Scandal in Riazan

Abstract

This chapter assesses how Nikita Khrushchev's solution to the dictator's agency problem led to an epidemic of data falsification and the most radical purge of the post-Stalin era. It points out how the purge of 1960 to 1961 marked a break between the high-pressure approach practiced by both Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, and the more accommodating stance of Khrushchev's successor, Leonid Brezhnev. It also discusses the key turning point in relations between the authoritarian leadership in Moscow and their principals in the regions that was caused by a rupture that took place toward the end of 1960. The chapter draws attention to the mass replacement and dismissal of provincial leaders that turn out to be a purge of regional leaders unprecedented in its proportions in the post-totalitarian era. It investigates the scandal that blew up in Riazan, a medium-sized agricultural region, which was chosen as Khrushchev's standard-bearer for new agricultural policies.