ABSTRACT
Following the XXII CPSU Congress in October 1961, which saw a renewed attack by Khrushchev on Stalinism, this situation began to change and a new phase of de-Stalinization began. The contrast between Rakosi's harsh Stalinism and Nagy's New Course orientations soon developed as a political fissure, however, rather than as a diverse but collective leadership reflecting a coherent new policy orientation. The successive political crises of the post-Stalin period that engulfed Central Europe demonstrated with increasing clarity the limitations of even this more sophisticated version of communist rule. The post-Stalin changes thus brought about some relaxation of direct Soviet control over Central Europe and qualification of the rigidity with which the orthodox model was imposed. Soviet influence, however, was not so much reduced as refined and institutionalized within more strictly political channels and codified according to Leninist principles for the conduct of communist party life.
