Brezhnev Flashcards
Stability of the cadres
greater job security for government officials & an end to limited terms in office
Centralisation
re-establishment of the all-union ministries that Khrushchev had abolished
Brezhnev ends the split between the agricultural and industrial wings of the Party
Shared power
Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Party and Kosygin was
Premier (head of state)
Control of the cult
• From the mid-1960s the KGB waged war against dissidents.
• From 1971 (24th Congress) the policy of ‘developed socialism’ was introduced to aid conformity.
Article 6 of the Brezhnev
Constitution (1977) stressed the guiding role played by the Party.
• The Brezhnev cult developed but had comedic consequences.
Gerontocracy
• It was a consequence of the policy of ‘stability of cadres’
• 1964-71: only 2 people promoted to the Politburo.
• 1966-71: 80-90% of Central
Committee members retained their jobs after Congresses.
• 1966-82: average age in
Politburo up from 58 to 75.
Flaws in the system
• Lack of debate - 23rd
Congress (1966) known as
‘congress of silences’.
• A generation gap was created between the rulers of the
USSR & society.
• Senior officials became increasingly ill in office.
• From around 1977, Brezhnev’s
Brezhnev, with medals!
health deteriorated badly.
Corruption
‘Stability of cadres’ meant that whilst promotions were rare, so too were sackings.
• Lack of discipline in the Party led to corruption.
• Brezhnev’s daughter, Galina Brezhneva, was implicated in diamond smuggling.
• Nikolai Shchelakav, Minister of Interior 1966-82, committed suicide following dismissal.
Andropovs rule
• Andropov led the USSR for just 15 months (Nov. 1982-Feb. 1984); was already ill.
• Replaced ¼ of senior officials (end of ‘stability of cadres’).
• Formerly head of the KGB (secret police), he launched an anti-corruption drive.
• He also led anti-alcohol and anti-absenteeism campaigns.
Chernenkos rule
• Chernenko led the USSR for just 13 months after Andropov’s death (Feb. 1984-Mar. 1985).
• He was already 72 and ill.
• Gorbachev (his eventual successor) chaired most of the Party meetings in this period.
• He had been one of Brezhnev’s
“Depropetrovsk mafia”
Brezhnev doctrine
Soviet foreign policy
Any threat to socialist rule in any state of the soviet block in central and Eastern Europe it is justified to have intervention from other soviet states
When was the Prague spring
1968 Czechia a Hungary uprising to socialist rule
