Soviet Union

Khrushchev and Stalin

Ian D. Thatcher defends the record of Josef Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, and sees him as a forerunner of Gorbachev.

Backing the USSR

Mark Bryant on the work of Soviet cartoonists engaged in the epic struggle against Nazi Germany.

Under the Mushroom Cloud

The Cold War has become this year’s hot media topic. Taylor Downing welcomes the chance to look more critically at the era of ‘mutually assured destruction’.

Reds Under the Bed

International alarm over the terrorist threat is not new. Anthony Read relates how the appearance of Bolshevism created a state of near hysteria throughout the Western world.

Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech’

Fifty years after Khrushchev’s famous denunciation of Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, John Etty examines what was at stake.

Lenin in Power

Russell Tarr explains how the Bolsheviks established their grip on Russia after the 1917 Revolution, and at what cost.