“You Cannot Endlessly Exploit the Patience of Communists...” The Special Position of V. M. Molotov on the Issue of Rapprochement with Yugoslavia and Its Criticism by N. S. Khrushchev Viewed by Ordinary Members of the CPSU (1955)

Abstract

After Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953, his successors in the Kremlin leadership faced the need to correct to some extent the confrontational foreign policy of the USSR. The Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, which continued to remain a serious source of tension not only on a regional, but also on a pan-European scale, also required a solution. By the beginning of 1955, two approaches were taking shape in Soviet policy on the Yugoslav question. V. M. Molotov proposed to normalize the relations with Yugoslavia according to the standards of relations with an “ordinary capitalist state” (including some revival of economic ties with it). N. S. Khrushchev, with the support of the majority of members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, proposed to take a course towards involving this large and strategically important Balkan country in the Soviet camp, hoping that this would become a clear foreign policy success for the USSR. Molotov’s position turned out to be more realistic – Tito’s Yugoslavia, interested in normalizing relations and expanding cooperation with the USSR, at the same time strongly resisted any attempts to limit its sovereignty. Having not solved the assigned foreign policy problem, Khrushchev at the same time used the special opinion of his opponent to weaken his position in the leadership of the CPSU. This caused misunderstanding in the party circles. The anonymous letters included in our publication show that in the atmosphere of the thaw of the mid-1950s, ordinary communists increasingly raised sharp issues that during Stalin’s lifetime it was not customary to raise for fear of persecution. They, in particular, paid attention to incorrectness of criticism of Molotov in July 1955 at the session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was based not so much on the search for an optimal political course, but on an unprincipled struggle for power, which, according to the senders of the letters, could damage the authority of the party.

Received: 06.05.2024.

Citation
Stykalin A. S. “You Cannot Endlessly Exploit the Patience of Communists...” The Special Position of V. M. Molotov on the Issue of Rapprochement with Yugoslavia and Its Criticism by N. S. Khrushchev Viewed by Ordinary Members of the CPSU (1955) // Slavic Almanac. 2024. No 3–4. P. 427–453 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2024.3-4.22