Nikita Khrushchev (born April 17 [April 5, Old Style], 1894, Kalinovka, Russia —died September 11, 1971, Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union) was the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953–64) and premier of the Soviet Union (1958–64) whose policy of de-Stalinization had widespread repercussions throughout the communist world.

Nikita was born in the town of Kalinovka in Russia. He later moved to Ukraine. He worked in mines, and became part of the Bolshevik movement. He was a political commissar in the Red Army in the Russian Civil War and again in World War II and moved his way up in the Communist Party, eventually becoming trusted by Joseph Stalin.

Nikita Khrushchev was born in 1894 near the Ukrainian border to a peasant family. His simple beginnings gave him popularity with the peasant population. In 1918, Khrushchev joined the Communist Party and fought in the Red Army during the Russian Revolution. After the war, Khrushchev became a member of the Central Committee in 1934.