“A Warm Welcome”: Rituals of Nikita Khrushchev’s Trips Around the USSR (1957–1964)

Abstract

Nikita Khrushchev was the first Soviet leader who practiced visits around the country as a scenario of power. Between 1957 and 1964 he made around 90 tours of the regions and republics of the USSR, during which he checked the work of local authorities and communicated with the population. The frequency and careful planning of trips led to their ritualization and creation of Khrushchev’s image as a “people’s leader.”

This article, based on a large amount of source material, reconstructs the ritual side of the preparation and conduct of visits of the Soviet leader to the regions, as well as their role in the creation and representation of the leader’s image.

Each of Khrishchev’s visits formally began with the approval of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, after which the center and the regions began preparations for the arrival of the delegation from Moscow. Tours included planned and spontaneous visits to industrial and agricultural facilities, meetings with local elites and the population, and summing up of the tours’ results. While all the attention in the press focused only on the positive aspects of the visits, the people’s reaction to them was more differentiated. Such inconsistency in the formal and real aspects of visits minimized their propaganda effect and made it difficult to perceive Khrushchev as a truly “people’s leader.”

Text in Russian