Nikita Khrushchev’s proclamation from the floor of the United Nations that "we will bury you" is one of the most chilling and memorable moments in the history of the Cold War, but from the Cuban Missile Crisis to his criticism of the Soviet ruling structure late in his career the motivation for Khrushchev’s actions wasn’t always clear. Many Americans regarded him as a monster, while in the USSR he was viewed at various times as either hero or traitor. But what was he really like, and what did he really think? Readers of Khrushchev’s memoirs will now be able to answer these questions for themselves (and will discover that what Khrushchev really said at the UN was "we will bury colonialism").
This is the first volume of three in the only complete and fully reliable version of the memoirs available in English. In this volume, Khrushchev recounts how he became politically active as a young worker in Ukraine, how he climbed the ladder of power under Stalin to occupy leading positions in Ukraine and then Moscow, and how as a military commissar he experienced the war against the Nazi invaders. He vividly portrays life in Stalin's inner circle and among the generals who commanded the Soviet armies.
Khrushchev’s sincere reflections upon his own thoughts and feelings add to the value of this unique personal and historical document. Included among the Appendixes is Sergei Khrushchev’s account of how the memoirs were created and smuggled abroad during his father’s retirement.
Contents
Captions to Photographs
Translators Preface
Editors Foreword
Andrei Bitov. The Baldest and the Boldest
Abbreviations and Acronyms
The Memoirs
Prologue
Part I. The Beginning of the Road
A Little About Myself
The Fourteenth Party Conference
A Few Words About the NEP
The Fifteenth Party Congress
The Move to Kharkov
The Move to Kiev
At the Industrial Academy
Personal Acquaintance with Stalin
Moscow Workdays
The Kirov Assassination
Some Consequences of the Kirov Assassination
In the Ukraine Again
The Ukraine-Moscow (Crossroads of the 1930s)
The Second World War Approaches
The Beginning of the Second World War
Events on the Eve of War
Part II. The Great Patriotic War
The Difficult Summer of 1941
People and Events of Summer and Fall 1941
1942: From Winter to Summer
By the Ruins of Stalingrad
Turn of the Tide at Stalingrad
The Road to Rostov
Before the Battle of Kursk and at Its Beginning
To the Dnieper!
Kiev Is Ours Again!
We Liberate the Ukraine
Forward to Victory!
Postwar Reflections
The Far East After the Great Patriotic War
War Memoirs
Appendices
A Short Biography of N. S. Khrushchev
L. Lasochko. The Khrushchev Family Line: A Historical Note
Sergei Khrushchev. The History of the Creation and Publication of the Khrushchev
Memoirs (1967-1999)
Conversation with N. S. Khrushchev at the Party Control Committee
Biographies
Index
“Like all memoirs, this book has to be read with caution. This is a product of the love of Khrushchev’s son, Sergei, and it permeates the book. He has gone to great lengths to get this book published and keep the legacy of his father alive. As a result, the book is a s complete as one can hope. Inevitably there is also a negative side. Khrushchev’s role in the Stalinist terror in Ukraine, for example, is not discussed. Even the index uses a conditional statement: ‘Khrushchev’s alleged purging’ in Ukraine (p.932). Despite this and other shortcomings, this is a book of enormous importance that no one interested in the Soviet Union can afford to miss.”
