PoD: Georgy Zhukov dies in early '57.
As a result, the Anti-Party Group is successful in deposing Khrushchev later in the same year. He is replaced with Nikolai Bulganin, with Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich pulling the strings behind the scenes. The former will eventually be replaced for not being pliable and hardline enough.
All traces of Khrushchev's Secret Speech are destroyed, and the USSR returns to Stalinism As Usual.
Would there still be a Sino-Soviet split? Is it ASB for the PRC to denounce Stalinism? Or can they be enemies and both Stalinist (albeit of different flavours)? Would the US intervene in a Stalinist-on-Stalinist conflict?
As a result, the Anti-Party Group is successful in deposing Khrushchev later in the same year. He is replaced with Nikolai Bulganin, with Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich pulling the strings behind the scenes. The former will eventually be replaced for not being pliable and hardline enough.
All traces of Khrushchev's Secret Speech are destroyed, and the USSR returns to Stalinism As Usual.
Would there still be a Sino-Soviet split? Is it ASB for the PRC to denounce Stalinism? Or can they be enemies and both Stalinist (albeit of different flavours)? Would the US intervene in a Stalinist-on-Stalinist conflict?