Academy. It also included students Nadezhda Alliluyeva (Stalin's wife), Dora Khazan - Andreeva's wife, Maria Kaganovich, Polina Zhemchuzhina - Molotov's wife. Alliluyeva told about a young, energetic secretary, contributed to the promotion of Khrushchev on the party ladder.
During this period, the supporters of Trotsky and Zinoviev were dismissed from their posts; therefore, in 1935, Stalin put Khrushchev at the head of the Moscow party organization, then he joined the Central Committee and the Politburo. Khrushchev was "noted" as an active participant in repressions in the Moscow party organization and in Ukraine. He was not a pathological killer, a sadist, like some security officers. Khrushchev was an ordinary soulless careerist, ready for anything, for personal gain. An interesting fact is that if many of the “activists” of the repressions, then they themselves “cleaned out”, Khrushchev, like Malenkov, came out “dry out of the water”.
Khrushchev possessed a strange "unsinkability", despite the mass of mistakes for which others paid with their lives, or career. So, in 1942, Khrushchev, as a member of the Military Council of the Front, together with Marshal Tymoshenko proposed an offensive near Kharkov, with the Barvenkovsky ledge. They "overlooked" on the flank tank von Kleist’s army. The General Staff objected, believing that stepping out of a ledge was dangerous, it was actually a ready-made "boiler." But Khrushchev and Tymoshenko insisted on their own. The case ended in disaster, and for the entire southern strategic direction. Khrushchev was not injured.
There is a version that Khrushchev had a personal motive of hatred towards Stalin. This is a dark story with his son. Leonid Khrushchev, an Air Force officer, committed a crime in the rear. According to one version, Khrushchev was able to beg the leader for forgiveness — he was sent to the front, he died there. According to another version, he survived the fall of the plane, was captured and collaborated with the Germans, when they learned about it after his release, he was shot. This version is indirectly confirmed in the memoirs of Vyacheslav Molotov: “Khrushchev was opposed to Stalin in his heart. Stalin - everything and everyone, but in the soul is different. Personal anger at any steps pushes him. Anger at Stalin for the fact that his son was in such a position that he was actually shot. After such bitterness, he does everything, just to dirty the name of Stalin. ”
In the 1946-1947 years, Khrushchev led the Communist Party of Ukraine. He was a bad manager, with his flow of instructions, administrative twitching, he confused the situation in agriculture. And when crop failure happened, this situation led to famine. Initially, he fell into disgrace, but soon he headed the entire agriculture of the USSR. And here he “distinguished himself” by ill-conceived experiments and “reforms”. After that, he was again not removed, became the first secretary of the Moscow regional party committee and secretary of the Central Committee. By the way, if you recall Lysenkoism, then Lysenko’s patron was Khrushchev.
It is clear that Khrushchev himself is difficult to blame for the fact that he was a conscious agent of "world imperialism", although there was a lot of harm from his activities. The legend of his big mind and cunning, which he hid in the guise of a "jester" and a peasant joker, is not confirmed either. Although the petty bourgeoisie was in him, she helped to be afloat, to make a career. But to make him the head of state could not. Khrushchev was too stupid, it confirms all his activities as head of the USSR. How could he become the head of the Union? There is an impression that he was “led”, from fasting to fasting, defended from disgraces. Indeed, many needed just such a man at the head of the USSR — a former Trotskyite, an imitator of violent activity that leads to destruction. Not smart, able to “break the wood” in any position, offended by Stalin.
Elimination of Beria
The reforms of Beria, the successor of Stalin’s work, were not pleasing either the “backstage of the world” or a significant part of the highest party apparatus of the USSR. Here their interests converged. Part of the then party elite of the USSR wanted to retain the levers of power that made it possible to "live beautifully." Western elites needed a standoff, it gave superprofits.
It is clear that the myth of the "Beria conspiracy" was invented. If Beria were such a conspiracy, would he be so careless. Allowed you to kill yourself so easily? The conspirator was Khrushchev and those who stood behind him. It was Khrushchev who was guilty of this "palace coup", which interrupted a rather interesting scenario for the future of the USSR. Other leaders of the Union participated in the conspiracy, their motives are different. Malenkov apparently feared for his power, fearing the omnipotence of Beria. “Conservatives” - Molotov, Voroshilov, Kaganovich were afraid of radical changes, and perhaps the “Institute of Jewish Wives” said its weighty word. Khrushchev's main trump card was Zhukov, behind whom stood the military. For the military, Beria was a traditional competitor, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and special services. Zhukov also had a personal motive that does not paint this commander — Beria uncovered the Marshal's “trophy operation” when he exported a lot of valuables from Germany. Then the marshal of Stalin fell into disgrace.
10 July 1953, troops led to the capital. According to the official version, Beria was arrested as a "conspirator", shot in December. In reality, Bergo's son Sergo speaks about this, and Khrushchev himself let it out, Beria was killed immediately. They were afraid that he would be beaten off. After the murder, a plenary meeting of the Central Committee was convened, where Lavrentiy Pavlovich was accused of “criminal encroachment on the party leadership of the society”, “plans for the restoration of capitalism”, recognized him as an “English spy”. Under the pretext of “exposing the plot”, Khrushchev proposed “strengthening the party leadership at all levels of the party and the state apparatus” (i.e., completely bury the plans of Stalin and Beria to remove the party from the state power), as a result, the party leader Khrushchev, bypassed Malenkov.
A wave of terror rolled: they shot "the executioners of Beria" - Dekanozov and Kobulov, although they had no relation to the punitive bodies, but were engaged in intelligence and diplomacy. Conducted "cleaning" in the scientific institutions, which were supervised by Beria. Its magnificent strategic intelligence system was deliberately crushed. The best specialists in this field - Raikhman, Eitington, Sudoplatov, Meshik, Milshtein, Zarubin, Korotkov, Polyakov and others were repressed. Some were executed, others were put to prison, others were dismissed. It should be noted one more interesting moment - those who ensured the creation of a nuclear weapons and organized the liquidation of Trotsky.
Sources of:
Vert N. History of the Soviet state. M., 1994.
Kremlin S. Beria. The best manager of the XX century. M., 2011.
Mukhin Yu. I. Why was Stalin killed? M., 2004.
Mukhin Y. Killers of Stalin. M., 2007.
Mukhin Yu. I. USSR Beria. M., 2008.
Semanov S.N. Stalin. Lessons of life and activity. M., 2002.
Shambarov V. Anti-Soviet. M., 2011.
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