These extracts come from a speech made by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
on December 12th 1962.
He was speaking to the Supreme Soviet. This was the USSR's equivalent of
the US Congress. Members of the Supreme Soviet were called Deputies.
The speech was very long. In the speech Khrushchev gave his analysis of
the international situation, the origins of the Cuban Crisis and the credit
which should go to the USSR for finding a peaceful solution to the problem.
Khrushchev also spent a lot of time reinforcing his belief in peaceful coexistence.
Under Lenin and Stalin, Soviet political thought stressed that a clash between
the Communist and non-Communist world was inevitable. This thinking also said
that Communism must try to spread itself all over the world.
Not surprisingly, these views alarmed the USA and its allies. Khrushchev
tried to calm this alarm by saying that the USSR and the USA could live in
peaceful coexistence.
