linist image and placed them under Moscow's control, and entirely isolated the whole bloc of Communist nations from the West. The Soviet leaders evidently were convinced that the USSR, which had only a large land army, a devastated economy, a decimated country, and unreliable populations in the newly acquired territories, was extremely vulnerable, especially given the towering industrial and military superiority of the United States. By 1950, however, the Soviet Union had recovered, and Stalin, in the last few years of his life, seems to have mediated between those in the leadership who urged significant domestic reform and greater flexibility in foreign affairs and those who feared a departure from the rigid traditional domestic and foreign policies. Once more, in 1952, Stalin began preparing a purge of the old leadership, perhaps to restore his own initiative in making policy. He appears to have met with stout resistance, and before the purge got under way, he died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage, on March 5, 1953, in Moscow. Destalinization Within a few weeks, the Soviet leaders began a campaign to whittle down Stalin's reputation, which culminated in a devastating attack by Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th party congress in February 1956. By that time virtually every country in the Communist bloc was in turmoil, and rebellions broke out in Poland and Hungary, largely because of the uncertainty whether destalinization meant the abrogation of key aspects of the Stalin regime or merely reforms designed to dress the familiar features of Stalinism in more attractive garb. It now seems clear that his heirs meant to leave intact many of the basic elements of the system. Stalin's method of personal rule was replaced by group rule and more orderly processes of government, the terror apparatus was largely dismantled, the economy was notably modernized, and foreign policy was conducted with much greater diplomatic initiative and flexibility. But t...
