Even during the life of Leonid Brezhnev, there were two groups that fought for power. Brezhnev, after another stroke in 1976, actually withdrew from the direct leadership of the country. However, he had no intention of resigning. True, in 1979 he gathered members of the Politburo and announced that he was resigning, but all members unanimously objected to the General Secretary. They promised to create the necessary conditions for work and leisure. Brezhnev went to rest in Zavidovo, and then spent another three years as party leader.
Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, was considered by many in the Kremlin to be Brezhnev's heir, who always treated him warmly. Shcherbitsky undoubtedly had potential as an outstanding leader, but for Moscow he was a stranger. Brezhnev once offered him the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers when Kosygin fell ill. He replied that he "does not play Moscow games."
Andropov also sympathized with Shcherbitsky and wanted him to come to work in Moscow. Shcherbitsky remained in Ukraine, where he worked until 1989, then retired, but less than a year later he shot himself.
Two clans opposed each other: one was headed by the chairman of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, the other, by party apparatchik Konstantin Chernenko. Within the group that supported Brezhnev, there was a line of pragmatists who believed that the country needed modernization in the spheres of economy and power. Yu. Andropov, D. Ustinov, V. Shcherbitsky adhered to these views.
Fyodor Kulakov was at one time Brezhnev's most likely successor. He ended up in Stavropol by decision of Khrushchev, who used this region to “exile” his competitors. Previously, Marshal Bulganin, a member of the Politburo and chairman of the government, was exiled here. By nature, Kulakov was close to Khrushchev, he also strove for reforms and felt personally responsible for the plight of the country's economy. However, while supporting Khrushchev's reform course, Kulakov could not tolerate the inconsistency and ill-conceived measures of the First Secretary.
Kulakov was involved in a conspiracy against Khrushchev, since the link to the Stavropol Territory deprived him of political prospects. In the fall of 1964, Fyodor Davydovich received conspirators in the Teberdinsky Reserve who discussed the plan for a coup. Indeed, a month after the removal of Khrushchev, Kulakov was transferred to Moscow, where he headed the department of agriculture of the Central Committee.
Kulakov could have become General Secretary, but a tragic accident prevented him from doing so. According to one version, "above" it was decided with honor to send the decrepit Brezhnev to retirement, and to appoint Kulakov in his place. According to another, later version of the Moscow rumors, Brezhnev should have retained his newly acquired nominal post of chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and handed over the post of General Secretary of the Party to Kulakov.
According to TASS, on the night of June 16-17, 1978, Fedor Kulakov "died of acute heart failure with sudden cardiac arrest." At the same time, the KGB spread rumors that Kulakov, after failed attempt seize power cut his veins. In general, the death of the applicant was mysterious, and the secret was further thickened by the report of the medical board of Yevgeny Chazov, who did not shed any clarity on the cause of death of this healthy and strong man. In addition, suspicions were aroused by the fact that neither Brezhnev, nor Kosygin, nor Suslov, nor Chernenko appeared at the funeral. Kulakov was also a direct competitor for Andropov, but no one dared to blame him directly for eliminating the enemy.
The nomination of Yuri Andropov continued. Brezhnev proposed it to the place of the deceased Suslov. Leonid Ilyich believed that Andropov was more worthy of this than Chernenko, and counted on him as a possible successor.
Andropov became General Secretary already being seriously ill, although for a long time no one knew about it: he tried to keep fit and lifted weights. Chernenko's party tried to play on Andropov's illness; Brezhnev was also worried about his health.
Unlike many Soviet leaders, Yuri Vladimirovich was a widely erudite and educated person, not a dogmatist: one could argue with him and convince him if he was wrong, but he adhered to conservatism both at work and at home. He was an authoritative member of the Politburo, but avoided friendly relations with members of the governing bodies. Andropov always remained loyal to Brezhnev, who appointed him to the key post of chairman of the KGB in May 1967, but "tied" him "by the hand" with his nominees - deputy chairman of the KGB S. Tsvigun and K. Tsinev, who were close to him, respectively, across Moldova and Dnepropetrovsk. For each member of the Politburo, the chief security officer kept a dossier and was suspicious of those whom Brezhnev did not like: Kosygin, Voronov, Shelest. Andropov restored the ubiquitous presence of state security agencies in all cities and regions, in railway, sea, air transport, in the army, navy, and the military-industrial complex.
Andropov tried to win the sympathy of the intelligentsia: he helped Shatrov’s play “So we will win!...” to be published, personally met Yevtushenko and other “half-dessidents from literature”, set them on the right path, but “village” prose (and Russian classic) did not like.
The death of Brezhnev was announced on November 10, on November 12, 1982, a plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held, at which Yuri Andropov was elected General Secretary. He nominated Nikolai Ryzhkov, Yegor Ligachev, Andrey Gromyko to the secretaries of the Central Committee - to the first deputies of the chairman of the Council of Ministers. He really tried to find a new course for the country - he strengthened discipline, reformed the economy.
After becoming General Secretary, Andropov staged a grand purge in the apparatus of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers. He fired more than a third of senior officials, as well as a third of regional first secretaries. He sought to strengthen the top of power with reliable personnel, but he had few truly loyal assistants. Those who managed to prove their effectiveness on the ground were urgently summoned to the capital: Vitaly Vorotnikov, who “sorted out” the Medunov team in the Krasnodar Territory, Heydar Aliyev, who conducted a fierce fight against corruption in Azerbaijan, Yegor Ligachev from Tomsk and Grigory Romanov from Leningrad.
Yuri Andropov died on February 9, 1984. His reign lasted 15 months and laid the foundations for what would later be called "perestroika".
The next General Secretary again became a doomed man. Shcherbitsky's nominee, Minister of the Interior Fedorchuk, during a vacation in the Crimea, sent Chernenko a fish as a gift (he loved to catch horse mackerel and supplied the entire sanatorium with smoked fish), with which he was poisoned and forever remained disabled.
The decision to nominate Konstantin Ustinovich to the post of General Secretary was made in the presence of Chernenko himself, Ustinov, Tikhonov and Gromyko. In February 1983, he was elected at the plenum of the Central Committee unanimously, two months later - Chairman of the Supreme Council. His reign was short-lived and the people did not remember anything.
After the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the Politburo elected Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Yu. V. Andropov since 1967 led the USSR State Security Committee (KGB). We note right away that he led badly, because he did not ensure state security and the state began to fall apart from the inside even under the leadership of the KGB by Andropov. Did Yu. V. Andropov understand that the continuation of the anti-Stalinist course adopted after the 20th Congress of the CPSU would lead to the collapse of the USSR? Unfortunately, there is no evidence of Andropov speaking on this issue. But when discussing the report of L. I. Brezhnev for the 20th Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Andropov suggested that Stalin's name not be mentioned at all, while many offered to speak honestly about the enormous contribution of I.V. Stalin to our Victory. Kuusinen, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelian-Finnish Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, played a big role in Andropov's promotion, which gives reason to think about possible impact West on his career growth. Andropov promoted the destroyers of the USSR to power: M. S. Gorbachev, A. I. Lukyanov, N. I. Ryzhkov, G. A. Aliyev, E. A. Shevardnadze. Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, of course, could not stop the invasion of the state by Yu. V. Andropov's nominees, but he allowed the people to live in a beautiful country for one more year. KU Chernenko accepted the state, already deceived and poisoned by the poison of liberalism, and with his state of health and personal abilities, of course, he could not change anything. He died on March 10, 1985. With the preservation of the USSR and Russian socialism, our country, in a maximum of two five-year periods, became the first power in the world in terms of industrial and agricultural production and the standard of living of the population. The West could not allow this. All our troubles are connected with the intervention of the West in inner life country. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, this intervention became almost open.
Before proceeding to the consideration of the time of the reign of the USSR by Yu. V. Andropov and K. U. Chernenko, it must be said that these leaders, L. I. Brezhnev and other leaders of the USSR, cannot be compared with M. S. Gorbachev and B. N. Yeltsin.
Before M. S. Gorbachev, the leaders of the USSR used power not for personal enrichment, but to ensure the security, development and prosperity of their country, their people.
Semanov S. N. wrote the following: “ The memory of Brezhnev does not acquire dark shades, as has happened more than once in history, but becomes lighter and lighter. He loved awards, didn't speak clearly? Lord, what are these little things! But sincerely loving his homeland and its people, he did not build palaces for himself, he did not transfer money to foreign banks. Now there is already someone to compare it with ... ".
After the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the Politburo elected Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Of all the politicians, Andropov is the "darkest horse". He became the leader of the country not by the will of Brezhnev, who repeatedly stated that he recommends V. V. Shcherbitsky to his place. This is evidenced by the First Secretary of the Civil Code of the Party of Moscow, VV Grishin. There is every reason to believe that Brezhnev did not have time to approve Shcherbitsky's candidacy for the Politburo.
In November 1982, Leonid Brezhnev planned to resign. In October, the Politburo decided to convene a Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the second, closed issue of which was the organizational issue. Ivan Vasilievich Kapitonov, who under Brezhnev was the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and dealt with party cadres, writes: “In mid-1982, Brezhnev called me to his place.
- See this chair? he asked, pointing to his workplace. - In a month, Shcherbitsky will be sitting in it. Decide all personnel issues with this in mind. But Brezhnev died on November 10 and, to the great misfortune of all our people, V.V. Shcherbitsky did not have time to become his successor.
Yu. V. Andropov since 1967 led the USSR State Security Committee (KGB). We note right away that he led badly, because he did not ensure state security and the state began to fall apart from the inside even under the leadership of the KGB by Andropov. At the May 1982 Plenum of the Central Committee, Andropov was again elected secretary to replace the late Suslov. From that moment on, he resigned from the post of head of the KGB.
In the biography of Yu. V. Andropov, everything is not unambiguous. Some modern researchers write that he was half Jewish, that he came from the family of a telegraph operator, who changed his surname Lieberman to the surname Andropov. Allegedly, his mother, by the name of E.K. Feinstein, was a teacher. Others write that he was born in the village of Nagutskaya, Stavropol province, in the family of a wealthy Jewish jeweler. But everyone agrees that at the age of 14 he became an orphan and began to earn his own living, working as a loader, telegraph operator, projectionist, sailor. All versions are questionable. Especially the second version, since, firstly, jewelers concentrated in cities, and not in villages lost in the steppes, and secondly, even an orphan from a wealthy family of a jeweler would have had the means to live. But it is impossible not to pay attention to the fact that under the Soviet system, even an orphan could reach the highest levels. state power.
In his state activities, Yu. V. Andropov did not take actions and did not allow speeches that reveal his worldview. Even about his attitude to the era of I.V. Stalin, he unequivocally did not speak. But still, according to individual statements recorded by his contemporaries and actions, one can judge the position of Yu. V. Andropov. For example, he explained to his subordinates: “Khrushchev was removed not for criticizing Stalin’s personality cult and the policy of peaceful coexistence, but because he was inconsistent in this criticism and in this policy.”
G. Arbatov also cites Andropov's second statement: “ Now we will go more consistently and firmly along the path of the 20th Congress.”
But these statements do not yet speak of Andropov's position on the destruction of the USSR. And the testimonies of such personalities as Arbatov do not inspire confidence. But an employee of the Central Committee R.K. Kosolapov confirms that Yu.V. Andropov rather adhered to the anti-Stalinist course than was a "Stalinist", as some researchers believe.
Today, any sane person understands that the anti-Stalinist course eventually led the country to disintegration, because it was the course laid by the West. It was difficult to understand at the time. The question of the attitude towards the Stalinist course of foreign and domestic policy so fateful for Russia that it is necessary to dwell on it in more detail.
It must be admitted that when L. I. Brezhnev came to power, the majority of the people were for Stalin, despite the 10-year term of frantic criticism of the Stalinist course under the rule of N. S. Khrushchev.
As a rule, representatives of the Russian nation and other indigenous peoples of Russia were proud of the achievements of the Stalin era. Few understood the depth of their position. People who believed Khrushchev, as a rule, were not against socialism, but condemned Stalin for allegedly innocently shed blood and mistakes made during the war. They cannot even be called anti-Stalinists.
All liberal Jewish circles were true anti-Stalinists. At that time, the liberals had not yet come out openly against socialism. They said what kind of socialism is Marxist or “socialism with a human face”, and not Stalinist socialism.
And it must be emphasized once again that not Marxist, but Russian socialism was built in Russia, which was based on Orthodox moral values. And L. D. Trotsky was the first to speak against him, and N. S. Khrushchev was the second. But it was Russian socialism that emerged from the Russian community that saved the nation from extermination. Any other path led to the collapse of Russian statehood in the most dangerous period of history for us.
From the very first to the last day of the existence of Soviet (communal) power, there was a struggle between two paths of development of the Russian empire: one of which, Russian communism, led to salvation, the other, let's call it Jewish liberalism, to collapse. And it was not about personalities, for example, Stalin and Khrushchev, but about the ways of the country's development, assessment of its history, its ideology, economy, culture and foreign policy. For example, liberal circles oriented the country towards the West, while the "Stalinists", without abandoning Eastern Europe, towards the East, towards friendship with China and other Eastern countries.
And today, when more than 25 years have already passed since the actual seizure of power in the country by Western liberals and more than 20 years since the destruction of both the great Russian state - the USSR, and Russian communism, the struggle between Russian statesmen and anti-Russian destroyers of our state continues.
At present, it should be clear to all sensible inhabitants of Russia that in the event of the defeat of the statesmen, the Russian, and then other peoples inhabiting Russia, will be partially exterminated, partially assimilated.
Did the “Stalinists” and “anti-Stalinists” understand the seriousness of the struggle during the reign of L. I. Brezhnev? In my opinion, it was the latter who perfectly understood everything, and the former rather felt than scientifically comprehended the perniciousness of Khrushchev's course to discredit the great achievements of the nation under the leadership of I.V. Stalin.
Did Yu. V. Andropov understand that the continuation of the anti-Stalinist course adopted after the 20th Congress of the CPSU would lead to the collapse of the USSR? Unfortunately, there is no evidence of Andropov speaking on this issue. But when discussing the report of L. I. Brezhnev for the 20th Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Andropov suggested that Stalin's name not be mentioned at all, while many offered to speak honestly about the enormous contribution of I.V. Stalin to our Victory.
Yu. V. Andropov substantiated his opinion by the fact that the question of Stalin could split the leadership, the administrative apparatus, the party and the whole people. Explanation of his opinion by concern for the unity of the country does not directly reveal the opinion of Yu. V. Andropov personally, but indirectly points to his anti-Stalinist position.
L. I. Brezhnev once mentioned the name of Stalin in a positive context in his report, but on the whole he built his speech on the advice of Andropov. In my opinion, L. I. Brezhnev was for Russian socialism, but to restore the truth about our history and continue the Russian course, he lacked a number of qualities necessary for the leader of a huge power. At the end of his reign, he somehow resembled the good Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.
Close, friendly relations between Brezhnev and Andropov never existed, but Brezhnev took into account the advice of Andropov, and with him his closest aides G. Arbatov and F. Burlatsky, who made a significant contribution to the destruction of the USSR.
I think that by exercising leadership of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov greatly reduced the state security of the USSR. It got to the point that Andropov did not expose the KGB General O. Kalugin, who worked for the US CIA. Most likely, the four ministers of defense of the Warsaw Pact countries: the USSR - D.F. Ustinov, Czechoslovakia - M. Dzur, Hungary - I. Olah, German Democratic Republic - G. Hoffmann - physically eliminated the United States in order to continue the "Polish revolution". Yu. V. Andropov failed to protect D. F. Ustinov and the other defense ministers mentioned.
Worthy of attention is such a touch - Andropov called young patriots "Russianists". The fact that Yu. V. Andropov left the International Department of the Central Committee, which some researchers call the most liberal, is also alarming. These researchers believe that the specified department was involved in the emergence of the Soviet-Chinese quarrel, one of the reasons for which was the extravagant behavior of Khrushchev, and the other - the fact that "Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders met with disgust Khrushchev's mockery of Stalin. They are not alone, by the way.
Now, assessing those events from a completely objective distance, we can conclude: the more pro-Zionist influence in the leadership of a particular party, the more it supported the “ideas of the 20th Congress”, and vice versa. For example, the Italian Communist Party was entirely led by Jewish leaders, hence their constant “progressiveness” in those matters,” writes S. N. Semanov. Our International Department of the Central Committee resembled the Italian Communist Party.
Andropov expressed his concerns when discussing the issue of sending troops to Czechoslovakia. It is also impossible to deny the fact that it was Andropov who insisted on Solzhenitsyn's deportation abroad. But there is no unambiguous answer to the benefit or to the detriment of the USSR, this expulsion was carried out. The West created a lot of noise around the issue of Jews leaving the USSR to go abroad. The head of the KGB, Andropov, was in favor of free travel, taking into account the statutory ban on the travel of persons familiar with state secrets. By the way, this restriction takes place in most countries of the world. But he did nothing to realize his opinion.
“Andropov's activities have always been in the nature of maximizing personal gain, winning the most influential positions. With amazing dexterity, he could combine external liberalism and internal cruelty. Jews began to show unheard-of activity in the USSR, creating human rights movements and various other organizations, which the KGB, although it exposed as needed, did it extremely clumsily and clumsily, creating more advertising for these movements than trying to eradicate them in fact. It is quite clear that the goals of the West to destroy the USSR could not be achieved as long as the KGB of the USSR of the Stalinist type stood in the way. There was a long work to limit his abilities, ”A.P. Shevyakin points out.
But the main thing is that not only Suslov, but also Andropov led the ideological work in the country. And the USSR died precisely from worthless ideological work. In this regard, some researchers write that Andropov was hostile to the Russian revival after the Khrushchev pogrom.
Kuusinen, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelian-Finnish Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, played an important role in Andropov's promotion, which gives reason to think about the possible influence of the West on his career growth.
Perhaps it was not at all accidental under Khrushchev, when Stalinist cadres were expelled from power structures, Yu.V. Union. He did not show himself in cleansing the country from Khrushchev's harmful actions after the latter's resignation.
But he showed far from a positive side in the selection of personnel who, to one degree or another, turned out to be the destroyers of the USSR.
And when you look at Andropov's actions, the catchphrase involuntarily comes to mind: "Tell me who your friend is, and I'll tell you who you are." Often the speeches of his "friends" breathed fierce hatred not only for the Soviet state, but for everything Russian in all spheres of society. Andropov's people were G. Arbatov, F. Burlatsky, G. Shakhnazarov, A. Bovin, A. Volsky and similar individuals unfriendly to Russian culture, politics and statehood. Andropov's actions were appreciated by Time magazine, calling him in 1983 the person of the year. It is curious that in that year, along with Andropov, R. Reagan and M. Thatcher were named people of the year, who spent huge amounts of money from the USA and England to destroy the Soviet Union from the inside. Perhaps it was not a signal to those in the USSR, but a provocation. It is possible, but judging by Andropov's "friends" it is unlikely.
Being the head of the USSR for 15 months from November 1982 to February 1983, the terminally ill Andropov did nothing positive for the country. On the contrary, he promoted the destroyers of the USSR to power: M. S. Gorbachev, A. I. Lukyanov, N. I. Ryzhkov, G. A. Aliev, E. A. Shevardnadze. With the help of the Secretary of the Central Committee, E. K. Ligachev, during the 15 months of Andropov's rule, 20% of the first secretaries of the regional committees of the CPSU and more than 20% of the ministers were replaced. They removed the best - those who could organize resistance during the "reforms". Everything was prepared for delivering a mortal blow to the USSR. And the first executioners - M. S. Gorbachev and E. A. Shevardnadze were already rubbing their hands.
If the Russian nation manages to throw off the liberal yoke, as it managed to do in the 1930s, and the truth triumphs, then, in my opinion, Yu.V. unwittingly contributed to the destruction of the socialist system, the Soviet Union (USSR), the dismemberment of our state, which was built and defended by our heroic ancestors for a thousand years.
Today, one of the most beautiful avenues in Moscow bears the name of Yu. V. Andropov, and the whole square bears the name of A. D. Sakharov. And this is no coincidence. It is possible that they were in the same team and pulled the Soviet state into the abyss.
What cannot be said about KU Chernenko, who replaced the deceased Andropov. The latter, like Andropov, was mortally ill when he came to power. I think that the introduction of such leaders into power over the state made it easier for MS Gorbachev to come to power, because both the people and the Politburo itself were inclined to the need to appoint a young, physically healthy leader of the state. Requirements for the age and state of health began to prevail over the requirements for the personal qualities of the candidate.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, of course, could not stop the invasion of the state by Yu. V. Andropov's nominees, but he allowed the people to live in a beautiful country for one more year.
At that time, very few people remained in the government, through whose labor and talent a great state was built and the Russian nation was saved from extermination. The last ones left.
At the end of 1984, Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov died, who, not only in Stalin's time, but also in Brezhnev's time, did not work less than 12 hours a day. He was a leader of great mind and strong will, who devoted all his strength to serving the motherland.
Chernenko, who combined membership in the Politburo with the position of head of the general department, looked more like Poskrebyshev than the leader of a great power. But he came from a peasant family in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and this united him with the Russian patriots of the Stalinist guard, for example, with the same D. F. Ustinov. They were united by disinterestedness, devotion to the motherland and love for it.
But almost all Russian patriots in the highest echelons of power had the same serious flaw - they were good business executives, not politicians. In the presence of Russia's mass of enemies abroad and within the country, this shortcoming had a negative impact on the security of the state. And it must be added that the majority of Russian leaders Russian Empire, both tsarist and Soviet were poorly versed in ideology.
K. U. Chernenko, like L. I. Brezhnev, was also poorly versed in ideology. Weakly understood it in the days of Brezhnev and the generally recognized ideologist Suslov. For a Russian person, the phrase said by Stakhanovite Alexander Busygin in 1935 at a rally of Stakhanovites in Moscow is characteristic: “It’s hard for me to talk, it’s easier for me to forge crankshafts.”
And Russian patriots, regardless of their position, “forged the ramparts”, and under Brezhnev and Chernenko the 5th column of the Arbatovs spoke for them, which eventually took over all ideological issues. And if we take honest statistics, and not the fabrications of the ideologues of the American special services, we will see that the labor or, as they say, economic indicators of the development of the USSR during the reign of L. I. Brezhnev, Yu. V. Andropov and K. Ustinov were higher than in any western country. But, unfortunately, the results of the country's development were evaluated not by actual indicators, but by the assessments of Western and Soviet pro-Western ideologists disseminated throughout the world.
And the country continued to produce not only peaceful, but also military products. In 1983, the first cruiser of project 1164 "Antlant", the nuclear submarine of project 971 "Pike-M", and the missile P-700 "Granit" were launched from the slipways to fight powerful enemy ship groups. In 1984, the Su-30 fighter-interceptor of the Design Bureau of P. O. Sukhoi and the A-50 long-range radar patrol, detection and observation aircraft of the Design Bureau of G. M. Beriev began to enter service. In these years, other weapons were also designed and manufactured.
At this time, the struggle between capitalism and socialism was not in the field of real economy and culture, but in the field of how this economy and culture were presented by foreign and Soviet media. And therefore, it can be argued that we lost not in the real sector of the economy, but in the virtual one, presented by the media. And the Russians will always lose in ideology, because we are a victorious people in labor and battle, but not in promoting our achievements and way of life. Therefore, the Russians need to have a strong centralized state, and not a liberal farce in which Western "hardened" ideologists feel like a fish in water.
KU Chernenko accepted the state, already deceived and poisoned by the poison of liberalism, and with his state of health and personal abilities, of course, he could not change anything. He died on March 10, 1985. During the year that Chernenko gave the Russian patriots in the government to bring to power in the country a leader capable of maintaining the state, they also failed to do this.
The USSR was destroyed, and the Russian people suffered the terrible fate of a divided, humiliated, robbed, dying nation, deprived of almost all of its industrial, agricultural and military potential, created over the centuries by the labor of millions of people, and especially during the existence of the USSR.
After the death of K. U. Chernenko, the country was still moving forward by inertia. Plants and factories, residential buildings and hospitals, kindergartens and theaters were also built, machine tools and combines, cars and tanks, airplanes and rockets were produced, washing machines and refrigerators, televisions and tape recorders and all other manufactured goods.
The USSR literally produced all industrial and almost all agricultural products itself, without spending gold and raw materials equivalent to it for the purchase of a large number of goods abroad. The Soviet Union entered the world's oceans and confidently occupied a leading position in it. We started the production of aircraft carriers, after launching which we would become the world's first maritime power. Russian industry and Agriculture developed at a faster pace than the rest of the world.
With the preservation of the USSR and Russian socialism, our country, in a maximum of two five-year periods, became the first power in the world in terms of industrial and agricultural production and the standard of living of the population. The West could not allow this.
All our troubles are connected with the interference of the West in the internal life of the country. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, this intervention became almost open.
Yu.I. MUKHIN « Such an example: the UN recommends having 222 police officers per 100 thousand inhabitants, in the USSR there were 214. But today Russia and Ukraine are leading in the lists of the most "police" states - in Russia today there are 976 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs per 100 thousand inhabitants, in Ukraine - 780. This despite the fact that in China today there are 120 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs per 100 thousand inhabitants. And in these numbers - another confirmation of the horror of the authorities of Russia and Ukraine in front of their peoples».Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
Led the country November 12, 1982 to February 9, 1984 Positions held: General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
was born on June 15, 1914 at the Nagutskaya station of the Stavropol province in the family of a railway worker. The childhood of the future general secretary turned out to be difficult. His parents died early: his father - when he was only five years old, his mother - a music teacher - in 1927. Since 1923, Yuri was brought up in the family of his stepfather. Yuri Andropov studied at the seven-year school in the city of Mozdok. He started working at the age of 16, first as a loader, then as a telegraph operator. From the age of 18 he worked on various ships as a sailor in the Volga Shipping Company. In 1932, Yu. Andropov entered the water transport technical school in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region, after which (1936) he became the released secretary of the Komsomol organization of this educational institution. Then he was nominated for the position of Komsomol organizer of the Rybinsk shipyard named after. Volodarsky. Already in 1937 he was elected secretary, and in 1938 the first secretary of the Yaroslavl regional committee of the Komsomol. Soon (1939) Yu.V. Andropov joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). In 1940, Yuri Vladimirovich was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of the Karelian-Finnish SSR. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Yu.V. Andropov participated in the organization of the partisan movement in Karelia, while at the same time continuing to head the Komsomol organization in the unoccupied part of the republic. After the liberation of Karelia from the Germans, in 1944, Yu.V. Andropov switched to party work: from that time on, he began to hold the post of second secretary of the Petrozavodsk city party committee. During this period, he studied at Petrozavodsk State University, later - at the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU. Since 1947 Yu.V. Andropov - Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Karelia.
In 1951, Yuri Vladimirovich was transferred to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU and appointed as an inspector, and then head of a subdepartment. Soon, in 1953, he went to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. First, he headed the 4th European Department, which was in charge of relations with Poland and Czechoslovakia, and from 1954 to 1957 he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to the Hungarian People's Republic. In 1957 Andropov Yu.V. was appointed head of the department for relations with the communist and workers' parties of the socialist countries of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He invited scientists and publicists to the department as consultants. In 1961, at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, Yuri Vladimirovich was elected a member of the Central Committee, continuing to remain the head of the department; in 1962 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. After the displacement of N.S. Khrushchev (1964), Andropov retained his former posts, again becoming a member and then secretary of the Central Committee.
May 1967 Yu.V. Andropov is appointed chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In June of the same year, Andropov was elected a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.
As Chairman of the KGB, Yu. Andropov was actively involved in foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and the use of space satellites. From April 1973 Yu.V. Andropov is a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (November 12, 1982), Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (Yu.V. Andropov replaced L.I. Brezhnev in this post). Since June 1983, he has simultaneously held the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Having become the General Secretary, Andropov took up the reduction of his apparatus, the fight against embezzlement and bribery among high-ranking officials. The new Secretary General announced the need for economic development, casting doubt on the words of L.I. Brezhnev and the statement contained in the report of the Central Committee of the CPSU at the XXIV Congress of the CPSU (1971) on the construction of a developed socialist society in the USSR and the transition to the creation of the material and technical base of communism. During Yu. Andropov's short tenure in power, attempts were made to tighten discipline in production, which in practice often came down to public condemnation for minor violations.. Yuri Vladimirovich passed away February 9, 1984.
To the listed stages of Yu.V. Andropov, it should be added that he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 3rd, 6th-10th convocations. Andropov Yu.V. was awarded a gold medal Hammer and sickle", four orders of Lenin, orders of the October Revolution, the Red Banner, three orders of the Red Banner of Labor, medals.
In order to perpetuate the memory of Yu.V. Andropov Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to install his bust at the Nagutskaya station in the Stavropol Territory (it was opened in 1985), rename the city of Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl Region to Andropov (the city bore the name of Andropov from 1984 to 1989) , Kursavsky district of the Stavropol Territory - into Andropovsky (the district was renamed in 1984 and is still called Andropovsky). The resolution also spoke about the assignment of the name of Yu.V. Andropov production association " Rosselmash", the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works, the Leningrad Higher Military-Political School of Air Defense, one of the higher educational institutions, the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner Division, the border detachment of the Red Banner North-Western Border District, secondary school No. 108 of the Ministry of Railways of the city of Mozdok, the Palace of Pioneers of the city of Petrozavodsk, an avenue or square in the city of Moscow (at the moment one of the avenues of the capital bears the name of Andropov) and one of the streets in the cities of Yaroslavl, Petrozavodsk and Stupino (Moscow Region), to the ship of the Navy.The resolution also proposed to establish 12 scholarships named after Andropov for students of Petrozavodsk state university named after O.V. Kuusinen, the Yaroslavl Polytechnic Institute and another of the higher educational institutions, to place memorial plaques on the buildings of the Volodarsky shipbuilding plant in the Yaroslavl region and the State Security Committee, at house number 26 on Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow, where Yu.V. Andropov, install a bust on the grave of Yu.V. Andropov on Red Square near the Kremlin wall.
FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONICLE OF YU.V. ANDROPOV
1914,
June 15th. Born in the family of a railway worker at the Nagutskaya station in the Stavropol province.
1930
. Joining the Komsomol. He works as a worker in the city of Mozdok in North Ossetia.
1932
. Goes to study at the Rybinsk College water transport. At the same time he works as a sailor, helmsman, assistant captain in the Volga Shipping Company.
1936
. He was elected the released secretary of the Komsomol organization of the Rybinsk Water Transport College. Becomes a Komsomol organizer of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League of the shipyard named after Volodarsky in Rybinsk.
1937
. Appointed head of the department of the Yaroslavl Regional Committee of the Komsomol.
1938
. Elected First Secretary of the Yaroslavl Regional Committee of the Komsomol.
1939
. Enters the CPSU (b).
1940
. Elected as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Karelia.
1941-1944
. Participates in the partisan movement. Engaged in the organization of the Komsomol underground in the occupied Soviet territory, the implementation of reconnaissance and combat operations behind enemy lines.
1944
. Elected second secretary of the Petrozavodsk city committee of the CPSU (b).
1947
. Elected second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelian-Finnish SSR.
1951
. By decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he was transferred to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the Party, where he worked first as an inspector, and then as head of a subdepartment of the Central Committee.
1953
. He is sent to diplomatic work in the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
1954
. Appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Hungarian People's Republic.
1956
, October November. Acts as one of the organizers of the suppression of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary.
1957
. Approved by the head of the department of the Central Committee of the CPSU for relations with the ruling communist parties.
1961
, October. At the 22nd Party Congress, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the first time.
1962
. Elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1967
, May. Appointed Chairman of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. June. He is elected as a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1968
, August. In favor of the introduction of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia.
1973
, April. Elected member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1974
, June. Receives the title of Hero of Socialist Labor in connection with the 60th anniversary.
1979
, December. Acts as one of the initiators of the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
1982
, May. Elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. July. Begins to chair meetings of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU. November 12th. At an extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, he is elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1983 June 16. At the eighth session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 10th convocation, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. September 1. For the last time, he presides over a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. September 30th. A sharp exacerbation of the disease.
1984,
February 9th. The death of Yu.V. Andropov. The 14th of February. Funeral in Moscow on Red Square.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
He led the country from February 13, 1984 to March 10, 1985.
Positions held: General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Born September 11, 1911 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky District, in a simple peasant family. Lost his mother early. He graduated from the three classes of a rural school. After the Civil War in the 1920s, he worked in the district committee of the Komsomol as the head of the propaganda and agitation department in Novoselovo. In the early 1930s he served at the frontier post in Kazakhstan. While serving in the Red Army, he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). After the end of his service in the army, Chernenko advanced along the party line, and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was appointed secretary of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Party Committee. In 1943-1945 K.U. Chernenko studied in Moscow in high school party organizers, which he graduated with honors. In 1945-1948 he worked as secretary of the Central Committee of the Penza Regional Party Committee. Having proven himself in the Penza regional committee, he was promoted, and in 1948 he was appointed head of the department of agitation and propaganda of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of the Moldavian SSR, where he met the first secretary of the Communist Party of Moldova, L.I. Brezhnev. All subsequent activities of Chernenko are inextricably linked with Brezhnev, business relationship whose work in the Central Committee of the Moldavian SSR grew into a personal friendship. In 1956, Brezhnev was transferred to Moscow as secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Chernenko relentlessly follows him and is appointed assistant secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and later - the head of the sector in the propaganda department. In 1960-1964 Brezhnev held the high position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Chernenko in 1960-1965 - head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After the removal of N.S. Khrushchev in 1964, Brezhnev became the de facto head of state. Since 1966 Brezhnev - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and Chernenko becomes a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. From 1965 to 1982 he headed the general department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1976 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in 1977 - a candidate member of the Politburo. Chernenko was prone to painstaking, time-consuming, routine hardware work. After sorting and careful processing, he provided Brezhnev with a huge flow of information passing through him. Chernenko had a phenomenal memory and was known as Brezhnev's "personal secretary". He was extremely industrious, punctual, diligent and devoted to the ideals of socialism and personally to Brezhnev, who had unlimited trust in Konstantin Ustinovich. In 1975, he was part of the official delegation of the USSR during the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Finnish Helsinki, and in 1979 accompanied Brezhnev to Vienna on disarmament issues.
Chernenko was not unreasonably considered Brezhnev's successor, but he could not resist Yu.V. Andropov in the struggle for power of the General Secretary of the CPSU. After the death of Brezhnev, it was Chernenko who, at an extraordinary plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, proposed the candidacy of Yu.V. Andropov for the leading post. Chernenko's tactical move turned out to be absolutely correct, and he managed to retain his position in the Central Committee during Andropov's rule. After the death of Andropov, on February 13, 1984, the seriously ill Chernenko, at the age of 72, was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The period of his reign as Secretary General is characterized by the most difficult relations with the United States and countries Western Europe. In 1984, the USSR and all the countries of the Warsaw Pact were forced to abandon the Olympic Games, which were held in the American Los Angeles, after the blockade by the capitalist countries of the Moscow Olympics in 1980. During the reign of Chernenko, there were no important changes in the country that were planned during Andropov's lifetime . Many historians tend to believe that the Brezhnev times returned under Chernenko. golden stagnation". Numerous repressions against high-ranking corrupt officials, begun under Andropov, were suspended. Galina Brezhneva
, implicated in " diamond business was released from house arrest. In a relationship N.A. Shchelokova
On the contrary, Chernenko did not take any rehabilitation measures, as a result of which the former Minister of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs committed suicide. A high-profile case regarding the embezzlement of the director of the Moscow Eliseevsky store Sokolova ended with the execution of the latter. However, it was under Chernenko that there was a significant improvement in relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China and Albania; the role of trade unions has increased; the level of cooperation within the CMEA has grown. In 1984, the USSR became the world leader in the production and consumption of electricity. Chernenko reinstated in the party prominent statesmen of the Stalin era, demoted by Khrushchev - V.M. Molotov, L.M. Kaganovich, G.M. Malenkov. Molotov's party card was handed over personally by Chernenko. Before his death, Chernenko signed a decree renaming Volgograd to Stalingrad. A resolution was being prepared
Central Committee of the CPSU On the correction of the subjective approach and excesses that took place in the second half of the 1950s - early 1960s when assessing the activities of I.V. Stalin and his closest associates". He also personally invited Stalin's daughter to the USSR Svetlana Alliluyeva
, who returned to Moscow, where she lived until the fall of 1986. Chernenko died on March 10, 1985 in Moscow at the age of 74 from heart failure. He was the last to be buried on Red Square near the Kremlin wall. Chernenko was awarded the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor in 1976, 1981 and 1982. He was married twice. From his first marriage, Chernenko had a son, Albert, from his second, a son, Vladimir, and daughters, Vera and Elena.
FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONICLE OF K.U.CHERNENKO
1911 September 11. Born in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory.
1929-1930
. Works as head of the department of propaganda and agitation of the Novoselovsky district committee of the Komsomol of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
1930-1933.
Service in the border troops.
1931
. Enters the CPSU (b). Soon he was elected secretary of the party organization of the 49th border detachment stationed in the Taldy-Kurgan region of Kazakhstan.
1933-1941
. Works in the Krasnoyarsk Territory as head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky and Uyarsky district party committees, director of the Krasnoyarsk regional house of party education.
1941-1943
. Secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional committee of the CPSU (b) for propaganda and agitation.
1943-1945
. Studying at the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
1945-1948
. Works as secretary of the Penza regional party committee.
1948-1956
. Works as head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova.
1950 July. Acquaintance with Leonid Brezhnev, elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova.
1956-1960
. He heads the section of the propaganda department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1960-1965
. Head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
1965
. Approved by the head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU; worked in this position until 1982.
1966-1971
. Candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1971 March. At the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, he is elected a member of the Central Committee of the party.
1975 July 30 - August 1. Participates in the work of the Soviet delegation at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki).
1976
. February March. He is one of the technical organizers of the XXV Congress of the CPSU. 5th of March. At the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, held after the XXV Party Congress, he is elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. March. Receives the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
1977
. He is elected as a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1978 November. Elected member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1979 June. Participates in the Soviet-American negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues.
1980
. The book by KU Chernenko "Issues of the work of the party and state apparatus" is published. December. Participates in the II Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba.
1981
, September. The title of Hero of Socialist Labor is awarded for the second time.
1982
. Receives the Lenin Prize.
1983 June 14. Makes a report at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU "Actual questions of the ideological, mass-political work of the party." August. Poisoning in the Crimea with smoked fish, which had serious health consequences.
1984 February 10. At a meeting of the Politburo, a decision was made to recommend KU Chernenko for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
February 13. At an extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, he is elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. April 10th. He speaks at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU with a speech on improving the work of the Soviets of People's Deputies. April 11th. Elected at the First Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the eleventh convocation as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. September. Awarded with the third "Gold Star" of the Hero of Socialist Labor. October 23. He holds the second and last Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party in his life (after February 1984) in the position of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
1985, February 7. The last time he appears in his office. 10th of March. At 19.20 - the death of K.U. Chernenko. March 13. Funeral in Moscow on Red Square.
1984
- restoration in the party of V.M. Molotov.
1984
— Knowledge Day was introduced — September 1.
1984
retaliatory boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics.
1985
- Chernenko dies, having been at the head of the party and the state for a little more than a year. He was the last to be buried near the Kremlin wall
abstract on academic discipline"Russian history"
on the topic: "The Board of Yu. V. Andropov and K. U. Chernenko."
Plan
1. Introduction.
2. Death of Brezhnev. Transfer of power to Andropov.
3. Biography of Andropov and the years of his reign.
4. Andropov's death. Board of the state Chernenko.
5. Conclusion.
6. List of references.
1. Introduction.
After Brezhnev's death, there were not many candidates for power. Some nominated Chernenko, but he himself announced Andropov's candidacy at the meeting, and he was elected unanimously. Chernenko's turn came after him.
Power in the Soviet Union began to be called gerontocracy. Since Brezhnev, each subsequent leader has held office with a whole bunch of serious illnesses and at an advanced age. Many rightly believe that they simply could not make the right decisions that correspond to the modern realities of life.
Andropov was a mystery to everyone, he never expressed his opinion publicly, so no one knew what policy he would pursue. Its origin also remains a mystery, in different sources there are different opinions. Chernenko himself cleaned up part of his biography, and many dark spots remained there too. He was always a good performer and assistant, knowing how to remain in the shadows, which is why Brezhnev appreciated him so much.
Both leaders did not last more than a year in power. The reason for this was not conspiracies and intrigues, but natural death due to advanced age. The party apparatus was in need of renewal, an influx of new strength. The aged rulers did not have enough time or young risk to contribute clear changes into the life of the country.
2. Death of Brezhnev. Transfer of power to Andropov.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev had been seriously ill since 1974. In addition, according to various sources, he suffered from leukemia, emphysema and jaw cancer. November 11, 1982 the country learned of the death of its leader. He died at his dacha, had dinner with his family in the evening, and in the morning, when the guard came to wake him up, he saw that he was dead.
The big mystery is the absence of a doctor next to the seriously ill Secretary General. Only a guard tried to revive Brezhnev, and only then a doctor and high-ranking officials were called. Apparently Brezhnev died in his sleep, the guard did not notice any signs of agony and suffering, he, at first, simply tried to wake the sleeping person.
Many accuse L. I. Brezhnev of clinging to power, not wanting to give up his place as a leader. Health did not allow him to attend all the necessary events, but he remained in power. In fact, Brezhnev himself more than once tried to resign, but for many it turned out to be too profitable. It was possible to promote your line, while remaining in the shadows.
In November, Brezhnev planned to announce his resignation at a closed plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Kapitonov, who was in charge of personnel at that time, reports that Brezhnev planned to recommend Shcherbitsky to his place, but did not have time to make the necessary orders because of his death.
Andropov is therefore considered involved in the death of Brezhnev. Witnesses claim that on November 7, at the reception of the parade, the Secretary General looked better than ever, and his sudden death after that came as a surprise. If the plans for Shcherbitsky became known, then it would be beneficial for Andropov to get rid of Brezhnev before the plenum. Although Brezhnev was ill, he was respected in the party, and his opinion was taken into account.
Since 1967 Andropov headed the State Security Committee. Here he developed certain habits and a line of behavior associated with secrecy. He was a kind of "dark horse", no one knew what to expect from him, whether he would continue Brezhnev's policy or choose a different path.
It is also not clear with his attitude towards the USSR and the communist course in general. He did not express his opinion at the famous XX Congress of the CPSU, where questions about the cult of personality were raised. He only advised Brezhnev, when preparing a report for the 20th anniversary of the victory, not to mention Stalin's personality at all, so as not to give rise to another round of disagreements.
He was also one of the main advisers at the conclusion of the NVO treaties and advocated the reduction of armaments. As the head of the KGB, he also did not show outstanding abilities, he did not see a spy even in his department.
All his actions were largely dictated not from an ideological position, but from the point of view of extracting his own benefit, moving forward and gaining more authority. Under the KGB of the Stalinist type, it was impossible for foreign spies and saboteurs to penetrate the country; the weakening of the KGB led the West to freedom of action in relation to the USSR and made it possible to influence the decay from within.
Much in his biography suggests that Andropov himself worked for the West. Initially, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelian-Finnish ASSR had a great influence on his career. Since 1954, Andropov became ambassador in Budapest, and 2 years later there was a speech against Socialism and the USSR in particular. He also recommended not to interfere in the events in Czechoslovakia.
For a certain period of time, he also controlled ideological politics, which also suffered. In a socialist state, ideology played an important role. It was Andropov who promoted M. S. Gorbachev and E. A. Shevardnadze, who destroyed the Soviet Union.
It is impossible to prove with one hundred percent accuracy that Andropov worked for the West; there is neither correspondence nor documents confirming this. But the actions themselves speak volumes.
3. Biography of Andropov and the years of his reign.
Even in the biography of Yu.V. Andropov there are many dark places. Historians describe even its origin in different ways. He was born on June 2, 1914, but opinions about his parents already differ. Some write that the mother, the father, was a telegraph operator, a Jew by nationality, and the mother was a teacher. Others that the father comes from the Don Cossacks and worked on the railway, and the mother is the adopted daughter of a jeweler. Still others write that Andropov came from a family of a wealthy Jewish jeweler.
At the age of 13, he became an orphan and began to earn a living himself. He worked as a loader, projectionist, telegraph operator, sailor. In 1930, Yuri joined the Komsomol. In 1932 he moved to central Russia and entered the Rybinsk Water Transport College.
In 1935, Andropov married the daughter of the manager of a branch of the state bank, they studied with her at the same technical school. Perhaps this is what influenced the fact that he became the secretary of the Komsomol in his educational institution. Career went uphill, and soon Andropov was nominated to the Komsomol organizers of the Rybinsk shipyard.
Stalin's purge made it possible for many young people to advance, in 1938. Yu.V. Andropov was already the secretary of the Yaroslavl regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1940 became the head of the Komsomol of the Karelian-Finnish SSR. In war active participation did not accept, citing poor health and a recently born child.
In 1944 finally moved from Komsomol to party work and became the second secretary of the Petrozavodsk city committee of the CPSU (b). In 1051 Yuri Vladimirovich graduated from the institute at the correspondence department. In 1974 Andropov became the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelo-Finnish SSR. In 1951 he is finally transferred to Moscow, where he becomes responsible for party work in the Baltic republics. Then he becomes the head of trade union and Komsomol organizations.
Since 1953 Andropov was transferred to the Foreign Ministry and appointed ambassador to Hungary. In 1961 Andropov became a member of the central committee. In 1967, under the patronage of Suslov, he was appointed head of the KGB, and a month later Andropov joined the Politburo.
On November 12, 1982, 2 days after Brezhnev's death, Andropov was elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. For the first time in the history of the USSR, this position went to the head of the KGB.
Andropov began his activity with a sharp intensification of the fight against violations of discipline in the party and among the workers. The anti-corruption company has deprived many people close to the former head of their jobs. 18 ministers and 37 secretaries of regional committees lost their posts, and there were changes in all the union republics. Several state officials did not get off with a simple deprivation of their place, criminal cases were opened against them. Brezhnev's henchmen were so frightened that some even committed suicide.
Despite the high-profile cases, the KGB apparatus itself turned out to be corrupt. All cases for the most part were the destruction of unwanted personalities. Like many rulers, he sought to put his people everywhere, those who would obey unconditionally and would not discuss actions.
With regard to ideological policy, under Andropov, for the first time, it was said about the stagnation in the economy, about the lag in scientific and technological progress. However, nothing has been done to overcome these problems. Personnel changes could not solve anything.
The war with Afghanistan continued, although Andropov had thoughts about the possibilities of ending the conflict, but this issue was not given much attention. As a result, negotiations did not take place, and everything remained the same.
There was a new aggravation of the conflict with the United States. The states planned to install Pershings in Europe as a counterweight to Soviet missiles with an explosive warhead SS-20. America offered a compromise - to replace everything with euro-missiles, but the USSR was not ready for a compromise, hoping that the peaceful movement in the West would force the States to abandon their plans.
In August 1983 Andropov announced that all work on space-based weapons was being stopped. He called the US work on the development of new weapons insanity and another attempt to unleash a nuclear war. He said it was crazy to be involved in this. In November, talks on limiting medium-range nuclear weapons were suspended, and later, all arms control talks were halted.
It was Andropov who began replacing older members of the Politburo with younger members of the party. But he clearly made a bet on the wrong ones. He is often considered a reformer, but this only looks so in comparison with the last years of the stagnation of the Brezhnev era.
Some scholars are inclined to believe that Andropov wanted to carry out liberal reforms, albeit more cautiously than later. But his policy of "labor discipline", on the contrary, speaks of him as a supporter of socialism and even a penchant for the Stalinist centralized method of government.
Andropov was in power for a short time and at the same time spent most of his time in a hospital bed. In a near-death state, it is objectively impossible to manage the country qualitatively. Perhaps he had far-reaching plans for transformation, but we are no longer given to know this. The destruction of objectionable people through anti-corruption activities suggests that there was still some preparation. Andropov was not going to leave his post so quickly, but his poor health let him down.
4. Andropov's death. Board of the state Chernenko.
Since February 1983, Andropov's kidney failure worsened, in August of the same year he was hospitalized, and he spent the rest of his life in the hospital. Death occurred on February 9, 1984. according to the doctors, Andropov had a whole range of diseases, kidney failure only exacerbated health problems.
K.U. was elected to replace Andropov as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Chernenko. By that time, he was already 72 years old, and his health was also poor. No one expected that the new leader would stay in office for a long time, and it happened, his power lasted only 13 months.
There are even more dark spots in his biography. Many attribute this to the fact that back in the 60s. Chernenko headed the general department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He established a strict system of access to archives and carefully cleaned up all the unpleasant episodes of his biography.
K.U. was born Chernenko on September 24, 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Yenisei province. Father - by origin a Ukrainian peasant, but moved to Siberia and worked in mines and gold mines. Chernenko had many relatives, and, having made his way into the leadership, he attached many of them to good places, but they knew how to work, so they did not attract much attention to themselves.
Konstantin graduated from a three-year school for youth. Already at the age of 18, he headed the department of agitation and propaganda of the district committee of the Komsomol. Then he went to serve in the army, hitting the border troops. Here he joined the party and became the party secretary of the border detachment.
Upon returning from the army, the career continued. During the war, Chernenko was sent to the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. After completing his studies, he was sent to Penza. In 1948 They planned to transfer Chernenko to the central office, but an unknown woman said that he was leading an immoral lifestyle. There were almost no verification documents left in the archive, but instead of Moscow, he was sent to Chisinau for the post of head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova.
It was in Moldova that Chernenko met Brezhnev, and this acquaintance became fateful for him. Moving forward, L.I. Brezhnev also promoted his new friend, who also turned out to be an exemplary executive. In 1956, Chernenko finally got to Moscow and became the head of the mass agitation sector in the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1965, Brezhnev appointed him head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
He prepared all the necessary documents for Brezhnev, led the preparation of the meetings. In the 70s, the leader's condition worsened, and Brezhnev himself admitted that Chernenko had become an indispensable person for him. In 1978 he finally became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Even after Brezhnev's death, those who nominated Chernenko were beaten, but at that time Andropov managed to get more votes. Although he did not have to lead the country for long, he managed to do a lot.
It was then that education was first introduced from the age of 6 and a five-day school week. Having a pedagogical education, Chernenko paid great attention to this issue. Bull Knowledge Day was introduced on his initiative. Until now, in many countries of the world, the first day of school is not distinguished by anything special.
Chernenko was not an outstanding politician, but he tried to steadfastly take a hit. In response to the American boycott of the 1980 Olympics. in Moscow, the USSR boycotted the following games in 1984. In Los Angeles. Instead, they organized their own large-scale sports competition "Friendship-84".
Contrary to all expectations, Chernenko did not curtail the anti-corruption processes begun under Andropov. Work with the champions continued and several more prominent officials lost their seats and all their previous awards.
Chernenko turned out to be a supporter of Stalin. He did not have time to fully rehabilitate himself after the significant 20th Congress. However, he reinstated Molotov in the party ranks, who at that time was already 94 years old.
Chernenko had little time and energy to radically change something. All he succeeded in was to give people another year of quiet life without shocks. After his death, the country moved forward for some time. Factories continued to operate, factories produced products, combines plowed and sowed.
Practically all industrial goods, as well as foodstuffs of the USSR, were produced independently, without the use of foreign raw materials. The first aircraft carriers were launched, this could make the Union the greatest maritime power. Industry and agriculture developed at a high pace, and although they often did not fit into the plan, the numbers were amazing.
If not for global changes and inept leaders, the USSR, even under the socialist system, could achieve a lot and take a leading position in the world. The potential of the country allowed this, the only thing missing was someone who could skillfully dispose of it.
5. Conclusion.
During the years of Andropov and Chernenko, the country was already infected with the germs of capitalism. It was possible to cope with this only with the help of a thoughtful and competent ideology. Andropov was not a good ideologue, nor was Chernenko, despite the fact that most of his career worked in the field of propaganda. They failed to build the right line and lead the people.
The main struggle with the USA, the West and the USSR was not based on economic indicators, and not even in military developments. The main front unfolded in the media, and here we obviously lost. Everything they did did not repel, but beckoned to the West, everything European and foreign in general began to be treated with trepidation, like a sweet forbidden fruit.
To Andropov's credit, one can write down an anti-corruption policy, and Chernenko continued this work. But it was Andropov who contributed to the rise of Gorbachev, who would later destroy the USSR.
There is a lot of controversy among historians as to whether Andropov himself worked for Europe. There is no clear evidence for this, only circumstantial evidence. Such a shadow does not fall on Chernenko, he was a consistent Stalinist and wanted to revive the bright memory of the great leader.
6. List of references.
1. Gross D.V. From stagnation to collapse. M., 1991.
2. Zemtsov I. Chernenko: The Soviet Union on the Eve of Perestroika. London, 1983.
3. Kudinov O.A. History of domestic state and law. - M.: MESI, 2010.
4. Munchaev Sh.M., Ustinov V.M. Russian history. - 5th ed., revised. and additional - M.: 2009.
5. Fortunatov V.V. National history. - St. Petersburg: 2010.
6. Chazov E, Health and power. M., 1992.
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU since February 13, 1984 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR since April 11, 1984 Deputy - since 1966 Member of the CPSU since 1931, Central Committee of the CPSU - since 1971 (candidate since 1966), member of the Politburo of the Central Committee CPSU since 1978 (candidate since 1977).
Born on September 11 (24), 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, now the Novoselovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, into a peasant family. Russian.
Chernenko - years of youth
His father, Ustin Demidovich, was a migrant from Ukraine. He worked in copper mines, gold mines in Siberia. Almost nothing is known about the name of Chernenko's mother; she died of typhus in 1919. Ustin married a second time. From the first marriage there were two daughters and two sons.
From an early age Konstantin Chernenko worked for hire from the kulaks. But all 
Chernenko's subsequent labor activity is connected with leading work in the Komsomol, and later in the party organizations.
In 1929-30. Konstantin Chernenko was in charge of the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky District Committee of the Komsomol of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
He graduated from the 3-year school of rural youth. Political convictions made it possible to appoint him head of the department of propaganda and agitation of the district committee of the Komsomol.
In 1930-33. Chernenko served in the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR, at the border outposts of Khorgos and Narynkol in Kazakhstan. Member of the CPSU (b) / CPSU since 1931. He was the secretary of the party organization of the 49th border detachment, commanded the border detachment and participated in the liquidation of Bekmuratov's gang.
In the prewar years, he became secretary of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Party Committee.
In 1943-1945. Konstantin Ustinovich studied in Moscow, at the higher school of party organizers. During the Great Patriotic War, Party Secretary K. Chernenko worked to mobilize communists and workers of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and for the successful implementation of military 
orders, the preparation of reserves for the army was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor".
For the next three years, Konstantin Chernenko worked as the secretary of the regional committee for ideology in the Penza region, then until 1956 he headed the department of propaganda and agitation in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was there, in the early 1950s, that he met Brezhnev, then First Secretary. Business conversation developed into a friendship that lasted until the end of his life. With the help of Brezhnev, K. Chernenko made a unique party career, while not possessing the noticeable qualities of a leader.
Since 1950, the career of K.W. Chernenko is inextricably linked with a career.
In 1953, K. Chernenko graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute.
In 1956, Chernenko was nominated to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the post of head of the sector of the Propaganda Department. Since 1960, he worked as the head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1965, he was appointed head of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
In 1966-71 K.U. Chernenko is a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, in March 1971, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in March 1976 at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which took place after the XXV Congress of the Party, he was elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 2, 1976, for the successful and fruitful leadership of party organizations and for active and conscientious work in the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the gold medal "Sickle and Hammer".
Since 1977 K.U. Chernenko is a candidate member of the Politburo, and since 1978 a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Chernenko headed the delegations of the CPSU at the congresses of the communist parties of Denmark in 1976 and Greece in 1978.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 23, 1981, he was awarded the title twice Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
During the reign of Brezhnev Konstantin Chernenko was the head of the general department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, it was through him that a large number of documents and entire dossiers passed to the top of the party. He was an "organizer" the highest class. Managed the mail addressed to the General Secretary; wrote preliminary answers. Chernenko was aware of everything that was happening in the highest party echelon. I felt comfortable on the sidelines. suffering bronchial asthma, Konstantin Chernenko got out of bed at any suggestion of Brezhnev to go hunting. Brezhnev generously rewarded Konstantin Ustinovich, moving him up the party ladder, and completely trusted him.
Twice Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko accompanied Leonid Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki at the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in 1979 - at the negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues.
Since the late 1970s Chernenko was considered one of Brezhnev's possible successors.
But after the death of Brezhnev in 1982, the
In February 1982 Chernenko was among the winners of the Lenin Prize. He also received the third title of Hero, on his seventy-threeth birthday.
Short reign of Chernenko
April 11, 1984 after the death of Andropov K.U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. When the 73-year-old Chernenko received the highest position in the Soviet state, he no longer had the physical or spiritual strength to lead a vast country.
Chernenko was seriously ill and was seen as an intermediate figure. Konstantin Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital, where meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were even held.
In the hospital (shortly before his death) Chernenko was presented with a certificate of election as a People's Deputy of the RSFSR.
During the reign of KU Chernenko, several unsuccessful projects were undertaken: the reform of the school, the turning of the northern rivers, and the strengthening of the role of trade unions.
Under Chernenko, the Day of Knowledge was officially introduced as a holiday (September 1, 1984). In June 1983, Chernenko criticized Russian rock performers, equating their performances with illegal entrepreneurial activity, violating the monopoly of the Rosconcert company, and threatening with imprisonment.
Under K. Chernenko, post-Brezhnev and post-Maoist detente began in relations with China, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense; In 1984, the USSR, in response to the US boycott of the Moscow Olympiad, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.
During this period, the USSR was first visited by King Juan Carlos I, the head of the Spanish state. Under Chernenko, there were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers.
Active investigations and repressions were not stopped even under Chernenko. However, he was restored to the CPSU 94-year-old V. M. Molotov.
Death of Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich died after 1 year and 25 days of reign and was the last to be buried at the Kremlin wall. March 10, 1985 K.W. Chernenko is dead.
He was buried on March 13, 1985 in Moscow on Red Square near the Kremlin wall. There is a bust on his grave.
The death of Chernenko ended a 5-year period during which a significant part of the Brezhnev Politburo passed away (the so-called "epoch of magnificent funerals"). Chernenko turned out to be the oldest of all the Soviet leaders ever to receive the post of General Secretary. Mikhail Gorbachev, the representative of the next generation of the Politburo, was elected his successor in this post the very next day.
Chernenko was awarded 4 orders of Lenin, 3 orders of the Red Banner of Labor, many medals, as well as the highest award of the German Democratic Republic- Order of Karl Marx, the highest award People's Republic Bulgaria - the Order of Georgy Dimitrov and medals from foreign countries. He was awarded the title of laureate of the Lenin Prize (1982).
The memory of Chernenko, according to an established ritual, was immortalized. In honor of Chernenko, the city of Sharypovo and Krasnoyarskaya street in the Moscow district of Golyanovo were briefly named.
The most objective characteristic of K.U. Chernenko was given by Academician E.I. Chazov: “Having stood at the head of the party and the state, Chernenko honestly tried to fulfill the role of the leader of the country. But this was not given to him - both due to the lack of appropriate talent, breadth of knowledge and views, and due to his character. But most importantly, he was a seriously ill person.”
Chernenko was married twice:
- on Faina Vasilievna, a native of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. She had 2 children from her marriage: Albert (he was secretary of the Tomsk city committee of the CPSU, then deputy dean of the law faculty of Tomsk State University located in Novosibirsk) and Lydia.
- on Anna Dmitrievna, a native of the Rostov region. From marriage with her children: Vladimir, Vera (teacher) and Elena (she worked in Washington in the Soviet embassy).
