Brezhnev: communist government in the USSR

Question 1

Brezhnev’s immediate policies

Answer 1

• Reverse Krushchev’s most unpopular reforms
• Reverse some aspects of de-stalinisation
• End economic change
• Also rejected mass terror
• Beleived that the revolutionary spirit had already been acheivede by 1930, therefore the communist party just needed to keep going on the course set out by Lenin and Stalin
• Emphasis on stability led to stagnation, corruption and growing problems
• Brezhnev and the party became defenders of the status quo

Question 2

Informal power-sharing pact between Brezhnev and Kosygin

Answer 2

• Both held large support in the Politburo
• Agreed to split power to prevent one them becoming to dominant
• Division of government positions: Key government roles were split between supporters of each leader
• Job security for officials: “stability of cadres” given long term positions, replaced Krushchev’s 1961 limited terms policy, which was unpopular
• End of the pact 1970: Kosygin lost his position, and Brezhnev became the most powerful figure in Soviet leadership

Question 3

What reforms of Krushchev’s did Brezhnev reverse when he first came to power

Answer 3

• Krushchev broke up central ministries, abolished the all union ministries and gave more power to the republics - decentralisation, Brezhnev reversed it all, Re-establishing the all union ministries
• Krushchev split the industrial and agricultural wings of the party which ended the split

Question 4

What did the stability of cadres lead to

Answer 4

• Gerontocracy - rule of old people
• 1964-71 only two people were promoted to the politburo
• 1966-71, between 80-90% of the central committee retains their jobs following party congresses

Question 5

Impact of the gerontocracy

Answer 5

• Generational gap between the government and society
• Senior officials became increasingly ill
• limited opportunities for promotion, low incentives
• Middle ranking officials stuck in dead end up jobs

Question 6

Corruption

Answer 6

• Soviet officials abused their position, as they couldn’t grow rich by hard work and promotion, they used their position to grow rich, this included nepotism
• Selling goods on the black market, for example the director of a major Moscow food store took bribes from rich customers for luxury foods
• “The cotton affair” - millions of roubles being claimed for non-existent cotton as officials fiddled with the figures
• Brezhnev was implicated in the corruption, one of his daughters lovers smuggled millions of pounds worth of diamonds out of the USSR

Question 7

Oligarchy

Answer 7

• Under Brezhnev the party leadership had developed into an oligarchy - Ruled by a small elite who govern their own interests
• The Dnepropetrovsk mafia - the name given to the an informal group of soviet politicians who held high office while Brezhnev was General secretary, they were united in the shared goal of maintaining the status quo
• Members included: Chernenko (later soviet leader), Shchelokov and Kirilenko

Question 8

The Brezhnev doctrine (social contract)

Answer 8

The promise that by following the USSR’s communist economic model, it will improve living standards and create a better country overall