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Documents

1956

Visit to the United Kingdom of Bulganin and Khrushchev, 19-27 April 1956

UK record of discussions with a Soviet delegation including Bulganin and Khrushchev.

February 25, 1956

Khrushchev's Secret Speech, 'On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences,' Delivered at the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

In a secret speech before a closed plenum of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s cult of the personality. In addition, he revealed that Stalin had rounded up thousands of people and sent them into a huge system of political work camps (Gulags). This revelation was met with astonishment by many present for the speech, but helped to break the power that Stalin still held over the country.

April 17, 1958

Letter addressed by N.S. Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CC of the CPSU to the CC of the RWP concerning the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the Romanian territory

Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to Gheorghiu Dej, informing the Romanian leadership of the decision taken by the Soviet leadership to withdraw the Soviet Red Army troops from the territory of Romania. Military and security services advisors will however remain in place until 1963.

March 23, 1967

Bulgarian State Security Chairman Angel Solakov’s Report at a Bulgarian Communist Party Plenum

According to the State Security Committee chair, Angel Solakov, there has been a major shift in the policies of the West towards the Soviet bloc. While during the 1950s military face-off was often considered an option, in the late 1960s such possibility has been largely ruled out. Consequently the US and their allies in Western Europe are focusing their efforts on fighting socialism around the world through peaceful means, such as strengthening economic and cultural ties with the Soviet bloc countries. This calls for a change in the strategy of the State Security Committee intelligence operations. Solakov also reports on the anti-Soviet activities of the Chinese and Albanian intelligence services across Europe.

November 1, 1956

Bulgarian Military Intelligence Information on the Situation in Hungary and Poland

This intelligence report discusses the domestic political developments in Poland after the ascent of Wladyslaw Gomulka to the top of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).The events surrounding the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are also mentioned.

November 4, 1956

Stenographic record of a 4 November 1956 meeting of Party activists

Khrushchev describes the events of the counterrevolution in Hungary and the crisis in Poland. He recounts the CPSU's consultations with other communist parties in the socialist camp to determine their attitude toward Soviet intervention, particularly in Hungary. Leaders from China, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia agreed with the Soviet position, but Polish leaders opposed the presence of Soviet troops in Hungary. Khrushchev reports that following these meetings, the CPSU CC Presidium decided to prepare for an attack on the counterrevolutionary forces in Hungary. He then reads aloud an open letter which declares the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Government. He gives details about the suppression of the counterrevolution by Soviet armed forces and the positive reaction of the socialist countries. He states that the lessons of the counterrevolution are to improve relations with the fraternal parties and the socialist countries and to treat them with respect; to improve political work among students and the masses so that they are not mislead by counterrevolutionaries; and to strengthen the Soviet Army.

May 16, 1962

Speech of N. S. Khrushchev at a friendly dinner in Yevksinograd (Varna), 16 May 1962

Speaking in Bulgaria, Khrushchev discusses the cult of personality of Stalin and the great purges that occurred under Stalin's leadership. He contrasts Lenin and Stalin and the role of the communist party under each. He addresses the history and current situation of the Communist Party of Albania and the Soviet split with Albania and Yugoslavia.

October 8, 1956

Note from N. Khrushchev to the CPSU CC Presidium regarding conversations with Yugoslav leaders in Yugoslavia

Khrushchev describes his conversations with Josip Broz Tito during his visit to Yugoslavia. They discussed the issues of U.S. aid to Yugoslavia, the Turkish and Greek conflict over Cyprus, the expansion of contact between Soviet and Yugoslav workers and the path to socialism. Tito appeared uneasy and was dissatisfied with relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

January 4, 1968

Report by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister on the Ministerial Meeting in Warsaw on the Situation in the Middle East, 19-21 December 1967

Ivan Bashev presents a report on the CPSU-organized meeting in Warsaw, where Eastern European government officials exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East. Among the discussed topics were the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Yemeni Civil War, and recent developments in Iraq.