Why did Khrushchev Fail free essay sample

A study of the economic, social, political and personal problems which condemned Khrushchev to failure. This essay discusses the different factors which caused Khrushchev to fail in many of his policies his quick-fix solutions and hare-brained scheming, internal opposition from powerful vested interests, and international opposition from the United States and China. However, it also argues that there was one underlying problem which prevented him from finding success: the legacy of Stalin. Of the leading contenders vying to take over from Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev was perhaps best suited for the job. He had been less involved in the Purges of the 1930s than Malenkov, Molotov and Beria, and was the only member of the Party Presidium who had any experience in agriculture, which was probably the area of Soviet life most desperately in need of reform. However, it was a formidable task; he had inherited a crippled regime, which had survived to this date only through the terror of Stalin. We will write a custom essay sample on Why did Khrushchev Fail? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Any serious attempt at reform would undermine the socialist system itself; all of the Party leadership would be implicated if any criticism was made of the previous decades. Furthermore, although Khrushchev attained enough power to initiate reform, he often found himself unable to implement it successfully, due to pressures from within the Party. Thus, the Khrushchev era was one of half-measures and contradictions, sweeping reforms without the means to carry them out, and, almost inevitably, failure. When Khrushchev was ousted from office in 1964, charged with harebrained scheming, hasty conclusions, rash decisions, and actions based on wishful thinking , there were few aspects of Soviet life in which he could claim significant success. Nevertheless, any criticism has its limits; the Soviet Union was certainly in a better state than when he had inherited it; moreover, the failures of Soviet leaders post-Khrushchev highlight the near impossibility of his task.