Nikita Khrushchev Of a peasant family, he worked in the plants and mines of Ukraine, joined the Communist party in 1918, and in 1929 was sent to Moscow for further study. He became a member of the central committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1934 and first secretary of the powerful Moscow city and regional party organization in 1935.Made first secretary of the Ukrainian Communist party in 1938, he carried out Stalin's ruthless purge …showed first 75 words of 636 total…

…showed last 75 words of 636 total…adamant stand over Berlin, but was lessened somewhat by his withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba in 1962 and by small compromises in the Soviet proposals for disarmament. In Oct., 1964, Khrushchev was removed from power. Repeated shortfalls in agricultural production and faulty administrative practices as well as Khrushchev's role in the Cuban missile crisis and the rift with China, had intensified the opposition to him. Thereafter he lived in obscurity outside Moscow until his death in 1971.