February 25, 1956: Khrushchev's "De-Stalinization" Speech

February 25, 1956: Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, addresses the 20th Party Congress in Moscow. It had been less than 3 years since the death of Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.

Khrushchev gives what became known as the "Secret Speech," laying out some of Stalin's crimes, and the "conditions of insecurity, fear, and even desperation" created by Stalin. He shocked his listeners by denouncing Stalin's dictatorial rule and his cult of personality, as inconsistent with Communism and with Party ideology. Among other points, he condemned the treatment of the Old Bolsheviks, people who had supported Communism before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, many of whom Stalin had executed as traitors.

The speech was shocking. There were reports that some of those present suffered heart attacks, and others later took their own lives, due to shock at the revelations of Stalin's use of terror. The ensuing confusion among many Soviet citizens, raised on permanent praise of the "genius" of Stalin, was especially apparent in Georgia, Stalin's homeland, where days of protests and rioting ended with a Soviet army crackdown on March 9.

In the West, the speech politically devastated organized Communists. The Communist Party USA lost more than 30,000 members within weeks of the speech's revelation to the West. The speech was also later cited as a cause of the Sino-Soviet split, as China's dictator Mao Zedong had been a committed supporter of Stalin.

Khrushchev did stay popular among the Soviet people, and without using cult-of-personality tactics. It could be argued that the country peaked in 1961, with the start of the space program, the building of the Berlin Wall, and their success in international sports. But by 1964, enough Politburo members had had enough of Khrushchev that he was removed from power. He lived in exile until 1971.

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February 25, 1956 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA. The New York Knicks lost to the St. Louis Hawks, 99-89 at the old Madison Square Garden. Bob Pettit scored 37 points for the Hawks. And the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Rochester Royals, 97-72 at the Rochester Community War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena) in Rochester, New York.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, North London's Arsenal went to the North-East, and lost to Newcastle United, 2-0 at St. James' Park.