Simplification of the Brezhnev USSR and the first signs of degradation
Stabilization
The new leadership of the USSR - Brezhnev, Kosygin, Suslov and Podgorny, had to take urgent measures to rectify the situation into which Khrushchev had driven the state. Khrushchev's perestroika almost led the USSR to internal disaster (Betrayal of the USSR. Perestroika Khrushchev). And the Berlin and Caribbean crises showed that Khrushchev, with his unpredictability, could lead to a global catastrophe. And the indignation of the people was fraught with consequences; a patriotic leader like Stalin could come to power.
Therefore, the Soviet nomenklatura, which was still ready for the collapse of the USSR into “national apartments,” chose to quietly retire Khrushchev. “Due to old age and deteriorating health.” No one objected to Khrushchev’s resignation: neither the people, nor the intelligentsia, nor the army, nor the party.
Khrushchev's excesses, which almost ruined the Union, were tried to be corrected. The party reforms were immediately cancelled, and industrial and agricultural party organizations were united again. The economic councils, which were killing the economy, were liquidated and normal sectoral ministries were restored. The school “reform” with an emphasis on vocational education was canceled. To avoid the famine that reforms in the agricultural sector led to, food purchases continued abroad. We also actively purchased manufactured goods. Collective farmers were given back the opportunity to have personal plots. Collective farms' debts were written off. Religious persecution, which began again under Khrushchev, was curtailed.
We tried to normalize the development of industry. They brought in Kosygin, who actively promoted his program even under Stalin. The independence of enterprises expanded, self-financing mechanisms were introduced with the ability to use part of the profits for social, everyday and cultural needs. Material incentives for workers and employees were introduced.
This allowed us to achieve good results in the first period. The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966–1970), which passed under the sign of Kosygin’s economic reforms, became the most successful in the Soviet stories and received the name “golden”. However, then the reform was curtailed. Conservatives were afraid of development; they preferred stability and peace (The Brezhnev era: from development to stagnation). The focus was on the export of resources, oil and gas. Now the problems could be solved by the availability of currency.
US President Lyndon Johnson (right) and Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin at a meeting in Glassboro. 1967
The people have faded away
The Stalin era showed what miracles the Russian (Soviet) people can create when they are united with the leader. When there is a great idea. When a person becomes a creator and creator. When all opportunities for developing personal creative potential are open. When 5–12 children of peasants became marshals and academicians, ace pilots and great designers. The society of knowledge, service and creation gave the USSR the keys to heaven. Powerful creative energy. She allowed us to perform real miracles and heal the most terrible wounds.
And without a bunch of churches, mosques and synagogues. Social justice and ethics of conscience allowed Soviet citizens to be more moral people than, for example, citizens of the Russian Federation in the 2000–2020s.
Brezhnev could not decide to rehabilitate Stalin personally and his era. This was his main personal mistake. Although de facto, much of the developments of that era were used and restored. This allowed the USSR to be a superpower.
But The main thing they did under Khrushchev was to deprive the state and people of a source of creation. The energy and enthusiasm of the people gradually faded away. It was no longer possible to lift him up and inspire him to great achievements. The last surge was during the development of virgin lands. But the vector was wrong; this epoch-making event only worsened the situation of the people and the economy. “They called on us to “catch up and overtake America,” and promised that “the current generation will live under communism.” But the outrages and mistakes that were made in this campaign undermined and killed the popular impulse.
Under Brezhnev, the party also tried to use loud slogans. “Decisive” and “defining” years, the “five-year quality plan”, etc. were proclaimed. Impact construction projects were announced again - KAMAZ, BAM, Atommash, giant gas and oil pipelines that stretched from Siberia to Europe. But the hype now turned out to be mostly for show. Ceremonial farewells for youth and Komsomol members were held for the public. Komsomol activists or “decoy ducks” showed joy and enthusiasm (which was repeated in the current era, but on an even larger scale). For many, high-impact construction projects have become a source of good income.
It was already decomposition. Although powerful infrastructure projects were useful for the state and the people. Development by inertia still continued. The “Soviet spaceship,” aimed at the stars, became more and more powerful and modern. The bad thing was that the government was “bronze” and no longer thought about development.
The potential of the Union was gigantic. By the 1960–1970s, the education system established under Stalin began to operate in full force. Under him, despite all the problems, poverty and lack of resources, a lot of effort and resources were invested in science, education and culture. From the 1950s to the end of the 1960s, government spending on education increased 12 times! The number of scientists has increased 6 times. A quarter of all scientists in the world worked in the USSR! There were 5 million students studying at universities and half a million teachers teaching them.
This made it possible to achieve enormous successes in science, thanks to which Russia is still alive today. Large-scale space and military programs were carried out, advanced nuclear energy was rapidly developing, and first-class combat vehicles were being made. Brilliant discoveries were made in the field of physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry and other sciences. The prospect of connecting scientific and technological revolution with production appeared. This opened up unprecedented opportunities.
Postage stamp of the USSR, 1974
The Big Deal and the simplification of the USSR
However, the nomenklatura chose to slow down development, which ultimately stopped it and led to “stagnation” and Gorbachev’s perestroika (destruction, catastrophe of Soviet civilization). A big deal was made with the people. The nomenklatura got the opportunity to live for their own pleasure, without stress, constant development and self-improvement. And the people got the opportunity to live in the Soviet analogue of a consumer society. Consume more than was possible without linking it to productivity growth.
In essence, the new Soviet world, which under Stalin was built as a new world of the future (“beautiful is far away”), challenging the Western civilization of slave owners and slave-consumers, succumbed to the old world. And gradually he began to give up one position after another, abandoning the future for the sake of a well-fed present. The simplification of Soviet society and civilization began. Which was the cause of the disaster of 1985–1993.
There is a gradual simplification of society, and then decomposition. Not all scientific institutions and research institutes brought real benefits and were engaged in business. A lot of scientists needed to be placed somewhere, to be occupied with something. Many scientific, scientific and educational institutions began to deal only with paperwork, producing reports that no one needed. Even the best developments and innovations were rarely introduced into production; they were drowned in bureaucracy and shelved. In particular, in the space and military spheres there were many developments, including breakthrough ones, which could significantly improve production and accelerate the development of society and the economy. But they were usually not implemented.
The Soviet intelligentsia has grown greatly. According to the 1979 census, it already accounted for 19% of the population. At the same time, equalization was introduced in the USSR under Khrushchev, and it was preserved later. The incentive to get an education, develop and improve was lost. “Bespectacled people” received 100 rubles each, and loaders, laborers and builders earned good money. And with the development of the Soviet consumer society, the Soviet intelligentsia began to believe the beautiful pictures of Western films, believed in the “showcase of capitalism” with 100 varieties of sausage, cheese, beautiful clothes, personal cars, taverns and other elements of a beautiful life.
As a result, the bulk of the Soviet intelligentsia supported perestroika and paid dearly for it. It was destroyed and became semi-poor.
The structures of the bureaucracy swelled, the number of managers and apparatchiks at all levels grew, but the quality of management fell. Although compared to the current (“effective” managers), it was still very good.
Continued degradation of the village
The Russian village, which had barely begun to recover after the war, was destroyed by Khrushchevism - the development of virgin lands, the liquidation of unpromising villages and other destructive reforms and campaigns. Under Brezhnev they could not really restore it. Urbanization continued to the detriment of the countryside.
At the same time, Soviet cities, like urbanization in general on the planet, killed the reproduction of the people. In cities, people gave birth to 1-2 children. People worked and lived for themselves, within the framework of the emerging consumer society. In a consumer society, children are not born. They are unnecessary and interfere with consumption and pleasure. In the USSR during this period they were unable to implement a full-fledged “garden city” program. Although, again, in comparison: Soviet cities and modern Russian ones are heaven and earth. They tried to make Soviet cities convenient for the people: large parks, playgrounds, sports and children's playgrounds, kindergartens, schools, universities with large areas for children and youth, cultural centers, clinics and hospitals, etc. A lot of greenery.
Intelligent and energetic young people left for the cities. They left to serve in the army or went to study, and did not return. Usually those who did not find themselves in the city returned. Not the best. Many became drunkards. Alcoholization of the people is another scourge of the Brezhnev era.
But in the village there was the strength of the Russian people, their reproductive and spiritual power, the tradition of unity and conciliarity, which made it possible to overcome any difficulties and disasters. If in 1939 the share of peasants in the USSR was 47–48%, then by 1979 it had fallen to 19%.
Brezhnev himself paid great attention to agriculture. Large funds were allocated for its development. But qualitative changes were minimal. Villages learned to live off government subsidies. Due to external support: soldiers, students, teachers, employees, etc. were involved in the “battle for the harvest.”
Village destruction and over-urbanization have become serious sources of new problems. The countryside was the main source of population growth in the country. Now this spring has dried up. The housing problem, consumer society, material problems, living in high-rise buildings that are not suitable for large families have led to a decrease in the birth rate. At the same time, living conditions were much better than before and after the war, but the birth rate fell by almost half. Payment for urbanization, transition to an industrial, urban society.
The creation of a society of knowledge, service and creation was required. Where children are needed to develop knowledge and creativity. To explore the vast expanses of Russia, the depths of the oceans and space. Human development. But such a society was destroyed and gradually adopted a surrogate of Western consumer society.
Abortion, which was legalized in 1955, dealt a big blow to the birth rate. “Modern” society, again a copy of the “developed West”, the trend of “living for oneself”, women’s emancipation, the increase in the number of abortions and divorces crippled the demography of the USSR. The alcoholization of the population suffered especially great damage. It caused high mortality and falling birth rates.
In this case, a dangerous imbalance in population growth begins: “unpromising” Russian villages in Great Russian provinces are dying. The Russian people reproduce poorly in cities. The peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia, who, thanks to Russia-USSR, achieved unprecedented success in spiritual and material development, multiplied rapidly. Which has now become the main prerequisite for the national migration threat in the Russian Federation.
To be continued ...
Information