--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: N. S. Khrushchev established his…" description: "\"N. S. Khrushchev established his supremacy in the U.S.S.R. after post-Stalinist alarums and excursions (1958-64). This admirable rough diamond, a belie..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/eric-hobsbawm-20660_admirable_n-s-khrushchev-established-his-supremacy_206466.jpg" --- # N. S. Khrushchev established his supremacy in the U.S.S.R… ![“N. S. Khrushchev established his supremacy in the U.S.S.R. after post-Stalinist alarums and excursions (1958-64). This admirable rough diamond, a believer in reform and peaceful coexistence, who incidentally emptied Stalin's concentration camps, dominated the international scene in the next few…” quote by Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/eric-hobsbawm-20660_admirable_n-s-khrushchev-established-his-supremacy_206466.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/eric-hobsbawm-20660_admirable_n-s-khrushchev-established-his-supremacy_206466.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba5/eric-hobsbawm-20660_admirable_n-s-khrushchev-established-his-supremacy_206466.jpg) > “N. S. Khrushchev established his supremacy in the U.S.S.R. after post-Stalinist alarums and excursions (1958-64). This admirable rough diamond, a believer in reform and peaceful coexistence, who incidentally emptied Stalin's concentration camps, dominated the international scene in the next few years. He was also perhaps the only peasant boy ever to rule a major state” [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Khrushchev rose to power after Stalin, promoting reform and peaceful coexistence while navigating Cold War tensions. **In simple terms:** Khrushchev led with reform after Stalin. Key Takeaway Study his reforms and limits. Themes politics leadership Cold War Mood analytical critical Type historical political When to use this quote - policy debates - international diplomacy - education curricula Key Concepts reform power dynamics ideological conflict Questions to Reflect On - What lessons does his tenure offer for modern reformers? - How did his background influence his policies? A Different Perspective His reforms were constrained by entrenched bureaucracy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Admirable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/admirable/) [Believer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believer/) [Boys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boys/) [Camps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/camps/) [Coexistence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coexistence/) [Concentration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concentration/) [Concentration camp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concentration-camp/) [Concentration Camps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concentration-camps/) [Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diamond/) [Excursions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excursions/) [International](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/international/) [Khrushchev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/khrushchev-436856/) [Khrushchev Established](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/khrushchev-established-2142014/) [Majors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/majors/) [Next](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/next/) [Peaceful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peaceful/) [Peaceful coexistence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peaceful-coexistence/) [Peasants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peasants/) [Post Stalinist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/post-stalinist-2142015/) [Posts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/posts/) [Reform](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reform/) [Rough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rough/) [Scene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scene/) [Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stalin/) [Stalinist Alarums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stalinist-alarums-2142016/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) [Supremacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supremacy/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [If we talk about changes of power in Russia, that has occurred several times in the past century. After Stalin came Khrushchev, who implemented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-khodorkovsky/if-we-talk-about-changes-of-power-in-russia-that-has-occurred-several/) [Mikhail Khodorkovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-khodorkovsky/) > [The workers love Khrushchev very much. He hasn't got an enemy in the entire country. Quite a few under it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hope/the-workers-love-khrushchev-very-much-he-hasn-t-got-an-enemy-in-the/) [Bob Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hope/) > [“From 1957 through 1961, Khrushchev openly, repeatedly, and bloodcurdlingly threatened the West with nuclear annihilation. Soviet missile capabilities were so far superior to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lewis-gaddis/from-1957-through-1961-khrushchev-openly-repeatedly-and/) [John Lewis Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lewis-gaddis/) > [“Kennedy was not perfectly sure that Khrushchev was an entirely rational being. He was not absolutely certain that the Soviet Union wouldn't be happy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mal-peet/kennedy-was-not-perfectly-sure-that-khrushchev-was-an-entirely/) [Mal Peet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mal-peet/) > [There is no evidence to support the belief that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ever questioned Americas power. He questioned only the President's John F.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-acton/there-is-no-evidence-to-support-the-belief-that-soviet-premier-nikita/) [Lord Acton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-acton/) > [“Ladies and Gentlemen, we deem it the central revelation of Western experience that man cannot ineradicably stain himself, for the wells of regeneration are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-f-buckley-jr-2/ladies-and-gentlemen-we-deem-it-the-central-revelation-of-western/) [William F. Buckley Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-f-buckley-jr-2/) > [“Khrushchev, too, looks like the kind of man his physicians must continually try to diet, and historians will some day correlate these sporadic deprivations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-liebling-2/khrushchev-too-looks-like-the-kind-of-man-his-physicians-must/) [A.J. Liebling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-liebling-2/) > [Don't tell me you'll still be in power by then without free elections! Replyting to Nikita Khrushchev's invitation to attend his 90th birthday celebrations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-nixon/don-t-tell-me-you-ll-still-be-in-power-by-then-without-free-elections/) [Richard Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-nixon/) > [The press is our chief ideological weapon. -Nikita Khrushchev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/call-of-duty/the-press-is-our-chief-ideological-weapon-nikita-khrushchev/) [Call Of Duty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/call-of-duty/) > [Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you! -Nikita Khrushchev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/call-of-duty/whether-you-like-it-or-not-history-is-on-our-side-we-will-bury-you/) [Call Of Duty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/call-of-duty/) > [“Less well known but perhaps even more convincing is that Khrushchev’s own and most ambitious attempt at reversing the process of detotalitarization turned into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/less-well-known-but-perhaps-even-more-convincing-is-that-khrushchev-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“As Khrushchev put it, “He prodded the capitalist world with the tip of his bayonet.” He himself put it, “If I see a door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/as-khrushchev-put-it-he-prodded-the-capitalist-world-with-the-tip-of/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [“Khrushchev told Norman Cousins, a few months after the crisis, his reaction at the time: When I asked the military advisors if they could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/khrushchev-told-norman-cousins-a-few-months-after-the-crisis-his/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“It’s not a very nice solution,” Kennedy acknowledged, “but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”54 The president could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lewis-gaddis/it-s-not-a-very-nice-solution-kennedy-acknowledged-but-a-wall-is-a/) [John Lewis Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lewis-gaddis/) > [“After asking Humphrey to name his native city, Khrushchev bounced to his feet and drew a bold blue circle around Minneapolis on a map…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-kempe/after-asking-humphrey-to-name-his-native-city-khrushchev-bounced-to/) [Frederick Kempe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-kempe/) ## More by Eric Hobsbawm > [All professionals, whether physicists, economists or musicians, live by and for peer judgment, even when they are being paid by people who cannot tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/all-professionals-whether-physicists-economists-or-musicians-live-by/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Many years later, another Marxian rephrased this as the choice between socialism and barbarity. Which of these will prevail is a question which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/many-years-later-another-marxian-rephrased-this-as-the-choice-between/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [The only certain thing about the future is that it will surprise even those who have seen furthest into it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/the-only-certain-thing-about-the-future-is-that-it-will-surprise-even/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Nations without a past are contradictions in terms. What makes a nation is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/nations-without-a-past-are-contradictions-in-terms-what-makes-a/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [As the global expansion of Indian and Chinese restaurants suggests, xenophobia is directed against foreign people, not foreign cultural imports.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/as-the-global-expansion-of-indian-and-chinese-restaurants-suggests/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [The imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/the-imagined-community-of-millions-seems-more-real-as-a-team-of/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [ He\[Napoleon\] had destroyed only one thing: the Jacobin Revolution, the dream of equality, liberty and fraternity, and of the people rising in its majesty… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/he-napoleon-had-destroyed-only-one-thing-the-jacobin-revolution-the/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [It is one of the ironies of this strange century that the most lasting results of the October revolution, whose object was the global…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/it-is-one-of-the-ironies-of-this-strange-century-that-the-most/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [There is not much that even the most socially responsible scientists can do as individuals, or even as a group, about the social consequences…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/there-is-not-much-that-even-the-most-socially-responsible-scientists/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Human beings are not efficiently designed for a capitalist system of production.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/human-beings-are-not-efficiently-designed-for-a-capitalist-system-of/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Xenophobia looks like becoming the mass ideology of the 20th-century fin-de-siecle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/xenophobia-looks-like-becoming-the-mass-ideology-of-the-20th-century/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [“For, whatever was the case in de Tocqueville's day, not the passion for egalitarianism but an individualist, that is anti-authoritarian, antinomian though curiously legalistic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/for-whatever-was-the-case-in-de-tocqueville-s-day-not-the-passion-for/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [Telephone and telegraph were better means of communication than the holy man's telepathy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/telephone-and-telegraph-were-better-means-of-communication-than-the/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [No serious historian of nations and nationalism can be a committed political nationalist... Nationalism requires too much belief in what is patently not so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/no-serious-historian-of-nations-and-nationalism-can-be-a-committed/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) > [“Human mental identities are not like shoes, of which we can only wear one pair at a time. We are all multi-dimensional beings. Whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hobsbawm/human-mental-identities-are-not-like-shoes-of-which-we-can-only-wear/) [Eric Hobsbawm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) [Explore all 29 Eric Hobsbawm quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hobsbawm/) ## More Admirable quotes > [Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous, or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/consumer-wants-can-have-bizarre-frivolous-or-even-immoral-origins-and/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Education is very admirable but let us not forget that anything worth knowing cannot be taught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/education-is-very-admirable-but-let-us-not-forget-that-anything-worth/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Happiness is a rare plant that seldom takes root on earth-few ever enjoyed it, except for a brief period; the search after it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-gardiner-countess-of-blessington/happiness-is-a-rare-plant-that-seldom-takes-root-on-earth-few-ever/) [Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-gardiner-countess-of-blessington/) > [Worthy is the one who remembers to thank the Lord for all His blessings; but admirable is the one who still thank God in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/worthy-is-the-one-who-remembers-to-thank-the-lord-for-all-his/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [It is admirable to consider how many millions of people come into, and go out of the world, ignorant of themselves and of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-penn/it-is-admirable-to-consider-how-many-millions-of-people-come-into-and/) [William Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-penn/) > [What is pure Bill? Or excellent or admirable? The death of a million people in a flood? God evidently through so. He is incapable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/what-is-pure-bill-or-excellent-or-admirable-the-death-of-a-million/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [Mexico is sex and Canada is mind. There is much about Canada that I find admirable - the treatment of immigrants, for example, particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/mexico-is-sex-and-canada-is-mind-there-is-much-about-canada-that-i/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Of what use is it to please the herd? They are simply coarse animals - for all that is admirable in man is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/of-what-use-is-it-to-please-the-herd-they-are-simply-coarse-animals/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [ I didn't get a chance to meet Glen \[Beck\] for this movie. 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He wasn't probably a natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/charles-darwin-made-arguably-the-greatest-discovery-any-human-has/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [There has been a constant struggle on the part of the military element to keep the end- fighting, or readiness to fight-superior to mere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-thayer-mahan/there-has-been-a-constant-struggle-on-the-part-of-the-military/) [Alfred Thayer Mahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-thayer-mahan/) > [But there are people who take salt with their coffee. They say it gives a tang, a savour, which is peculiar and fascinating. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/but-there-are-people-who-take-salt-with-their-coffee-they-say-it/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [U.S. certainly are not warlike. We don't want that. 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