OTD: Stalin thrown under a bus by Khrushchev. A Buffs in Brief special #1

The History Book Buffs · Feb 25, 2026 · 13m

Was this the most reckless speech in modern political history?

In February 1956, at the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev delivered a four-hour address that stunned the room — and reshaped the communist world.

Behind closed doors, in what became known as the “Secret Speech,” Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin for terror, deportations, purges and catastrophic leadership. Delegates reportedly turned ashen. Some were physically ill. Others feared the knock of the KGB.

But was this genuine moral reckoning — or a calculated power move?

In this inaugural Buffs in Brief…