In May 1962 Khrushchev and the Politburo decided to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to demonstrate to the Americans what it was like to have nuclear missiles on its borders. The leadership knew that this policy would have serious consequences and ordered the military-industrial complex to increase armaments production. They chose guns over butter. This dramatic shift of the national resources away from the satisfaction of consumer demand towards expanded military capability was a watershed in the development of the USSR.

The country had to tighten its belt again. The relative improvement of people's material standard of living achieved in 1955-60 was brought to a halt. A period of unrest began. In early 1962 in the city of Aleksandrov the authorities opened fire on a crowd of protesters. This marked the beginning of a series of clashes between the people and the state, which proved that people's trust in the authorities had been unfounded.

On 1 June a price rise for meat, butter and eggs was announced. As usual the 'necessity of important economic reforms' was advanced as an argument for this attack on ordinary people's basic standards of living: "Everyone must grasp that if we don't implement measures today such as an increase in the retail price of meat, tomorrow we will see a shortage of these products and there will be queues for meat," said Khrushchev, describing the essence of the reforms.   Actually meat had already disappeared from the shelves in small towns and villages. People there had to purchase meat and other foodstuffs in the cities, or at private markets. At markets, however, the prices depended on those in the public sector and shot up after Khrushchev's announcement, thus making the supply situation unbearable.

The economic crisis of 1960-62 created an explosive situation. The price reform sent shock-waves through the entire country. Indignant workers held discussions to work out what was happening, but in the end they kept working all the same. In Novocherkassk it was different.

Hardest hit by the price rise were those workers whose enterprises had just cut wages. Among them were the workers of the 'Budyonny' Electric Locomotive Factory in Novocherkassk. The workers got together in groups and began discussing how they were going to make ends meet.

The situation was made worse by the arrogant attitude of the management who ordered the workers to fall in line with the policy. Large groups of workers formed and a strike for food was prepared. The metalworkers’ union put up signs 'Give us meat and butter!' and 'We need flats to live in!' The slogan 'Eat minced Khrushchev!' became very popular. The factory siren sounded brining in more workers from the nearby workers’ suburb.

The factory management and the police were unable to stop these workers from joining their comrades. They refused to discuss the crisis with the workers. Soon, the discussions among the workers turned from just food shortages to a wider discussion on the political failings of the Soviet system. They sent out messengers to the surrounding plants and engaged workers throughout the Novocherkassk factories in a united protest.

They held a mass meeting and prepared for a march the following day, along with residents of the town and the students, to make their protests known to the authorities. Before breaking up their meeting, the strikers went through the factory management's offices, collected the numerous portraits of Khrushchev, and burnt them outside on a bonfire, leaving no doubt as to the political nature of the movement.

That night, when the mass-meeting was over, tanks arrived. Workers who were unable to go to sleep that night after the heady events of the day began fighting their own Soviet Army and 'blinded' the tanks by covering up their vision slits. In the course of this battle a tank crashed into a pylon, knocking it over and tearing down a power-line. The tank rolled into a trench and was unable to get out. That same night the KGB carried out its first series of arrests, taking into custody many of the speakers at the rally.

On the morning of 2 June a demonstration of between 10,000 and 30,000 participants began in front of the electric locomotive factory and set off towards the city centre. People carried placards with slogans calling for the maintenance of social justice; there were also portraits of Lenin. At the front were Pioneers (members of the Party children's organization.

When the demonstrators approached the bridge over the river Techa separating the workers' suburb from the rest of Novocherkassk, they found tanks on the road ahead of them. The crowd of thousands began to chant: " Make Way for the Working Class!" The tanks did not move, nor did their crews give any sign of life, and the workers passed between them and continued on their way.

Finally the crowd reached the buildings of the city council and began demanding that the administrators come out. The square was full of people, old and young. The administration had fled through the back door. The workers’ leaders went to the balcony and spoke on the same topic - life had become misery, and that the bureaucrats were wallowing in luxury. Almost all those who spoke called for a continuation of the work stoppage until the prices of meat, milk and butter were lowered and the wages at the factory raised.

At that point in time soldiers armed with automatic weapons were brought in. They forced back the crowd and cleared the city council building of demonstrators. It seemed the situation was under control and there was some possibility of negotiations. The bulk of demonstrators then headed for police headquarters and began demanding that those arrested be set free. But nobody was released from the cells. Then the assembled demonstrators stormed the building.

Suddenly there were sharp reports of machinegun fire. The soldiers opened fire on the people near the police station. Almost immediately all the protestors at the municipal building were fired upon by soldiers, including those high on the roofs. It was not so much the soldiers cordoning off the city council building who fired, but ones high up on the roofs of the buildings firing down at the mass of people assembled in the square. Not only people in the square were killed but also in a hairdressers' and near a shop on the far side of the square separated from the city council building by the dense crowd.

Bullets tore through the foliage of the trees at the very beginning of the shooting, hitting the children there and making them drop into the crowd. Bullets bored into the asphalt quite some distance from the scene of the massacre. All this evidence excludes the possibility of the shooting in front of the city council being an unfortunate coincidence - the machine-gunners stationed on the rooftops around the perimeter of the square were clearly given the order to open fire.

Who gave the order to open fire? It is a known fact that General Shaposhnikov refused to order the massacre, and that cost him his career. That means the order was given higher up. The government delegation led by A. Mikoyan and F. Kozlov arrived from Moscow before the massacre, so the decision cannot have been made without their knowledge.

There were bodies everywhere, including a large number of children. However, the people were not to be intimidated so quickly. They began coming back to the square almost straight after the massacre, but were met by a terrible sight. The square was awash with blood, and the trampled white sun-hats of the children stood out against the bloody, dirty mess. The news that there had been a massacre soon reached everyone and produced an unexpected reaction. The majority of factories stopped work, the streets filled with people. Cars with workers drove up from all directions. Workers got out in Moscow Street and walked in silence to the square in front of the city council building in a tight, irrepressible column as wide as the street itself. The workers filled the streets in a massive demonstration, even though armed soldiers could be seen in the distance.

There was a sea of people on the square in front of the city council building; almost twenty thousand workers and their families. The tanks there tried to move off the square, but people wouldn't let them. "Tell Khrushchev! Tell Khrushchev!" the crowd chanted, and then: "Let him see this! Let him see this!” Mikoyan went on radio and announced: "After consulting Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev we have decided to take all measures necessary to restore order in Novocherkassk!"   People's reaction was most understandable: "Come on and tell us about it, or come here and face us!" And when nothing was forthcoming: "Ha, crawled back into his hole, has he?!" Tanks moved up to the crowd. But the first tank stopped dead in its tracks in front of a row of brave protesters who joined arms and blocked its path. At the same time children climbed on top of the tank and started banging stones against the hatch. The tanks fired blank shells which shattered nearby windows and caused squeezing in the crowd, they also turned on their axis full circle, but the crowd refused to disperse.

Mikoyan and his government commission agreed to speak with the workers. He grudgingly said that he could look into raising the wages but could do nothing about the prices. The workers were not interested in this; they wanted to speak about the massacre of Soviet citizens by the police and the Red Army. No progress was made. The workers were surrounded by troops and were allowed to leave but not return. That night the KGB struck again. During the events of the previous two days the KGB had taken thousands of photographs so as to keep track of everything that happened in detail. These were used to identify the 'leaders' and agitators. Everyone who was arrested was interrogated and shown the photographs. Under threat of punishment they were forced to reveal the identity of people they recognized. The movement was thus deprived of its leading participants. At the same time a curfew was imposed on the city and food supplies were improved - a stick and carrot strategy by the authorities.

Although the revolt was hushed up and the trials not reported the Procurator-General’s report makes it clear that the top levels of the Soviet state were involved.” In the morning of 2 June comrades Kirilenko, Kozlov, Mikoyan, Il'ichev, Polyansky, Shelepin and responsible staff of the central organs of the country arrived at the building of the City Party Committee and City Executive Committee... F R Kozlov informed N S Khrushchev about the situation and requested, through the Minister of Defence of the USSR, that the commander of troops I A Pliev be instructed to use troops to break up any possible pogroms in the city. On 2 June internal troops were brought from Rostov-on-Don and all were given weapons and ammunition, and by 10 o'clock all divisions of these troops were in a state of battle-readiness .”The authorities admitted to the deaths of 22 workers and the wounding of 39 more. This was a gross understatement according to witnesses. About sixteen children were murdered and many more were hurt or arrested.

The government decided to make Novocherkassk a ‘ Hero City’; a designation which would allow it to have better rations than before. The Soviet system was rocked by this city-wide protest. The news traveled all over Russia through the grapevine, as well as to the neighbouring states. The working people, united, had forced changes from the USSR apparat. Change was in the air and the state was shown to be vulnerable.

It was this news which inspired workers organizations across the Soviet Empire to think they had a chance to change the system. It was an inspiration to Solidarnosc who referred to it in its early organizational pamphlets. This was not East German or Poznan rioters on the fringe; this was an explosion in the very heart of the beast.

So, when evaluating the causes of the implosion of the Soviet system, it would be a mistake to undervalue the heroic struggles of the workers of Novocherkassk. They were an important first step which inspired others.