Suddenly, in 1953, Stalin died. Mao saw Stalin as the leader of Communism, but also had a bad relationship with the Soviet Union throughout his time as leader. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was not like Stalin. He did not want capitalism to collapse like Stalin did. Mao got angry about this, and he wanted Nikita Khrushchev to help him fight the imperialists. Khrushchev said no, and then Mao decided that if Khrushchev was not going to cooperate, they would not work with each other anymore.