ABSTRACT
J. W. Stalin nationalities policy would have to be revised at least partially and non-Russian elites would have to be more involved in ruling and society to make them assets in the succession battle. However, aspect of de-Stalinization emphatically documents the new leadership's departure from the mass terror of the Stalin era: rehabilitation of the deported peoples. Nikita Khrushchev applied Stalin's familiar definition of the term "nation" to the Soviet people — of course, without referring to its author. In March 1955, Khrushchev promoted him to marshal and, in 1960, to Assistant Minister of Defense and commander of missile troops. In 1954, Khrushchev sent him to Kazakhstan as his representative to head the virgin land campaign, which the Soviets had started there, accompanied by great propaganda efforts. In addition, Khrushchev's extensive measures to promote decentralization from 1954 to 1958 significantly increased the political importance of all non-Russian nations and territories.
