ABSTRACT
To many scholars the Khrushchev era continues to stand out as a period of reform. Stalin’s successors-most notably Khrushchev himself-are credited with curbing repression, rationalizing administration, improving consumer welfare, and subjecting the autocratic methods of the preceding years to searing criticism. Notwithstanding the occasional lurch toward Stalinist orthodoxy, it was the wide sweep of these new programs that marks this out as a period of reform. Whereas other phases in Soviet history may have witnessed reformist shifts in policy, rarely were they sustained along such a broad front. 1
