In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev, as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, commenced the process of de-Stalinization. De-Stalinization was the systematic eradication of the policies and personality cult of Joseph Stalin, who died in 1953. One small example of the process was the renaming of "Stalingrad" to "Volgograd."
During one speech of Khrushchev when he was discussing the program, an anonymous person in the crowd shouted out the question, "Why didn't you, when you were an official in Stalin's government, oppose Stalin when Stalin was in power instead of waiting until after his death before attacking his policies?" Khrushchev in a bellicose tone demanded that the heckler step forward and identify himself. When the heckler failed to do so, Khrushchev smirked and smugly stated, "Now you know why."
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