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

A file of correspondence, reports, and speeches concerning political developments in the Soviet Union. The documents discuss a series of lectures given in Moscow by Soviet political theorists, which emphasised the importance of the Soviet public remaining vigilant in the face of West German rearmament. The documents also contain a report produced by Sir Patrick Reilly, the British ambassador to the Soviet Union, covering a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was ostensibly convened to discuss the publication of a paper by Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, on Soviet agricultural methods. This report covers two speeches given during the meeting: the first by Khrushchev attacking the members of the "Anti-Party Group" that had attempted to remove him from power; and a second by Nikolai Bulganin, the former premier of the Soviet Union, apologising for his role in the failed coup.