“To think that a communist society will be within the borders of the Soviet Union is to understand nothing about communism”. An unpublished speech by N. S. Khrushchev in Hungary (April 1958)

Abstract

In April 1958, a year and a half after the most powerful Hungarian uprising, which shook the very foundations of the communist power in this country, N. S. Khrushchev arrived in Hungary as the head of the Soviet delegation. During the ten day trip, the Soviet leader was shown the success of the normalization of the communist regime in the country. We are publishing a recording of Khrushchev’s speech at a reception on the occasion of the day of the liberation of Hungary from Nazi occupation. Since this particular speech was not originally intended to be reflected in the press, the Soviet leader, by his nature, in principle, prone to violation of the ritual, improvisation, deviations from the texts written in advance by speechwriters, could more freely address subjects, the coverage of which in the open press seemed inappropriate or premature. The published source is valuable for various reasons. It provides little-known from other sources details on the coordination between the USSR authorities and leaders of other socialist countries regarding actions about the situation in Hungary. It also reflects Khrushchev’s reaction to the independent policy of Tito’s Yugoslavia, especially to the preparation of the New Program of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, adopted at the 7th Congress of the latter, which took place at the same time, in April 1958, and was recognized in Moscow as revisionist.