Stalin, the Red Dictator dies

March 5, 1953

Stalin suffers a stroke and dies. He is succeeded by Nikita Krushchev, who denounces Stalin?s legacy and begins dismantling the cult of personality in a process known as De-Stalinisation. However, this does not bring an end to the persecution of dissidents, as uprisings in Poland and Hungary in 1956 are brutally crushed.