More remarkable, I think, was Khrushchev. Khrushchev genuinely *was* a monster--one of the head monsters in the 1930s. But after he persuaded Zhukov to roll the tanks for him in the mid-1950s, he decided that he was not going to be a monster--a tyrant seated on a throne of skulls--any more. He decided he was not going to be a Leninist any more, but a (Karl) Marxist.
I still think that there was an opportunity in the mid-1960s for Khrushchev to try (and succeed!) in doing what Gorbachov tried (and failed!) to do in the mid-1980s--glasnost, perestroika, and a successful journey along the Chinese path to economic reform.
Of course, all of Khrushchev's lieutenants thought he had simply gone mad...
Brad DeLong