Muzzling the Bear: Gorbachev's Program to Restructure the Soviet Military

摘要

At a special closed session of the Central Committee convened immediately afterthe official end of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin and ushered in a new era in Soviet politics. The underlying motivations behind Khrushchev's landmark speech were no doubt varied and complex, but it is not difficult to discern that one of the fundamental goals was to set the stage for launching the Soviet Union on a radical program of social and economic reform. Within a year, Khrushchev has managed to oust or weaken his main political rivals, and he moved forward briskly, outlining his ambitious objectives with bold aplomb. While praising the 'spectacular achievements of the Soviet people' in 'greatly overfulfilling' the 1956 goals of the sixth five year plan, he advocated a complete break with the Stalinist past and brazenly declared that the nation's primary mission was catching up with and surpassing the most developed countries in per capita production.