Waiting for the communist call

Anne Applebaum, perhaps my favorite columnist, and William Taubman both have columns about the anniversary of Krushchev's speech denouncing Stalin. Both have written on the subject of Russia, Taubman is well known for his biography of Krushchev. Applebaum wrote Gulag, which concerns one of Russia's brutal means of crushing dissent. Both books won the Pulitzer, so you know they are going to be decent reads. Both columns are worth reading, but I like how Taubman describes why Krushchev made the speech:

Apart from anything else, the secret speech was an act of repentance. When asked in retirement what he most regretted, he answered: "Most of all the blood. My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul."