General secretaries of the USSR in chronological order. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
This now almost unused abbreviation was once known to every child and was pronounced almost with reverence. Central Committee of the CPSU! What do these letters mean?
About the name
The abbreviation we are interested in means, or more simply, Central Committee. Considering the importance of the Communist Party in society, its governing body could well be called the kitchen in which fateful decisions for the country were “cooked.” Members of the CPSU Central Committee, the main elite of the country, are the “cooks” in this kitchen, and the “chef” is the General Secretary.
From the history of the CPSU
The history of this public entity began long before the revolution and the proclamation of the USSR. Until 1952, its names changed several times: RCP(b), VKP(b). These abbreviations reflected both the ideology, which was clarified each time (from workers' social democracy to the Bolshevik Communist Party), and the scale (from Russian to all-Union). But the names are not the point. From the 20s to the 90s of the last century, a one-party system functioned in the country, and the Communist Party had a complete monopoly. The Constitution of 1936 recognized it as the governing core, and in the main law of the country of 1977 it was even proclaimed the guiding and guiding force of society. Any directives issued by the CPSU Central Committee instantly acquired the force of law.
All this, of course, did not contribute to the democratic development of the country. In the USSR, inequality of rights along party lines was actively promoted. Even small leadership positions could only be applied for by members of the CPSU, who could be held accountable for mistakes along party lines. One of the most terrible punishments was deprivation of a party card. The CPSU positioned itself as a party of workers and collective farmers, so there were quite strict quotas for its recruitment with new members. It was difficult for a representative of a creative profession or a mental worker to find himself in the party ranks; The CPSU monitored its national composition no less strictly. Thanks to this selection, the really best did not always end up in the party.
From the party charter
In accordance with the Charter, all activities of the Communist Party were collegial. In primary organizations, decisions were made at general meetings, but in general the governing body was a congress held every few years. A party plenum was held approximately every six months. The Central Committee of the CPSU in the intervals between plenums and congresses was the leading unit responsible for all party activities. In turn, the highest body that led the Central Committee itself was the Politburo, headed by the General (First) Secretary.
The functional responsibilities of the Central Committee included personnel policy and local control, expenditure of the party budget and management of the activities of public structures. But not only. Together with the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, he determined all ideological activities in the country and resolved the most important political and economic issues.
It is difficult for people who have not lived to understand this. In a democratic country where a number of parties operate, their activities are of little concern to the average person - he only remembers them before elections. But in the USSR the leading role of the Communist Party was even emphasized constitutionally! In factories and collective farms, in military units and in creative groups, the party organizer was the second (and in importance often the first) leader of this structure. Formally, the Communist Party could not manage economic or political processes: for this there was a Council of Ministers. But in fact, the Communist Party decided everything. No one was surprised by the fact that the most important political problems and five-year plans for economic development were discussed and determined by party congresses. The Central Committee of the CPSU directed all these processes.
About the main person in the party
Theoretically, the Communist Party was a democratic entity: from the time of Lenin until the last moment, there was no unity of command in it, and there were no formal leaders. It was assumed that the secretary of the Central Committee was just a technical position, and the members of the governing body were equal. The first secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, or rather the RCP(b), were indeed not very noticeable figures. E. Stasova, Y. Sverdlov, N. Krestinsky, V. Molotov - although their names were well-known, these people had nothing to do with practical leadership. But with the arrival of I. Stalin, the process went differently: the “father of nations” managed to crush all power under himself. A corresponding position also appeared - Secretary General. It must be said that the names of party leaders changed periodically: the General Secretaries were replaced by the First Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee, then vice versa. With the light hand of Stalin, regardless of the title of his position, the party leader simultaneously became the main person of the state.
After the death of the leader in 1953, N. Khrushchev and L. Brezhnev held this post, then for a short period the position was occupied by Yu. Andropov and K. Chernenko. The last party leader was M. Gorbachev, who was also the only President of the USSR. The era of each of them was significant in its own way. If Stalin is considered by many to be a tyrant, then Khrushchev is usually called a voluntarist, and Brezhnev is the father of stagnation. Gorbachev went down in history as the man who first destroyed and then buried a huge state - the Soviet Union.
Conclusion
The history of the CPSU was an academic discipline compulsory for all universities in the country, and every schoolchild in the Soviet Union knew the main milestones in the development and activities of the party. Revolution, then civil war, industrialization and collectivization, victory over fascism and the post-war restoration of the country. And then virgin lands and space flights, large-scale all-Union construction projects - the history of the party was closely intertwined with the history of the state. In each case, the role of the CPSU was considered dominant, and the word “communist” was synonymous with a true patriot and simply a worthy person.
But if you read the history of the party differently, between the lines, you get a terrible thriller. Millions of repressed people, exiled peoples, camps and political murders, reprisals against undesirables, persecution of dissidents... We can say that the author of every black page of Soviet history is the CPSU Central Committee.
In the USSR they loved to quote Lenin’s words: “The party is the mind, honor and conscience of our era.” Alas! In fact, the Communist Party was neither one nor the other, nor the third. After the 1991 coup, the activities of the CPSU in Russia were banned. Is the Russian Communist Party the successor to the All-Union Party? Even experts find it difficult to explain this.
The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee is the highest position in the hierarchy of the Communist Party and, by and large, the leader of the Soviet Union. In the history of the party there were four more positions of the head of its central apparatus: Technical Secretary (1917-1918), Chairman of the Secretariat (1918-1919), Executive Secretary (1919-1922) and First Secretary (1953-1966).
The people who filled the first two positions were mainly engaged in paper secretarial work. The position of Executive Secretary was introduced in 1919 to perform administrative activities. The post of General Secretary, established in 1922, was also created purely for administrative and personnel work within the party. However, the first Secretary General Joseph Stalin, using the principles of democratic centralism, managed to become not only the leader of the party, but the entire Soviet Union.
At the 17th Party Congress, Stalin was not formally re-elected to the post of General Secretary. However, his influence was already enough to maintain leadership in the party and the country as a whole. After Stalin's death in 1953, Georgy Malenkov was considered the most influential member of the Secretariat. After his appointment to the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, he left the Secretariat and Nikita Khrushchev, who was soon elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, took the leading positions in the party.
Not limitless rulers
In 1964, the opposition within the Politburo and the Central Committee removed Nikita Khrushchev from the post of First Secretary, electing Leonid Brezhnev in his place. Since 1966, the position of the party leader was again called the General Secretary. In Brezhnev's times, the power of the General Secretary was not unlimited, since members of the Politburo could limit his powers. The leadership of the country was carried out collectively.
Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko ruled the country according to the same principle as the late Brezhnev. Both were elected to the party's top post while their health was failing and served only a short time as secretary general. Until 1990, when the Communist Party's monopoly on power was eliminated, Mikhail Gorbachev led the state as General Secretary of the CPSU. Especially for him, in order to maintain leadership in the country, the post of President of the Soviet Union was established in the same year.
After the August 1991 putsch, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary. He was replaced by his deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, who worked as acting General Secretary for only five calendar days, until that moment Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the activities of the CPSU.
General Secretaries of the USSR in chronological orderGeneral secretaries of the USSR in chronological order. Today they are simply part of history, but once upon a time their faces were familiar to every single inhabitant of the vast country. The political system in the Soviet Union was such that citizens did not elect their leaders. The decision to appoint the next secretary general was made by the ruling elite. But, nevertheless, the people respected government leaders and, for the most part, took this state of affairs as a given.
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin)
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, was born on December 18, 1879 in the Georgian city of Gori. Became the first General Secretary of the CPSU. He received this position in 1922, when Lenin was still alive, and until the latter’s death he played a minor role in government.
When Vladimir Ilyich died, a serious struggle began for the highest post. Many of Stalin's competitors had a much better chance of taking over, but thanks to tough, uncompromising actions, Joseph Vissarionovich managed to emerge victorious. Most of the other applicants were physically destroyed, and some left the country.
In just a few years of rule, Stalin took the entire country into a tight grip. By the beginning of the 30s, he finally established himself as the sole leader of the people. The dictator's policies went down in history:
· mass repressions;
· total dispossession;
· collectivization.
For this, Stalin was branded by his own followers during the “thaw”. But there is also something for which Joseph Vissarionovich, according to historians, is worthy of praise. This is, first of all, the rapid transformation of a collapsed country into an industrial and military giant, as well as the victory over fascism. It is quite possible that if it were not for the “cult of personality” so condemned by everyone, these achievements would have been unrealistic. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died on the fifth of March 1953.
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was born on April 15, 1894 in the Kursk province (Kalinovka village) into a simple working-class family. He took part in the Civil War, where he took the side of the Bolsheviks. Member of the CPSU since 1918. At the end of the 30s he was appointed secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
Khrushchev headed the Soviet state shortly after Stalin's death. At first, he had to compete with Georgy Malenkov, who also aspired to the highest position and at that time was actually the leader of the country, presiding over the Council of Ministers. But in the end, the coveted chair still remained with Nikita Sergeevich.
When Khrushchev was secretary general, the Soviet country:
· launched the first man into space and developed this area in every possible way;
· was actively built up with five-story buildings, today called “Khrushchev”;
· planted the lion's share of the fields with corn, for which Nikita Sergeevich was even nicknamed “the corn farmer.”
This ruler went down in history primarily with his legendary speech at the 20th Party Congress in 1956, where he condemned Stalin and his bloody policies. From that moment on, the so-called “thaw” began in the Soviet Union, when the grip of the state was loosened, cultural figures received some freedom, etc. All this lasted until Khrushchev was removed from his post on October 14, 1964.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born in the Dnepropetrovsk region (village of Kamenskoye) on December 19, 1906. His father was a metallurgist. Member of the CPSU since 1931. He took the main post of the country as a result of a conspiracy. It was Leonid Ilyich who led the group of members of the Central Committee that removed Khrushchev.
The Brezhnev era in the history of the Soviet state is characterized as stagnation. The latter manifested itself as follows:
· the country's development has stopped in almost all areas except military-industrial;
· The USSR began to seriously lag behind Western countries;
· citizens again felt the grip of the state, repression and persecution of dissidents began.
Leonid Ilyich tried to improve relations with the United States, which had worsened during the time of Khrushchev, but he was not very successful. The arms race continued, and after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, it was impossible to even think about any reconciliation. Brezhnev held a high post until his death, which occurred on November 10, 1982.
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was born in the station town of Nagutskoye (Stavropol Territory) on June 15, 1914. His father was a railway worker. Member of the CPSU since 1939. He was active, which contributed to his rapid rise up the career ladder.
At the time of Brezhnev's death, Andropov headed the State Security Committee. He was elected by his comrades to the highest post. The reign of this Secretary General covers a period of less than two years. During this time, Yuri Vladimirovich managed to fight a little against corruption in power. But he didn’t accomplish anything drastic. On February 9, 1984, Andropov died. The reason for this was a serious illness.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was born in 1911 on September 24 in the Yenisei province (village of Bolshaya Tes). His parents were peasants. Member of the CPSU since 1931. Since 1966 - deputy of the Supreme Council. Appointed General Secretary of the CPSU on February 13, 1984.
Chernenko continued Andropov’s policy of identifying corrupt officials. He was in power for less than a year. The cause of his death on March 10, 1985 was also a serious illness.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the North Caucasus (the village of Privolnoye). His parents were peasants. Member of the CPSU since 1952. He proved himself to be an active public figure. He quickly moved up the party line.
He was appointed Secretary General on March 11, 1985. He entered history with the policy of “perestroika,” which included the introduction of glasnost, the development of democracy, and the provision of certain economic freedoms and other liberties to the population. Gorbachev's reforms led to mass unemployment, the liquidation of state-owned enterprises, and a total shortage of goods. This causes an ambiguous attitude towards the ruler on the part of citizens of the former USSR, which collapsed precisely during the reign of Mikhail Sergeevich.
But in the West, Gorbachev is one of the most respected Russian politicians. He was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev was Secretary General until August 23, 1991, and headed the USSR until December 25 of the same year.
All deceased general secretaries of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are buried near the Kremlin wall. Their list was completed by Chernenko. Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is still alive. In 2017, he turned 86 years old.
Photos of the secretaries general of the USSR in chronological order
StalinKhrushchev
Brezhnev
Andropov
Chernenko
On April 3, 1922, a seemingly ordinary event occurred. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was elected. But this event changed the course of the history of Soviet Russia. On this day he was appointed to this post. Lenin by that time was already seriously ill, and Joseph Stalin tried by hook or by crook to gain a foothold in his post. There was no consensus in the party about what to do next. The revolution won, power strengthened. And then what? Someone said that it was necessary to stimulate the World Revolution in every possible way, others said that socialism can win in one particular country and therefore it is not at all necessary to fan the world fire. The new Secretary General took advantage of the disagreement in the party and, having gained almost unlimited power into his hands, began to gradually clear the way for himself to dominate the huge power. He mercilessly eliminated political opponents, and soon there was no one left capable of objecting to him.
The period of Joseph Stalin's reign is a huge layer of our history. He stood at the helm for 30 long years. And what years? What has not happened in our history over the years? And the restoration of the economy after the anarchy of the civil war. And giant construction sites. And the threat of enslavement in World War II, and new buildings in the post-war years. And this all fit into these thirty years of Stalin’s rule. A whole generation of people grew up under him. These years are all exploring and researching. You can have different attitudes towards Stalin’s personality, his cruelty, and the tragedy of the country. But this is our story. And our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers in old photographs, for the most part, still do not seem unhappy.
WAS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?
Stalin's election as General Secretary occurred after the XI Congress (March - April 1922), in which Lenin, for health reasons, took only a fragmentary part (he was present at four of the twelve meetings of the congress). “When at the 11th Congress... Zinoviev and his closest friends nominated Stalin for General Secretary, with the ulterior motive of using his hostile attitude towards me,” Trotsky recalled, “Lenin, in a close circle objecting to the appointment of Stalin as General Secretary, uttered his famous the phrase: “I don’t recommend it, this cook will only cook spicy dishes”... However, the Petrograd delegation led by Zinoviev won at the congress. The victory was all the easier for her because Lenin did not accept the battle. He did not carry his resistance to Stalin's candidacy to the end only because the post of secretary had a completely subordinate importance in the conditions of that time. He (Lenin) himself did not want to attach exaggerated importance to his warning: as long as the old Politburo remained in power, the General Secretary could only be a subordinate figure.”
Having arrived at the post of General Secretary, Stalin immediately began to widely use methods of selecting and appointing personnel through the Secretariat of the Central Committee and the Accounting and Distribution Department of the Central Committee subordinate to it. Already in the first year of Stalin’s activity as Secretary General, the Uchraspred made about 4,750 appointments to responsible positions.
At the same time, Stalin, together with Zinoviev and Kamenev, began to rapidly expand the material privileges of the party’s leadership. At the XII Party Conference, held during Lenin’s illness (August 1922), for the first time in the history of the party, a document was adopted that legitimized these privileges. We are talking about the conference resolution “On the financial situation of active party workers,” which clearly defined the number of “active party workers” (15,325 people) and introduced a strict hierarchization of their distribution into six categories. Members of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission, heads of departments of the Central Committee, members of regional bureaus of the Central Committee and secretaries of regional and provincial committees were to be paid at the highest level. At the same time, the possibility of a personal increase in their salaries was agreed upon. In addition to high wages, all specified workers were to be “provided with housing (through local executive committees), with medical care (through the People's Commissariat for Health), and with regard to the upbringing and education of children (through the People's Commissariat for Education),” with corresponding additional in-kind benefits to were paid from the party fund.
Trotsky emphasized that already during Lenin’s illness, Stalin increasingly acted “as an organizer and educator of the bureaucracy, and most importantly: as a distributor of earthly goods.” This period coincided with the end of the bivouac situation during the Civil War. “The more sedentary and balanced life of the bureaucracy gives rise to the need for comfort. Stalin, who himself continues to live comparatively modestly, at least from the outside, masters this movement towards comfort, he distributes the most profitable posts, he selects the top people, rewards them, he helps them increase their privileged position.”
These actions of Stalin responded to the desire of the bureaucracy to throw off the harsh control in the field of morality and personal life, the need for which was mentioned by numerous party decisions of the Leninist period. The bureaucracy, increasingly embracing the prospect of personal well-being and comfort, “respected Lenin, but felt too much of his puritanical hand. She was looking for a leader in her own image and likeness, first among equals. They said about Stalin... “We are not afraid of Stalin. If he starts to get arrogant, we’ll remove him.” A turning point in the living conditions of the bureaucracy occurred since Lenin’s last illness and the beginning of the campaign against “Trotskyism.” In every political struggle on a large scale, one can eventually open the question of steak.”
Stalin's most provocative actions to create illegal and secret privileges for the bureaucracy at that time still met resistance from his allies. Thus, after the adoption of a Politburo resolution in July 1923 to make it easier for the children of senior officials to enter universities, Zinoviev and Bukharin, who were on vacation in Kislovodsk, condemned this decision, saying that “such a privilege will close the way for the more talented and introduce elements of caste. No good."
Compliance to privileges, the willingness to take them for granted meant the first round in the everyday and moral degeneration of the partyocracy, which was inevitably to be followed by a political degeneration: the willingness to sacrifice ideas and principles for the sake of preserving one’s posts and privileges. “The ties of revolutionary solidarity that embraced the party as a whole were replaced to a large extent by ties of bureaucratic and material dependence. Previously, it was only possible to win supporters with ideas. Now many have begun to learn how to win supporters with positions and material privileges.”
These processes contributed to the rapid growth of bureaucracy and intrigue in the party and state apparatus, which Lenin, who returned to work in October 1922, was literally shocked by. In addition, as Trotsky recalled, “Lenin sensed that, in connection with his illness, still almost elusive threads of a conspiracy were woven behind him and behind me. The Epigones have not yet burned bridges or blown them up. But in some places they were already sawing down beams, in some places they were quietly placing pyroxylin blocks... Going into work and noting with increasing anxiety the changes that had taken place over ten months, Lenin for the time being did not mention them out loud, so as not to aggravate relations. But he was preparing to give the “troika” a rebuff and began to give it on certain issues.”
One of these issues was the question of the monopoly of foreign trade. In November 1922, in the absence of Lenin and Trotsky, the Central Committee unanimously adopted a decision aimed at weakening this monopoly. Having learned that Trotsky was not present at the plenum and that he did not agree with the decision made, Lenin entered into correspondence with him (five letters from Lenin to Trotsky on this issue were first published in the USSR only in 1965). As a result of the concerted actions of Lenin and Trotsky, a few weeks later the Central Committee reversed its decision as unanimously as it had previously adopted it. On this occasion, Lenin, who had already suffered a new blow, after which he was prohibited from correspondence, nevertheless dictated a letter to Trotsky to Krupskaya, which said: “It was as if it was possible to take the position without firing a single shot with a simple maneuverable movement. I propose not to stop and continue the offensive..."
At the end of November 1922, a conversation took place between Lenin and Trotsky, in which the latter raised the issue of the growth of apparatus bureaucracy. “Yes, our bureaucracy is monstrous,” Lenin picked up, “I was horrified after returning to work...” Trotsky added that he means not only state, but also party bureaucracy and that the essence of all difficulties, in his opinion, lies in the combination of state and party bureaucracy and in the mutual concealment of influential groups gathering around the hierarchy of party secretaries.
After listening to this, Lenin posed the question point blank: “So you propose to open a struggle not only against state bureaucracy, but also against the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee?” The Organizing Bureau represented the very center of the Stalinist apparatus. Trotsky replied: “Perhaps it turns out like this.” “Well,” Lenin continued, clearly pleased that we had named the essence of the issue, “I propose to you a bloc: against bureaucracy in general, against the Organizing Bureau in particular.” “It is flattering to conclude a good bloc with a good person,” Trotsky replied. In conclusion, it was agreed to meet some time later to discuss the organizational side of this issue. Previously, Lenin proposed creating a commission under the Central Committee to combat bureaucracy. “Essentially, this commission,” Trotsky recalled, “was supposed to become a lever for the destruction of the Stalinist faction, as the backbone of the bureaucracy...”
Immediately after this conversation, Trotsky conveyed its contents to his like-minded people - Rakovsky, I.N. Smirnov, Sosnovsky, Preobrazhensky and others. At the beginning of 1924, Trotsky told about this conversation to Averbakh (a young oppositionist who soon went over to the side of the ruling faction), who in turn conveyed the contents of this conversation to Yaroslavsky, and the latter apparently reported it to Stalin and the other triumvirs.
IN AND. LENIN. LETTER TO THE CONGRESS
December 24, 22 By the stability of the Central Committee, which I spoke about above, I mean measures against a split, insofar as such measures can be taken at all. For, of course, the White Guard in “Russian Thought” (I think it was S.S. Oldenburg) was right when, firstly, he bet in relation to their game against Soviet Russia on the split of our party and when, secondly , staked this split on the most serious disagreements in the party.
Our party relies on two classes and therefore its instability is possible and its fall is inevitable if an agreement could not take place between these two classes. In this case, it is useless to take certain measures or even talk about the stability of our Central Committee. No measures in this case will be able to prevent a split. But I hope that this is too distant a future and too incredible an event to talk about.
I mean stability as a guarantee against splits in the near future, and I intend to examine here a number of considerations of a purely personal nature.
I think that the main ones on the issue of sustainability from this point of view are such members of the Central Committee as Stalin and Trotsky. The relations between them, in my opinion, constitute more than half the danger of that split, which could have been avoided and the avoidance of which, in my opinion, should be served, among other things, by increasing the number of members of the Central Committee to 50, to 100 people.
Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary General, concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to use this power carefully enough. On the other hand, Comrade Trotsky, as his struggle against the Central Committee in connection with the issue of the NKPS has already proven, is distinguished not only by his outstanding abilities. Personally, he is perhaps the most capable person in the present Central Committee, but he is also overly self-confident and overly enthusiastic about the purely administrative side of things. These two qualities of the two outstanding leaders of the modern Central Committee can inadvertently lead to a split, and if our party does not take measures to prevent this, then a split may come unexpectedly. I will not further characterize other members of the Central Committee by their personal qualities. Let me just remind you that the October episode of Zinoviev and Kamenev, of course, was not an accident, but that it can just as little be blamed on them personally as non-Bolshevism was on Trotsky. Among the young members of the Central Committee, I would like to say a few words about Bukharin and Pyatakov. These, in my opinion, are the most outstanding forces (of the youngest forces), and regarding them one should keep in mind the following: Bukharin is not only the most valuable and greatest theoretician of the party, he is also rightfully considered the favorite of the entire party, but his theoretical views are very with doubt they can be classified as completely Marxist, because there is something scholastic in him (he never studied and, I think, never fully understood dialectics).
25.XII. Then Pyatakov is a man of undoubtedly outstanding will and outstanding abilities, but he is too keen on administration and the administrative side of things to be relied upon in a serious political matter. Of course, I make both of these remarks only for the present time, on the assumption that both of them outstanding and dedicated workers will not find an opportunity to replenish their knowledge and change their one-sidedness.
Lenin 25. XII. 22 Recorded by M.V.
Addendum to the letter dated December 24, 1922. Stalin is too rude, and this shortcoming, quite tolerable in the environment and in communications between us communists, becomes intolerable in the position of General Secretary. Therefore, I suggest that the comrades consider a way to move Stalin from this place and appoint another person to this place, who in all other respects differs from Comrade. Stalin has only one advantage, namely, more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to his comrades, less capriciousness, etc. This circumstance may seem like an insignificant detail. But I think that from the point of view of protecting against a split and from the point of view of what I wrote above about the relationship between Stalin and Trotsky, this is not a trifle, or it is such a trifle that can become decisive.
Head of Russian state. Outstanding rulers that the whole country should know about Lubchenkov Yuri NikolaevichGeneral Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev 1906–1982
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
Born on December 19, 1906 (January 1, 1907 according to the new style) in the village of Kamenskoye (later the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk) in the Yekaterinoslav province in a working-class family. Russian.
In 1923–1927 he studied at the Kursk Land Management and Reclamation College. After graduation, he worked until 1930 as a land surveyor in the Kursk province, then in the Urals.
In 1928, he married Victoria Petrovna Denisova, and the next year they had a daughter, Galina, and in 1933, a son, Yuri.
In 1935 he graduated from the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Institute.
On October 24, 1931, Brezhnev joined the CPSU and made a quick party career, becoming already in 1939 the secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the CP(b) of Ukraine.
In the Great Patriotic War, Colonel (from December 15, 1942) Brezhnev headed the political department of the 18th Army from April 1, 1943. On November 2, 1944, he was awarded the rank of major general, with which Leonid Ilyich ended the war.
Small Earth. Novorossiysk. Artist Dmitry Nalbandyan. 1975
After the Victory, Brezhnev continued his ascent to the heights of power: in 1946-1947 - first secretary of the Zaporozhye regional committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, in 1947-1950 - first secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, then in 1950-1952 - first secretary Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Moldova. In 1952, Leonid Ilyich was elected secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1953, he suddenly went downhill - he was removed from the post of Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and appointed Deputy Head of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy.
In 1954–1955, Brezhnev served as second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, in 1955–1956 – first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.
At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee on February 27, 1956, Leonid Ilyich was elected as a candidate member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. V.M. Sukhodrev described his appearance at this time: “Above average height, strong, dashing, with combed-back hair, he seemed to radiate health and strength.”
The 5th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 5th convocation was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace from May 5 to 7, 1960. K.E. Voroshilov was relieved of his post as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “for health reasons in connection with his request.” L.I. was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Brezhnev. A.N. became the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Kosygin.
At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which took place from June 18 to 21, 1963, Leonid Ilyich was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
Being one of the main participants in the conspiracy that led to the removal of Khrushchev on October 13, 1964, Brezhnev headed the CPSU Central Committee and began to play a primary role in implementing the new collegial policy of the USSR. Acting as a guarantor of the stability of the situation within the country, sharing with Kosygin the responsibility for carrying out economic reforms, and with Suslov for following the “correct” ideological line, Brezhnev leaves a noticeable personal imprint on Soviet foreign policy of this period.
During Leonid Ilyich’s 18 years in power, the Soviet government pursued a realistic policy, abandoning Khrushchev’s plans for building communism in favor of the outwardly more modest concept of “developed socialism,” as the stage at which, according to the country’s leadership, the USSR is located. Deeply conservative in its political views, Brezhnev’s “team” began its activities by focusing on issues of economic development of the country and began in 1965 to carry out a series of reforms aimed at providing greater independence to enterprises. The result of these reforms is a slight increase in the standard of living of the population, especially the rural population.
However, after the first period of real growth in the country's economy, by the mid-1970s, signs of stagnation appeared, and the irremovability of the political leadership led to the growth of the nomenklatura, concerned mainly with maintaining their posts and privileges. The party's claim to a leading role in all spheres of social life is expressed, first of all, in its obsession with the idea of complete control over the intelligentsia.
In the international arena, Brezhnev continues to follow the course initiated by Khrushchev towards the development of dialogue with the West. The settlement of the status of Berlin, the recognition of the inviolability of borders in Eastern Europe and especially the first bilateral disarmament agreements represent tangible achievements of the policy of détente, which culminates in the signing of the Helsinki Accords. These successes, however, were seriously undermined by the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Soviet intrigues in Africa, and then the direct invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, after which tensions reigned again in international affairs.
Since June 1977, Brezhnev has combined the position of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee with the position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
The last years of Brezhnev's rule are clearly called the “years of stagnation.” Leonid Ilyich was seriously ill and did not rule the country, but only observed his surroundings so that no one would dare to “sit on” him and deprive him of the position of the first person in the country. He loved receiving more and more awards and bonuses, began to love flattery and expensive gifts more and more, and appointed only his acquaintances from working in Dnepropetrovsk, Moldova and Kazakhstan to the highest leadership positions in the country. Seriously ill, narrow-minded, but a cunning career politician, surrounded by the same decrepit members of the Politburo, Brezhnev at the end of his life evoked neither respect nor pity among the people - only contempt and ridicule. He became a character not in a heroic epic, but only in an anecdote.
Brezhnev in Crimea with sailors. Photographer Vladimir Musaelyan. 1978
These years are characterized by increased corruption, an economic crisis, and an acute shortage of consumer goods and food products.
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