Brezhnev

Question 1

rise to power

Answer 1

1954- Second secretary
1964- main forcer of K. from power
became first secretary, Kosygin as prime minister

Question 2

Kosygin’s reversals of Khrushchev’s reforms

Answer 2

ended industrial and agricultural divisions
abolished limitations on cadres
dissolved economic counsels and centralised ministries

Question 3

Kosygin’s economic reforms launched

Answer 3

1965. -gross realised output targets to make system more responsive.
      - interest on capital equipment to reduce resource hoarding
      - greater freedom for managers to use their profits
      - 5YPs set in advance and not changed to demonstrate stability
      - technology and partnerships with west, eg. Fiat

Question 4

Kosygin’s reforms results

Answer 4

• rise in countryside standard of living
• 1966 onwards collective workers paid a regular wage
• some collectives converted to state farms
• 1965-75 most successful, 6% annual growth
• but by 70s reforms failed because managers ciuldn’t set the prices, determine e,ployment levels, innovate, military production would be threatened, party secretaries resisted change, prague spring gave reform a bad name, system not adaptable enough and agriculture continued to lag behind

Question 5

How and when Brezhnev gained complete control

Answer 5

• Kosygin’s failures discredited him
• Brezhnev gradually accumulated power, moving his supporters into key positions.
• by 1977 had total power as: marshal of the USSR, supreme commander of the army, chairman of the defence council

Question 6

Foreign Policy

Answer 6

• decay of Sino-Soviet relations, 1969 Ussuri river conflict. USSR continued to aid India, Pakistan, North vietnam to contain China
• Brezhnev Doctrine after Prague Spring in 1968
• supplied arms to arab states in 1967 to increase influence
• Detente: 1967 outer space treaty, 1972 SALT I, 1975 Helsinki accords, 1979 SALT II, 1982 START
• Suppression of solidarity in Poland 1981
• all not very effective after mid 70s, unuseful allies, Afghan war etc.

Question 7

Social policies

Answer 7

• clamp down on dissent, end to destalinisation
• authors such as Daniel and Sinyavsky arrested, Pushkin square demonstrations ensued
• more moderate though: harassment and discrimination, arrests, labour camps, exile, admission to a psychiatric hospital
• 1982 last Helsinki Watch Groups disbanded
• B. gradually lost information control

Question 8

Stagnation

Answer 8

• Russia dominated USSR, accounted for vast majority of earned income
• no policies for change
• ‘trust the cadres’ led to a gerontocracy
• Dnipropetrovsk Mafia and nepotism and croneyism
• centrally planned economy led to stagnation
• machinery inadequate and poorly maintained
• lack of healthcare 6.9 per thousand deaths in 1966, 10.3% in 1980
• alcoholism, absenteeism, poor diet, overcrowding
• corruprion
• cynicism, loss of belief in communism

Question 9

Brezhnev’s death

Answer 9

November 1982