ABSTRACT
The crisis of power on the surface was the function of Stalin's death, and both the impossibility of remedying it and the unimaginable consequences of it gave birth to an altogether natural thought: leave everything as it is. The people would approve any initiatives of the post-Stalin leadership so long as they did not make matters worse, but on the condition that the new leaders must act in the spirit of Stalin's successors. During the several months following Stalin's death, the Central Committee, the editorial boards of newspapers, and the local organs of power received thousands of letters and telegrams expressing the sincerest condolences and the indispensable demand to perpetuate the memory of the departed leader. Stalin's death alone introduced substantial adjustments in the relationship of people and government. N.S. Khrushchev said at a Central Committee meeting that the hope of several people for a change of the party's orientation, for a rejection of the policy of Stalin, is unjustified.
