Nikita Sergueïevitch Khrouchtchev , né le 3 avril 1894 à Kalinovka, dans l'Empire russe, et mort le 11 septembre 1971 à Moscou, est un homme d'État soviétique qui dirigea l'URSS durant une partie de la guerre froide. Il fut premier secrétaire du Parti communiste de l'Union soviétique de 1953 à 1964 et président du conseil des ministres de 1958 à 1964. Khrouchtchev joua un rôle important dans le processus de déstalinisation, dans le développement du programme spatial soviétique et dans la mise en place de réformes relativement « libérales » en politique intérieure. Les autres dirigeants du parti s'arrangèrent pour l'écarter du pouvoir en 1964 et il fut remplacé par Léonid Brejnev au poste de premier secrétaire et par Alexis Kossyguine à celui de président du conseil des ministres.
Fils de paysans du gouvernement de Koursk, il fut forgeron dans sa jeunesse avant de devenir commissaire politique durant la guerre civile russe et de gravir les échelons de la hiérarchie soviétique avec l'aide de Lazare Kaganovitch. Il défendit les Grandes Purges de Joseph Staline et approuva des milliers d'arrestations. En 1939, Staline le nomma à la tête du parti communiste en Ukraine et il poursuivit les purges dans la région. Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Khrouchtchev redevint commissaire et joua le rôle d'intermédiaire entre Staline et ses généraux. Il participa à la bataille de Stalingrad et après la guerre, Khrouchtchev retourna en Ukraine avant d'être rappelé à Moscou, où il devint l'un des plus proches conseillers de Staline.
Khrouchtchev émergea comme le vainqueur de la lutte de pouvoir provoquée par la mort de Staline en 1953. Le 25 février 1956, lors du XXe congrès du Parti, il prononça le « discours secret » dénonçant les politiques répressives de Staline et enclenchant un assouplissement de l'appareil coercitif en Union soviétique, initié par Lavrenti Beria. Sa politique intérieure, destinée à améliorer la vie du peuple, fut souvent inefficace, en particulier dans le domaine agricole. Espérant faire reposer la défense nationale sur les missiles balistiques, Khrouchtchev ordonna d'importantes coupes dans le budget consacré aux forces conventionnelles. Ce fut sous le pouvoir de Khrouchtchev qu'eurent lieu les années les plus tendues de la guerre froide et les tensions culminèrent lors de la crise des missiles de Cuba en 1962.
Profitant des erreurs politiques de Khrouchtchev, ses rivaux gagnèrent en influence et le renversèrent en octobre 1964. Il ne connut pas le destin tragique de certains anciens perdants des luttes de pouvoir soviétiques et fut mis à la retraite avec un appartement à Moscou et une datcha à la campagne. Ses mémoires furent exfiltrés à l'Ouest et en partie publiés en 1970. Khrouchtchev mourut en 1971 d'une crise cardiaque. Ses réformes influencèrent celles de Mikhaïl Gorbatchev et il est aujourd'hui mieux considéré que la plupart des dirigeants de l'ère soviétique.
Wikipedia
“Vous voulez donc que j'installe des puces sous ma chemise?”
français
Réponse à un journaliste occidental qui lui demandait, à l'époque de la déstalinisation, s'il comptait autoriser l'ouverture de loges maçonniques en URSS
“Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in. We will bury you.”
Remark to western ambassadors during a diplomatic reception in Moscow (18 November 1956) as quoted in Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Statesman, 1953-1964, Penn State Press, 2007, (2007) by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, p. 893
“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”
Comment on the construction of a bridge in Belgrade (22 August 1963), quoted in Chicago Tribune (22 August 1963) "Khrushchev Needles Peking"
Disputed
Source: Udall, U.S. Rep. Morris K., Khrushchev Could Have Said It, 2016-04-06, originally published in The New Republic, 1962 http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/udall/khrushch_htm.html,
Remark made at Kremlin New Year's Eve reception, December 31, 1956. Quoted in Khrushchev by Edward Crankshaw. ISBN 9781448205059
As quoted in Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament (1974)
At a Swedish-Soviet summit which began on March 30, 1956, in Moscow. The stenographed discussion was later published by the Swedish Government.as quoted in Raoul Wallenberg (1985) by Eric Sjöquist, p. 119 ISBN 9153650875
Khrushchev's reply when the Swedish prime minister Erlander assured him that Sweden had no intention of repeating the 1709 Battle of Poltava in eastern Ukraine between Russia and Sweden. From a Swedish-Soviet summit which began on March 30, 1956, in Moscow, as quoted in Raoul Wallenberg (1985) by Eric Sjöquist, p. 125 ISBN 9153650875
“The living will envy the dead.”
The attribution of this widely quoted remark about nuclear war to Khrushchev is disputed in Respectfully Quoted : A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) http://www.bartleby.com/73/1257.html.
In Russia this quote is usually attributed to the translation of Treasure Island by Nikolay Chukovsky: "А те из вас, кто останется в живых, позавидуют мертвым!" ("Those of you who will be still alive will envy the dead", originally: "Them that die'll be the lucky ones"). http://www.chitaem-vmeste.ru/pages/material.php?article=89&
Disputed
No instance of this statement, allegedly in reference to nuclear war, has been found in Khrushchev's writings or documented remarks, as indicated in Respectfully Quoted : A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) http://www.bartleby.com/73/1257.html. Herman Kahn used "the survivors [will] envy the dead" in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War.
“Mr. President, call the toady of American imperialism to order.”
Remark in the United Nations General Assembly (12 October 1960), denouncing a speech by Philippines delegate Lorenzo Sumulong
Remarks during a Hollywood luncheon (19 September 1959), quoted in New York Times (20 September 1959) "Text of Khrushchev Debate With Skouras"
“If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you.”
As quoted in The New York Times (7 November 1963)
Address to the United Nations, New York City (September 18, 1959), as reported by The New York Times (September 19, 1959), p. 8. The physicist quoted was eventually found to be William Davidon, associate physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois.
“Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all.”
"The Cult of the Individual and Its Consequences" (24 February 1956), quoted in Lend Me Your Ears (2004) by William Safire
"Secret Report to the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU"
“Berlin is the testicle of the West. When I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.”
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Aug. 24, 1963, speech in Yugoslavia[citation needed]
“Are you real men or some goddamned faggots?”
Said to avant-garde artists (Ely Bielutin and Ernst Neizvestny) during a visit to their exhibition (1 December 1962)
Said during a late night visit to a sauna with Finland's president Kekkonen in June 1957. Translated from Våldets århundrade (2001) by Max Jakobson, p. 220 ISBN 9174866389
Impromptu speech at a dinner for visiting East German dignitaries, Moscow (September 17, 1955), as reported by The New York Times (September 18, 1955), p. 19.
“My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul.”
Told to Soviet playwright Nikolay Shatrov, as quoted in William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (New York: W.W. Norton, 2002)
“Stalin originated the concept of 'enemy of the people.'”
This term automatically rendered it unnecessary that the ideological errors of a man or men engaged in a controversy be proven; this term made possible the usage of the most cruel repression, violating all norms of revolutionary legality, against anyone who in any wat disagreed with Stalin, against those who were only suspected of hostile intent, against those who had bad reputations. This concept 'enemy of the people' actually eliminated the possibility of any kind of ideological fight or the making of one's views known on this or that issue, even those of a practical character. In the main, and in actuality, the only proof of guilt used, against all norms of current legal science, was the 'confession' of the accused himself.
"Secret Report to the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU"
Allegedly said shortly before his 1959 visit to the United States. Subsequent investigation by the Library of Congress and the US Information Agency found no source. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (following Lenin in State and Revolution) considered socialism a necessary transitional stage to communism, and Khrushchev affirmed this position in regard to existing communist-led states, not the United States. See " Khrushchev Could Have Said It http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/online-exhibits/files/original/809230f1ccf3f96b76341d3a02b6506b.pdf" by Morris K. Udall.
Disputed
Said to avant-garde artists Ely Bielutin and Ernst Neizvestny during a visit to their exhibition (1 December 1962)
