Soviet economy 1965 1985 heyday or stagnation. Period of stagnation (1965–1985)
Topic 19. The Soviet Union in 1965-1985
PLAN
1. Domestic policy in the 1960s - 1980s
4.culture and social movements
1. Domestic policy in the 1960s - 1980s
Brezhnev's approval in power. Transition to a conservative domestic policy. On October 16, 1964, the newspapers reported on the plenum held two days earlier, which “satisfied the request of Comrade Khrushchev N.S. on his release from the duties of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR due to advanced age and deteriorating health.
An important step towards the transition to conservative course made in May 1965 g. in celebration 20th Anniversary of Victory in the Patriotic War. In Brezhnev's report, for the first time after many years of Khrushchev's accusations, Stalin's contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany was mentioned. The line of refusing to further expose the horrors of Stalinism was also demonstrated at the 23rd Party Congress.
Rehabilitation sentiments regarding Stalin reached their peak in 1969, when a number of members of the top leadership of the CPSU (G.I. Voronov, K.T. Mazurov, P.M. Masherov, D.S. Polyansky, A.N. Shelepin) tried significantly correct official assessments of Stalin's historical activities. An article of a pro-Stalinist nature was published in the Kommunist magazine. By the 90th anniversary of the birth of Stalin, his works were being prepared for publication. These plans were upset mainly because of the publication of Khrushchev's memoirs in the West.
Amendments to the Charter of the CPSU adopted by the 23rd Party Congress were also aimed at strengthening the positions of the party nomenklatura. The instructions introduced in 1961 on the norms for the turnover of the composition of party bodies and secretaries of party organizations were eliminated from it. Rotation "according to the law" introduced elements of uncertainty that disturbed the party leaders.
The most important component of the new political course was the concept of "developed socialism" , replacing the concept of the expanded construction of communism with its promises to "catch up and overtake" the United States. On December 21, 1966, an article by F.M. Burlatsky under the title "On the construction of a developed socialist society". The following year, in a speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, Brezhnev announced that in the USSR built developed socialist society. Officially, this conclusion was confirmed by the decisions of the XXIV Party Congress (March-April 1971).
In 1973, the collective party-state leadership zealously set about implementing measures to "improve the authority" of its leader, turning onto the well-known road of "cult." L.I. Brezhnev, Hero of Socialist Labor since 1961, soon became the bearer of many new awards and distinctions of the rank of army general (1975), marshal (1976), gold stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (1966, 1976, 1978, 1981), the Order of Victory ( 1978), the highest award in the field social sciences Gold medal to them. Karl Marx (1977), becomes a laureate of the international Lenin Prize "For the strengthening of peace between peoples" (1973). Public praise of Brezhnev and the flow of awards expanded as he became increasingly incapacitated due to a stroke in 1976. On June 16, 1977, the environment elevated him to the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces.
Changes in political leadership. With the formation of a new political course, the composition of the top party-state leadership of the country also changed. The first personnel changes were carried out within a month after the coup. At the November (1964) plenum of the Central Committee, P.E. Shelest (1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine) and A.N. Shelepin (one of the main organizers of the coup). In December 1965, the resignation of the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Court A.I. Mikoyan. In August 1966, an active participant in the anti-Khrushchev conspiracy N.V. was elected to this post. Podgorny.
In September 1967 A.N. Shelepin was relieved of his duties as secretary of the Central Committee in connection with his election as chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, and later, in 1975, he was also removed from the Politburo. The same fate befell Shelepin's friend and his successor as head of the KGB B.C. Semichastny . The reason for the resignation was the shortcomings of the secret services, which in March 1967 failed to prevent Stalin's daughter S. Alliluyeva from staying in the West. In April 1973, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR G.I. lost his posts in the Politburo. Voronov and the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine P.E. Shelest, in June 1977 N.V. Podgorny.
Those who dropped out were replaced by people who were personally close to the Secretary General from the time of his work in Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan A.P. Kirilenko(Secretary of the Central Committee since 1966), K.U. Chernenko(Secretary of the Central Committee since 1976), YES. Kunaev(1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan since 1964). Brezhnev's faithful companions remained M.A. Suslov(party ideologue) A.A. Gromyko(Foreign Secretary), Yu.V. Andropov(Chairman of the KGB), A.A. Grechko and who replaced him in 1976. D.F. Ustinov(Ministers of Defense) ON THE. Shchelokov(Minister of Public Order in 1966-1968, then Minister of the Interior ), ON THE. Tikhonov, who became deputy in 1965, and in 1976 the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
1977 constitution The new Basic Law, often referred to as the "Constitution of Developed Socialism", was adopted on 7 October. It emphasized the continuity of ideas and principles with the previous Constitutions of 1918, 1924 and 1936.
The constitution consisted of a preamble and nine sections: Fundamentals of the social system and politics; State and personality; National-state structure; Councils of People's Deputies and the procedure for their election; Supreme authorities and management; Fundamentals of building state authorities and administration of the Union republics; Justice, arbitration and prosecutorial supervision; Coat of arms, flag, anthem and capital; The operation of the Constitution and the procedure for its application.
For the first time the Basic Law reflects the real mechanism of power in the USSR. The CPSU was called "the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations» (6th article).
Thus, the Constitution of the USSR of 1977 finally formalized the conservative course of Brezhnev's domestic and foreign policy, legitimized the party's strict ideological control over society, and preserved the explosive contradictions in the national question.
Changes in the state-political leadership in last years when Brezhnev was in power. The consequence of the rejection economic methods management became centralization, bureaucratization and swelling of the administrative apparatus. By 1985, the total number of managers in the country approached 18 million people: for every 67 employees there was one manager. The most significant bureaucratic layer (11.5 million) was made up of the grassroots apparatus of enterprises and organizations. Up to 10% of the state budget was annually spent on the maintenance of bureaucratic structures. Emphasizing the steady growth of the role of the CPSU was accompanied by its numerical growth. By the mid 80s. it had 19 million people. The party apparatus expanded accordingly.
The Central Committee of the CPSU and especially its apparatus became the main support of the supreme power during the years of Brezhnev's general secretary. If in the second half of the 60s. the main decisions were made at the plenums, then subsequently the center of power increasingly shifted to the departments of the Central Committee. The total number of responsible employees of the apparatus of the Central Committee reached 1,500 people.
The top leadership of the country by the end of the 70s. degenerated into a real gerontocracy. The average age of members of the Politburo (2122 members and candidate members), secretaries of the Central Committee (1011) for 1971-1981. increased from 60 to 68 years. The "collective leadership" showed exceptional attention to each other's health. The orders established under the late Brezhnev were preserved until 1985.
Emphasizing their importance, the representatives of the old guard in the Politburo willingly awarded themselves all kinds of prizes, orders and medals. L.I. Since 1981, Brezhnev has become the champion in possession of the "gold stars" of the Hero. Three pamphlets of the General Secretary's memoirs ("Virgin Land", "Small Land", "Renaissance"), prepared with the help of professional journalists, were awarded the Lenin Prize for Literature (1979).
The question of his successor Brezhnev was inclined to decide in favor of K.U. Chernenko. As a reserve figure, the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine V.V. Shcherbitsky.
The "stagnation" of developed socialism became the time of the flourishing of nomenklatura privileges, which still included state dachas, special rations, special treatment, special transport, etc. Abuse of official position, the desire to attach relatives to a "bread" position, to an elite university, etc., becomes an ordinary phenomenon. For example, a far-fetched Ministry of Mechanical Engineering for Livestock and Feed Production was formed, headed by Brezhnev's brother-in-law. Brezhnev's son, without proper reason, became the 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade (in 1983 he was relieved of his post). Brezhnev's son-in-law became Deputy Minister of the Interior. Since 1979, Andropov's son has been successfully making a career in the Foreign Ministry, and in 1984 he became ambassador to Greece.
The most corrupt in the years of late "developed socialism" were the Central Asian republics, where giving bribes to officials constituted a whole system. Merging of the party and state apparatus with the shadow economy began. All this took place against the backdrop of an obsessive pseudo-communist propaganda , continuous holidays and awards on the occasion of various anniversaries, anniversaries and successes in the "improvement" of developed socialism. At the same time, the country's production mechanism, created over decades, continued to operate, improving the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people.
Search for ways to strengthen socialism under Andropov and Chernenko. November 12, 1982, two days after the death of L.I. Brezhnev, the plenum of the Central Committee of the party elected Yu.V. Andropov. He was 68 years old. The first steps of Andropov-general secretary did not deceive expectations. From the beginning of 1983, KGB officers began to identify violators of labor discipline. Raids on shops, cinemas, baths, etc., identified and punished those who were supposed to be at work at that time. At the same time, high-profile cases of corruption were launched, a fight against unearned income and speculation was announced. The fight against abuses in trade has taken on a large scale. The head of the Main Department of Trade of the Moscow City Executive Committee was put on trial and shot; after him, 25 senior officials of the Moscow Glavtorg, the director of the largest Moscow grocery stores, and an automobile store were taken into custody. The positions of the "cotton mafia" in Uzbekistan were pushed back; got to the 1st secretary of the Krasnodar regional committee of the CPSU S.F. Medunov, Minister of the Interior N.A. Shchelokov and his deputy Yu.M. Churbanov, heavily involved in corruption. During the short period of Andropov's rule, more than 30% of party leaders were replaced in Moscow, 34% in Ukraine, and 32% in Kazakhstan.
Relying primarily on D.F. Ustinov and A.A. Gromyko, Andropov "rejuvenated" the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee. Introduced into the Politburo G.A. Aliyev, who became the 1st Deputy Chairman of the Government of the USSR N.A. Tikhonov; IN AND. Vorotnikov(Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR since June 1983); M.S. Solomentsev(Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR until June 1983, later Chairman of the Party Control Committee under the Central Committee of the CPSU from July 1983). The new candidate for membership in the Politburo was V.M. Chebrikov(Chairman of the KGB since December 1982). Elected new secretaries of the Central Committee N.I. Ryzhkov(head of the economic department of the Central Committee); member of the Politburo G.V. Romanov(1st Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee, responsible in the Politburo for coordinating the work of military-industrial complex enterprises); E.K. Ligachev(Head of the Department of Organizational Party Work of the Central Committee).
A great revival in social science was caused by the article by Yu.V. Andropov "The Teachings of Karl Marx and Some Issues of Socialist Construction in the USSR" (Kommunist. 1983. No. 3). February 9, 1984 Yu.V. Andropov, who suffered from an incurable kidney disease, died.
Some restoring order, discipline and other activities associated with his name, gave a noticeable economic effect. According to official data, the rate of economic growth in 1983 was 4.2% (versus 3.1% in 1982); national income rose by 3.1; industrial production by 4; agricultural production by 6%.
Andropov at the post General Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council replaced by Brezhnev's longtime colleague K.U. Chernenko . (He was at that moment 73 years old and had severe asthma .) His coming to power immediately turned into a rejection of Andropov's innovations. There were no new appointments to the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee under Chernenko, but to the second place in the leadership instead of N.A. Tikhonov was nominated by M.S. Gorbachev. The struggle for discipline was curtailed, the threads of corruption cases were cut off at the level of middle management.
The restoration of Molotov in the party (June 1984) became a landmark for the period of Chernenko's being in power. Pro-Stalin mood of the old generation At the same time, the Politburo was clearly expressed by Ustinov, who proposed to restore Malenkov and Kaganovich to the party. On December 20, 1984, D.F. died. Ustinov, March 10, 1985 K.U. Chernenko.
2. Socio-economic development of the USSR
Kosygin's reform. At the heart of his approach to the management of the national economy was the idea of the need to supplement party-administrative levers with elements market economy .
New Economic Deal was designated by the decisions of two plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1965 March (for agriculture) and September (for industry). The decisions marked the beginning of perestroika, which went down in history as the economic or Kosygin reform. Its model, in fact, was the system that existed under NEP, but in the absence of private enterprises.
The March plenum outlined a number of measures designed to reform agriculture on the basis of a combination of public and personal interests, strengthening the material interest of workers in the growth of production. Particular emphasis was placed on increasing the role of the Ministry of Agriculture in planning and managing production and on increasing investment. The measures brought benefits to collective farms and state farms. For the products handed over in 1965, they gained almost 15% more than in 1964. The profit increased due to lower prices for cars, electricity and writing off loan debts from collective farms.
Innovations in industry were proclaimed at the September (1965) plenum of the Central Committee in the report of A.N. Kosygin "On improving the management of industry, improving planning and strengthening economic incentives for industrial enterprises." The task was combination of centralization of management with the expansion of the operational and economic independence of enterprises.
The main thing in the work of enterprises and industries instead of the gross volume was the volume of sales. Thus, the manufacturer was placed in direct dependence on the demand for their products.. Natural planned indicators were replaced by cost ones. To increase the interest of teams in the best use of production assets paid for these funds. The salary was determined by the level of profitability, profit, overfulfillment of plans. The generalizing result of management was measured by the amount of profit. From deductions from it, enterprises created funds for the development of production and material incentives. From these funds, money was spent on bonuses and the “13th salary” at the end of the year; to improve working and living conditions, in particular, to build housing.
In accordance with the objectives of the reform, the main directions were identified economic activity 8th five-year plan (1966-1970). The process of transition of industry to new economic conditions took place gradually. In 1967, there were already 7,000 enterprises operating under the new system, employing over 10 million people.
The new management system in the 8th Five-Year Plan was introduced in agriculture. State farms switched to full self-financing, covered everything from their own funds production costs created funds. By the end of the five-year plan, more than 40% of state farms were operating under the new conditions. The economic reform made it possible to abandon the system of wages for collective farmers on workdays. From May 1966, a guaranteed monthly wage in cash was introduced. tariff rates corresponding categories of state farm workers.
During the 8th Five-Year Plan the process of transforming collective farms into state farms was further developed. The creation of intercollective-farm, collective-farm and state-farm production associations, agro-industrial complexes with enterprises for the processing of agricultural products, the production of building materials, feedlots.
The slowdown in social economic development country, which made itself felt already at the end of the 8th five-year plan, is largely due to the curtailment of managerial innovations. The directive economy was able to quite quickly neutralize the reforms that implied the expansion of democracy and the independence of labor collectives. From the very beginning, conservatives in the country's leadership saw the reforms as a threat to political stability. The events of the Prague Spring of 1968 became, from a similar point of view, a real confirmation of the threat.
Socio-economic development in the 70s. took place under the sign of the strengthening of centralized management, the curtailment of reforms and the fall in the growth rates of the main social economic indicators. It was determined by the plans of the 9th and 10th five-year plans, the directives of which were approved respectively XXIV (1971) and XXV (1976) party congresses.
Emphasis on industrial development in the 70s. was made to create giant territorial production complexes. There were several dozen in all. The main attention was paid to the West Siberian TPK.
In order to intensify the development of the economy of Siberia and Far East in 1974, the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline was resumed : the first attempt to create it was made on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Its construction, over 3,000 km long, was mostly completed in 1984.
In the field of agriculture in the 70s. the emphasis was on agro-industrial integration - the integration of agriculture with the sectors that serve it (industry, transport, trade, construction). Such integration was considered as the main direction of merging the two forms of ownership, state and cooperative-collective farm. Large-scale works on reclamation of agricultural lands were launched. Grandiose canals were built (Big Stavropol, North Crimean, Karakum) and systems for watering and irrigation. In 1974, the Central Committee of the Party and the federal government adopted a joint resolution "On measures for the further development of agriculture in the Non-Chernozem Zone of the RSFSR."
The Cold War contributed to the victory of the directive economy over the seedlings of reforms. Competition with the United States and NATO countries, as well as with China in the field of building up military potential, led to the militarization of the national economy of the USSR. Military spending absorbed a tenth of the gross national product. The slowdown in economic growth was reflected in social programs and the level of well-being of the Soviet people. The “solidity” of the Soviet people as a new historical community of people, in contrast to propaganda clichés, was by no means such due to the economic inequality of the republics and differences in their contribution to the development of the country. According to official statistics, the Russian Federation in 1975 she could keep 42.3% of the turnover tax collected on her territory, Ukraine 43.3, Latvia 45.6, Moldova 50, Estonia 59.7, Belarus 68.2, Azerbaijan 69.1, Georgia 88, 5, Armenia 89.9, Tajikistan 99.1, Kyrgyzstan 99.2, Lithuania 99.7, Uzbekistan 99.8, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan 100%. The rates of capital investments in the economy of the Union republics were 24 times higher than those for Russia. At the same time, sentiments were strong outside of it that it was Russia and the Russians who were to blame for the economic problems of the republics. An alarming manifestation of such sentiments was the bombings in Moscow in January 1977, organized by Armenian nationalists.
The situation in the economy and social sphere. The inability of the leadership to reverse the negative trends in the national economy led to a further slowdown in economic development. In the 10th Five-Year Plan (1976-1980), national income grew by 21%, industrial output by 24%, and agricultural output by 9%. In the 11th Five-Year Plan (1981-1985), the corresponding figures were 16.5, 20 and 11%. At the beginning of the reign of M.S. Gorbachev on the wave of "acceleration" it was planned to increase in the 12th five-year plan (1986-1990) the national income by 20-22%, industrial production by 2124%, agricultural production by half.
Tasks of the 11th five-year plan, approved for XXVI Congress of the CPSU (March 1981), not none of the indicators were met. Nevertheless, the development of the country was progressive. National wealth of Russia in 1970-1980. grew by an average of 7.5% per year against 10.5% annual growth in the 60s. In general, the Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenkov periods (1964-1985) are characterized by an annual increase in national wealth by 6.5%, and only in the Gorbachev period did this figure drop to 4.2% per year.
Since the end of the 70s. the influence of a number of objective factors that impeded the development of the economy by extensive methods was growing. Complicated demographic situation. The decline in the birth rate in the 60s. led to a reduction in the influx of labor resources. The relocation of extractive industry centers to the eastern regions increased the cost of fuel and energy raw materials.
For 1965-1982 the total foreign exchange earnings of the USSR from the export of oil and gas amounted to about 170 billion dollars. There was a clear dependence of the country on the conjuncture of the world market. Falling prices for coal and oil on the world market in the mid-80s. became a major cause of the financial and budgetary crisis. The years of the late “developed socialism” began to be called the years of “stagnation”, primarily because, absorbing the flows of petrodollars, the Soviet leadership did little to perestroika economic mechanisms.
The policy of enlargement of small settlements actually revealed the lack of interest of the authorities in the development of each village because of the high costs of individual housing construction, roads, bridges, gas pipelines. As a result, the number of settlements was constantly reduced under the pretext of lack of prospects. Life in the villages remote from the central estates froze. Schools, hospitals, shops, household service enterprises were closed. Based on the 1959 and 1989 population censuses, the population rural population in the country decreased by 10%, in the Non-Black Earth region by 42%. The number of rural settlements in the RSFSR decreased during this time by 139 thousand, in the Non-Chernozem region by 76 thousand. A special category of rural settlements that do not have an able-bodied population arose and showed a growth trend.
With all this, the search for the withdrawal of the countryside from the crisis, undertaken in the late 70s, largely lay in the traditional archaic stereotype of thinking. M.S. Gorbachev, who in 1978 became secretary of the Central Committee for agriculture, led the development of the next project for its improvement under the name "Food program of the USSR for the period until 1990." (approved in May 1982). Its essence consisted in the complex use of the entire arsenal of administrative and bureaucratic measures to solve the food problem in the country by 1990.
The program was based on the idea of agro-industrial integration, establishing production links between collective farms, state farms, food industry enterprises, trade, construction and transport organizations. Production was closed in a single state agro-industrial complex . At the regional level, the agro-industrial complex united all enterprises associated with the production and processing of agricultural products, with the production of fertilizers, agricultural machinery, etc. Appropriate structures of agro-industrial associations were created. In November 1985, the Gosagroprom of the USSR became the highest authority, absorbing the functions of five union ministries. By the mid 80s. 4.8 thousand inter-farm enterprises operated in the agricultural sector of the economy. However, agro-industrial integration did not bring the expected effect. Thanks to additional budget appropriations in the 11th five-year plan, it was possible to overcome the decline in agricultural production and even ensure its some growth compared to the 10th. In general, the targets were not achieved.
In order to accelerate the development of agriculture in the southern regions of the country in the early 80s. in the USSR projects have been developed to divert part of the flow of northern rivers to the south: Siberian to Central Asia, European to the Caspian Sea through the Volga. The projects were widely discussed in the government and found support in the southern regions of the country. Thanks to the sharp criticism of the public, primarily Russian writers (V. Belov, Yu. Bondarev, S. Zalygin, V. Rasputin) and scientists (academicians A.L. Yanshin, D.S. Likhachev, B.A. Rybakov), the implementation environmentally hazardous projects in 1986 were shelved.
Despite the official thesis about the strengthening of the social homogeneity of society, in fact, differentiation in the quality and standard of living of various segments of the population increased. The incomes of the upper stratum, which accounted for about 2% of the population, were 20-25 times higher than those of the lower strata. According to official data for March 1986, 4.8% of the workers and employees of the national economy of the USSR earned less than 80 rubles. per month; 32.3% - 80 - 140; 29.5% - 140-200; 22.7% - 200-300; 9.5% - over 300 rubles. Leveling tendencies have led to a decline in the prestige of skilled labor. This had grave consequences, shifting into the "shadow" the income received in excess of the official salary.
Ultimately, the 60-80s. were a time of significant improvement in the well-being of the people. Average monthly cash wage workers and employees employed in industry in 1970 amounted to 133.3 rubles. per month, in agriculture 100.9 rubles, it was 2.2 and 1.6 times higher than living wage.
The life support of people during the years of "developed socialism" improved as a result of huge road construction.
Soviet people enjoyed free education, medical care, the state carried heavy expenses for maintenance housing stock. Payments and benefits received by the population from public consumption funds in 1979 amounted to 4.9 billion rubles, and in 1985 - 9.3 billion. By the end of the 70s. the consumption of non-food products and the provision of durable goods increased or remained stable.
Retail prices for basic consumer goods have not changed significantly since the 1950s and have increased more slowly than the wages of the bulk of the working people. In general, the situation in this respect in the 50-80s. was much more advantageous in comparison with the 30s and 40s.
In 1970, 32 out of every 100 households had a television, in 1980 this number doubled, and in 1985 it reached 90. Sufficiently educated Soviet society received more and more information not only about their own country, but also about real life abroad. And this possibility of comparison was often not in favor of "prosperity" under "developed socialism."
Unfavorable trends in social development, the skepticism of the population towards official propaganda caused the growing alienation of the masses from the creators of politics, and the strengthening of opposition sentiments in society. Dissatisfaction with national politics constantly made itself felt.
3. Foreign policy of the Soviet Union in the 1960s - 1980s
Since the second half of the 60s. in the relations of the USSR with the countries of the West, the well-known "detente" of tension made itself felt. It was a consequence of the strategic parity between the USSR and the USA achieved by that time, which deprived any of the superpowers of the possibility of winning a nuclear war. In 1969, the West supported the proposal of the Warsaw Pact countries to hold a pan-European Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In 1970, the Soviet-West German agreement recognized the final post-war borders in Europe; the FRG concluded similar treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia; in December 1972, the mutual recognition of the FRG and the GDR took place. In May 1972, the USSR and the USA signed a Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM) and an Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms for a period of 5 years, later called the SALT-1 Treaty. The treaty set limits for both sides on the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as missiles launched from submarines; however, the number of nuclear charges on the sides was not specified, their build-up continued.
In November 1974, they managed to agree on a new agreement on the limitation of strategic offensive arms (SALT-2). This treaty was supposed to regulate limits on a wider range of weapons, including strategic bombers and multiple warheads. The signing of the treaty was planned for 1977, but did not take place due to the appearance in the United States of a new type of weapon "cruise missiles" and the refusal to impose restrictions on them. Thus, without stopping the arms race, the treaty narrowed its front. This was facilitated by the convention signed in 1972 and entered into force in March 1975 on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological and toxic weapons and on their destruction.
The fruitful development of cooperation between the USSR and the USA made possible the joint space flight in July 1975 of two Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft. In May 1976, a Soviet-American treaty was concluded that regulated the conduct of underground nuclear tests for peaceful purposes.
The culmination of the "détente" of international tension became the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, signed on August 1, 1975. heads of 33 European states, as well as the United States and Canada. He established that henceforth the relations between the countries participating in the Conference would be determined by a number of principles. These were considered: sovereign equality, non-use of force or threats of force, inviolability of post-war borders, territorial integrity of states, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal affairs, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, as subsequent events showed, the USSR considered the Act primarily from the point of view of recognizing the borders in Europe and its special position in it. Western countries, on the other hand, considered the clause on the observance of human rights in the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe to be key. With the launching of a campaign in defense of human rights in the West, "détente" was undermined, and with the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan (December 1979), it was completely buried.
Relations with third world countries in the period of early "developed socialism" in the USSR were determined by its desire to acquire new allies, to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with them. The Soviet Union took the side of Egypt and Syria in the "seven-day war" with Israel in June 1967, helped to extinguish another military outbreak in the Middle East in the autumn of 1973, supported India in its conflicts with Pakistan in the mid-1960s. and in 1971. In relations with developing countries priority was given to countries of "socialist orientation" (Kampuchea, Laos, Somalia, Angola, Mozambique, Nicaragua). They received economic and military assistance, sometimes amounting to billions of dollars. Military bloc logic in foreign policy led to the establishment of allied relations with dictatorial regimes (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ethiopia). Exactly the same policy was pursued by the United States, which supported extremely reactionary regimes of anti-communist and anti-Soviet orientation.
Relations with the socialist countries experienced certain difficulties during this period.. China, Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the DPRK stood aside from the policy agreed upon with the Soviet Union. Relations with China deteriorated. In July 1964, Mao Zedong stated that “about a hundred years ago, the area east of Lake Baikal became the territory of Russia, and since then Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Kamchatka and other points have been the territory of the Soviet Union. We have not submitted an invoice to this registry yet.” Soon a list of claims for 1.5 million square meters was announced. km, and in informal conversations it was said about 3 million square meters. km. In March 1969, armed clashes took place in the area of Damansky Island on the Ussuri River (290 km south of Khabarovsk), and then in other sections of the Soviet-Chinese border. There were about 500 incidents in total., in which 2.5 thousand Chinese military and civilians participated. In the autumn of 1969, negotiations began on border disputes. They walked hard, often came to a standstill. After the death of Mao Zedong (September 1976), the situation did not improve. (Damansky from September 1969 became de facto, and smarta 1992 became de jure the Chinese island of Zhenbaodao.)
The USSR supported North Vietnam in its struggle for the unification of the country against the South Vietnamese regime and the United States openly speaking on its side. On February 5, 1965, our government declared that "the Soviet people will fulfill their international duty towards a fraternal socialist country." Assistance (mainly with weapons and specialists servicing anti-aircraft missile launchers) was provided for more than 10 years, until the defeat of the South Vietnamese regime. The war, which began in August 1964, ended with the entry of North Vietnamese troops into Saigon on April 30, 1975 and the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in July 1976.
The "world system of socialism" experienced great upheavals in Eastern Europe as well. In December 1967, A. Dubcek came to the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In April 1968, Czechoslovakia adopted a program that paved the way for economic reform and democratization. However, by the summer, signs of a socio-political crisis were clearly visible in the country. The media got out of control of the party, the authority of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was rapidly declining, and there was a very real prospect of its defeat in the elections to the National Assembly, scheduled for autumn. The leaders of the "fraternal parties" saw in all this a threat to socialism in their own countries.
The "Prague Spring" ended with the entry into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 of the troops of the USSR, Poland, Hungary, the GDR and Bulgaria. The "threat of counter-revolution" was averted. But this action deepened the split in the "socialist camp". Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact. However, the reaction to the Czechoslovak events was a series of interstate treaties and agreements within the framework of the CMEA, aimed at strengthening the economic and military integration of the countries of Eastern Europe. The role of the USSR in the Commonwealth increased.
In the West, the “right to invade” the USSR in the allied countries under the pretext of defending socialism and the “limitation of sovereignty” of the Eastern European countries began to be called the “Brezhnev doctrine”. It turned out, however, to be ineffective. Crisis phenomena soon made themselves felt in Poland. From the 70s. here began mass demonstrations of the inhabitants of the country against the existing political regime. Poland became the first country of the socialist community in which an alternative political power really arose.
Complication of foreign policy conditions for development. The straightforwardness of the "geronto-crats" in the implementation of the course in the foreign policy of the USSR became one of the reasons for the new aggravation of international tension. The Agreement with the United States on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (SALT-2), which established the maximum number of strategic bombers and multiple warheads on the sides, was in force since 1974. However, it did not acquire legal force due to the US refusal to take into account the maximum permissible levels for new types of weapons . On June 18, 1979, during a meeting in Vienna, L.I. Brezhnev and US President D. Carter, the SALT-2 treaty was nevertheless signed. It limited the parties for the period until 1985 the number of nuclear weapons of all types to 2400. However, the US Congress did not ratify the treaty, and the US administration until 1986 fulfilled its terms “voluntarily”.
In 1978, the United States launched a campaign to deploy neutron munitions in Western Europe. The idea of massacres while preserving wealth caused outrage in the European public. On April 7, 1978, the neutron project was suspended. But already on December 12, 1979, at the NATO session, a decision was made to deploy medium-range nuclear cruise missiles (Pershing II) and Tomahawk cruise missiles in Western Europe, capable of reaching the territory of the Soviet Union in a matter of minutes.
The administration of US President R. Reagan (1981-1988) turned out to be completely unwilling to seek compromises with the “communists”. In June 1982, in a new propaganda offensive against the USSR, Reagan proclaimed a "worldwide democratic revolution" that would "sweep Marxist-Leninist regimes into the dustbin of history, as has happened to other tyrannies." In November 1982, Reagan issued a directive on the protection of national security, declaring that the goal of US policy was to undermine the raw material complex of the USSR. Another directive, dated January 1983, provided additional funding for the opposition movement in the countries of the Eastern Bloc in the amount of $108 million. According to one of its authors, it clearly articulated that the American goal was "not coexistence with the USSR, but to change the Soviet system."
In 1983-1984 new missiles were placed on the territory of Germany, Great Britain, Italy. In turn, the Soviet Union, in agreement with the governments of Czechoslovakia and the GDR, deployed in these countries in 1984 instead of obsolete new medium-range nuclear missiles RSD-20 (in the West they were called "SS-20").
Thus, the European detente was broken, the arms race accelerated, the world again began to approach the dangerous line. The race was a heavy burden on the Soviet economy, exacerbating the negative trends in its development. The pace of the race turned out to be unbearable for the USSR. Since the end of the 70s. he began to lag behind the United States in terms of certain types weapons. This was revealed with the advent of cruise missiles among the Americans and became even more evident after the publication in March 1983, in violation of the 1972 ABM Treaty, of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program. The arms race was one of the causes of the crisis in the USSR. According to the American assessment, it distracted from work on consumer needs 2530% of the production capacity of the USSR, while in the United States this figure was at the level of 56%.
Assistance to developing countries became another "source of ruin" for the USSR. At the end of the 70s. it was connected by diplomatic relations with more than 130 states, almost half of them were developing ones. In an effort to expand its influence, the Soviet Union sent military and civilian specialists to work in the "third world" countries, allocated huge concessional long-term loans, and supplied cheap weapons and raw materials. If in 1955-1968. arms deliveries to "fraternal regimes" amounted to $4.5 billion; and in 1966-1975. 9.2 billion; then in 1978-1982. they amounted to 35.4 billion dollars. The USSR bore large expenses for the education of foreign students and graduate students. However, the effectiveness of aid was insignificant, and loans were mostly not returned.
Late 70s early 80s. contradictions in relations between the USSR and its allies in the Warsaw Pact grew. In the states of Eastern Europe, the desire to free themselves from the guardianship of the USSR increased, to achieve independence in conducting domestic and foreign policies.. The socio-economic and political crisis that erupted in the late 1970s became especially acute. in Poland. The expansion of Soviet economic aid was not successful. The crisis grew. In 1980, the workers' trade union "Solidarity" organized a series of major anti-government demonstrations, demanding economic and political reforms. The government was forced to make concessions, recognizing that "the counter-revolution is stronger than the authorities." On December 13, General V. Jaruzelsky, elected 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the PUWP, introduced martial law in the country. The USSR supported Poland with amounts of 34 billion dollars a year, in the mid-80s. these expenses decreased to 12 billion. Solidarity was banned, anti-government forces went underground, but the crisis could not be overcome. In 1989 the union leaders came to power.
The crisis of the socialist system also manifested itself in the 1979 military clash between China and Vietnam, in which the Soviet Union supported Vietnam. At the end of the 70s. China began to carry out economic reforms based on the principles of the NEP. The Soviet leaders failed to benefit from this experience, regarding the reforms as the beginning of the restoration of capitalism in China.
The weakening, failures of the USSR in foreign policy, and especially participation in the Afghan war, became the reasons for the fall of its authority and growing isolation in the international arena. The leading capitalist countries announced a scientific and technological boycott of the Soviet Union and its allies. The Coordinating Committee for Export Control (established in 1949 on the initiative of the United States) imposed a ban on the import of a wide range of science-intensive products and technologies into the USSR. The result of a broad anti-Soviet campaign launched in the West was the refusal of the US Senate to ratify the SALT-2 treaty signed with the Soviet Union in 1979, boycott XXII Olympic Games in Moscow and a response boycott by socialist countries XXIII Olympiad 1984 in USA. (The boycott was carried out in protest against the deployment of American missiles in Europe and the military presence in Nicaragua.) The anti-Soviet campaign especially intensified in connection with the downing of a South Korean Boeing over Sakhalin on the night of September 1, 1983, mistaken for an American reconnaissance aircraft, and the death of 269 passengers of the aircraft. The tone of the campaign was set by US President R. Reagan, who called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" and announced the start of work on the SDI program ("Star Wars").
Calls for the destruction of the Soviet "empire" in the United States were heard with particular force every year during the third week of July, celebrated as the Week of Nations Enslaved by the Soviet Union. A resolution on them was adopted by the US Congress in July 1959. It stated that "since 1918, the imperialist aggressive policy of Russian communism has led to the creation of a vast empire, which poses a sinister threat to the security of the United States and all the free peoples of the world." It was decided to celebrate the week of the enslaved nations in the United States every year until their freedom and independence is achieved.
Particularly negative in terms of consequences was the decision of the Politburo to assist the revolutionary movement in Afghanistan, in practice the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which came to power as a result of the "April Revolution" in 1978. Seeing in Afghanistan a "second Mongolia" jumping from feudalism to socialism, The USSR decided not to miss the opportunity to expand the socialist community. Assistance was provided to the government of N.M. Taraki, from September 1979 to the government of H. Amin, who overthrew Taraki. At his request, on December 25, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. On December 27, with the help of the Soviet “special forces”, a coup was carried out in Kabul, B. Karmal came to power. On the side of the latter, Soviet troops were drawn into a civil war. After the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, the United States announced trade sanctions against the USSR, and NATO countries boycotted the upcoming Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980.
"International assistance" to the Afghan people stretched out for 10 years. It turned out for the USSR an annual cost of 34 billion dollars, the death of 14.5 thousand Soviet soldiers. During this time, 620 thousand Soviet troops passed through Afghanistan; 35,000 of them returned wounded, more than 100,000 with hepatitis. The withdrawal of Soviet troops in February 1989 did not stop the civil war in Afghanistan.
The complication of foreign policy conditions for development, the unfavorable situation for our country, which was taking shape in the world economic market, accelerated the growth of crisis phenomena in it.
Two Trends in Further Economic Development Some of the leaders (A. I. Kosygin, Yu. V. Andropov) considered it necessary to continue the reformist course in the economy and the liberalization of social and political life, but within the framework of the existing system. The conservative path was defended by L. I. Brezhnev, M. A. Suslov and others. As a result, a moderately conservative course was formed, in which tendencies to move away from “de-Stalinization” prevailed, the concept of “developed socialism” was developed as a long stage in improving socialism on the way building communism. The idea of a communist perspective became more distant in time compared to the program of building communism adopted in the time of Khrushchev, where the task was already set by the 80s. enter the era of communism.
A new attempt to change the situation in agriculture for the better was made in March 1965. Soviet historiography repeatedly emphasized the radical and historical significance of the decisions taken at the March Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. It was planned to overcome the crisis in agricultural production with the help of the same organizational, economic and financial measures that had already been addressed in past years: an increase in capital investment to the industry; tax cuts; removal of restrictions on private farms introduced by the previous leadership
MEASURES AIMED AT THE GROWTH OF AGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROCUREMENT SYSTEM: TRANSITION TO SOLID PLANS FOR YEARS; REDUCTION OF PLANS OF PURCHASES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS; INCREASE IN PURCHASE PRICES BY 20 -100%; STIMULATION OF EXTRA-PLAN PRODUCTION BY 50% SUCCESSION INCREASE INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE: IN THE VIII FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1966-1970) IT WAS PLANNED TO INVEST 71 BLN. Rubles - as much as for all 19 post-war years. Measures taken at the March Plenum of 1965 by the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the strengthening of the mechanization, electrification, chemicalization of agriculture, expanding land reclamation (it was planned to irrigate 3 million hectares for the five-year period, to drain 6 million hectares) . INTRODUCTION OF A GUARANTEED MINIMUM WAGE FOR COLLECTIVE FARMERS SUPPORT FOR PERSONAL PARTICIPANT HOUSES.
Measures for the rise of industry To improve socialism in the mid-60s. The Soviet leadership decided to economic reform, deeper and more productive compared to the previous period. On the pages of the central press, a discussion of the problems of improving management began, and the emphasis was increasingly placed on the need to change the general conditions of management, strengthening economic levers and incentives. This reform has two names: the Kosygin reform (USSR) or the Lieberman reform (Western name). In the first case, by the name of the person who implemented it, in the second, by the name of the person who was its author.
The main directions of the implementations of economic reforms A. N. Koshygin Home Idea - Consignment and Independence of Enterprises Liquidation of the Council of Companies and the Restoration of Ministries The combination of planning from the Center and Standard Planning was adopted at the September Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee of 1965. Reduction of the number of planned indicators from above. Introduction of the main indicator - PRODUCTS INTRODUCTION OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS IN THE PLANNED-DIRECTIONAL ECONOMY: PRICE, PROFIT, CREDIT, PRIZES ALLOW A PART OF PROFIT TO BE DEPOSITED TO INCENTIVE FUNDS
The "Golden Five-Year Plan" It is worth noting that the eighth five-year plan (1966-1970), which passed under the sign of Kosygin's economic reforms, became the most successful in Soviet history and was called the "golden" one. During this period, he managed to improve the standard of living of people - Saturday became a day off, recreation opportunities improved, the transport system developed, the range of consumer goods expanded, some popular Western goods appeared, Soviet television became color and multi-channel, Kosygin's reform provided a fund for paying quarterly bonuses and "thirteenth salaries
Growth rates of economic indicators (in %) VII 1961 - 1965 VIII 1966 - 1970 Golden Five-Year Plan IX 1971 - 1975 X 1976 - 1980 XI 1981 - 1985 NATIONAL INCOME PRODUCED 6, 5 7, 8 5, 4 4, 3 3, 6 INDUSTRY PRODUCTS 8, 6 8, 5 7, 4 4, 4 3, 7 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS (ANNUAL AVERAGE 2, 3 3, 9 2, 5 1, 7 1, 1 LABOR PRODUCTIVITY 6, 1 6, 8 4, 5 3, 1 REAL INCOME PER CAPITA 3, 6 5, 9 4, 4 3, 4 2, 1 FIVE-YEAR ECONOMIC INDICATORS PRODUCTION)
The results of the Kosygin reforms Even the slow, partial reform of industry gave good results. The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1965-1970), which coincided with the beginning of the reforms, turned out to be the best in all the post-war years. According to official (inflated) data, the gross social product increased by 43%, the national income - by 45%, the volume of industrial output increased by 50%. The decrease in the rate of production growth that had taken place during the previous three five-year plans was suspended for a time. The initiator of the reforms A. N. Kosygin failed to carry them out to the end. First of all, even a slight expansion of independence allowed enterprises to underestimate planned targets, as a result, wage growth began to outpace growth in labor productivity. Not a single previous five-year plan has actually ensured such rates. economic growth. However, the positive trends could not be consolidated. The Soviet leadership understood that it would be extremely difficult to maintain and develop the results of the Eighth Five-Year Plan.
The main reasons for the economic recession and further economic crisis 1. Party and political stagnation It is known that the CPSU did not allow new members to come to power. Only one who had been involved in political affairs for several decades could become a general secretary. That is why L. I. Brezhnev came to power, who was already aged and could not fully manage a huge country. The first years spent by Brezhnev in power were quite successful, but gradually the party crisis more and more affected the economic and general political state of the country. 2. Emphasis on the military industry After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union continued to build up the military industry, allocating huge grants for research in this area. As a result, in the 80s, when the whole world was successfully mastering light industry, the USSR continued to focus on weapons. Of course, the number of armor-piercing vehicles and edged weapons was impressive, but with light industry and the agricultural sector, everything was not so rosy. If at the end of the 70s in the West almost all enterprises were automated, then in the USSR there were only a few dozen such plants. 3. Oil Crisis After the war broke out in the Middle East in the early 1970s, a serious global oil crisis began in 1973. In this situation, the USSR became the largest supplier of oil and earned a decent amount, which was immediately directed to the development of agriculture and heavy industry. However, already in the late 1970s, the crisis was resolved and there was a serious outflow of funding from the Soviet economy. The authorities in the USSR clearly did not expect such a large outflow of capital, which immediately affected the economic condition of the country.
4. Frequent change of general secretaries After Brezhnev died in 1982, the USSR was left without political stability for a long time. Andropov and Chernenko were not in power for long, and during their reign they only managed to get into business without making serious and important decisions. Here again, the policy of choosing an experienced party member for the post of general secretary had an effect. Both Andropov and Chernenko were in power at an advanced age, and were not able to govern the country, following the existing global algorithm. 5. Rising Inflation Although wages have risen gradually, they have not kept up with the general increase in inflation. A serious economic crisis was growing in the country, and this directly affected the increase in the price level. At the same time, the standard of living of ordinary people began to gradually fall, which was direct evidence of the existing economic crisis. 6. Change in the direction of political and economic development When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the late 1980s, the country was already in a serious economic crisis. However, the Secretary General's decision to reduce the level of development of heavy industry caused a mixed reaction. Gorbachev was clearly changing the direction of the country's development, which angered conservative communists and caused an even more serious economic crisis.
Manifestation in industry 1) There was a lag in all industrial industries 2) There were no plans for the introduction of new equipment and the growth of labor productivity 3) decreased the pace of economic development in agriculture 1) The number of unprofitable farms 2) increased investment in the amount of investment did not bring economic effect 3) THE VOLUME OF GROSS OUTPUT HAS DECREASED. In 1971 -1975. IT WAS 13% OF THE TOTAL PUBLIC PRODUCT, AND IN 1981-1985. – 6%
The graph on the right shows that by the end of 1985, the USSR (bottom chart) significantly outpaced the US (top) in terms of the number of armed units (shown in thousands). From this we can conclude that the actions of the USSR government were aimed at full-scale preparation for military operations, namely, an “arms race” began, which can partially justify the drop in living standards.
In 2006, the Public Opinion Foundation conducted a survey regarding the era of Leonid Brezhnev. WERE THE YEARS OF L. BREZHNEV'S GOVERNMENT A GENERALLY PROSPEROUS OR UNSUCCESSFUL TIME FOR OUR COUNTRY? WHAT PERIOD DO YOU CONSIDER BETTER FOR OUR COUNTRY - THE YEARS OF L. BREZHNEV'S GOVERNMENT OR OUR TIME? AND IF NOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO RETURN THE COUNTRY TO THAT HISTORICAL PERIOD, WOULD YOU WANT OR NOT WANT IT TO HAPPEN?
Years of "stagnation" (1964-1985)
In October 1964, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU relieved Khrushchev of his duties as first secretary and member of the Presidium of the Central Committee (as the Politburo was called for some time). The former leader was accused of "subjectivism and voluntarism." The people and the party apparatus accepted the resignation of "dear Nikita Sergeevich", until recently he was praised in the press and from the stands, calmly and even with pleasure. L. I. Brezhnev was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, M. V. Podgorny was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and A. N. Kosygin was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The new leadership of the country called for economic reform. Its implementation is associated with the name of A. N. Kosygin. The essence of the reform was the introduction of economic levers for managing enterprises, the introduction of cost accounting. It was supposed to reduce the number of planned indicators, develop an individual approach to remuneration, and encourage employees at the expense of income from profits. This was yet another attempt to stimulate industrial and agricultural production without changing the foundations of the administrative-command control system and abandoning non-economic coercion.
The introduction of new management methods in the early years gave positive results. However, during the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, stagnation and a slowdown in development were increasingly observed in the country's economy.
The country's leaders saw a way out of the situation in expanding the number of sectoral ministries and departments (in the early 1980s there were already more than 100 union and 800 republican), strengthening the apparatus of power and administration. Almost all leadership positions - from the chairman of the collective farm, the director of the school to the minister - could only be held by a decision of the party organization. Positions were called nomenklatura. Strictly speaking, the nomenklatura was, in the words of the Yugoslav dissident M. Djilas, "a new ruling class." The "dictatorship of the nomenklatura" was enshrined in Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR, adopted in 1977. She said: "The guiding and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union." The fate of the country depended on the army of officials, many of whom were party and Komsomol nominees, who did not have proper professional training.
At the same time, it became obvious to many that without a change in the economic system itself, without the inclusion of economic incentives to encourage work, it was impossible to achieve a breakthrough in the economy. At the same time, the “material incentives” that were introduced by the 1965 reforms could not stimulate workers, because they amounted to only 3% of their wages.
The existing system did not stimulate the development of scientific and technological progress, without which it was impossible to move from an industrial to a scientific-industrial society. By the end of the 1970s, when the scientific and technological revolution (STR) was actively proceeding in the West, mass computerization was launched, the transition to a post-industrial society began, and traditional, primitive forms of labor were preserved in the USSR. 40% of industrial workers, 55-60% of builders, and up to 75% of agricultural workers worked manually. By 1985, when there were 1.5 million computers and 17 million personal computers in the USA, there were no more than a few tens of thousands of similar machines, mostly outdated models, in the USSR. Things were better with high technologies in the Soviet military-industrial complex (VPK), colloquially referred to as the “defense industry”. This sector grew at the expense of others, and the burden of military spending hampered the development of those industries that worked for the needs of the population. The country's economy and the living standards of the population were largely supported by petrodollars, i.e. foreign exchange earnings received from export sales of oil and gas.
The lag was especially evident in the agricultural sector. The rural worker lived mainly at the expense of his personal plot and personal farm. The yield was low, a huge amount of grown products was lost during the harvesting period and during storage. Lack of material interest, petty Party and Soviet guardianship, planned and financial restrictions on the use of available funds, and massive mismanagement led to the decline of agriculture. There was not enough food in the country, and the authorities could not solve the food problem. As a result, by the mid-1980s, the USSR again (as in the 1920s) was faced with the threat of falling behind the Western countries again. It was impossible to avoid this while maintaining the existing system.
Socio-political life. dissident movement
In the 1960s and 1980s, the number of urban population increased significantly. 35 million villagers moved near the city. The educational level of the population has risen. A transition was made to universal secondary education. Average and higher education received more than 64% of the country's population. People have learned to understand many issues of social and political life. This posed complex tasks for the party leadership and led during the reign of L. I. Brezhnev to the establishment of two ideologies in the country: the official Marxist-Leninist and informal, democratic, oriented to free human thought. The party leadership, proclaiming new slogans (for example, that “developed socialism” was built in the USSR and the Soviet society was faced with the task of improving it, formally expanding the rights of the Soviets, openly holding party congresses, publishing their decisions, and then discussing them in labor collectives), at the same time, it increased the number of officials (for every 6-7 people there was one leader), strengthened its control. However, all propaganda efforts to create a prosperous facade of a society of “developed socialism” were nullified by reality: low indicators of the quality of life of a Soviet person, bureaucratization and corruption of the party and state apparatus, violations of social justice as a declared moral norm, an increase in a critical attitude towards official ideology and party leadership .
Many no longer listened to the "voice of the party." Germs of “anti-system” arose in society. They were most clearly presented among the intelligentsia. The population listened to tape recordings of songs by A. Galich and V. S. Vysotsky, broadcasts from foreign radio stations, and formed their own opinion.
In 1965, writers A. D. Sinyavsky and Yu. M. Daniel were arrested and sentenced in early 1966. The writers were accused of "anti-Soviet agitation". On December 5, 1965, the Day of the Soviet Constitution, a small group of young people protested on Pushkin Square in Moscow under the slogans "We demand a public trial of Sinyavsky and Daniel" and "Respect the Soviet constitution." Thus was born the human rights movement, which became the most important component new form opposition—Soviet dissidence (dissent). During the trial, Sinyavsky and Daniel were sentenced (to 7 and 5 years in a strict regime, respectively), although they did not plead guilty. In 1967 poet Y. Galaganov and publicist A. Ginzburg were arrested. In August 1968, K. Babitsky, L. Bogoraz, P. Litvinov, V. Fainberg were arrested for organizing a demonstration on Red Square against the entry of allied troops into Czechoslovakia. In 1969, the poet I. Gabay and the demoted General P. Grigorenko were arrested. In May 1969, the first open public association in the USSR was created - Initiative group protection of human rights in the USSR. The most famous figures of the dissident movement were one of the creators of the Soviet thermonuclear weapons, A. D. Sakharov, and the writer A. I. Solzhenitsyn. Academician Sakharov developed the idea of the convergence of two systems - socialism and capitalism, which could borrow each other's achievements and positive sides. Solzhenitsyn gained worldwide fame thanks to his book The Gulag Archipelago (GULAG - Main Directorate of Camps), in which, based on documents and memoirs of prisoners, he recreated a picture of Stalinist repressions and camp life.
Among the dissidents were people of different views: socialist and liberal, religious and nationalist. But all of them were united by the rejection of Soviet reality and the Communist Party, the desire to defend human rights and democratic ideals. They organized protests and distributed literature published abroad (“tamizdat”) and illegally in the USSR (“samizdat”) and contained criticism of the Soviet order.
There were also national movements in the USSR: Ukrainian, Georgian and Armenian, Lithuanian and Estonian national-democratic movements; the Jewish movement for leaving for Israel, the Germans for leaving for the FRG. Thousands of rallies and demonstrations based on ethnic conflicts took place in Yerevan, Frunze, Tbilisi, Vilnius, Tallinn and other cities.
Dissidents persecuted: arrests and judicial reprisals, imprisonment in camps. By the beginning of the 1980s, the dissident movement was almost eliminated by the efforts of the KGB, but the ideas of human rights activists had already taken root in the public consciousness.
The period of stagnation (the era of stagnation) is a period in the development of the Soviet Union, which is characterized by relative stability in all spheres of life, the absence of serious political and economic upheavals, and the growth of the welfare of citizens.
The era of stagnation is usually understood as the period between the coming to power of L.I. Brezhnev in the mid-1960s and the beginning of perestroika in the early 1980s. On average, it is conditionally possible to designate the years of the period of stagnation from 1964 to 1986.
The concept of a period of stagnation
The term "stagnation" was first introduced into circulation in the political report of M.S. Gorbachev at the 27th Congress of the Central Committee of the CPSU, when he noted in his speech that some stagnation began to appear in the development of the Soviet Union and the life of citizens. Since then, the term has become widely used by politicians, economists and historians.
It should be noted that the term does not have an unambiguous interpretation, since stagnation is understood as both positive and negative phenomena. On the one hand, it was during these twenty years, according to historians, that the USSR reached its highest development - a huge number of large and small cities were built, the military industry was actively developing, the Soviet Union began to explore space and became a leader in this area; the country has also achieved significant success in sports, the cultural sphere and a wide variety of industries, including social sphere- the level of well-being of citizens has increased significantly, there is confidence in the future. Stability is the main term that describes that period.
However, the concept of "stagnation" has another meaning. The country's economy during this period actually stopped its development. By a lucky coincidence, the so-called "oil boom" occurred and the prices for black gold rose, which allowed the country's leadership to profit simply from the sale of oil. At the same time, the economy itself was not developing and required reforms, however, due to general prosperity, this was paid less attention than required. Because of this, many call the period of stagnation - "the calm before the storm."
Thus, on the one hand, at that time the USSR reached its highest dawn, provided stability to citizens and became one of the world powers, and on the other hand, laid not the most good foundation for the economic development of the country in the future - during the period of perestroika.
Characteristics of the period of stagnation
Conservation of the political regime. For almost twenty years of stagnation, there have been practically no changes in the administrative and managerial apparatus. This was a consequence of the fact that during Khrushchev's time, reforms and reshuffles in the party took place too often, so Brezhnev's course for stability was taken literally and with joy. As a result, not only did the reorganization of the political structure of the country not take place, all positions in the party became almost lifelong. This led to the fact that the average age of the country's leaders was 60-70 years, for which the USSR was called the country with the oldest leaders. This situation also led to the fact that the party's control over all spheres of life has significantly increased, many state enterprises, even the smallest ones, were completely subordinate to the decision of the party. During the same period, the foreign and domestic political role of the KGB increased.
The growing importance of the military industry. During the era of stagnation, the USSR was in a state of cold war with the United States, so it was extremely important to build up its military power. The number of military enterprises increased sharply, weapons began to be produced in huge quantities, including nuclear and missile. The development of the latest combat systems was carried out and the industry again, as during the war years, was directed to the military sphere.
The cessation of economic development and the decline of the agricultural sector. The economy stopped in its development almost completely and required urgent reforms, but attempts to carry them out were unsuccessful. The national economy was not in the best condition - this was due to the agrarian reform, which introduced the well-known "potato trips" when students were sent to harvest. This practically put the peasants out of work, in addition, the percentage of spoiled crops during harvest began to grow steadily. Many collective farms and state farms brought only losses, the people began to gradually move to big cities, and food shortages were growing in the country, which became very noticeable after Brezhnev's departure. This situation in the economy affected the regions of the USSR, such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, which lived on agriculture and the mining industry, especially strongly.
Social life. Despite all the negative phenomena, the growth of the welfare of citizens continued. Many city dwellers had the opportunity to improve their living conditions, many could now buy a good car and other high-quality and expensive things. At the same time, the number of poor people also grew, but this was not so noticeable due to low prices for food products. In general, the life of an ordinary citizen was good, secure and stable, which was the most important thing. The inhabitants of the USSR believed in a bright future and were completely confident in the future, since for twenty years the oil-backed economy maintained a good standard of living compared to the post-war period.
The meaning and results of the period of stagnation
Unfortunately, despite the fact that during these years the country lived very measuredly and stably, processes took place in the economy that could not but hit the life of the USSR in the future. With the fall in oil prices, all stagnation phenomena were exposed and it became clear that during the period of stability the economy had turned into a lagging one and could no longer support the state only on its own. A difficult era of perestroika began.
Years of stagnation in the USSR (1965-1985): political conservatism, Soviet nomenklatura, the crisis of developed socialism, the phenomenon of dissidence in the USSR
After Khrushchev was removed from power, L.I. became the General Secretary of the Central Committee. Brezhnev. He was an experienced apparatchik, and in the first years of his leadership of the country, and quite an energetic politician. Already in 1965, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Kosygin, developed a system of economic reforms, the meaning of which was reduced to a significant adjustment of the planning system, as well as to new principles of economic incentives. Particular attention was paid to the intensification of production, as well as the introduction of elements of cost accounting in enterprises. All this was to give impetus to the further development of production.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966-1970) turned out to be one of the most successful in the post-war period. But in the future, the growth rate of industrial production dropped sharply. The basis of industry was the military-industrial and fuel and energy complexes. The USSR actively sold raw materials. At the same time, erupted in the 70s ᴦ. The energy crisis forced the Western powers to create energy-saving technologies. The fall in demand for natural fuels led to a fall in oil and gas prices, which hit the Soviet economy.
In the early 1980s, the country's industry was in critical condition. A similar situation has developed in agriculture. With a sufficient supply of fertile land, the USSR constantly bought grain abroad. Losses of agricultural products, due to the low quality of equipment, inefficient melioration and chemicalization of soils, reached 35-40%. Funded on a residual basis social programs which could not but affect the level of well-being of people. The rate of growth in housing construction slowed down, and relatively little money was spent on health care.
In the same period, the administrative-command system of governing the country was finally taking shape. chief actor it became an official. The bureaucratic apparatus grew at a rapid pace. Despite the fact that in 1977 a new Constitution of the country was adopted, declaring many human rights and freedoms, proclaiming the construction of developed socialism in the USSR, the persecution of dissidents (dissenters) increased. Some of these people were forced to emigrate from the country, others were arrested.
After the death of Brezhnev in 1982, Andropov, who had previously headed the KGB for a long time, became the leader of the party. He took a tough course of restoring "order" in the country, strengthening "socialist legality". A number of high-ranking party officials were removed from their posts and came under investigation. At the same time, these actions did not bring significant results. Corruption in the apparatus has reached too serious proportions. Chernenko, who replaced Andropov in 1984, tried to return the country to the Brezhnev era. He was mainly engaged in propaganda of the ideas of ʼʼdeveloped socialismʼʼ. The reign of Chernenko, like that of his predecessor, was short-lived. He died in March 1985. Together with him, an entire era in the history of our state receded into the past.
Years of stagnation in the USSR (1965-1985): political conservatism, the Soviet nomenklatura, the crisis of developed socialism, the phenomenon of dissidence in the USSR - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Years of stagnation in the USSR (1965-1985): political conservatism, Soviet nomenklatura, the crisis of developed socialism, the phenomenon of dissidence in the USSR" 2017, 2018.