Interesting facts about the penultimate leader of the USSR, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko. Anna Chernenko: “I cried when I learned that my husband became Secretary General! Chernenko's board

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko(1911–1985) - Soviet statesman and party leader, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1984–1985); Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; member of the CPSU Central Committee (since 1971); member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (since 1978).

Born on September 11, 1911 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky District, into a simple peasant family. Lost my mother early. He graduated from three classes of a rural school. After the Civil War in the 1920s, he worked in the district committee of the Komsomol as head of the propaganda and agitation department in Novoselovo.

In the early 1930s he served at a border outpost in Kazakhstan. While serving in the Red Army, he joined the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). After finishing his military service, Chernenko moved up the party line, and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was appointed secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee.

In 1943–1945, K.U. Chernenko studied in Moscow at the Higher School of Party Organizers, from which he graduated with honors. In 1945–1948 he worked as secretary of the Central Committee of the Penza Regional Party Committee. Having proven himself well in the Penza Regional Committee, he received a promotion, and in 1948 he was appointed head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the Moldavian SSR, where he met the first secretary of the Communist Party of Moldova L.I. Brezhnev. All subsequent activities of Chernenko are inextricably linked with Brezhnev, whose business relations while working in the Central Committee of the Moldavian SSR grew into personal friendship.

In 1956, Brezhnev was transferred to Moscow as secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Chernenko relentlessly follows him and is appointed assistant to the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and later - head of the sector in the propaganda department. In 1960–1964, Brezhnev held the high position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Chernenko in 1960–1965 – head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

After the removal of N.S. Khrushchev in 1964, Brezhnev became the de facto head of state. Since 1966, Brezhnev has been the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and Chernenko has become a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. From 1965 to 1982 he headed the general department of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1976 he became a member of the CPSU Central Committee, and in 1977 - a candidate member of the Politburo.

Chernenko was prone to painstaking, labor-intensive, routine hardware work. After sorting and carefully processing, he provided the huge flow of information passing through him to Brezhnev. Chernenko had a phenomenal memory and was known as Brezhnev’s “personal secretary.” He was extremely hardworking, punctual, efficient and devoted to the ideals of socialism and personally to Brezhnev, who had unlimited trust in Konstantin Ustinovich.
In 1975, he was part of the official delegation of the USSR during the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki, Finland, and in 1979 he accompanied Brezhnev in Vienna on disarmament issues.

Chernenko was rightfully considered Brezhnev’s successor, but he could not resist Yu.V. Andropov in the struggle for power as the General Secretary of the CPSU. After the death of Brezhnev, it was Chernenko who, at an extraordinary plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, proposed the candidacy of Yu.V. Andropov for the leadership post. Chernenko’s tactical move turned out to be absolutely correct, and he managed to retain his position in the Central Committee during Andropov’s reign.

After the death of Andropov, on February 13, 1984, the seriously ill Chernenko, at the age of 72, was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The period of his reign as Secretary General is characterized by extremely complex relations with the United States and Western European countries. In 1984, the USSR and all Warsaw Pact countries were forced to abandon the Olympic Games, which were held in Los Angeles, America, after the blockade of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 by capitalist countries.

During Chernenko's reign, no important changes occurred in the country that were planned during Andropov's lifetime. Many historians are inclined to believe that under Chernenko the Brezhnev times of the “golden stagnation” returned. Numerous repressions against high-ranking corrupt officials, begun under Andropov, were suspended. Galina Brezhneva, involved in the “diamond case,” was released from house arrest. In relation to N.A. Shchelokov, on the contrary, Chernenko did not take any rehabilitation measures, as a result of which the former Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR committed suicide. A high-profile case regarding the theft of the director of the Moscow Eliseevsky store, Sokolov, ended with the execution of the latter.

However, it was under Chernenko that there was a significant improvement in relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China and Albania; the role of trade unions has increased; The level of cooperation within the CMEA has increased. In 1984, the USSR became a world leader in the production and consumption of electricity.

Chernenko restored to the party prominent statesmen of the Stalin era, demoted by Khrushchev - V.M. Molotov, L.M. Kaganovich, G.M. Malenkov. The party card was presented to Molotov personally by Chernenko.

Before his death, Chernenko signed a decree renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad. A resolution of the CPSU Central Committee was being prepared “On correcting the subjective approach and excesses that took place in the second half of the 1950s - early 1960s when assessing the activities of I.V. Stalin and his closest associates.” He also personally invited Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva to the USSR, who returned to Moscow, where she lived until the fall of 1986.

Chernenko died on March 10, 1985 in Moscow at the age of 74 from heart failure. He was the last to be buried on Red Square near the Kremlin wall.

Chernenko was awarded the star of Hero of Socialist Labor in 1976, 1981 and 1982.

Was married twice. From his first marriage, Chernenko had a son, Albert; from his second, a son, Vladimir, and daughters, Vera and Elena.

Foreign awards:

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (September 11 (24) ( 19110924 ) - March 10) - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from February 13, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from April 11 (deputy - since). Member of the CPSU (b) since 1931, the CPSU Central Committee - since 1971 (candidate of the 20th), member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee since 1978 (candidate of the 20th).

Parents and family

Father, Ustin Demidovich, moved from Ukraine to the Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory at the end of the 19th century. He lived in a spacious house on the banks of a large river. He worked in the fields: first in copper mines, then in gold mines. His wife, Kharitina Dmitrievna, did the sowing work. Tall, strong, fast, she lifted and threw three-pound bags in her hands. After her death from typhus in 1919, Ustin married a second time. From his first marriage there were two daughters and two sons. The children did not like the stepmother. The village of Bolshaya Tes, where they were born, was later flooded by a new sea during the creation of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir in 1972, and its inhabitants were resettled in Novoselovo.

Chernenko's sister, Valentina Ustinovna, was born a little earlier than Konstantin Ustinovich. She had a strong, domineering character.

...I also played some role in Chernenko’s nomination. Chernenko worked in Krasnoyarsk. His sister, Valentina Ustinovna, is a smart girl, a little older than Konstantin. She was very friendly with Oleg Borisovich Aristov, who worked as the first secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional committee. Aristov's wife died, he was a widower. Valentina Ustinovna's husband died at the front. Well, they were dating. Valentina Ustinovna then worked as the head of the organizational department of the Krasnoyarsk city committee of the CPSU. At that time I was secretary in Chita. As a member of the military council of the Transbaikal district, I had an airplane. When I was flying to Moscow, Siberian secretaries called me: “Capture.” I captured Khvorostukhin in Irkutsk, and Aristov in Krasnoyarsk. And Aristov very often traveled with Valentina Ustinovna. And one day I took this Kostya with me. Aristov sent him to study at the Higher Party School. We met often in Moscow. Aristov was always with Valentina Ustinovna, and Kostya often came into the hotel room. Once, when the conversation in the Central Committee turned to personnel for Moldova, I went ahead and said that Chernenko could provide propaganda issues; he graduated from the Higher Party School. Aristov supported my proposal. Then Constantine was sent to Moldova. There Brezhnev met him. In fact, they say he couldn’t write properly, but he helped Brezhnev compose speeches. Then Brezhnev showed up in Moscow. And Kostya fled from Moldova.

The General Secretary's brother, Nikolai Ustinovich, served in the police in the Tomsk region; I wasn’t in the war. In the early 80s he worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (oversaw educational institutions). Chernenko's other brother's name was Alexander.

Chernenko's first wife's name was Faina Vasilievna. She was born in the Novoselovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The marriage with her did not work out, but during this period a son, Albert, and a daughter, Lydia, were born. Albert Chernenko was the secretary of the Tomsk city committee of the CPSU for ideological work, the rector of the Novosibirsk Higher Party School. He defended his doctoral dissertation “Problems of Historical Causality” while working in the party. In the last years of his life, he was deputy dean of the law faculty of Tomsk State University located in Novosibirsk. Lived in Novosibirsk. He believed that the theory of convergence - the combination of opposites, in particular capitalism and socialism - was closest to him. Albert Konstantinovich Chernenko has two sons: Vladimir and Dmitry.

Second wife - Anna Dmitrievna (nee Lyubimova) was born on September 3, 1913 in the Rostov region.

Graduated from the Saratov Institute of Agricultural Engineering. She was a Komsomol organizer for the course, a member of the faculty bureau, and secretary of the Komsomol committee. In 1944 she married K.U. Chernenko. She protected her sick husband from going hunting with Brezhnev. Anna Dmitrievna was short, with a shy smile. From her marriage there were children: Vladimir, Vera and Elena. Anna Dmitrievna died on December 25, 2010 at the Central Clinical Hospital, after a long illness.

Vladimir Konstantinovich Chernenko was born in Chisinau in 1936, died of heart failure in 2006. His wife Galina Ivanovna. Has a son (born in 1980), named after Kostya’s grandfather. Vladimir’s son graduated from the Ryazan Airborne School, and daughter Olesya is a schoolgirl.

Elena Konstantinovna was born in Penza. Like her father, she graduated from a pedagogical institute. In 1974, Elena Chernenko defended her PhD thesis in philosophy on the topic: “Methodological problems of social determinism of human biology.” In 1979, E. Chernenko, together with K. E. Tarasov, published a book based on the dissertation materials and entitled “Social Determination of Human Biology”; in this book, referring to the works of the classics of Marxism, the authors defended the point of view of the primacy of the “social” in the formation of human behavior. Tarasov and Chernenko identified 60 options for solving the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social, presenting these options and all sorts of modifications in the form of diagrams and drawings.

Vera, also the daughter of Konstantin Ustinovich and Anna Dmitrievna Chernenko, was born in Penza. She worked in Washington at the Soviet embassy.

Youth

K. U. Chernenko in his youth

He was in charge of mail addressed to the Secretary General; wrote down preliminary answers. He prepared questions and selected materials for Politburo meetings. Chernenko was aware of everything that was happening in the highest echelon of the party. He could promptly tell Brezhnev about someone’s upcoming anniversary or about the next award. Often decisions came from Konstantin Ustinovich, but were announced on behalf of the Secretary General.

Chernenko skillfully flattered Brezhnev. Over time, he became indispensable for Brezhnev. And I felt very comfortable in the supporting roles. The invitation to hunt in Zavidovo was a sign of special trust of the Secretary General. Chernenko did not like hunting and caught a cold every time there.

Brezhnev especially appreciated all these qualities in Chernenko. He generously rewarded Konstantin Ustinovich, promoted him up the party ladder, and completely trusted him. Twice Chernenko accompanied Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki, where the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe took place, and in 1979 - to negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues.

Party organization
Politburo
Secretariat
Organizing Bureau
Central Committee
Regional Committee
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City Committee
District Committee
Party Committee

During Chernenko's reign, several unsuccessful projects were undertaken: the complete political rehabilitation of Stalin, school reform, strengthening the role of trade unions. Under him, the Day of Knowledge (September 1) was officially introduced as a holiday. In June 1983, Chernenko gave a keynote speech “Current issues of ideological and mass political work of the party.” In it, in particular, Konstantin Ustinovich criticized amateur pop groups with the repertoire “ of dubious quality", which " cause ideological and aesthetic damage" This report was the beginning of a large-scale fight against independent music artists in 1983-84, mainly against Russian rock artists. Performing at apartment parties and similar amateur concerts was equated to illegal business activity, violating the monopoly of the Rosconcert company, and threatened with imprisonment.

Under Chernenko, post-Brezhnev and post-Maoist détente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense; in the USSR, in response to the boycott of the Moscow Olympics by the United States and its allies, it boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. During this period, the USSR was visited for the first time by the head of the Spanish state, King Juan Carlos I. Under Chernenko, there were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers.

Being Brezhnev's "right hand", he tirelessly revered him. When Konstantin Ustinovich himself became secretary general, he needed something similar in his address. He demanded from his subordinates that they report to him feedback on his conversations, meetings, speeches, and read reviews about himself. As a rule, enthusiastic reviews of the Secretary General were drawn from the Soviet press and the press of socialist countries. It was more difficult to find anything positive about him in Western publications.

According to some allegations, at the beginning of 1985, the seriously ill K. U. Chernenko tried to leave his post, but did not receive consent.

Many active investigations and repressions against various kinds of corrupt officials of the Brezhnev era, begun under Andropov, were partially suspended under Chernenko. Cases that did not develop were put on hold. So, for example, the Uzbek case actually stopped; the investigation against Nikolai Shchelokov was suspended, which was soon continued. The investigation into the “diamond case” was stopped and Galina Brezhneva’s house arrest was lifted. However, some high-profile cases continued. So, already under Chernenko, the former head of the Eliseevsky store Sokolov was shot, after the resumption of the investigation, the former Minister of Internal Affairs N.A. Shchelokov committed suicide.

Chernenko came up with a unique mechanism for instantly removing any document from the gigantic archives of the Kremlin and Stalin’s “Special Folder,” for which he received a State Prize.

Film incarnations

• TV series “Red Square” (2004, actor Yuri Sarantsev).
• TV series “Brezhnev” (2005, actor Afanasy Kochetkov).
• TV series “Treasury Stealers” (2011, actor Yuri Ageikin).

Contemporaries, descendants and historians about Konstantin Chernenko

A party of twenty million, in the name of some consideration of continuity, chose no one to take the highest path! He was a sweet, simple, poorly educated man who spent his entire life next to Brezhnev. He was in charge of the office for Leonid Ilyich. I loved coming to his receptions - he was a sentimental man. He was a wonderful head of the letters department! Chernenko laid out a stack of letters that, in his opinion, should have been sent to newspapers, read them aloud, groaned, gasped, and even shed a tear when the letters were too unhappy. And this is the General Secretary of the party...

- A.I. Adzhubey, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Izvestia

Unable to cope with the mountain of work that fell on him in his new post... Chernenko, like the sick Brezhnev, entrusted the preparation, and in many ways, the solution of major problems to a narrow circle of people closest to him in the leadership - the same Ustinov, Gromyko, Tikhonov, as well as Grishin.

• Konstantin Chernenko. Biography and articles on the website Homopoliticus.ru
• Case histories of great politicians. Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
• Sergei Zemlyanoy “Notes of a Shaman”. The book about the life of Konstantin Chernenko was completed on the day of his death
• Mikhail Pavlov. The penultimate Secretary General. “It became known that Konstantin Chernenko was poisoned with a slow-acting poison” The article is accompanied by a fairly detailed biography.
• At the funeral of Yuri Andropov, the gray-haired, gasping old man Konstantin Chernenko was lifted to the Mausoleum using a special lift

Soviet party and statesman. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1984-1985), Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1984-1985).

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was born on September 11 (24), 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Minusinsk district, Yenisei province (later in, now does not exist - flooded in 1972 in connection with the creation of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir) in the family of the peasant Ustin Demidovich Chernenko.

From an early age, K. U. Chernenko worked for hire from the kulaks. In 1926 he joined the Komsomol. In 1929 he graduated from a three-year school for rural youth in.

In 1929-1930, K.U. Chernenko headed the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky district Komsomol committee of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

In 1930-1933, K. U. Chernenko served in the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR, at the Khorgos and Narynkol border outposts in Kazakhstan. In 1931 he joined the CPSU (b). He was the secretary of the party organization of the 49th border detachment, commanded the border detachment and participated in the liquidation of Bekmuratov’s gang.

In 1933-1941, K. U. Chernenko headed the propaganda and agitation departments of the Novoselovsky, Uyarsky and Kuraginsky district party committees, and headed the Krasnoyarsk regional house of party education. In 1941-1943, he served as secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee, but then left this post to receive an education at the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1943-1945).

In 1945-1948, K. U. Chernenko worked as secretary for ideology in the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU (b). In 1948-1956, he headed the department of propaganda and agitation in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was there in July 1950 that he met with, with whom his entire subsequent party career was connected.

In 1953, K. U. Chernenko graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute.

In 1956, K. U. Chernenko, on the initiative of L. I. Brezhnev, was promoted to the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee to the position of head of the sector of the propaganda department. Since 1960, he worked as the head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1965, he was approved as head of the general department of the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1966-1971, K. U. Chernenko was a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. At the XXIV Congress of the CPSU (1971) he was elected a member of the party Central Committee, and in March 1976 he became secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Twice K. U. Chernenko accompanied L. I. Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki for the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in 1979 - to Vienna for negotiations on disarmament issues.

K.U. Chernenko was considered a close ally and promoter of L.I. Brezhnev. However, after the death of the latter, he was unable to find sufficient support among factions in the party leadership to take the post of General Secretary, which ultimately went to the one elected by the plenum of the Central Committee on November 12, 1982. The course of the new party leadership to strengthen the fight against corruption and reduce the privileges of the party apparatus caused a negative reaction from the nomenklatura. Therefore, after the death of Yu. V. Andropov in 1984, sentiments in favor of resuscitation of the Brezhnev era prevailed.

At the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, held on February 13, 1984, K. U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. On April 11, 1984, he also took over the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Rapidly deteriorating health did not allow K.U. Chernenko to exercise real governance of the country. He spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital, where meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were even held. There were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers under K.U. Chernenko.

While K.U. Chernenko was in power, detente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense. In 1984, the USSR, in response to the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

K. U. Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. He became the last of the leaders of the Soviet Union to be buried at the Kremlin wall behind the Mausoleum on

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee since February 13, 1984 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR since April 11, 1984 Deputy - since 1966 Member of the CPSU since 1931, CPSU Central Committee - since 1971 (candidate since 1966), member of the Politburo of the Central Committee CPSU since 1978 (candidate since 1977).

Brief biography of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was born on September 24, 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Russian.

Member of the CPSU since 1931.

Father K. U. Chernenko, Ustin Demidovich, was a migrant from Ukraine. He worked in copper mines and gold mines in Siberia.

Almost nothing is known about the name of Chernenko’s mother; she died of typhus in 1919. Ustin married a second time. From his first marriage there were two daughters and two sons.

K. U. Chernenko has a higher education - he graduated from the Pedagogical Institute and the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

K. U. Chernenko began his working life at an early age, working as a hired hand for the kulaks. All of his further work was connected with leadership work in the Komsomol and then in party bodies.

In 1929-1930, K. U. Chernenko headed the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky district committee of the Komsomol of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 1930 he volunteered for the Red Army.

Until 1933, he served in the border troops and was secretary of the party organization of the border outpost.

After finishing military service K. U. Chernenko worked in the Krasnoyarsk Territory: head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky and Uyarsky district party committees, director of the Krasnoyarsk regional party education house, deputy head of the propaganda and agitation department, secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee.

Since 1943, K. U. Chernenko has been studying at the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

After graduation, he worked as secretary of the Penza regional party committee in 1945.

In 1948, he was sent to the Moldavian SSR and approved as head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. While working in this position, he devoted a lot of effort and knowledge to economic and cultural construction in the republic, and to the communist education of the working people.

In 1956, K. U. Chernenko was promoted to work in the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee, where he headed a sector in the Propaganda Department, and at the same time was approved as a member of the editorial board of the Agitator magazine.

Since 1960, he has worked as head of the secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1965, K.U. Chernenko was appointed head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1966-1971 he was a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. At the XXIV Party Congress (March 1971) he was elected a member of the CPSU Central Committee, and in March 1976, at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, held after the XXV Party Congress, he was elected secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Since 1977, he has been a candidate member of the Politburo, and since 1978, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th-10th convocations. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 10th convocation. K. U. Chernenko was a member of the Soviet delegation at the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki, 1975), participated in negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues in 1979).

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko is a prominent figure in the Communist Party and the Soviet state. In all the posts that the party entrusted to him, he showed high organizational abilities, party integrity, and devotion to the great cause of Lenin and the ideals of communism.

K. U. Chernenko is the author of a number of scientific works on topical issues of increasing the leading role of the party in the life of Soviet society, improving the style and methods of party and government work, and the development of socialist democracy.

At the June 1983 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, K. U. Chernenko made a report that identified the main directions for improving the ideological activities of the CPSU in modern conditions.

For great services to the Motherland, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and awarded three Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, and many medals of the Soviet Union. He is a Lenin Prize laureate.

K. U. Chernenko was awarded the highest awards of the socialist countries.

On behalf of the Politburo of the Central Committee, the Plenum was opened by Politburo member, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee K. U. Cherkenko.

In connection with the death of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Yu. V. Andropov, the participants of the Plenum of the Central Committee honored the memory of Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov with a minute of mournful silence.

The Plenum of the Central Committee considered the issue of electing the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

On behalf of the Politburo of the Central Committee, member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. A. Tikhonov made a speech on this issue. He made a proposal to elect K. U. Chernenko as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

The Plenum unanimously elected Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

The short reign of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko

On April 11, 1984, after the death of Andropov K.U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. When 73-year-old Chernenko received the highest position in the Soviet state, he no longer had either the physical or spiritual strength to lead the vast country.

Chernenko was seriously ill and was seen as an intermediate figure. Konstantin Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital, where meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were even held.

In the hospital (shortly before his death), Chernenko was presented with a certificate of election as a people's deputy of the RSFSR.

During the reign of K.U. Chernenko undertook several projects that were never successful: school reform, turning of the northern rivers, strengthening the role of trade unions.

Under Chernenko, the Day of Knowledge was officially introduced as a holiday (September 1, 1984). In June 1983, Chernenko criticized Russian rock performers, equating their performances to illegal business activities that violated the monopoly of Rosconcert.

Under K. Chernenko, post-Brezhnev and post-Maoist détente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense; in 1984, the USSR, in response to the US boycott of the Moscow Olympics, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

Under Chernenko, there were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers.

Death of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko

Konstantin Ustinovich died after 1 year and 25 days of rule and became the last one buried at the Kremlin wall.

He was buried on March 13, 1985 in Moscow on Red Square near the Kremlin wall.

There is a bust on his grave.

Chernenko was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, 3 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, many medals, as well as the highest award of the German Democratic Republic; the Order of Karl Marx, the highest award of the People's Republic of Bulgaria; Order of Georgiy Dimitrov and medals from foreign countries. He was awarded the title of Lenin Prize laureate (1982).

Based on materials from the Internet resource http://kremlion.ru and the magazine "Science and Life".

Konstantin Chernenko is the sixth leader of the country in the 20th century. In 1984 he was elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The man had serious health problems when taking over, as a result of which he served as leader for only one year and twenty-five days.

Childhood and youth

The future Secretary General was born in the fall, on September 24, 1911, in the village of Bolshaya Tes in a peasant family. The boy's father, Ustin Demidovich, mined precious metal, his mother Kharitina Dmitrievna was engaged in crop production. In 1919, little Kostya’s mother passed away. The woman was a native of Eastern Siberia.

After the death of his wife, Ustin Demidovich was left alone with four children. Soon he found a new wife. Kostya and his brother and sisters formed a bad relationship with their stepmother, so it was difficult for the four children in their new family. As a teenager, Kostya worked for village resellers.

While studying at school, the boy was accepted into the pioneers, and at the age of 14 he joined the Komsomol. From 1926 to 1929 he received knowledge at a school in the town of Novoselovo. In 1972, the native village of the future ruler was flooded during the construction of the Krasnoyarsk water reservoir. Local residents were then relocated to Novoselovo.

In 1931, Chernenko joined the army. The young man was assigned to the border between Kazakhstan and China. During the period of repaying his debt to his homeland, the young man took part in the destruction of Batyr Bekmuratov’s gang and joined the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). At the same time, Chernenko was elected secretary of the party organization of the border outpost.

Policy

At the end of the army litigation, Chernenko was assigned to the post of director of the regional house of party education in the city of Krasnoyarsk. At the same time, he headed the propaganda department in the Novoselovsky and Uyarsky districts. In 1941, Konstantin Ustinovich was elected leader of the Communist Party of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

I was surprised by the rapid growth of the deputy’s career biography. It is believed that the politician was helped in this matter by his elder sister Valentina, who was closely acquainted with the first head of the Krasnoyarsk Communist Party.

For two years - in 1943 - 1945 - he studied at the Higher School of Party Organizers in Moscow. During the Patriotic War, Chernenko was in the capital. While studying at school, he received an urgent offer to work in the regional committee of the Penza region. There he stayed until 1948. Afterwards, Chernenko was recommended to the Moldavian SSR, where he became head of the propaganda department of the Central Committee of the republic.

At the same time, in Chisinau, Konstantin Ustinovich met for the first time with. The acquaintance of the two politicians turned into a real male friendship. The career paths of the men began to closely intersect. In 1953, Chernenko defended his diploma from the Chisinau Institute. Three years later he went to the capital and began managing the propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee.

This could not have happened without the support of Leonid Ilyich. For five years - from 1960 to 1965 - he headed the secretariat of the USSR PVS. Then Chernenko took the place of head of the main department of the Central Committee. The man remained there until 1982. At the same time, Brezhnev became the head of the country. Chernenko became a close confidant of the new ruler of the state. During the years of management of the union by Leonid Ilyich, Konstantin Ustinovich’s career rapidly rose up.

He was always close to Brezhnev. The Secretary General announced his intentions only after consulting with Konstantin Ustinovich. During that period of time, Chernenko was called the “gray eminence.” They suspected that it was he who solved issues that were pressing for the country. Brezhnev did not fear for his leadership status or that his friend would try to take away power.

Chernenko became the most valuable personnel for Brezhnev. The second one did not go on any trip without a faithful companion. In 1975 they went to Finland, and in 1979 they reached Austria. They visited the countries of the union together. Many photos show that Chernenko always stands next to the leader.

In 1974, Brezhnev became seriously ill. It was expected that the Soviet people would lead Chernenko. But at the council he personally recommended him for the role of leader. As a result, party members voted for Andropov, and he became General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. However, the newly appointed representative of the Union remained in power for only two years. As a result, the country passed into the hands of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko.

At the time of coming to power, the man celebrated his 73rd birthday, and the new ruler had serious health problems. Chernenko figured in the discussion of updating the USSR Constitution.

Konstantin Ustinovich was at the head of state for a little over a year, but managed to make important decisions regarding the fate of the country. He noticed that foreign rock music has a negative impact on young people. As a result, restrictions were introduced on amateur musical performances within the state.

While Chernenko was in power, foreign policy ties with the PRC and Spain improved. For the first time in history, the leader of Spain visited the capital of the USSR. But relations with the United States have become worse. It was decided to abstain from the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Chernenko's first marriage took place with a girl named Faina Vasilievna. After a few years of family life, the relationship deteriorated and the couple separated. In the marriage, Chernenko had two children: son Albert and daughter Lydia. Subsequently, Albert headed the Novosibirsk Party School. Then he became head of the department of history and political science at Siberian University.

In 1944, Chernenko took Anna Dmitrievna Lyubimova as his legal wife. The woman gave her husband practical recommendations. They say that she contributed to the partnership between Chernenko and Brezhnev.

Anna Dmitrievna gave her husband three children: a son, Vladimir, and two daughters, Vera and Elena. Vladimir found a job as assistant to the chairman of the USSR State Committee for Cinematography. Then he became a researcher at the State Film Fund. Elena defended her dissertation in philosophy. Daughter Vera entered the University of Washington. She then stayed to work abroad at the embassy.

In 2015, archival files were released that stated that Chernenko had more than two wives. And he abandoned several with their children.

Death

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. Doctors diagnosed cardiac arrest. He became the last general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, buried near the Kremlin walls.

In 2017, a bust of Konstantin Chernenko was erected on the Alley of Russian Leaders.

Awards

• Four Orders of Lenin
• Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor
• 1976, 1981, 1984 – Hero of Socialist Labor
• 1978 - Medal “60 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR”
• 1982 - Lenin Prize laureate
• Order of Karl Marx (German Democratic Republic)
• 1981 - Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic)
• Order "Georgi Dimitrov" (People's Republic of Bulgaria)
• 1984 - Order of the National Flag (DPRK)