ABSTRACT
The death of Stalin in March 1953 came at a most convenient moment for his immediate subordinates. Immediately after his death, Malenkov, who had been the senior member of the Secretariat after Stalin, assumed also the office of Prime Minister, thus reuniting in his person the powers that Stalin had wielded. Malenkov remained Premier, but the senior post in the Secretariat went to N. S. Khrushchov, who had been its third senior member in Stalin's lifetime. Khrushchov has paid greater attention than any previous Soviet leader since Lenin to agricultural policy. Between 1953 and 1955 compulsory delivery quotas and agricultural taxes were reduced, arrears of taxes cancelled, and prices of various foodstuffs were raised. In foreign policy Poland unreservedly supports the Soviet line, but internally the Polish regime must be admitted to be less than totalitarian. The chapter focuses on the development of communist governments in Eastern Europe and communist parties in the underdeveloped countries.
