He was the first leader of the Soviet state. From Lenin to Putin: what and how Russian leaders were sick

22 years ago, on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the termination of the existence of the Soviet Union, and the country in which most of us were born disappeared. Over the 69 years of the existence of the USSR, seven people became its head, whom I propose to remember today. And not just remember, but also choose the most popular of them.
And since the New Year is coming soon, and given that in the Soviet Union the popularity and attitude of the people towards their leaders was measured, among other things, by the quality of the jokes written about them, I think it would be appropriate to remember the Soviet leaders through the prism of jokes about them.

.
Now we have almost forgotten what a political joke is - most jokes about current politicians are paraphrased jokes from Soviet times. Although there are also witty and original ones, for example, here is an anecdote from the time Yulia Tymoshenko was in power: There is a knock on Tymoshenko’s office, the door opens, a giraffe, a hippopotamus and a hamster enter the office and ask: “Yulia Vladimirovna, how will you comment on the rumors that you use drugs?”.
In Ukraine, the situation with humor about politicians is generally somewhat different than in Russia. In Kyiv they believe that it is bad for politicians if they are not laughed at, it means they are not interesting to the people. And since in Ukraine they still make elections, the PR services of politicians even order laughs at their bosses. It is no secret, for example, that the most popular Ukrainian “95th Quarter” takes money to ridicule the person who paid. This is the fashion of Ukrainian politicians.
Yes, they themselves sometimes don’t mind making fun of themselves. There was once a very popular anecdote about oneself among Ukrainian deputies: The session of the Verkhovna Rada ends, one deputy says to another: “It was such a difficult session, we need to rest. Let's go out of town, take a few bottles of whiskey, rent a sauna, take girls, have sex...” He answers: “How? In front of girls?!!”.

But let's return to the Soviet leaders.

.
The first ruler of the Soviet state was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. For a long time, the image of the leader of the proletariat was beyond the reach of jokes, but during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev times in the USSR, the number of Leninist motives in Soviet propaganda increased sharply.
And the endless glorification of Lenin’s personality (as it usually happened in almost everything in the Union) led to the exact opposite of the desired result - to the appearance of many anecdotes ridiculing Lenin. There were so many of them that even jokes about jokes about Lenin appeared.

.
In honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth, a competition has been announced for the best political joke about Lenin.
3rd prize - 5 years in Lenin's places.
2nd prize - 10 years of strict regime.
1st prize - meeting with the hero of the day.

This is largely explained by the tough policy pursued by Lenin’s successor Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who in 1922 took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. There were also jokes about Stalin, and they remained not only in the materials of the criminal cases brought against them, but also in people’s memory.
Moreover, in jokes about Stalin one can feel not only a subconscious fear of the “father of all nations,” but also respect for him, and even pride in their leader. Some kind of mixed attitude towards power, which apparently was passed on to us from generation to generation at the genetic level.

.
- Comrade Stalin, what should we do with Sinyavsky?
- Which Synavsky is this? Football announcer?
- No, Comrade Stalin, writer.
- Why do we need two Synavskys?

On September 13, 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin (March 1953), Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Since Khrushchev’s personality was filled with deep contradictions, they were reflected in jokes about him: from undisguised irony and even contempt for the leader of the state to a rather friendly attitude towards Nikita Sergeevich himself and his peasant humor.

.
The pioneer asked Khrushchev:
- Uncle, is it true what dad said when you launched not only a satellite, but also agriculture?
- Tell your dad that I plant more than just corn.

On October 14, 1964, Khrushchev was replaced as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who, as you know, was not averse to listening to jokes about himself - their source was Brezhnev’s personal hairdresser Tolik.
In a certain sense, the country was lucky then, because what came to power, as everyone soon became convinced, was a kindly, non-cruel man who did not make any special moral demands on himself, his comrades, or the Soviet people. And the Soviet people responded to Brezhnev with the same anecdotes about him - kindly and not cruel.

.
At a Politburo meeting, Leonid Ilyich pulled out a piece of paper and said:
- I want to make a statement!
Everyone looked attentively at the piece of paper.
“Comrades,” Leonid Ilyich began to read, “I want to raise the issue of senile sclerosis. Things have gone too far. Vshera at the funeral of comrade Kosygin...
Leonid Ilyich looked up from the piece of paper.
- For some reason I don’t see him here... So, when the music started playing, I was the only one who thought of asking the lady to dance!..

On November 12, 1982, Brezhnev’s place was taken by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who previously headed the State Security Committee and adhered to a rigid conservative position on fundamental issues.
The course proclaimed by Antropov was aimed at socio-economic transformations through administrative measures. The harshness of some of them seemed unusual to the Soviet people in the 1980s, and they responded with appropriate anecdotes.

On February 13, 1984, the post of head of the Soviet state was taken by Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, who was considered a contender for the post of General Secretary even after Brezhnev’s death.
He was elected as a transitional intermediate figure in the CPSU Central Committee while it was undergoing a struggle for power between several party groups. Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital.

.
The Politburo decided:
1. Appoint Chernenko K.U. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
2. Bury him on Red Square.

On March 10, 1985, Chernenko was replaced by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who carried out numerous reforms and campaigns that ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
And Soviet political jokes about Gorbachev, accordingly, ended.

.
- What is the peak of pluralism?
- This is when the opinion of the President of the USSR absolutely does not coincide with the opinion of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Well, now the poll.

Which leader of the Soviet Union, in your opinion, was the best ruler of the USSR?

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

23 (6.4 % )

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin

114 (31.8 % )

General Secretaries (General Secretaries) of the USSR... Once upon a time, their faces were known to almost every resident of our huge country. Today they are only part of history. Each of these political figures committed actions and deeds that were assessed later, and not always positively. It should be noted that the general secretaries were chosen not by the people, but by the ruling elite. In this article we will present a list of general secretaries of the USSR (with photos) in chronological order.

J.V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili)

This politician was born in the Georgian city of Gori on December 18, 1879 in the family of a shoemaker. In 1922, while V.I. was still alive. Lenin (Ulyanov), he was appointed first general secretary. It is he who heads the list of general secretaries of the USSR in chronological order. However, it should be noted that while Lenin was alive, Joseph Vissarionovich played a secondary role in governing the state. After the death of the “leader of the proletariat,” a serious struggle broke out for the highest government post. Numerous competitors of I.V. Dzhugashvili had every chance of taking this post. But thanks to uncompromising and sometimes even harsh actions and political intrigues, Stalin emerged victorious from the game and managed to establish a regime of personal power. Let us note that most of the applicants were simply physically destroyed, and the rest were forced to leave the country. In a fairly short period of time, Stalin managed to take the country into a tight grip. In the early thirties, Joseph Vissarionovich became the sole leader of the people.

The policy of this USSR Secretary General went down in history:

• mass repressions;
• collectivization;
• total dispossession.

In the 37-38 years of the last century, mass terror was carried out, in which the number of victims reached 1,500,000 people. In addition, historians blame Joseph Vissarionovich for his policy of forced collectivization, mass repressions that occurred in all layers of society, and the forced industrialization of the country. Some of the leader’s character traits affected the country’s internal politics:

• sharpness;
• thirst for unlimited power;
• high self-esteem;
• intolerance of other people's judgment.

Cult of personality

Photos of the Secretary General of the USSR, as well as other leaders who have ever held this post, can be found in the presented article. We can say with confidence that Stalin’s cult of personality had a very tragic impact on the fate of millions of different people: scientific and creative intelligentsia, government and party leaders, and the military.

For all this, during the Thaw, Joseph Stalin was branded by his followers. But not all the leader’s actions are reprehensible. According to historians, there are also moments for which Stalin deserves praise. Of course, the most important thing is the victory over fascism. In addition, there was a fairly rapid transformation of the destroyed country into an industrial and even military giant. There is an opinion that if it were not for Stalin’s personality cult, which is now condemned by everyone, many achievements would have been impossible. The death of Joseph Vissarionovich occurred on March 5, 1953. Let's look at all the general secretaries of the USSR in order.

N. S. Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeevich was born in the Kursk province on April 15, 1894, into an ordinary working-class family. He took part in the civil war on the side of the Bolsheviks. He was a member of the CPSU since 1918. At the end of the thirties, he was appointed secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Nikita Sergeevich headed the Soviet Union some time after the death of Stalin. It should be said that he had to compete for this post with G. Malenkov, who chaired the Council of Ministers and at that time was actually the leader of the country. But still, the leading role went to Nikita Sergeevich.

During the reign of Khrushchev N.S. as Secretary General of the USSR in the country:

1. The first man was launched into space, and all sorts of developments in this area took place.
2. A huge part of the fields were planted with corn, thanks to which Khrushchev was nicknamed the “corn farmer.”
3. During his reign, active construction of five-story buildings began, which later became known as “Khrushchev buildings.”

Khrushchev became one of the initiators of the “thaw” in foreign and domestic policy, the rehabilitation of victims of repression. This politician made an unsuccessful attempt to modernize the party-state system. He also announced a significant improvement (on a par with capitalist countries) in living conditions for the Soviet people. At the XX and XXII Congresses of the CPSU, in 1956 and 1961. accordingly, he spoke harshly about the activities of Joseph Stalin and his cult of personality. However, the construction of a nomenclature regime in the country, the forceful dispersal of demonstrations (in 1956 - in Tbilisi, in 1962 - in Novocherkassk), the Berlin (1961) and Caribbean (1962) crises, the aggravation of relations with China, the building of communism by 1980 and the well-known political call to “catch up and overtake America!” - all this made Khrushchev’s policy inconsistent. And on October 14, 1964, Nikita Sergeevich was relieved of his position. Khrushchev died on September 11, 1971, after a long illness.

L. I. Brezhnev

The third in order on the list of general secretaries of the USSR is L. I. Brezhnev. Born in the village of Kamenskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region on December 19, 1906. Member of the CPSU since 1931. He took the position of General Secretary as a result of a conspiracy. Leonid Ilyich was the leader of a group of members of the Central Committee (Central Committee) that removed Nikita Khrushchev. The era of Brezhnev's rule in the history of our country is characterized as stagnation. This happened for the following reasons:

• except for the military-industrial sphere, the country's development was stopped;
• The Soviet Union began to lag significantly behind Western countries;
• Repression and persecution began again, people again felt the grip of the state.

Note that during the reign of this politician there were both negative and favorable sides. At the very beginning of his reign, Leonid Ilyich played a positive role in the life of the state. He curtailed all the unreasonable undertakings created by Khrushchev in the economic sphere. In the first years of Brezhnev's rule, enterprises were given more independence, material incentives, and the number of planned indicators was reduced. Brezhnev tried to establish good relations with the United States, but he never succeeded. But after the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, this became impossible.

Period of stagnation

By the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, Brezhnev's entourage was more concerned about their own clan interests and often ignored the interests of the state as a whole. The politician’s inner circle pleased the sick leader in everything and awarded him orders and medals. The reign of Leonid Ilyich lasted for 18 years, he was in power the longest, with the exception of Stalin. The eighties in the Soviet Union are characterized as a “period of stagnation.” Although, after the devastation of the 90s, it is increasingly presented as a period of peace, state power, prosperity and stability. Most likely, these opinions have a right to be, because the entire Brezhnev period of rule is heterogeneous in nature. L.I. Brezhnev held his position until November 10, 1982, until his death.

Yu. V. Andropov

This politician spent less than 2 years as Secretary General of the USSR. Yuri Vladimirovich was born into the family of a railway worker on June 15, 1914. His homeland is the Stavropol Territory, the city of Nagutskoye. Party member since 1939. Thanks to the fact that the politician was active, he quickly climbed the career ladder. At the time of Brezhnev’s death, Yuri Vladimirovich headed the State Security Committee.

He was nominated for the post of General Secretary by his comrades. Andropov set himself the task of reforming the Soviet state, trying to prevent the impending socio-economic crisis. But, unfortunately, I didn’t have time. During the reign of Yuri Vladimirovich, special attention was paid to labor discipline in the workplace. While serving as Secretary General of the USSR, Andropov opposed the numerous privileges that were provided to employees of the state and party apparatus. Andropov showed this by personal example, refusing most of them. After his death on February 9, 1984 (due to a long illness), this politician was least criticized and most of all aroused public support.

K. U. Chernenko

On September 24, 1911, Konstantin Chernenko was born into a peasant family in the Yeisk province. He has been in the ranks of the CPSU since 1931. He was appointed to the position of General Secretary on February 13, 1984, immediately after Yu.V. Andropova. While governing the state, he continued the policies of his predecessor. He served as Secretary General for about a year. The death of the politician occurred on March 10, 1985, the cause was a serious illness.

M.S. Gorbachev

The politician's date of birth was March 2, 1931; his parents were simple peasants. Gorbachev’s homeland is the village of Privolnoye in the North Caucasus. He joined the ranks of the Communist Party in 1952. He acted as an active public figure, so he quickly moved up the party line. Mikhail Sergeevich completes the list of general secretaries of the USSR. He was appointed to this position on March 11, 1985. Later he became the only and last president of the USSR. The era of his reign went down in history with the policy of “perestroika”. It provided for the development of democracy, the introduction of openness, and the provision of economic freedom to the people. These reforms of Mikhail Sergeevich led to mass unemployment, a total shortage of goods and the liquidation of a huge number of state-owned enterprises.

Collapse of the Union

During the reign of this politician, the USSR collapsed. All fraternal republics of the Soviet Union declared their independence. It should be noted that in the West, M. S. Gorbachev is considered perhaps the most respected Russian politician. Mikhail Sergeevich has the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev served as General Secretary until August 24, 1991. He headed the Soviet Union until December 25 of the same year. In 2018, Mikhail Sergeevich turned 87 years old.

Buying a higher education diploma means securing a happy and successful future for yourself. Nowadays, without documents of higher education you will not be able to get a job anywhere. Only with a diploma can you try to get into a place that will bring not only benefits, but also pleasure from the work performed. Financial and social success, high social status - this is what possessing a higher education diploma brings.

Immediately after finishing their last school year, most of yesterday's students already firmly know which university they want to enroll in. But life is unfair, and situations are different. You may not get into your chosen and desired university, and other educational institutions seem unsuitable for a variety of reasons. Such a “trips” in life can knock any person out of the saddle. However, the desire to become successful does not go away.

The reason for the lack of a diploma may also be the fact that you were unable to take a budget place. Unfortunately, the cost of education, especially at a prestigious university, is very high, and prices are constantly creeping up. These days, not all families can pay for their children’s education. So a financial issue can also cause a lack of educational documents.

The same problems with money can become a reason for yesterday’s high school student to go to work in construction instead of university. If family circumstances suddenly change, for example, the breadwinner passes away, there will be nothing to pay for education, and the family needs to live on something.

It also happens that everything goes well, you manage to successfully enter a university and everything is fine with your studies, but love happens, a family is formed and you simply don’t have enough energy or time to study. In addition, much more money is needed, especially if a child appears in the family. Paying for tuition and supporting a family is extremely expensive and you have to sacrifice your diploma.

An obstacle to obtaining higher education may also be the fact that the university chosen for the specialty is located in another city, perhaps quite far from home. Studying there can be hampered by parents who do not want to let their child go, the fears that a young man who has just graduated from school may experience in front of an unknown future, or the same lack of necessary funds.

As you can see, there are a huge number of reasons for not getting the required diploma. However, the fact remains that without a diploma, counting on a well-paid and prestigious job is a waste of time. At this moment, the realization comes that it is necessary to somehow resolve this issue and get out of the current situation. Anyone who has time, energy and money decides to go to university and receive a diploma through the official means. Everyone else has two options - not to change anything in their lives and remain to vegetate on the outskirts of fate, and the second, more radical and courageous - to buy a specialist, bachelor's or master's degree. You can also purchase any document in Moscow

However, those people who want to get settled in life need a document that will be no different from the original document. That is why it is necessary to pay maximum attention to the choice of the company to which you will entrust the creation of your diploma. Take your choice with maximum responsibility, in this case you will have a great chance to successfully change the course of your life.

In this case, no one will ever be interested in the origin of your diploma - you will be assessed solely as a person and an employee.

Purchasing a diploma in Russia is very easy!

Our company successfully fulfills orders for a variety of documents - buy a certificate for 11 classes, order a college diploma or purchase a vocational school diploma and much more. Also on our website you can buy marriage and divorce certificates, order birth and death certificates. We complete the work in a short time, and undertake the creation of documents for urgent orders.

We guarantee that by ordering any documents from us, you will receive them on time, and the papers themselves will be of excellent quality. Our documents are no different from the originals, since we use only real GOZNAK forms. This is the same type of documents that an ordinary university graduate receives. Their complete identity guarantees your peace of mind and the ability to get any job without the slightest problem.

To place an order, you only need to clearly define your desires by selecting the desired type of university, specialty or profession, and also indicating the correct year of graduation from the higher educational institution. This will help confirm your story about your studies if you are asked about receiving your diploma.

Our company has been successfully working on creating diplomas for a long time, so it knows perfectly well how to prepare documents for different years of graduation. All our diplomas correspond to the smallest details with similar original documents. Confidentiality of your order is a law for us that we never violate.

We will quickly complete your order and deliver it to you just as quickly. To do this, we use the services of couriers (for delivery within the city) or transport companies that transport our documents throughout the country.

We are confident that the diploma purchased from us will be the best assistant in your future career.

Advantages of purchasing a diploma

Purchasing a diploma with entry into the register has the following advantages:

• Saving time for many years of training.
• The ability to acquire any higher education diploma remotely, even in parallel with studying at another university. You can have as many documents as you wish.
• A chance to indicate the desired grades in the “Appendix”.
• Saving a day on the purchase, while officially receiving a diploma with posting in St. Petersburg costs much more than a finished document.
• Official proof of study at a higher education institution in the specialty you require.
• Having a higher education in St. Petersburg will open all the roads for quick career advancement.

The first ruler of the young Country of Soviets, which arose as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, was the head of the RCP (b) - the Bolshevik Party - Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), who led the “revolution of workers and peasants”. All subsequent rulers of the USSR held the post of general secretary of the central committee of this organization, which, starting in 1922, became known as the CPSU - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Let us note that the ideology of the system ruling the country denied the possibility of holding any national elections or voting. The change of the highest leaders of the state was carried out by the ruling elite itself, either after the death of their predecessor, or as a result of coups, accompanied by serious internal party struggle. The article will list the rulers of the USSR in chronological order and highlight the main stages in the life path of some of the most prominent historical figures.

Ulyanov (Lenin) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924)

One of the most famous figures in the history of Soviet Russia. Vladimir Ulyanov stood at the origins of its creation, was the organizer and one of the leaders of the event, which gave rise to the world's first communist state. Having led a coup in October 1917 aimed at overthrowing the provisional government, he took the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars - the post of leader of a new country formed from the ruins of the Russian Empire.

His merit is considered to be the peace treaty of 1918 with Germany, which marked the end of the NEP - the government's new economic policy, which was supposed to lead the country out of the abyss of widespread poverty and hunger. All the rulers of the USSR considered themselves “faithful Leninists” and in every possible way praised Vladimir Ulyanov as a great statesman.

It should be noted that immediately after the “reconciliation with the Germans,” the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin, unleashed internal terror against dissent and the legacy of tsarism, which claimed millions of lives. The NEP policy also did not last long and was canceled shortly after his death, which occurred on January 21, 1924.

Dzhugashvili (Stalin) Joseph Vissarionovich (1879-1953)

Joseph Stalin became the first General Secretary in 1922. However, right up to the death of V.I. Lenin, he remained in the secondary leadership role of the state, inferior in popularity to his other comrades, who also aimed to become the rulers of the USSR. Nevertheless, after the death of the leader of the world proletariat, Stalin quickly eliminated his main opponents, accusing them of betraying the ideals of the revolution.

By the early 1930s, he became the sole leader of nations, capable of deciding the fate of millions of citizens with the stroke of a pen. His policy of forced collectivization and dispossession, which replaced the NEP, as well as mass repressions against people dissatisfied with the current government, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of USSR citizens. However, the period of Stalin's reign is noticeable not only in its bloody trail; it is worth noting the positive aspects of his leadership. In a short time, the Union turned from a country with a third-rate economy into a powerful industrial power that won the battle against fascism.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, many cities in the western part of the USSR, destroyed almost to the ground, were quickly restored, and their industry became even more efficient. The rulers of the USSR, who held the highest position after Joseph Stalin, denied his leading role in the development of the state and characterized his reign as a period of the cult of the leader’s personality.

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich (1894-1971)

Coming from a simple peasant family, N.S. Khrushchev took the helm of the party shortly after Stalin’s death, which occurred. During the first years of his reign, he waged a behind-the-scenes struggle with G.M. Malenkov, who held the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers and was the de facto leader of the state.

In 1956, Khrushchev read a report on Stalin’s repressions at the 20th Party Congress, condemning the actions of his predecessor. The reign of Nikita Sergeevich was marked by the development of the space program - the launch of an artificial satellite and the first human flight into space. His new one allowed many citizens of the country to move from cramped communal apartments to more comfortable separate housing. The houses that were built en masse at that time are still popularly called “Khrushchev buildings.”

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich (1907-1982)

On October 14, 1964, N. S. Khrushchev was removed from his post by a group of members of the Central Committee under the leadership of L. I. Brezhnev. For the first time in the history of the state, the rulers of the USSR were replaced in order not after the death of the leader, but as a result of an internal party conspiracy. The Brezhnev era in Russian history is known as stagnation. The country stopped developing and began to lose to the leading world powers, lagging behind them in all sectors, excluding military-industrial.

Brezhnev made some attempts to improve relations with the United States, which were damaged in 1962, when N.S. Khrushchev ordered the deployment of missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba. Agreements were signed with the American leadership that limited the arms race. However, all the efforts of L.I. Brezhnev to defuse the situation were canceled out by the introduction of troops into Afghanistan.

Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich (1914-1984)

After Brezhnev's death on November 10, 1982, his place was taken by Yu. Andropov, who had previously headed the KGB - the USSR State Security Committee. He set a course for reforms and transformations in the social and economic spheres. His reign was marked by the initiation of criminal cases exposing corruption in government circles. However, Yuri Vladimirovich did not have time to make any changes in the life of the state, as he had serious health problems and died on February 9, 1984.

Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich (1911-1985)

Since February 13, 1984, he held the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. He continued the policy of his predecessor to expose corruption in the echelons of power. He was very ill and died in 1985, having held the highest government post for just over a year. All past rulers of the USSR, according to the order established in the state, were buried with K.U. Chernenko was the last on this list.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich (1931)

M. S. Gorbachev is the most famous Russian politician of the late twentieth century. He won love and popularity in the West, but his rule evokes ambivalent feelings among the citizens of his country. If Europeans and Americans call him a great reformer, many people in Russia consider him the destroyer of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev proclaimed domestic economic and political reforms, carried out under the slogan “Perestroika, Glasnost, Acceleration!”, which led to massive shortages of food and industrial goods, unemployment and a drop in the standard of living of the population.

It would be wrong to assert that the era of M. S. Gorbachev’s rule had only negative consequences for the life of our country. In Russia, the concepts of a multi-party system, freedom of religion and the press appeared. For his foreign policy, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The rulers of the USSR and Russia, neither before nor after Mikhail Sergeevich, were awarded such an honor.