THE BREZHNEV ERA

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THE BREZHNEV ERA
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THE BREZHNEV ERA
GERONTOCRACY

• Reaction to de-Stalinization Khrushchevs
  missteps

• Replaced by conservative colleagues led by
  LEONID BREZHNEV

Brezhnev
Aleksei Kosygin Nikolai Podgornii
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THE BREZHNEV ERA
GERONTOCRACY

• Re-imposed Stalinist system, but without terror

• Political dictatorship

• Party control over all aspects of Soviet life

• Command economy

• Propaganda manipulation of media

• Suspicious confrontational attitude towards
  outside world

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THE BREZHNEV ERA
CRACKS IN THE BLOC

• The Prague Spring - 1968

• Late arrival of de-Stalinization in
  Czechoslovakia

• ALEXANDER DUBCEK Socialism with a Human Face

• Warsaw Pact invasion

• Adoption of Brezhnev Doctrine

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THE BREZHNEV ERA
ECONOMIC STAGNATION DELCINE

• Low productivity

• Overemployment

• Declining food supply

• Inadequate infrastructure

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THE BREZHNEV ERA
ECONOMIC STAGNATION DELCINE

• Depletion of natural human resources

• Environmental damage

• Inherent flaws of command-administrative
  system

Shrinking Aral Sea
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THE BREZHNEV ERA
CORRUPTION

• Nomenklatura system thrived

• Bribery, stealing cheating commonplace

• Black market

• Mafiazation of police, factory managers, party

Party member shopping at Beriozhka