Khrushchev Triumphant

Abstract

By the time the USSR Supreme Soviet convened to confirm the revised Plan worked out in December, there were signs that Khrushchev’s star was again rising. Pervukhin declared the Virgin Lands scheme a ‘striking success’, and his report to the Supreme Soviet was much less critical of the economic decisions made at the Twentieth Congress than the resolution of the December plenum had been.² Pervukhin’s reference to the Virgin Lands points to the basis for the revival of Khrushchev’s fortunes. Between the December plenum and the February Supreme Soviet session it had become clear that the 1956 harvest from the Virgin Lands was a tremendous success. The importance of this development was all the greater in light of the drought that had occurred in the traditional grain-growing areas of the western Soviet Union. Khrushchev’s scheme had saved the country from a serious shortage of grain.³

I tried not to occupy two posts, but, after all, it was you who gave me these two posts! And despite the fact that I am a talented person, I consider this incorrect. My mistake was that I failed to raise this question at the Twenty-Second Congress of the CPSU.

N. S. Khrushchev, 13 October 1964¹