Crises beyond borders: the impact of Khrushchev’s Secret Speech on Chinese students
Twentieth Century Communism - Print ISSN 1758-6437 - Online ISSN 2978-1329
Volume 2025 Number 28
Crises beyond borders: the impact of Khrushchev’s Secret Speech on Chinese students
Yidi Wu pages 77‑100
Abstract
The year 1956 was a turbulent one in the communist world, marked by Nikita Khrushchev’s secret speech denouncing Stalin’s cult of personality and the subsequent crises in Eastern Europe. The impact of these events extended far beyond the Soviet Union, influencing domestic politics and intellectual discourse in China. The article delves into the Hundred Flowers Campaign, initiated by Mao in response to Khrushchev’s speech, and the subsequent Rectification Campaign, which was accelerated after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The article examines the profound effect of Khrushchev’s speech on Chinese students, particularly on their understanding of Stalin, Mao and the nature of socialism itself. It explores how students navigated censorship to access information about the events in Eastern Europe and how they responded to the official Chinese assessment of Stalin. Through an analysis of primary sources, including big-character posters, memoirs and interviews, this paper sheds light on how Chinese students grappled with the implications of de-Stalinisation and the challenges it posed to their own political system. It highlights the students’ resourcefulness in circumventing censorship, their critical engagement with political discourse, and their aspirations for a more democratic form of socialism. The paper concludes by examining the long-term consequences of the Anti-Rightist Campaign, which targeted those who questioned Mao and the party’s authority, and the eventual rehabilitation of these individuals in the late 1970s.
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To cite this article
Yidi Wu (2025) Crises beyond borders: the impact of Khrushchev’s Secret Speech on Chinese students, Twentieth Century Communism, 2025(28), 77-100