Abstract
In 1981–82, amid expectation of the imminent death of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, a leadership struggle took place against a background of crisis in Soviet economic performance, renewed confrontation with the US, war in Afghanistan, upheaval in Poland and the ever-diminishing appeal of a moribund official ideology. The leading contender for the leadership was Yurii Andropov, head of the KGB and the chief opponent of Russian nationalism in the political leadership, who had the backing of key Politburo members Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and Minister of Defence Dmitrii Ustinov for the introduction of limited reforms. Andropov’s main rival was Konstantin Chernenko, who had the backing of conservatives. The situation was fraught with dangers for the Russian nationalists, since, while their chief enemy was the reformist Andropov, in the course of the political struggle any candidate for the post of General Secretary would need to demonstrate his Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy.
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Notes
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V. Ganichev, Russkie versty, Russkii dukhovnyi tsentr. Roman-gazeta, Moscow, 1994, pp. 136–44.
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© 2004 Simon Cosgrove
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Cosgrove, S. (2004). The Brezhnev Succession Crisis and the Russian Challenge. In: Russian Nationalism and the Politics of Soviet Literature. Studies in Russia and East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230006003_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230006003_3
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