What if Khrushchev had died sometime around the 1940's, before he could ascend across the Soviet government? Would Stalin end up being succeeded by a general secretary with a similar political mind to him?
If so, then i ask,
Who is most likely to succeed Stalin as leader of the USSR? Beria? Molotov? Malenkov?
What are the effects of no "detente with the west"? Could Austria end up divided? Could Yugoslavia end up getting closer to the western bloc? Could the Sino-Soviet Split be delayed for a few more decades, or even prevented? Would the USSR still lend geopolitical support to the Cuban revolutionaries without Khrushchev at the helm?