Government of the USSR under Brezhnev 1964-85

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE USSR UNDER BREZHNEV 1964-85

Reform and Reverse from Khrushchev

• Brezhnev ended De-Stalinization in 1965, but there was no return to High Stalinism. Dissidents were exiled or sent to psychiatric hospitals, however the mass arrests and executions of the Stalin era did not happen.
• Rule 25 ended: No more fixed terms for party members and the Nomenklatura system was allowed to flourish.
• KGB: 700,000 agents and their informers.

2.       Actions Leading to Stability

• It was hard to change the status quo system of government. If nothing was to be changed, no bad changes could be made even if no good ones could be brought about either.
• New constitution 1977: Based on civil rights, votes and elections, and state protection of private property.
• Prague Spring 1968: Riots were put down by a soviet invasion like that of Hungary 12 years earlier. This shows stability as the government is strong and is able to crush revolts and restore order under communism.

3.       Actions Leading to Stagnation

• Less freedom of expression as under Khrushchev as dissident writers like Alexander Solzhenitsyn were exiled (managed…