MARK PERAKH
249
During the first round of the struggle for power, the mafia's
members almost immediately destroyed Stalin's private Secretariat-an
ingenious ruling instrument- and then united to eliminate the man
considered Stalin's most dangerous heir-the chief of the security
organs, Beria-and his adherents. In 1955 the ruling group, quickly
consolidating, transferred the helm to Nikita Khrushchev. No doubt
this selection was not accidental. He was of pure Russian origin and
almost without education (like practically all the "apparatchiks"), and
had connections in the top strata of the Party apparatus; he was
relatively young, with a natural common sense and a certain wit, and
homely enough not
to
seem dangerous. All of this ensured the quick
victory of Khrushchev, even by the first round, against Malenkov, who
was an outstanding adminstrator in Stalin's apparatus but not good at
intrigue.
As the incarnation of the will of the new ruling group trying to
secure itself against a repetition of the situation during Stalin's time,
Khrushchev tried to "destalinize." He knew that establishing the power
of the ruling group meant destroying the halo around the name of the
late demigod. In February 1956, as the twentieth session of the Con–
gress was about
to
end, Khrushchev unexpectedly delivered a report
subsequently called "The Secret Report of Khrushchev," although the
word "secret" seems inappropriate. Khrushchev gave this talk in the
presence of several thousand listeners. Although it was not published
in the mass media, the speech was reproduced in thousands of copies
and read at meetings in thousands of factories, institutes and universi–
ties. I attended a meeting in the Spring of 1956 at the Alma-Ata
Institute of Agriculture where the so-called "secret" report of Khrush–
chev was read. About a thousand people were present and admission
was free.
Absolute consistency in mass indoctrination was inherent in
Stalinism. The Party's history, as it was hammered into the mind of
every man and woman from kindergarten on and in every factory and
institution, was 'always presented as a chain of events, but never as a
development. The Party always was, is and will be the same: infallible,
impeccable, with a monopoly on absolute truth. Around 1954, at a
meeting in the Stalinabad Agriculture Institute in the town of Stalina–
bad (presently Dushanbe), the floor had been given to one of the
teachers, who was of indigenous origin (a Tadjic). In his speech this
man said, "Earlier, just after the revolution, when the authority of our
Party was not yet as high as it is presently ... " and so on . These words
caused a shock throughout the audience. The speech was immediately
