Abstract

Some fifty years have passed since the day of that conversation and Brecht proved himself a poor prophet. Krushchev too, shortly before dying, lamented not having dared to publish, while still in power, a series of documents on Stalin's crimes and, particularly, the acts of the inquiry commission on Kirov's assassination. Krushchev claimed that if he had done it, the Stalin cult in the 20th century would have been a closed chapter. Actually, it isn't likely that the publication of these documents would have changed things. Today, the Stalin cult is in full bloom and its restoration is one of the distinctive traits of Soviet society in the Brezhnev period.