The Marxists Internet Archive has made available a column by Raya Dunayevskaya on Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 visit to the U.S. (“Eisenhower-Khrushchev Spectacular“). The trip marked the high point of amity between the two state-capitalist superpowers before the U2 incident of 1960 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. This was also the occasion of the famous non-visit to Disneyland on the part of Khrushchev and his wife.

What interests me about this piece is Dunayevskaya’s focus on the “class fundamentals” of the parallel exploitative relationship between Eisenhower and the U.S. working class (a steel industry strike was taking place during the visit) and Khrushchev and the workers of the U.S.S.R.

For an account of the visit of the Khrushchev party to Twentieth Century Fox studios, during which “K” was introduced to Marilyn Monroe (who was, ironically, married to former CP member Arthur Miller at the time), see “Nikita Khrushchev Goes to Hollywood,” which appeared in Smithsonian Magazine.