arrest Beria, head of the secret police, and execute him along with six of his aides. By this time he was the acknowledged head of the Communist party. He quickly rose to the position of Premier when, in 1956 he forced Malenkov to resign from the position. Following this he delivered a compelling speech to the people denouncing many of Stalin’s actions. He expelled all of his remaining rivals in June of 1957. The four main rivals, Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich, and Shepilov, were not executed as a responsible action to exhibit Khruschev’s compassion and responsibility in an effort to boost public support. As a result of this political campaign based on responsibility and compassion, he freed many political prisoners and urged peaceful coexistence with the West. This process of solidifying his leadership took a long time and was a great risk to him and his people because of the past popularity and support of Stalin and his ways. Although he seemed to be steering the Soviet Union in the right direction, his people and colleagues still viewed him critically. He had begun to realize that a state could not be run with a lot of “brain-washed helots”. He shifted the economy as to raise the standard of living. This in turn began the development of individual thinkers, Soviets with a mind of their own. In order to allow this new wave of free thinking, something had to be done with the ravaging political police. The Khruschev government began to tame them and many of the inmates of the Gulag slave camps were freed. In February of 1956, a “secret speech” was delivered to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party from Khruschev. It denounced many of Stalin’s actions while he was in power. Included in this speech was that Stalin had replaced the government with individuals that shared his ideals. Also he accused Stalin of openly deporting and executing those not given the right of t...
