Historical story

Retired dictator. Nikita Khrushchev's last years

In the history of the Soviet Union, only once has a party and state leader resigned and survived. All others ruled until death (Stalin, Brezhnev, Chernenko) or until arrested and secretly executed (Beria). What was the life of the only retired Soviet dictator - Nikita Khrushchev?

Khrushchev was by no means going to step down. He lost power as a result of a rather inept but successful coup. On October 14, 1964, his party comrades, under false pretenses, dragged him to an extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. There, each of them poured a bucket of slurry on the leader, questioning his skills, willingness, competences, fidelity to ideology and approach to colleagues.

As you can see in his retirement, Khrushchev did not smile much ... (photo from the book "Khrushchev. Man and Epoch", Beech Forest 2012).

The tirades against Khrushchev continued until late at night. Under pressure of accusations, the first secretary voluntarily relinquished all functions and positions. He was retired from October 15th.

Khrushchev received a decent pension, as well as life service and protection. He was still entitled to both a dacha and an apartment in the capital, but he received both properties from a new assignment. They were relatively small, modest and, above all, located off the beaten track. The protection of the former secretary did not so much protect him as protect the whole world from him. For the rest of his life, Khrushchev was, in fact, supposed to be under house arrest .

Khrushchev asks "how to live?"

The first months were especially difficult for the newly-minted pensioner. The day after his "resignation" he told his security chief: No one needs me anymore. What am I going to do without a job? How am I supposed to live? (p. 696).

As William Taubman, author of the biography writes, "Khrushchev. Man and Age " , for the next six months, the man who ruled the Soviet Union for ten years was deeply depressed. The family did their best to comfort him, but in vain (p. 697) .

The former dictator was bored with every book on a few pages, the newspapers filled with disgust, conversations and politics and in the old days made him nostalgic. He spent his days still and quiet.

Only sometimes himself broke the silence and repeated bitterly that his life was over that it made sense as long as people needed it (p. 698). He cried almost every day. When his grandson was asked at school what his grandfather did in his retirement, he replied: Grandpa is crying. The family cook of the Khrushchev also recounted years later: [Nikita Khrushchev] sat and cried. He sat and cried.

Is the old man's life happy?

The family members made every effort to ensure that Nikita would find a new hobby. Fishing was the worst. Khrushchev never liked fishing, but at the insistence of his son Sergei, he agreed to try again. He immediately lost his patience: The man sits and feels like a complete idiot . He even hears the fish laughing at him underwater. It's not for me (p. 701).

Cottage in Petrov-Dalni. It is here that Khrushchev spent the last years of his life (photo from the book "Khrushchev. Man and Epoch", Bukowy Las 2012).

He liked the long walks around the new dacha in Petrov-Dalni much more. He was climbing a nearby hill (called Górka Zaskrońcowa by his grandchildren), and with great passion ... he lit fires. According to his son, it was favorite pastime Khrushchev. As William Taubman writes, the former first secretary: Regardless of the weather, even in the rain, he would put on a greenish-beige cape (...), he collected brushwood, made a fire and stared at it for hours (pp. 705-706) .

Khrushchev has always loved corn…

Unfulfilled farmer

A source of both frustration and joy for Khrushchev was ... agriculture. Right next to the new dacha there was a small sovkhoz, and the overthrown dictator had his own opinions on everything related to cultivation:

As he watched the workers harvest a woefully small crop of barley and oats, he was tempted to make them grow vegetables (...). Began following the agricultural work through binoculars until he finally spotted some decision maker and rushed after him to give him advice. The neighbors did not take advantage of it, citing orders from above. Khrushchev was angry and "he never put in his three cents again, although with us [the family] he still complained about the scandalous management" (p. 702) .

It's hard to believe that this jovial old man is a former dictator of a bloody empire ... (photo from William Taubman's book "Khrushchev. Man and Epoch", Beech Forest 2012).

Disgraced by the owlers, Khrushchev decided to establish ... a home garden. The man who until recently ruled over a gigantic empire, and years ago laid his hand on the crimes against millions of people, now devoted his full attention to vegetables: He placed irrigation pipes, planted dill, radishes, potatoes (...) and, of course, corn. Exhausted by hard work, he recruited his relatives, guests and even younger members of security to help (p. 705).

Besides, Khrushchev has become ... a tourist attraction . There was a holiday resort right next to the dacha. His regulars were so interested in his famous neighbor that in the end a wicket was made in the fence, and holidaymakers crowded around the former prime minister, photographed him and listened to his stories. (...) "Visits to Khrushchev" have become an integral part of the "cultural program" of the center (p. 703) .

Dictator a dissident?

Khrushchev was returning to his humor and interest in the world. His son, Sergei, took advantage of it and began to offer the old man completely unexpected readings. For example, forbidden by him himself, Doctor Zhivago Pasternak, works by Solzhenitsyn or even 1984 Orwell . In addition, Khrushchev himself started listening to foreign radio stations:BBC, Voice of America.

The article is based on the book by William Taubman entitled "Khrushchev. Man and epoch ”, Bukowy Las 2012.

More and more exotic guests appeared at the dacha. Artists and writers whom Khrushchev had cursed and insulted years ago. Even people who were imprisoned for being anti-systemic. The overthrown dictator himself said one day about socialism: What is this shitty regime that keeps people tethered? (p. 706).

Finally, Khrushchev found a new vocation within himself. In fact, he himself became ... an anti-Soviet dissident. In August 1966 he began to dictate his memoirs in which he critically dealt with Stalin, the Soviet realities, and the politics of his successors and predecessors.

The book, of course, had no chance of being published in the Soviet Union. Finally, a 76-year-old pensioner instructed his son to smuggle the manuscript into Western Europe and arrange for it to be printed. Thus, Stalin's helper, the perpetrator of the Cuban crisis and the man who crashed the uprising in Hungary on tanks, entered into quarrels with the capitalists. What does retirement not do to a human…

Source:

Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:

  • William Taubman, Khrushchev. Man and epoch , Bukowy Las, 2012.