The era of stagnation and L.I. Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was in power for 18 years - a whole era for the Soviet state. You can treat his personality and the years of his reign as you like, calling them “stagnation” or “golden age”, but Brezhnev is a part of our history, and no one will cancel this.
Domestic politics
Considering the pros and cons of the "Brezhnev" years, you begin to understand the pensioners who remember those years with such warmth. It's not just nostalgia for the bygone times when they were young, it's a longing for a really good and stable life.
Main advantages:
- The economic recovery of the country. Brezhnev's rule began with changes in the country's economy - enterprises were transferred to self-supporting to pay off their products, improve their quality through economic incentives for employees. Simply put, Brezhnev tried to make plants and factories profitable and increase the material interest of workers. It was a real reform, but it gradually died out. Nevertheless, in a few years, industrial production increased by 50%, the national income increased, and by the 1970s, almost 2,000 enterprises had been built in the USSR.
- Stability in the country. An adult working person in the Soviet Union could be sure of his future - he would always have a roof over his head, a job and some material benefits.
- There was no unemployment. At all. There have always been jobs.
- Social sphere. Social spending under Brezhnev increased 3 times. Wages increased, the birth rate too, a general medical examination of the population was introduced, life expectancy increased, education was the best in the world, the number of communal apartments gradually decreased - a lot of housing was built. Yes, you had to wait 10-15 years for your own apartment, but the state provided it for free!
- The standard of living of ordinary citizens. Yes, they lived well. Are the salaries small? So you don't have to freak out. Housing, education, healthcare are free, utilities are pennies, and sausage is 2-20.
- liberal regime. The fact that Brezhnev is blamed for his sentimental nature and inability to make firm decisions explains his rather loyal attitude towards dissent. Yes, there was censorship, communist demagogy, dissidents were persecuted and punished, but there was no “witch hunt”. There were only a few convicted under "anti-Soviet" articles, more often dissidents were simply expelled from the country.
- "Stagnation". The economy practically stopped developing in the 1970s. She demanded reforms, but the general welfare of the country (thanks to the oil "boom") allowed Brezhnev not to think about it. The growth of industry and agriculture stopped, a food crisis was brewing, and in technology the Soviet Union lagged behind the developed countries for many decades.
- Corruption. Corruption under Brezhnev reached appalling proportions, especially in the last years of his rule. The army of Soviet officials, inspired by the General Secretary's condoning attitude towards the unseemly actions of his family members, stole and took millions of bribes.
- Shadow economy. The shortage of basic goods and products contributed to the emergence of a "black" market. Speculation flourished, theft at state enterprises reached unprecedented proportions, and underground production arose.
Foreign policy
Brezhnev's foreign policy was rather contradictory, and yet his indisputable merit was the easing of international tension, the reconciliation of the socialist and capitalist camps of countries. If he did not lead an active policy of "demining", who knows - there would be a world in general now.
Advantages of foreign policy:
- The policy of "détente". By the mid-1970s, the nuclear forces of the USSR and the United States were equal. Despite the fact that the Soviet Union had become a superpower by this time, it was Brezhnev who initiated the policy of "détente" in international relations. In 1968, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was concluded, in 1969, an agreement "On measures to reduce the danger of a nuclear war between the USSR and the USA." In 1972, a completely unprecedented event happened - President Nixon visited Moscow. An economic "thaw" between the USSR and the West also began.
- Strategic and political power of the country. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union was at the zenith of its power: it caught up with the United States in nuclear power, created a fleet that made the country the leading naval power and the strongest army, and became a country with not just authority, but a leading position in the creation of international relations.
Main cons:
- Invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1968, mass anti-Soviet protests began in Czechoslovakia, the country tried to deviate from the socialist model of development. Brezhnev decided on "armed assistance". Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia, there were several clashes with Czech soldiers and militias. The Czechs, who were celebrating the liberation of the country by Soviet troops from the Nazis twenty years ago, were shocked by the invasion of the same army to suppress unrest. The occupation of the country prevented a possible exit of Czechoslovakia from the Soviet bloc. The entry of troops was condemned not only by Western countries, but also by Yugoslavia, Romania and the People's Republic of China.
- Deteriorating relations with the People's Republic of China. Under Brezhnev, relations with China, which lay claim to the border areas that had been ceded to Russia before the revolution, became very aggravated. It came to major armed conflicts on the border and the seizure of Russian territories by the Chinese. War was brewing. Only a personal meeting between Chairman of the Council of Ministers Kosygin and the Chinese Prime Minister made it possible to avoid it, but Sino-Soviet relations remained hostile. And only in 1989, after the death of Brezhnev, they were normalized through negotiations.
- Intervention in Afghanistan. In 1978, a civil war broke out between the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Western-backed opposition, the Mujahideen and Islamists. In December 1979, Soviet troops entered the country to support the government. The seizure of power by the oppositionists was prevented, but the war with the participation of the Soviet military continued for another 10 years.
Brezhnev died in 1982. Many years later. Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. Having coped with many troubles, she survived. Putin's long rule has given the country relative stability. In addition, Russia has become freer, more civilized. But has it become better to live in it?
Yesterday the country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the most popular general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. To understand the meaning of Brezhnev's "stagnation" in history, we remembered his successes and failures... And it turned out that the disadvantages of the era are just a continuation of its advantages
Photo: TASS
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Kosygin's reforms and "stagnation"
pros
Few people remember that Brezhnev's "stagnant" time began ... with reforms. In 1965, the introduction of market relations (self-financing) into the industry of the USSR began. As a result, the 8th five-year plan (1966 - 1970) became the most successful in Soviet history and was called "golden". 1,900 large enterprises were built, including a car factory in Tolyatti. And in subsequent years, Soviet citizens, to put it mildly, did not live in poverty - life in the USSR was cheap and, in general, comfortable.
Minuses
The stagnation in the economy began when world oil prices tripled in the early 1970s, and oil was found in Western Siberia. The USSR sat down on the oil needle with pleasure, and Brezhnev lost interest in reforms. From that moment on, the main thing for the country's leadership was not to modernize the USSR, but to maintain stability. Even at the cost of hopeless degradation of the economy. The lines for shortages were getting longer and the list of "available goods" for the average person was getting shorter.
Losing the Moon
pros
Under Brezhnev, the USSR won a new space victory over the Americans - Alexei Leonov made the first manned spacewalk. The military also had great successes - the orbit was literally teeming with spy satellites. In 1971, the USSR launched the world's first Salyut-1 station into orbit.
Minuses
Under Brezhnev, Soviet cosmonautics lost to the Americans for the first time. Despite the efforts of industry, the USSR failed to put a man on the moon. The Americans did it in 1969.
Take Prague again
pros
Despite the relative softness of the reign of Leonid Ilyich, the USSR increased its authority in the international arena. Sometimes with a hard hand. To the threat of the collapse of the Warsaw bloc, which Czechoslovakia tried to organize in 1968, Moscow reacted decisively. In 36 hours, the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries almost bloodlessly established complete control over Czechoslovakia and suppressed the Prague Spring.
Minuses
The events in Prague provoked anti-Soviet sentiments in the world, and especially in Eastern Europe. Dissidents became more active in the USSR, and the KGB began to "tighten the screws."
Velvet repression
pros
Brezhnev tried to make the fight against dissent as soft as possible. When in 1968 the “father of the hydrogen bomb”, academician Andrei Sakharov, expressed the idea of “gradual convergence of capitalism and socialism”, he was only removed from secret work. And only 10 years later, when Sakharov opposes the introduction of troops into Afghanistan, he is deprived of all awards and exiled to Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod).
In contrast to the era of Stalin, under Brezhnev, the atmosphere of general fear disappeared. Even the dissidents were not particularly afraid for their lives.
Minuses
In contrast to the Khrushchev “thaw,” even a hint of freedom of speech disappeared under Brezhnev. Art has become absolutely partisan. Writers, poets, artists who do not want to write endless "Leninians" dream of leaving for the free West. Disgust at false official propaganda among the intelligentsia is becoming universal. Perhaps this is what will provoke what some call perestroika, while others call the death of the USSR.
Arms race and détente
pros
The Brezhnev time is the "golden age" for the military. By the early 1970s, the USSR had overtaken the United States in terms of nuclear power. The developments of army designers of those years are still in service with the Russian army.
Minuses
The build-up of the militarist power of the USSR under Brezhnev came back to havoc with monstrous spending for the budget and undermining the economy, which was already dying.
"This heart is beating - BAM"
pros
Under Brezhnev, a new Great Construction began - in April 1974, at the XVII Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, a shock Komsomol construction site was announced - BAM. Thousands of young romantics went to the taiga to build a great railway line. Its importance was assessed as strategic. The new road was supposed to raise the development of the Far East to a new level.
Minuses
But it was not for nothing that in the Brezhnev era the word “long-term construction” was popular. BAM was built only 30 years later. And it is not yet clear whether this Komsomol construction project, which cost many billions of dollars, will pay for itself. Now trains run there very rarely.
Olympic communism
pros
Brezhnev made sure that the Olympic Games were held in Moscow. A record number of medals in the history of Olympism - 197 (including 80 gold) - was won by Soviet athletes. Muscovites still remember with pleasure that triumphant 1980, when they suddenly found full store shelves, Finnish beer and juice with a straw.
Minuses
The 1980 Olympics turned into a scandal. The US and some of its allies boycotted the games. The Olympics (and at the same time the residents of the capital) are commemorated with a bad word by those who tried to come to Moscow these days. The capital of the country was then closed to non-residents, leaving Muscovites with a one-on-one store abundance.
Afghan war
pros
The USSR continues to fight with the USA for influence in the world. Not wanting to lose influence over Afghanistan, Brezhnev went for broke, bringing troops there and demonstrating the military power of the Union. Fortunately, the army did not let us down - the brilliant capture of Amin's Palace was included in the textbooks of special operations.
Minuses
The USSR got involved in an unsuccessful war. The Afghan Mujahideen, with the support of the United States, turned into a shock detachment of the anti-Soviet war. For 9 years, half a million Soviet soldiers passed through Afghanistan. About 15 thousand were killed (according to unofficial data - up to 40 thousand).
Generation Pepsi
pros
In 1973, Pepsi-Cola began to be sold in the USSR. The construction of factories for the production of Pepsi in the Soviet Union began (the first - in 1974 in Novorossiysk).
Minuses
The appearance of Pepsi on the Soviet market is the beginning of a sad trend that has haunted the Russian industry to this day. Opening the doors wide for foreign goods, we still have not learned how to promote our own on the international market.
What do you think about this, write to the address: [email protected]
ICONOSTASIS
For what Ilyich was given orders
In terms of the number of awards, L. I. Brezhnev owns the "world record" that no one has yet broken. Major General Brezhnev finished the Great Patriotic War with four orders and two medals - the usual set that front-line soldiers of his rank had. And the phrases in the award lists were standard: most often - "For courage and heroism."
Evil tongues gossiped that "Leonid Ilyich spent the whole war in the rear dugout of the political department." It is not true. He was in many alterations, had injuries and concussions.
After the war, under Stalin, Brezhnev received the Order of Lenin. Under Khrushchev - one more. The justifications were similar - "For an outstanding contribution." In total, Brezhnev received this award 8 times (Marshal Vasilevsky had the same number of Ilyichs). And all "for an outstanding contribution" - to the leadership of the party, country, army ...
When Brezhnev headed the country and the party, the awards on his jacket began to grow like mushrooms in the forest. He became a Hero of Socialist Labor and four times a Hero of the Soviet Union (although according to the statute, the Gold Star can only be awarded
3 times). The stars were timed to coincide with the birthday, anniversary of the Victory, party congresses.
In 1978, Brezhnev was awarded the highest military order "Victory", which was awarded to the largest commanders for outstanding victories on the scale of the fronts.
The justification for Brezhnev was as follows: "For a great contribution to the Victory of the Soviet people, outstanding services in strengthening the country's defense capability, for the foreign policy of the world." Under Gorbachev, in September 1989, the decree on awarding Brezhnev with the Order of Victory was canceled.
Victor BARANETS
Period 1964-1982
Prepared by:
history teacher
MOSH №32
Andrievskaya A.V.
This period of history refers to the time when Leonid Brezhnev was at the head of the USSR. The era was figuratively called "stagnation", as it was characterized by a decrease in economic growth compared to previous periods, extensive methods of development of agriculture and industry.
One of the events that took place during this period of Russian history was the economic reform of A.N. Kosygin in 1965. The reform was characterized by large-scale transformations in the industrial and agricultural spheres: the reduction of planned indicators, the introduction of an economic incentive system, partial decentralization of planning, and the transition to self-financing. The reform of A.N. Kosygin became a significant event in the history of the USSR, as it allowed to increase the rate of economic growth, increased the amount of tax deductions in favor of the state and the standard of living of citizens interested in the result of their work, therefore, they produced products in excess of the plan and, as a result, received Additional income.
Another event of this period was the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR in October 1977. The main provisions of this document were the assertion that "developed socialism" had been built in the USSR, the need to achieve the homogeneity of a multinational Soviet society, and the "leading and guiding" role of the CPSU in the life of the country ( Article 6), on granting citizens democratic rights. The adoption of the Constitution in 1977 was an important event in the history of the state, as it reflected the realities of that period, which differed from the situation of Soviet society in the 1930s (before that, the Constitution of 1936 was the basic law of the USSR); in the Constitution of the USSR of 1977, the international obligations of the USSR were for the first time introduced (the provisions of the Final Act of the WBCSE of 1975).
Both of these events are due to the need to reform the economic and political spheres in Soviet society in the 1960s and 70s of the 20th century due to the failure of reform activities under N.S. Khrushchev, when the creation of economic councils and the introduction of a territorial method of management, the economy of the USSR suffered disorganization and a decline in economic growth rates . The reform of A.N. Kosygin was designed to stabilize the economic situation in the USSR, bring the state's economy to the world level, raise agriculture and increase the growth rate of industry. The Constitution of the USSR of 1977, as the fundamental law of the state, affected all aspects of life in the USSR, secured the rights and obligations of citizens and the state. Unfortunately, the implementation of the economic reform was half-hearted, since most of its provisions required fundamental changes in the economic system of the USSR, up to the abandonment of the centralized economic system. The adoption of the Constitution of 1977 did not entail significant changes in the life of society, since many democratic rights (for example, freedom of speech) were violated, and Article 6 actually secured the right of the CPSU to interfere in all spheres of life.
A bright personality of this era was L.I. Brezhnev. With the coming to power of L.I. Brezhnev, there were radical changes in the political course "from reforms to stagnation." L.I. Brezhnev, as the main slogan, put forward the idea of "stability of personnel", which meant pursuing a policy of the irremovability of nomenklatura workers, the conservation of the political regime, and the aging of managerial personnel.
Kosygin A.N., who held the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Kosygin A.N. began work on improving the economy, realizing that the level of its development is insufficient to ensure both a decent life for people and the security of the country. At the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in September 1965, he presented a program, outlining the essence of the economic reform: decentralization of the management of the national economy, increasing the independence of enterprises, changing their performance indicators - profit and profitability became the main ones.
The "period of stagnation" is ambiguous, like any historical period. It would be wrong to evaluate it one-sidedly, seeing only "good" or only "bad", especially since these concepts are so often loose.
By the mid-80s, the state of Soviet society can be assessed as a "systemic crisis" - such was the general result of the Brezhnev period. Moreover, this crisis is associated not so much with economic as with the ideological and political problems that confront society and the state.
Period 1964-1982
Prepared by:
history teacher
MOSH №32
Andrievskaya A.V.
This period refers to the reign of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko. This period left a deep mark in the history of our state and entered it under the name of the era of "stagnation".
In October 1964, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the resignation of the First Secretary N.S. Khrushchev. A new leadership came to power with its own attitudes, goals and objectives. Of course, with the advent of the new government, radical changes in the political course took place: "from reforms to" stagnation "".
Unlike the previous leader (N.S. Khrushchev), L.I. Brezhnev was an ardent opponent of criticism of the personality of I.V. Stalin, restalinization took place. At the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Great Victory, Brezhnev highly appreciated the activities and contribution to the Victory of Comrade Stalin. In this regard, changes also took place in education: entire sections containing criticism of the cult of personality were removed from history textbooks.
It would be wrong to talk about reforms in the era of "stagnation". It would probably be more correct to call these changes changes leading to stability. However, in the historical science of our time, everyone prefers to be called by their proper names. Among the changes is nepotism in personnel policy as part of the course to implement the slogan "Stability of Personnel!". At the same time, there is a strengthening of the control of the party apparatus over all aspects of the life of society, including the "clamp" of the thinking intelligentsia.
Despite the impending stagnation, reforms important for the period under review took place immediately in 1965. First of all, these are the reforms of agriculture and industry. In agriculture, a firm procurement plan for 5 years was established; there was a strengthening of the material and technical base; Guaranteed wages for collective farmers were introduced instead of workdays. In industry, it was mainly production planning that was reformed; the ministries were restored; measures were introduced to encourage overtime work. However, many of these reforms have not produced results.
The most important event of this period is the Constitution of "developed socialism", adopted on October 7, 1977 at the extraordinary VII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the ninth convocation. This Constitution made it possible to push the communist perspective to an indefinite future.
In November 1982, Yu. V. Andropov was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. This politician attempted to resuscitate the social system of the USSR with the help of emergency measures: many personnel changes were made, discipline in society was tightened, and corruption was fought. The period of Andropov's rule is called "Hope for Change". But none of what Yuri Vladimirovich had planned was destined to come true.
On February 10, 1984, KU Chernenko was elected at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. This period was marked by a period of "mini-stagnation". Konstantin Ustinovich chose to return to the Brezhnev leadership traditions.
Historians' opinions about political failures during the "era of stagnation" vary: some think that the causes of stagnation are related to subjective factors, such as Brezhnev's personality and his entourage; others believe that the failures are connected with the general mechanisms of the work of the USSR as such. Contemporaries of this historical period do not consider it flawed, because they say that in the era of stagnation, life was not so bad. And then comes 1985, the new General Secretary and the new policy - perestroika.
Period 1964-1982
Prepared by:
history teacher
MOSH №31
Sahakyan I.I.
This period of time refers to the period of "Recent
history”, which is figuratively called “stagnation” in historical and journalistic literature. The period of stagnation in the USSR is associated with the coming to power of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1964, through a "quiet coup") and ends with his death in 1982. The Brezhnev period is characterized as neo-Stalinism - the resumption of the entire economic, political, repressive system, the cult of personality, with some consideration of the modern development of the state.
The domestic policy of the Brezhnev era developed through the rejection of the reformist course laid by N.S. Khrushchev, the resumption of Stalinism and an attempt to maintain stability by ignoring urgent socio-economic problems. However, since 1965-1970, the new Soviet leadership has been trying to carry out economic reforms, called the Kosygin reforms, whose main task was to gradually transfer the country's industry to economic methods of management, use commodity-money relations, introduce self-supporting, material incentives for workers, use world experience of economic initiative. This contributed to the fact that the eighth five-year plan was one of the most successful in the post-war years.
The stagnation is also known for the dissident movement (movement of dissenters). This is a human rights, eventually political trend, the participants of which do not agree with the ideology of the totalitarian USSR.
This period of foreign policy relations is characterized by the desire of the USSR to seize the strategic initiative. In the early 1970s, parity was achieved (equality of relations between the sides in some parameters) between the USSR and the USA in nuclear weapons. This period was called the détente of international tension. The negotiation process, which lasted until the end of the 70s, was interrupted due to the intervention of the USSR in the affairs of Asian and African countries, and escalated into the second Cold War. In relations with the socialist countries of Europe, the USSR implemented the so-called "Brezhnev Doctrine" on the limited sovereignty of these countries and the possibility of Soviet intervention in the event of a "threat to the cause of socialism." Such direct intervention was required in 1968 to suppress the Prague Spring (the movement for "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia). However, the democratic movement in Poland in 1980-1981. under the leadership of the Solidarity trade union, it was suppressed by the Polish military themselves with the moral support of the USSR.
The most important figure of the period and a participant in many events - Kosygin Alexei Nikolaevich (1904-1980) - a party and statesman. Member of the CPSU since 1927. Since 1938 - in the party work. From 1964-1980 - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. He held this post for 16 years, which is a record for tenure in this position. The economic reform carried out by A.N. Kosygin in 1965-1970, contributed to the success of the VIII Five-Year Plan (“golden” in terms of economic indicators). Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1964, 1974). He made a great contribution to the preparation and holding of the 1980 Olympic Games in the USSR.
Among the dissidents, the main human rights activist and public figure is the figure of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( 1921-1989) - Soviet theoretical physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. In 1966, he signed a letter from twenty-five cultural and scientific figures to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev against the rehabilitation of Stalin. In 1970 he became one of the three founding members of the Moscow Committee of Human Rights. In December 1979 and January 1980, he made a number of statements against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which were printed on the front pages of Western newspapers. For his human rights activities, he was deprived of all Soviet awards and in 1980 he was exiled with his wife from Moscow to the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod).
Despite the successful result of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, by 1970 Kosygin's economic reforms had been curtailed, and braking mechanisms had been created. The reforms were not successful. The main reasons - the industry again began to be transferred to the sectoral principle of management through ministries and departments (that is, they were reassigned to Moscow); all economic transformations were not supplemented by political transformations; over the 18 years of a period of stagnation, there were practically no changes in the administrative and managerial apparatus, there was no reorganization of the country's political structure - all positions in the party became almost lifelong; lack of desire to change the situation on the ground. The reasons for the aggravation of Soviet-American relations were the arms race, which led to the second cold war, provoked by the intervention of the USSR in the affairs of Asian and African countries, the deployment of SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe, and especially the outbreak of war in Afghanistan (December 1979).
Despite all the negative phenomena of the period 1964-1982, the growth in the welfare of citizens continued. Many city dwellers had the opportunity to improve their living conditions. In general, the life of an ordinary citizen was good, secure and stable, which was most important, and from this point of view, the value of the period can be highly appreciated. "Return to the past" - neo-Stalinism, the persecution of dissidents does not make it possible to appreciate the value of the period highly.
Period 1964-1982
Prepared by:
history teacher
MOSH №32,
Khlyan M.O.
1964-1982 is one of the difficult periods in the history of the Soviet Union, dating back to the time when L.I. Brezhnev. This period was called "stagnation", a characteristic feature of which is a slowdown in economic growth compared to previous periods, extensive methods of developing industry and agriculture, as well as a slowdown in the process of turnover of party and state leaders at all levels of government.
The most prominent personalities of this period were the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin.
L.I. Brezhnev became the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU after the removal of N.S. Khrushchev in October 1964 (since 1966 - General Secretary of the Central Committee) and held this post until his death in November 1982. The leadership of the country, headed by Brezhnev, who came to power, tried to change Khrushchev's obviously impracticable projects, including canceling his unpopular decisions in the field of public administration. In this regard, the Councils of the National Economy were abolished and the sectoral ministries were restored, the division of the regional party committees into industrial and agricultural, etc., was canceled.
The task of building communism by 1980 was eliminated. Instead, from the end of the 60s, the construction of developed socialism began, which postponed the construction of communism for a certain period.
The concept of developed socialism became the theoretical basis of the Constitution of the USSR, adopted in 1977. In the text, which included Article No. 6, which stated that the CPSU is the leading and guiding layer of Soviet society, the core of its political system. Thus, the one-party system was constitutionally fixed in the USSR.
The connection between economic stagnation and the emergence of the theory of developed socialism is obvious. The planned economy showed its failure back in the 50s. Khrushchev, for example, tried to compensate for the decline in production efficiency with managerial innovations and the search for additional resources (development of virgin lands). All this was done in order to prevent market relations in the economy, characteristic of ideologically alien capitalism. But economic indicators continued to fall, so the society needed to offer a new theory that would allow an indefinitely long time to justify the monopoly of power in the country of the Communist Party.
In this regard, it should be noted the desire of the Soviet leadership to carry out a number of economic reforms, which went down in history as the "Kosygin" reforms. And the inspirer and active supporter was A. Kosygin. They took place in the second half of the 60s, during the period of the 8th five-year plan, which became the most effective for the entire post-war period. The essence of the reform was to expand the independence of enterprises, reduce planned indicators and create a system of material incentives for efficient workers.
Many business leaders were not ready for this kind of activity, and the events in Czechoslovakia showed the Soviet leadership the limits of liberalization in the economy, and for which there was no longer any place for the communists at the top of power. All this was the main reason for curtailing reforms and returning to the former administrative model of economic management. The result of this was megalomania in industrial construction and attempts to boost agriculture through targeted development programs, which did not lead to a solution to economic problems. The growth rates of economic indicators continued to decline.
The inefficiency of the planned economy gave rise to such a problem as the low interest of workers in the results of their labor, and the change in social and living conditions no longer allowed workers to be classified as the proletariat, which at one time was the backbone of the communists. Under these conditions, Brezhnev found the social support of his power among the highest and middle party workers, who made up the so-called layer of the party nomenklatura. The period of stagnation was the heyday of the privileges of this very nomenklatura. This is evidenced by the abolition of the mandatory rotation (movement of positions) of party cadres (decision of the XXIII Congress of the CPSU in 1966). In the same year, restrictions on the age principle for leaders were abolished. As a result, there was a clan system in the leadership, as well as a phenomenon that was called gerontocracy (the power of the elderly) in the highest echelons of power.
Summing up, we can say that this period was called “stagnation” quite reasonably. Instead of effective measures of an economic nature, the number of managers increased (there was 1 manager for 607 employees). Mandatory rotation was abolished, which led to stagnation in the leadership of the party and the state. The 1977 constitution clearly demonstrates the stagnation in the political system. The rejection of the transformations of the period of the “Kosygin” reforms led to the growth of the shadow economy and the expansion of the list of scarce goods. It can be said that by the mid-1980s, a social structure typical of a post-industrial society had developed in the USSR, but the system of production relations remained industrial. Thus, there was a clear contradiction, when the state tried with all its might to preserve outdated relations of production, guided by purely ideological considerations.
Period 1965-1981
Prepared by:
history teacher
MOSH №32
Solovieva N.V.
Period from 1965 to 1981 historians call "stagnation" and the era of developed socialism.
The chronological framework is determined by such phenomena in the socio-economic and political life of the country as: stagnation in the economy; the emergence of the theory of developed socialism; slowing down the process of turnover of party and Soviet leaders at all levels of government.
It was a time of "stagnation" in the economic and political development of the country. The food and housing problem worsened. Per capita income growth has fallen. The advanced branches of science and technology developed slowly: microelectronics, robotics, nuclear engineering. The ideological control over culture, the persecution of its objectionable figures, sharply increased: for example, in 1974 A.I. Solzhenitsyn. All this led to the emergence of opposition to the authorities.
The most prominent figures in the history of this period were Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (in October 1964 he became the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee after the removal of N.S. Khrushchev, and since 1966 - the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin. The "new collective leadership" that came to power, headed by Brezhnev, tried as quickly as possible to remove Khrushchev's obviously impracticable slogans and projects, to cancel unpopular decisions in the field of public administration. The Soviets of the National Economy were abolished and the corresponding sectoral ministries were restored, the division of the regional party committees into industrial and agricultural ones was abolished. The slogan of building communism was withdrawn, instead, from the late 1960s. began the development of the theory of developed socialism. The concept of developed socialism served as the theoretical basis for the Constitution of the USSR, adopted in 1977, which consolidated the one-party system in the USSR and the leading role of the CPSU.
Domestic policy was aimed at increasing industrial and agricultural production, improving the quality of life of the population. In 1965, on the initiative of A.N. Kosygin, a reform began in industry and agriculture. Within the framework of the reform, sectoral ministries were restored, purchase prices for agricultural products were raised, and a system of material incentives for above-planned production was introduced. The construction of a large number of new industrial enterprises continued. At the same time, the allocated funds were often spent irrationally. Reduced spending on housing and health care.
In foreign policy, a course was taken to defuse international tension. In 1972, the USSR and the USA signed an agreement on the limitation of anti-missile defense systems and strategic offensive weapons. In 1975, the final act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was signed in Helsinki. In 1980, the XXII Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow. At the same time, the USSR, seeking to expand its sphere of influence in the world and reduce the influence of the United States, participated in many regional conflicts: in Vietnam, the Middle East, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. In 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. Under Brezhnev, relations with the socialist countries worsened: in 1968, anti-communist protests in Czechoslovakia were suppressed, and in 1969, a border conflict with China took place on Damansky Island. In 1981, contradictions with Poland escalated, where the protests of the Solidarity trade union led by L. Walesa led to the introduction of martial law.
Summing up, we can say that the period of national history from 1965 to 1981. called "stagnation" is not accidental. Instead of effective measures of an economic nature, the number of managers increased, the mandatory rotation of party workers was abolished, which led to stagnation in the leadership of the party and the state. The 1977 constitution clearly demonstrated the stagnation in the political system. The rejection of the transformations of the period of the "Kosygin" reforms led to the growth of the shadow economy and the expansion of the list of scarce goods. The growth rate of national income has slowed down. The dependence of the Soviet economy on the export of oil and gas increased. Thus, there was a clear contradiction, when the state tried with all its might to preserve outdated relations of production, guided by purely ideological considerations.
THE BREZHNEV ERA (1964–1985)
"Golden Age" of nomenclature
Although the leaders who replaced Khrushchev had disagreements, they were united in the main. It was necessary to strengthen power and calmly enjoy the position achieved. Later, they finally became convinced that trying to rebuild the system is very dangerous and troublesome. It's better not to touch anything. It was during this era that the formation of the gigantic bureaucratic machine of socialism was completed, and all its fundamental flaws were clearly manifested. Gradually, some of Khrushchev's measures were canceled, which in one way or another limited the nomenclature, and sectoral ministries were restored.
Political life was now much calmer and even more secret than before. Using his position as General Secretary (Secretary General), who did not appear to be a leader, he became the main leader. Once again it became clear that under the dominance of the CPSU, the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee is a key one. It was with her help that both Stalin and Khrushchev managed to “take away” power from their more prominent associates.
During the years of Brezhnev's rule, the position of the ruling stratum has strengthened, and its well-being has grown. The nomenklatura was still a caste, which had everything special: apartments, dachas, trips abroad, hospitals, etc. She did not know the shortage, since she also purchased goods in special stores. That is why those in power were especially interested in low prices: the more difficult it was to buy something for an ordinary citizen, the fuller was the ruble of the nomenklatura.
The nomenklatura was not a completely isolated layer from the people. Rather, they were numerous concentric circles, and the closer each of them stood to the population, the less opportunities they had. Accordingly, an increasing number of positions and professions became the privilege of the nomenklatura, for example, teachers of higher educational institutions. And the defense of a candidate's dissertation began to be furnished with such complex rules, recommendations, directions, which very much resembled the painful path of a medieval student to a master.
The upper strata of the nomenclature were now less and less filled with people from the lower ones, for the most part these positions were opened only for relatives and friends of high leaders. Such, for example, is the path of Brezhnev's son-in-law Churbanov, who from an ordinary officer became a general and deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the other hand, those who had already fallen into the corresponding circle were much less likely to be removed from it: they were, as it were, moved from one leading place to another. Because of the love of the nomenklatura for "warm places", the number of officials in the country grew much faster than the total number of employees.
Relations within the nomenklatura system were characterized by servility, bribery and various “gifts”, ousting talented people, rubbing points on superiors, appointing only one’s own to posts (and in some, especially non-Russian, republics, selling posts), etc. Despite the lack of jurisdiction of higher the leaders of ordinary laws, all the same, various scandalous cases that could not be hushed up often broke out, such as the “big caviar case”, when high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Fisheries illegally sold black caviar abroad.
The Brezhnev era is undoubtedly the "golden age" of the nomenklatura. But it ended as soon as production and consumption finally came to a standstill.
Economy: reforms and stagnation. NTR and petrodollars
The Brezhnev era was later called the "stagnant period". However "stagnation" didn't start right away. On the contrary, in 1965 they proclaimed an economic reform, conceived under Khrushchev. Its essence was to give enterprises more freedom, to force them to fight for increasing profits and profitability, to link the results of labor and earnings (for this, part of the profits was left to enterprises to pay bonuses, etc.).
The reform gave some results, revived the economy. The increase in purchase prices had a positive effect on agriculture. However, its limited nature soon became apparent. The deepening of the transformations meant a weakening of the power of the nomenklatura, which it did not want to go for. Therefore, gradually everything returned to its original place. The plan, the gross figures remained the main ones. The branch ministries continued to take all the profits from those who performed better and to divide everything as they saw fit.
The main reason for the failure of the reform was the very essence of the Soviet model of socialism (as opposed to the Yugoslav, Hungarian or Chinese): a rigid concentration of all resources in the center, a gigantic system of redistribution. In power were officials who saw their purpose in planning for everyone, distributing and controlling. And they did not want to reduce their power. The underlying reason for this system was the dominance of the military-industrial complex. It was not possible to make this sector a market one.
The main customer and consumer of weapons was the state itself, which spared no funds for it. A huge number of enterprises of heavy and even light industry, working in secrecy, were tied to the "defense industry". There could be no talk of any self-financing here. And in order to ease the burden of military spending, the state sent all the best to the military-industrial complex. Therefore, it did not want to allow the free sale of raw materials, materials, energy, the free movement of workers of a certain qualification. And without this, what kind of market can we talk about. So all the enterprises remained tightly tied by controlling and planning bodies to each other without the opportunity to look for partners themselves, to decide what and how much to produce.
Production was much more subordinated to the convenience of planning and control by officials than to the interests of the consumer or profit margins. It was supposed, according to planners, to constantly grow, moreover, “from what has been achieved,” that is, from the indicators of the previous period. As a result, mostly military or waste production often grew. The costs of such growth became more and more significant, the economy was increasingly "costly" character. In fact, growth was for the sake of growth. But the country was no longer able to give more and more money for him. It began to slow down until it reached almost zero. Indeed, there was a “stagnation” in the economy, and with it a crisis of the system. Returning to the reasons for the failure of reform, let's say that oil revenues became the main opportunity to abandon it. The Soviet Union actively developed oil and gas fields in Siberia and the North (as well as other minerals in the vast expanses of the East, North, Kazakhstan, etc.). Since the beginning of the 1970s, world oil prices have risen many times over. This gave the USSR a huge influx of currency. All foreign trade was restructured: the main exports were oil, gas and other raw materials (as well as weapons), the main imports were machinery, equipment, goods for the population and food. Of course, the currency was actively spent on bribing foreign parties and movements, espionage and intelligence, trips abroad, etc., etc. Thus, the leadership received a powerful source of maintaining the system unchanged. Flow petrodollars finally buried the economic reform. The import of grain, meat, etc. made it possible to preserve the unprofitable collective-farm-state-farm system. Meanwhile, despite all the efforts and gigantic costs, the results in agriculture were even more deplorable than in industry.
Since the 1950s, the world has begun scientific and technological revolution (NTR) associated with the introduction of electronics, artificial materials, automation, etc. We could not reduce the technological gap with the West. It was possible to compete with him only in the military sphere through exorbitant exertion of forces and industrial espionage. Constant talk about "combining the advantages of socialism with the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution" only emphasized our backwardness. When planning, enterprises had no incentives for technical progress, the inventors only annoyed the leaders. Under these conditions, the Brezhnev team decided that oil exports could also solve the problem of underdevelopment. The country began to sharply increase purchases of modern equipment abroad. In just 4 years from 1972 to 1976, imports of Western technology increased 4 (!) times. Thus, the government managed to slightly increase labor productivity, increase production, and organize the production of many modern goods. But by doing this, she completely corrupted our business executives, lowered the already low technical level of engineers, and drove her designers into a corner.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the country had exhausted its growth opportunities by attracting new workers, developing new deposits, and building enterprises. When world oil prices went down sharply, it meant a crisis of the entire socialist system. She is too accustomed to petrodollars.
Changes in the life of the country. "chronic diseases" system
During this period, people's lives changed a lot, became more cultured and prosperous. Peasants finally received passports, they were paid a guaranteed salary. More and more people now had separate apartments, cars, durable goods. However, the supply of cities, which had improved in the mid-60s, soon began to deteriorate. One by one, food and goods (especially meat, oil, fabrics, etc.) became scarce. By the end of the 70s, the authorities managed to maintain a more or less decent assortment only in the shops of Moscow (“showcases of the USSR”) and some other cities. The growth of money incomes of the population led to an increase in the deficit, a large difference between state and market prices (what was sold there). The outflow of peasants from the villages continued. Some territories, especially the northwest (the so-called Non-Chernozemie), were completely deserted. There were not enough workers everywhere, but especially in the villages when harvesting. To "help the countryside" millions of students, employees, schoolchildren, soldiers, etc. went to collective farms and state farms. Seasonal "migrations" greatly harmed education and industry, and corrupted the peasants. The growth of drunkenness has become a clear sign of the times, the curse of Soviet life.
In the multinational USSR, there were also processes that greatly alarmed the authorities. The growth of the European population (first of all, the Slavs) slowed down, but the Asian population grew very quickly. This created big problems for conscripts into the army, fueled unemployment in Central Asia.
In the Brezhnev era, the vices and "chronic diseases" of the system became very visible. Among the many, we note the most important. First of all, this is the stigma of socialism - the deficit, which has already been mentioned more than once. It manifested itself not only in empty store shelves, but literally in everything. There was always a shortage of workers and other specialists in production, as well as spare parts, bricks, pipes, etc. As a result, large and close-knit social groups developed, which, being able to distribute the deficit, received great power and income. All sorts of "getting" connections, blat and other semi-mafia relationships have entangled the country like a web. Blat in the right areas has become, without exaggeration, the most expensive "currency", more expensive than the dollar. The reverse side of the deficit was the actual and moral depreciation of money (and, consequently, the loss of incentives to earn money). The owners of these "paper notes" had to endure many humiliations and torments in order to sell them. Lines were a sign of socialism.
Deficiency had a lot of other unpleasant consequences. For example, due to the different supply (and, consequently, the standard of living) in different places, obtaining a capital or even a regional residence permit literally became a matter of life for millions of people. Hand in hand with the deficit went such diseases as drunkenness, theft. In order to withdraw money from the population, the state kept increasing the sale of alcohol, constantly raising its prices. At the same time, it "fought" with drunkenness, placing drunkards in sobering-up stations, alcoholics in special hospitals (LTP), which differed little from prisons. drunkards worked through the public, etc. The consequences of the growth of alcoholism were very difficult: a huge layer of degraded people formed. Families broke up, crime grew, the number of handicapped children, etc. Absenteeism, marriage, accidents, downtime multiplied at work. Drunkenness began to threaten the complete degradation of the nation. Not only the "lower classes" drank themselves, but also the "tops". It is clear that the alcoholic leader was not at all responsible for the consequences of his “leadership”.
Scarcity and drunkenness created a breeding ground for general theft. Employees of various enterprises of various ranks dragged from them what they could. Many scarce things turned into a coveted bottle of vodka straight from the factory. The number of such "carriers" was estimated at many millions, and even tens of millions. This phenomenon was even no longer considered a crime, although, of course, thousands of people were convicted every year.
The most important feature of state management has become universal wastefulness. Barbarously plundered nature, giving rise to a number of environmental crises. The most severe and impressive of them was in Central Asia, where the Aral Sea almost completely dried up due to improper melioration. Across the country, land reclamation has ruined millions of hectares of land, and logging has completely cleared millions of hectares of forests. Dams flooded fertile and populated lands, mining caused irreparable damage to the taiga, tundra, etc.
The planned economy, the implementation of the plan "at any cost" turned into a constant increase in the cost of materials, energy, raw materials. More and more of them were required, for their extraction the weight was taken further and further to the east and north. Fertile lands were deserted, and millions of people moved to harsh places for life. The military industry grew by leaps and bounds, robbing the whole country, infecting many areas with radioactive waste.
The wasteful economy required more and more workers. There was nowhere to take them. Then they decided to send as many young people and schoolchildren as possible to vocational schools. This completely ruined education. His prestige fell so low that a worker with an eight-year education who had mastered barely 10% of the program received more than an institute teacher. There was a monstrous squandering of talents and time, the corruption of young people, who, having messed around at school, received a certificate of secondary education. At the same time, the intelligentsia was diluted with half-educated students with diplomas.
Every year, millions of city dwellers observed examples of extravagance in collective farms and state farms, where, being unable to harvest the grown crop, they plowed it. They saw vegetables rotting in warehouses, grain dying in elevators, etc.
At the same time, the state fought in every possible way with the economic initiative of people, making them criminals (speculators, currency traders) or irresponsible grabbers: "tomatoes", "shabashniks", etc. The system led to a complete paralysis of healthy initiative and enterprise.
dissent
The softening of the regime under Khrushchev, the criticism of Stalin's "personality cult", the growth of prosperity and contacts with foreign countries, and much more inevitably gave rise to "fermentation of minds", dissent and, in some cases, resistance to the authorities. This was greatly facilitated by Western radio stations that broadcast to the USSR in Russian and other languages. In some years (during the period of detente) they were not even silenced.
Most people, however, under the influence of propaganda and prejudices, continued to consider our system, way of life, as completely correct and advanced. At the same time, almost every person found something to criticize him for, since there were many private shortcomings. For completely loyal citizens, indignation at the order, discussions with close authorities, jokes about General Secretary Brezhnev, whose speech and manners were becoming funnier every year, were the main forms of expressing their dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, the regime remained quite harsh: it was quite possible to get five years for a joke about Brezhnev, there were enough informants and provocateurs of the KGB.
Since the government sought to control and normalize everything, so many citizens involuntarily entered into one conflict or another with it: young people wore long hair (no matter how the military registration and enlistment office struggled with this), listened to rock music, etc. Workers dragged what they could from enterprises, merchants "speculated" and so on. But there were more political conflicts. Hundreds of thousands of people aspired to go abroad, applied for an exit, became, as it were, internal emigrants. Some of the so-called "refuseniks", i.e., those who were denied this, began to fight with the authorities. Other sources of conflicts were national ideas, which never completely died out in the Baltic States, Western Ukraine, etc., as well as religious ones.
There was, albeit small, political opposition. Since any direct disobedience to the regime was made "politics", it had a diverse character. Despite the fact that the number of obvious opponents of the authorities was small, among them stood out bright and prominent people, a variety of trends and directions.
In general, such resistance is called dissent(or more dissidence). As in any heterogeneous movement, there were many people who were truly devoted to the idea, seized by noble impulses of serving the people and the fatherland. But there were also many adventurers, lovers of glory at any cost, those who are always dissatisfied with something, provocateurs and other dark personalities. The power of dissent lay in large part in the fact that it was actively supported by the West. The USSR was often demanded the release of this or that dissident, the policy of dissent was linked to some kind of loan or agreement, and the actions of the opposition were reported through radio broadcasts. Therefore, despite the cruel reprisals against many, in relation to the most famous people, the authorities sometimes did not dare to take too harsh measures, preferring to send them abroad. Since the time of Pasternak, "samizdat" and "tamizdat" have become very common. A number of writers have gone abroad. Others (like V. Voinovich) were sent there. Many figures of culture and science (singers, athletes, musicians, directors, etc.) also left in the 1970s and 1980s. Emigration has become both a form of political protest and a desire to improve the standard of living.
The most important figures of dissidence were and. Both of them received Nobel Prizes (respectively for literature and peace). Solzhenitsyn published a number of works abroad. The Stalinist regime in the "Gulag Archipelago" was especially mercilessly exposed. In 1974, the writer "unbalanced" the authorities and they sent him abroad, from where he returned only in 1994, 20 years later. Solzhenitsyn became one of the most famous Russian writers in the world. Sakharov was one of the inventors of the hydrogen bomb, littered with many awards and benefits. However, later in his worldview there was a change. He realized the enormity of nuclear weapons, especially in the hands of the Soviet regime. The scientist made various appeals about the need to democratize the country to Brezhnev and others, and then embarked on the path of open propaganda of his views. In 1980, after condemning the invasion of Afghanistan, he was sent into exile, to the city of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), which was then closed to foreigners. Characteristically, the authorities failed to incite academicians to expel Sakharov from the Academy of Sciences.
The general showed himself to be an inflexible human rights activist, who was placed in a psychiatric hospital as a punishment. Anatoly Marchenko, who died in prison, passed a difficult path, leaving a certificate of the Gulag of the 60s. Mention should also be made of Yu. Orlov, L. Bogoraz and others.
The presence of even a small number of dissidents, who were called nothing more than renegades and traitors, violated the rosy picture of the unity of the people and the party. Therefore, the authorities dealt with their opponents in every way: they arrested and sentenced them to imprisonment on trumped-up charges (anti-Soviet propaganda, espionage, parasitism, etc.), quietly placed them in special psychiatric hospitals, expelled them from service, poured mud over them, sent them abroad, etc. .
After 1975, when the Soviet Union signed the final act of the all-European conference in Helsinki, where it pledged to respect human rights and freedoms, the so-called human rights movement monitoring the implementation of the Helsinki Agreement. Of course, it was also destroyed. Thus, although the government had complete control over the minds of people, used its dominance to instill false ideas and beliefs in order to make it easier to control the people, it could not completely subjugate society. An ideological crisis was increasingly felt in it, more and more people listened to what dissidents said and wrote.
I would like to cite facts that are more dangerous for the resistance regime than just words or a book. Although rare, there were cases of mutinies among the troops. M. Khazin tells about one of the most outstanding in the article “The Verdict after the Execution” (“Izvestia”, July 1994). We are talking about Captain III rank Valery Sablin, who was shot in 1976. The author rightfully compares him with the legendary Lieutenant Schmidt. “Valery Sablin, a hereditary sailor, served in the Baltic as a political officer of the large anti-submarine ship Watchtower. Long was his path to the conclusion that the power of the ruling elite was illegal ... that dissidents were being destroyed in the country, the authorities were struck by nepotism, bribery, careerism, arrogance towards the people, and the only way to do this was to cleanse the state apparatus and eliminate the system of "elections" that turns people in a faceless mass.
I reproduced almost verbatim the theses from the speeches prepared by Sablin, with which he intended to address the people. But how to do that?
Foreign policy: the unbearable burden of a superpower
Foreign policy of the 60s - the first half of the 80s. represented fluctuations between the two rates. On the one hand, there was a very strong desire to play the role of a superpower, not only equal, but also superior to the United States. It was necessary to keep the socialist countries under control, to steadily expand the spheres of their influence and interests, for which conflicts were encouraged in all parts of the globe. Usually this happened under the guise of supporting the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, communist and other struggles of various movements. On the other hand, under the unbearable burden of hegemonism, feeling an acute need for trade with the West, there were active attempts to reduce the confrontation and take steps towards detente.
In the 60s, a split in the socialist camp was clearly manifested: Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, friction with China escalated into armed clashes on the border. Strengthening the thousand-kilometer Soviet-Chinese border turned out to be very expensive. Relations with the PRC have not been normalized. In 1979, they cooled even more due to the invasion of Vietnam (an ally of the USSR) into Kampuchea (dependent on China). The Sino-Vietnamese war began, ending in nothing.
It was bad in Europe. In 1968, the actions of communist reformers in Czechoslovakia prompted the USSR, the GDR, Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland to send their troops into it and occupy Czechoslovakia. This direct aggression was justified by the so-called "Brezhnev Doctrine" about the right to interfere in the affairs of independent socialist countries that turn off the right course.
In 1967, a social movement for change began in Czechoslovakia. In January 1968, A. Dubcek came to power in the party, who, together with his like-minded people (O. Shik and others), decided to carry out reforms. Their actions to a large extent resembled our later perestroika. All this terribly frightened Brezhnev and the leaders of other socialist countries, who repeatedly demanded to "put things in order" from Dubcek. The Prague Spring, with its rallies, freedom of speech, the formation of parties, criticism of socialism, etc., could be very contagious, especially for the neighboring GDR, Poland. In mid-July, the rulers of the socialist countries sent a threatening letter to the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, stating: "Either you have lost control of the situation, or you do not want to do anything to control it." On the night of August 20-21, Warsaw Pact troops landed in Czechoslovakia and occupied it. The legitimate government was overthrown, and G. Husak came to power, who carried out a big purge and forced the party to approve the invasion. Although the West was greatly outraged by the Soviet aggression, they did not act actively enough.
In 1970, labor unrest began in the port cities of Poland. Although they were brutally suppressed, the Polish leader Gomulka was forced to cede power to the Terek. After 10 years, the labor movement began again in these cities. But this time it was headed by the independent Solidarity trade union, which soon became a huge power. The Terek was removed, but for a year and a half Poland was a hotbed of free-thinking among the socialist countries. Finally, in December 1981, General W. Jaruzelski carried out a military coup and temporarily restored the "socialist order". It is possible that this prevented the Soviet invasion of Poland.
The 70s were relatively calm in the camp of socialism, but it became increasingly difficult to keep the allies in line. Romania was especially opposed (N. Ceausescu).
The 1960s and 1970s were characterized by active confrontation between the USSR and the USA in various places on the planet, which both superpowers considered to be their zone of interests. At the same time, of course, the Soviet Union claimed that it supported the struggle for socialism or the struggle against imperialism. The United States, on the other hand, believed that it was their duty to fight communism everywhere. The Middle East was very tense, where Israel opposed the Arabs. War broke out there repeatedly. Despite the huge assistance to the Arabs from the USSR, they suffered military setbacks. A major blow to Soviet diplomacy was the withdrawal of Egypt from us and the conclusion of peace between it and Israel.
A bloody multi-year war was fought in South Vietnam. In 1973, after the conclusion of the agreement, the United States withdrew its troops from there. Soon (in 1976) North Vietnam (DRV) captured the South and the whole country became socialist. Of course, mass repressions immediately began.
Vietnam became an instrument of aggression of the USSR. The other was Cuba. In its leadership, the mood to "export" the revolution to other countries was very strong. So, for example, E. Che Guevara called for "creating two, three, many Vietnams in order to deprive the United States of their power." In the 70s, Cuba participated in the wars between Ethiopia and Somalia, between South Africa and Angola. She supported the partisans of Nicaragua and El Salvador in every possible way. Numerous conflicts, these “two, three, many Vietnams”, in the end, deprived the United States of power, but our country.
In the early 1970s, there were strong hopes for a sharp change in foreign policy. Rapprochement with the USA has begun. Probably, the danger of an alliance between them and China also contributed to this. Under the influence of the Vietnamese failure, the American side also became more accommodating. In 1972–1974 several high-level meetings took place. Agreements have been made to restrict strategic(SALT), trade and other ties grew, symbolized by the Soyuz-Apollo joint space flight. The USSR somewhat softened the internal regime. Relations with Germany and other European countries have normalized. The principle of the inviolability of post-war borders was recognized, an agreement on West Berlin was signed, and a pan-European conference was held.
However, it turned out to be impossible for our leadership to maintain a "peaceful" character for a long time. In the late 70s, due to the outbreak of various conflicts in the world, as well as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, relations again became cold. Afghanistan has long been a Soviet zone of influence. Then the USSR organized the overthrow of the king and the "April revolution" in 1978. But, when the next ruler Amin became recalcitrant, it was decided to "replace" him and introduce "a limited contingent of Soviet troops" into the country. The insane aggression gave rise to a ten-year shameful war, incalculable suffering for the Afghan people and the death of thousands of Soviet guys. The Afghan crisis coincided with the issue of medium-range missiles in Europe. NATO believed that the Warsaw Pact created a large advantage in these strike weapons, and demanded their destruction (the so-called "zero option"). Otherwise, they were going to place an additional number of such missiles themselves. The USSR categorically disagreed. The dispute over the missiles went on for several years and was accompanied by a constant build-up of tension.
Thus, by the mid-1980s, Soviet foreign policy under the leadership was at an impasse. The ambitions of politicians and the military clearly no longer corresponded to either the capabilities of the economy or the abilities of the rulers.
"parade" of general secretaries
The Soviet leadership was aging along with the Secretary General, and the young change was not enough. The Kremlin was jokingly called "nursing home" among the people. The age of many party bosses was a clear obstacle to normal management, especially for reforms. The Secretary General himself fell into insanity. A great lover of long speeches, at the end of his life he began to mumble, make huge pauses, and did not pronounce sounds. This provided a topic for endless jokes. Another "fun" of Leonid Ilyich was the assignment of various awards to himself. He had over 200 of them. His last pastime was writing. Of course, he did not write, but literary prizes were awarded to him. In fact, Brezhnev became more and more a decorative figure. The father's health may have been greatly affected by the debauchery of his daughter Galina Brezhneva, who led a scandalous, dissolute and defiant lifestyle in the country and abroad.
In February 1982, the permanent "ideologist" of the Central Committee, Suslov, died. In November 1982, people wondered for a long time why all the transmissions were interrupted by music. Only a considerable time later, the death of the already "eternal" General Secretary was announced.
In the leadership, of course, a struggle unfolded. The winner was the former chief of the KGB, who after the death of Suslov became secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Andropov was a staunch supporter of socialism, but wished to purge it of its abuses. Indeed, under him, the “crackdown” began. Many lost their posts, others ended up in prison. There were also attempts to "strengthen discipline", but, of course, by such measures that could not give anything.
The people had not yet had time to get used to the new leader, when he died (February 1984). His rule was marked by another crime of the regime: the destruction of a passenger South Korean aircraft on September 1, 1983. The whole world was outraged by both the action itself and the brazen statements of the leadership. Andropov was replaced by a Brezhnevite, already sick. The “parade” of the general secretaries began to amuse the people very much, respect for the authorities diminished. Chernenko's year in power was the apogee of the nomenklatura. An attempt was made to carry out school reform without changing anything in education. It was also decided to carry out a grand reclamation of agriculture, for this they were going to "turn the northern rivers." Fortunately, this project was realized only in a small part.
In March 1985, Chernenko also died. It seemed that the time had come for leapfrog at the highest post. But things took a different turn.
Elena KREMENTSOVA.
With modern oil prices, Leonid Ilyich would have built communism in ten years.
Dear Leonid Ilyich BREZHNEV has not been with us for 30 years. From year to yearnostalgia covers an increasing number of those who were born in the USSR, and
found "times of stagnation". By and large, the Brezhnev Soviet Union was a country of happy people who were not even aware of their happiness.
Understanding this comes when you compare two eras - that and the present. That is why, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, 61 percent of the country's population respects the Secretary General despite all the mocking publications, television series and pseudo-documentaries that defame Brezhnev and his family.
On November 10, 1982, the death of the head of state was announced in the country. This was
shock. Yes, old, yes, sometimes funny, boring, but so
habitual - like a relative. You're having dinner with your family, and he's on TV.
18 years old tells you something, rejoices in the successes of the country, someone
meets, kisses someone, hands something to someone or waves to us all with
Mausoleum. And we discuss our worldly problems over fried potatoes.
We dream of imported boots and a sewing machine that would process
loops so as not to run in the atelier with each update sewn according to patterns
magazines "Worker" and "Peasant". Men are waiting for football or hockey
they rave about Zhiguli or Java motorcycles. Calm and good. And not scary
we have no enemy - we have the best army, superintelligence! We are into it
believed, although at kitchen gatherings with friends they spent more than one night in
disputes about shortcomings in the economy and politics and poisoned anecdotes personally about
it - "dear Leonida Ilyich."
And now he is gone, and for the first time it becomes scary. Some are waiting for war, others, knowing the iron grip of the head of the KGB Yuri Andropov, - repression. Still others fear the appearance of a follower Khrushchev,
after the convulsive reforms of which we not only didn’t have sausage, but
they baked bread with corn and peas and fought in lines over disputes about Stalin.
Only the dissidents rejoiced, but on the day of the General Secretary's funeral, even they fell silent.
An inexplicable anxiety hung in the air. It was a massive premonition
the end of a mighty state.
all democratic publications were already shouting, referring to him the entire Brezhnev era. Although it was under him that Stalin's dream came true - the Soviet Union became a superpower.
From Gorbachev's time to this day, they have been trying to make us forget about the peak of state power. For the country
it was achieved not by attracting cheap migrant workers, but by
thanks to Russian cultural expansion to the republics and honest work
million people. Yes, for a modest but tolerable fee.
The liberals want to excommunicate children from the very idea of “Russian success”.
Last year in the textbook for distance and home education
turned out to be such pearls: “With his brainlessness, Brezhnev began to arrange and
the highest echelon of the nomenklatura", "Members of the Politburo engaged in intrigues,
intrigues, placed their people on different nomenklatura
posts”, “The middle link ... embezzled and took bribes”.
The conclusion of the child is obvious: under Brezhnev, no one ruled the country, all of our
ancestors who reached some heights in their field, or were
corrupt, either took bribes or stole. How not to fall apart
such a country. Whether business now! Luxurious cars are being built all around
mansions, you can learn only those subjects that you like,
every iPhone...
Children are easy targets for zombies. The authors
textbook admire the success of the Americans and ask: “How is it that
why not the USA, but the USSR became the first in space?” And immediately comfort
schoolchildren who were upset for America: “... as soon as they realized in the USA that
lagged behind, so the money was released, and without a sharp decline in living standards
millions of Americans, they are ahead of us."
They do not explain to children that in the Brezhnev era the standard of living of ordinary Soviet
citizens grew up so that planes on vacation already in the mid-1970s flew
70 percent of the adult population of the RSFSR, and now - 11 percent. By
level of aircraft manufacturing, we competed on equal terms with the United States, delivering to the world
almost 40 percent of the entire civilian fleet.
In those years, the USSR did not sell titanium necessary for the aircraft industry abroad, although it produced
100 thousand tons annually - 1.5 times more than the USA, China, Japan and
Europe combined. 55 percent of it went to aviation, 25 to the navy, 15 to
for space and rocket science. Today, only 3 thousand tons are used for these needs,
the rest goes abroad at the price of a semi-finished product.
In parallel with space exploration, such auto giants as VAZ, KamAZ, AZLK,
whole cities were built in Siberia - Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Zheleznogorsk and
others, the gigantic Baikal-Amur railway line was launched,
which today allows the owners of countless Siberian resources
earn super profits. All major export oil and gas pipelines -
over 100 thousand km! - feeding "Gazprom", which in the form of taxes throws
us crumbs from the master's table, built under Brezhnev. Erected Angarsk
a cascade of power plants, and the electrification of the village has actually been completed. At
"brainless Brezhnev" electricity production by some miracle
increased from 507 billion kW/h per year almost three times - up to 1516 kW/h. BUT
with an effective manager Chubais, which did not build anything, but only used what was available, fell 1.8 times.
The average yield for the "stagnant 70s" was 102 million tons per year, and for the 1990s and "zero" - 82 million.
for free. Only last year, Russia approached 45 million square meters. m per year
at an "affordable" price of $2,000 per square meter in Moscow and the Moscow region, where
basically under construction. And this is not counting such objects
social sphere, such as free kindergartens, schools, stadiums,
swimming pools, clinics, hospitals, libraries, Pioneer Palaces and clubs.
Under Brezhnev, they were mandatory during the construction of the microdistrict.
Now they spit on the needs of the people. For example, the queue for kindergarten - how to
Moon.
According to the United States, under Brezhnev, the USSR reached a record in the history of Russia
level - 15 percent of the total world production. China today
produces 20 percent.
With six percent of the world's population, our country produced 16 percent
food. Yes, there were few delicacies, but no one had cabbage soup from an ax
slurped. Meat, poultry, fish were mostly their own, and not the same as
now, stuffed with hormones and antibiotics from the US and China.
The national economy from 1965 to 1982 grew 2.5 times! And it was directed not only to the "defense industry", as children are told.
Personal merit
Brezhnev did not rob any of us, did not steal anything from the country. Yes, he was very fond of
awards. And sensitive to his weaknesses, the press and the inner circle did not tire him
praise. So the ditty appeared: “Birds flew in from the south - from the tit
to the rook This is the personal merit of Leonid Ilyich.
But the General Secretary really had a lot of personal merits.
The main task of the ruler is to preserve the integrity of the state and order in
country - they were carried out. Protecting our historical identity, he
closed the painful topic of Stalin, not allowing either to denigrate or whitewash
leader, nor belittle his role in the Victory and in the formation of the state. Being
a man of the people, he subtly felt the nuances of the Russian character and
protected everything that the people cherish in themselves.
The main personal merit of Leonid Ilyich is that in March 1965, for the first time in
the history of the peasantry proposed to establish a monthly
guaranteed salary. And the same as for workers and employees, -
40 rub. Then he gradually increased the minimum wage to 70
rub. This is about 9 thousand rubles. current. And the minimum wage today is 4611 rubles. That
is almost two times lower than in the "Brezhnev stagnation". Similarly with
pension. The minimum "Brezhnev" is 50 rubles, and the current one is 3770.
Leonid Ilyich for the first time introduced social insurance for collective farmers - pensions,
sick leave, paid vacation. This was a serious challenge to the USA, where
farm workers still have none of the benefits
not guaranteed.
Under Brezhnev, in Russia, as well as throughout the country, the concepts of “personal property” and “growth of welfare” first appeared.
workers" as philosophical categories and objects of law. They poured out into
free six acres, land for garages, construction of a cooperative
housing.
In a word, at current oil prices, Brezhnev would have built communism in ten years. If not for one "but".
In 1970, at the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexey Kosygin made a sensational report, the main provisions of which were later used in all his speeches by Mikhail Gorbachev.
The point was that central planning represented by the State Planning Commission and
pressure from the party nomenklatura on enterprises so that the sent
the plan was carried out exactly as ordered, scientific and technical
enterprise development. That is, they do not allow the introduction of rationalization proposals,
order other materials necessary to improve designs and
introduction of new technologies. Kosygin proposed to give enterprises more
economic freedom. Their needs had to make it work differently
science, develop electronics at an accelerated pace and change the knurled
management system. And most importantly, to focus not on heavy, as
has been customary since Stalin's times, but on light industry, which
quickly brings "live" money, since there was a
huge unsatisfied demand for clothing, footwear, household appliances and
other consumer goods.
officials, it took time. Work on it was already in full swing, as
suddenly, on October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria moved troops against Israel. But
18 days later the aggressors were defeated. Then the Arab world
issued an ultimatum to the West: until the armies return to pre-war positions,
there will be no Arab oil supplies. President of EgyptAnwar Sadatasked
support from Brezhnev, who always openly fought against the world
Zionism. The USSR and the USA put so much pressure on Israel for two days that this attack
showed the poor Arab countries how expensive their oil is: they
they sold it at ridiculous prices, and then in two days the cost of raw materials soared
ten times! And by the end of the year - hundreds. And then Kosygin's opponents
convinced Brezhnev to seize the moment and instead of dubious reforms
pump Tyumen oil for sale. At low prices, its production was
unprofitable, and now could make the country rich. And Brezhnev agreed.
So we got hooked on the oil needle.
And they did not notice how, for the first time since tsarist times, they were reintegrated into
western economy. Built, raised wages, increased defense
power, traded weapons, turbines for power plants, but ... Here it is,
fatal mistake: having sent the Kosygin project to collect dust in the archives, officials
slowed down scientific and technological progress in the so-called civil
electronics. The possibilities of electronic networks, which are only now
strike the imagination of our officials and businessmen, the United States used
since the mid 1970s. How fast does the Internet change perception
of Russians about the world and about themselves, with such speed the networks changed the American
market, and most importantly, the methods of centralized management of the economy and
control. Including in light industry. We are to this day
Western consultants suggest that the market regulates itself, and
the governments of the United States and other developed capitalist countries are just picking their noses.
But still, even under Brezhnev, our light industry existed. Wool,
linen, leather, rubber, albeit in unsightly models of Soviet clothes and shoes,
were in demand by the people. Imports could only be found in
Moscow and Leningrad. And now the textile industry is barely breathing.
The raw materials that fed it go abroad for a penny. Intelligence puncture
The price of oil fell in the early 1980s. And continued to fall after the death of Leonid
Ilyich. Nevertheless, the country was still strong, everything could be improved.
If not for another “but”: the patriot Brezhnev did not notice how
loyal speeches changed the values of the head of the KGB and the future
Secretary General Yuri Andropov, who did a lot for the collapse of the USSR. For example,
in December 1979 he dragged Brezhnev into Afghanistan, insisting on the introduction
troops allegedly in connection with top-secret information received that
otherwise, the US army will be at our southern borders tomorrow. But liberals and
Democrats blame this intelligence puncture or personally the heads of the KGB only
Brezhnev.
The withdrawal of troops was carried out by Andropov's protege - Gorbachev. But
this already testified to the recognition of our defeat in the "cold
war" and the beginning of a completely different era - the collapse of the USSR for
plunder and sale of Russia.
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