ABSTRACT
During the Khrushchev period a new generation came to power that had played no part in the revolution. In 1953 the average year of birth of members of the Presidium was 1896. The leaders under Lenin and Stalin were of the generation that lived through the revolution and the ensuing Civil War as adults. In 1961, however, the average Presidium member was born in 1905. 1 Such persons were only 16 when the Civil War ended. This second generation had World War II as its main life experience and carried out the “de-Stalinization.” It continued to rule after Khrushchev’s fall.
