This is the first part of a study dealing synthetically with the most important aspects of the evolution of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, such as the economy, the society, the foreign policy, the arts and sciences, and the ethnic/national issues. On one hand, it points out the fact that many of the novel ideas which are generally believed to have emerged during the „thaw” do not, in fact, belong to Khrushchev, but are a product of the Stalinist era, while Stalin’s successor only picked and championed them. On the other hand, the study shows how, despite a significant liberalisation of the public life, the main features of the system, which enabled and made possible Stalinism, were left untouched after the death of the dictator. Thus the „thaw” period was one defined by contradictory tendencies, and the potential for positive and meaningful change was fulfilled in none of the public life spheres listed above.