ABSTRACT
The Khrushchev era saw the coming of age of the ruling class and it proved itself capable of containing an obstreperous First Secretary. There were two realms in which Khrushchev was convinced that he was first class: party work and agriculture. The dispute produced the first open policy debates in the Soviet Union since the 1920s. Khrushchev was very ambitious and was probably as vain as Stalin. Khrushchev's ignorance of foreign affairs was a direct result of Stalin's technique of government. He continued Malenkov's policy of seeking better relations with the outside. Until the summer of 1954 it appeared that Malenkov's economic policy would carry the day. Non-Russians vigorously opposed sliyanie and they were also supported by Russian nationalists, who were fearful of the effect of this policy on their own nation, culture and language. Soviet agricultural and industrial growth slowed and the US spurted ahead, such was the reality of the early 1960s.
