As noted during lecture Russia and the Soviet Union goes through a pattern of reform and reaction. For over 3 decade Stalin terrorized the Soviet Union and surrounding countries in effort to purge the party. After the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953, the Soviet Union had to put in place a new leader. They selected a peasant man Nikita Khrushchev. Who with the help of an evolving party began a period of reform, or in other words destalinization. In 1953 amnesty was given to political prisoners which was roughly 800,000 prisoners. Two-thirds of prison camps were closed and hundreds of thousands were freed. This brought great joy to prisoners and their families. The party began to cut back on its political attacks, but still maintained political police. These police were more focused on “socialist legality” and those found to have committed political crimes faced less harsh penalties. …show more content…
With the thaw proceeding, the Soviet Union saw a revitilzation of literature. The famous writers of the time saw the Socialist Realist era as garbage. By 1959 writers began to address subjects that had been long over due such as; spiritual life, Stalin’s victims, sex, abortion, alcoholism, and even the depression life in the country side. Theater began to give uncensored messages on the bureacracy’s arrogance, inequality, corruption, and the actual struggle of ordinary life. Jazz was allowed, and rock-and-roll was introduced to the country. The thaw even reached upper education, historians were allowed to research the purges, debates about issues and policy began to take