Northern (N): Soviet Union (NS). Internal Political Situation

A file containing documents relating to the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Documents in the file include a Foreign Office paper covering the events of the congress; a despatch from the British ambassador in Moscow questioning the significance of the congress; and reports of protests against de-Stalinization in the Georgian S.S.R. Other documents in the file include a report that the United States State Department was struggling to provide guidance on the congress as it could not establish the motivation for the attacks on Stalin; and coverage of Pravda articles which report on the congress and introduce the new thinking on Stalin. Documents in the file also discuss ways that the de-Stalinization campaign was being disseminated; whether British responses to the congress were too negative; and whether the Foreign Office appreciated that Khrushchev's Secret Speech was intended for domestic Soviet audiences, rather than foreign governments.