ABSTRACT
Though the open commentary on the Nikita Khrushchev years did not begin in earnest until 1988, it was presaged by the direction perestroika already had taken in reshaping political life. While proponents of perestroika could point to the Khrushchev era as an initial period of necessary post-Stalin change, however, its opponents were able to remark that the failure of Khrushchev's policies emphasized the ultimate futility of reform. Although Soviet analysts criticized the inadequacies of Khrushchev's reforms and disagreed over his heritage, a majority agreed that Khrushchev's attempts to alter the most repressive aspects of the Stalinist system mark his period of rule as a positive one in Soviet history. In their understanding, his overall value to Soviet society was beneficial because he sought to humanize and democratize the despotic system inherited from Stalin. Khrushchev's economic reforms held a special place in the debate on his legacy because they were long cited as the prime examples of Khrushchev's "hare-brained" schemes.
