Malenkov Succeeds Stalin: The Dictator Is Dead, Now What?
Malenkov held absolute power over the Soviet Union for exactly eight days. On March 5th, 1953, as Stalin's body still lay in state, Georgy Malenkov seized both the premiership and the party leadership—something not even Stalin had done simultaneously. The Politburo panicked. They'd watched Stalin's paranoia turn deadly for three decades, and now here was another man consolidating total control. By March 14th, they forced Malenkov to surrender the party post to Khrushchev, splitting the power Stalin had wielded as one. That split wasn't a demotion—it was the first limit placed on Soviet authority since 1922, the crack that would eventually shatter the whole system.
March 5, 1953
73 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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