Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev in Burma in 1955: thaw, decolonization, and ambivalences of the Soviet official language

In the article, the author examines the function of ambiguity and contradiction in the Soviet official political language of the Thaw period in the context of internal and external political transformations. The two-volume publication, entitled “Mission of Friendship: N.A. Bulganin and N.S. Khrushchev’s Visit to India, Burma, Afghanistan”, published in 1956 and dedicated to the journey undertaken a year prior, serves as the principal source. Recent historiography has devoted significant attention to the internal contradictions and inconsistency of Soviet policy, particularly the clash between domestic and foreign policy objectives in the context of decolonisation processes from the 1950s to the 1970s. This shift in focus has marked a notable departure from the dominant theoretical perspective of totalitarianism. In examining the case of Bulganin and Khrushchev’s visit to Burma, the author seeks to discern the underlying contradictions, their degree of explicitness in the official Soviet text, and their impact on foreign and domestic policy. The analysis reveals that the ambivalence evident in the official narrative was, in large part, a strategic maneuver, though in many instances, it was the product of ad hoc improvisation aimed at harmonizing disparate political objectives. The existence of contradictions and ambivalences enabled the emergence of disparate political discourses, which undermined the rigidity of the official Soviet rhetoric while simultaneously rendering it more adaptable and malleable.