Who was president in 1983. How many general secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU were there in the USSR

Historians call the dates of Stalin's reign the period from 1929 to 1953. Joseph Stalin (Dzhugashvili) was born on December 21, 1879. Many contemporaries of the Soviet era associate the years of Stalin's rule not only with victory over Nazi Germany and an increase in the level of industrialization of the USSR, but also with numerous repressions of the civilian population.

During the reign of Stalin, about 3 million people were imprisoned and sentenced to death penalty. And if we add to them those sent into exile, dispossessed and deported, then the victims among the civilian population in the Stalin era can be counted as about 20 million people. Now many historians and psychologists are inclined to believe that the situation within the family and upbringing in childhood had a huge impact on Stalin's character.

The formation of Stalin's tough character

From reliable sources it is known that Stalin's childhood was not the happiest and most cloudless. The leader's parents often cursed in front of their son. The father drank a lot and allowed himself to beat his mother in front of little Joseph. The mother, in turn, took out her anger on her son, beat and humiliated him. The unfavorable atmosphere in the family greatly affected Stalin's psyche. Even as a child, Stalin understood a simple truth: whoever is stronger is right. This principle became the motto of the future leader in life. He was also guided by him in governing the country.

In 1902, Joseph Vissarionovich organized a demonstration in Batumi, this step was the first for him in his political career. A little later, Stalin became the Bolshevik leader, and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov) is among his best friends. Stalin fully shares the revolutionary ideas of Lenin.

In 1913, Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili first used his pseudonym - Stalin. From that time on, he became known by this surname. Few people know that before the surname Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich tried on about 30 pseudonyms that never took root.

Stalin's reign

The period of Stalin's rule begins in 1929. Almost all the time of the reign of Joseph Stalin is accompanied by collectivization, mass death of the civilian population and famine. In 1932, Stalin adopted the law "on three spikelets". According to this law, a starving peasant who stole ears of wheat from the state was immediately subject to the highest penalty - execution. All the saved bread in the state was sent abroad. This was the first stage in the industrialization of the Soviet state: the purchase modern technology foreign production.

During the reign of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, mass repressions of the peaceful population of the USSR were carried out. The beginning of the repressions was laid in 1936, when the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR was taken by Yezhov N.I. In 1938, on the orders of Stalin, his close friend, Bukharin, was shot. During this period, many residents of the USSR were exiled to the Gulag or shot. Despite all the cruelty of the measures taken, Stalin's policy was aimed at raising the state and its development.

Pros and cons of Stalin's rule

Minuses:

• tough government policy:
• the almost complete destruction of the highest army officials, intellectuals and scientists (who thought differently from the government of the USSR);
• repression of wealthy peasants and the believing population;
• widening "chasm" between the elite and the working class;
• oppression of the civilian population: wages in products instead of cash rewards, working hours up to 14 hours;
• propaganda of anti-Semitism;
• about 7 million starvation deaths during the period of collectivization;
• prosperity of slavery;
• selective development of branches of the economy of the Soviet state.

Pros:

• the creation of a protective nuclear shield in the post-war period;
• an increase in the number of schools;
• creation of children's clubs, sections and circles;
• space exploration;
• lower prices for consumer goods;
• low prices for utilities;
• development of the industry of the Soviet state on the world stage.

In the Stalin era, the social system of the USSR was formed, social, political and economic institutions appeared. Iosif Vissarionovich completely abandoned the NEP policy, carried out the modernization of the Soviet state at the expense of the village. Thanks to the strategic qualities of the Soviet leader, the USSR won the Second World War. The Soviet state began to be called a superpower. The USSR became a member of the UN Security Council. The era of Stalin's rule ended in 1953. N. Khrushchev replaced him as chairman of the government of the USSR.

The first ruler of the young Land of Soviets, which arose as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, was the head of the RCP (b) - the Bolshevik Party - Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), who led the "revolution of workers and peasants." All subsequent rulers of the USSR held the post of general secretary of the central committee of this organization, which, starting in 1922, became known as the CPSU - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

It should be noted that the ideology of the system ruling in the country denied the possibility of holding any nationwide elections or voting. The change of the top leaders of the state was carried out by the ruling elite itself, either after the death of its predecessor, or as a result of coups accompanied by serious inner-party struggle. The article will list the rulers of the USSR in chronological order and marked the main stages life path some of the most prominent historical figures.

Ulyanov (Lenin) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924)

One of the most famous figures in the history of Soviet Russia. Vladimir Ulyanov stood at the origins of its creation, was the organizer and one of the leaders of the event that gave rise to the world's first communist state. Leading a coup in October 1917 aimed at overthrowing the provisional government, he assumed the position of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars - the post of leader of a new country formed on the ruins of the Russian Empire.

His merit is the 1918 peace treaty with Germany, which marked the end of the NEP, the new economic policy of the government, which was supposed to lead the country out of the abyss of general poverty and hunger. All the rulers of the USSR considered themselves "faithful Leninists" and praised Vladimir Ulyanov in every possible way as a great statesman.

It should be noted that immediately after “reconciliation with the Germans”, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin, unleashed internal terror against dissent and the legacy of tsarism, which claimed millions of lives. The NEP policy also did not last long and was abolished shortly after his death on January 21, 1924.

Dzhugashvili (Stalin) Joseph Vissarionovich (1879-1953)

Joseph Stalin became the first general secretary in 1922. However, until the death of V. I. Lenin, he remained on the sidelines of the leadership of the state, inferior in popularity to his other associates, who also aimed at the rulers of the USSR. Nevertheless, after the death of the leader of the world proletariat, Stalin a short time eliminated his main opponents, accusing them of betraying the ideals of the revolution.

By the beginning of the 1930s, he became the sole leader of the peoples, capable of deciding the fate of millions of citizens with a stroke of the pen. The policy of forced collectivization and dispossession pursued by him, which came to replace the NEP, as well as mass repressions against persons dissatisfied with the current government, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens of the USSR. However, the period of Stalin's rule is noticeable not only as a bloody trail, it is worth noting positive points his guides. In a short time, the Union has gone from being a third-rate economy to a powerful industrial power that has won the battle against fascism.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War many cities in the western part of the USSR, destroyed almost to the ground, were quickly restored, and their industry began to work even more efficiently. The rulers of the USSR, who held the highest post after Joseph Stalin, denied his leading role in the development of the state and characterized the time of his reign as a period of the leader's personality cult.

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich (1894-1971)

Coming from a simple peasant family, N. S. Khrushchev became at the helm of the party shortly after the death of Stalin, which occurred in the first years of his reign, he waged an undercover struggle with G. M. Malenkov, who held the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers and was the de facto leader of the state.

In 1956, Khrushchev read out a report on Stalin's repressions at the Twentieth Party Congress, condemning the actions of his predecessor. The reign of Nikita Sergeevich was marked by the development of the space program - the launch of an artificial satellite and the first manned flight into space. His new one allowed many citizens of the country to move from cramped communal apartments to more comfortable separate housing. Houses that were massively built at that time are still popularly called "Khrushchevs".

Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich (1907-1982)

On October 14, 1964, N. S. Khrushchev was dismissed from his post by a group of members of the Central Committee under the leadership of L. I. Brezhnev. For the first time in the history of the state, the rulers of the USSR were replaced in order not after the death of the leader, but as a result of an internal party conspiracy. The Brezhnev era in Russian history is known as stagnation. The country stopped in development and began to lose to the leading world powers, lagging behind them in all sectors, excluding the military-industrial.

Brezhnev made some attempts to improve relations with the United States, spoiled in 1962, when N. S. Khrushchev ordered the deployment of missiles with a nuclear warhead in Cuba. Treaties were signed with the American leadership that limited the arms race. However, all the efforts of Leonid Brezhnev to defuse the situation were crossed out by the introduction of troops into Afghanistan.

Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich (1914-1984)

After the death of Brezhnev, which occurred on November 10, 1982, Yu. Andropov, who had previously headed the KGB, the USSR State Security Committee, took his place. He set a course for reforms and transformations in the social and economic spheres. The time of his reign was marked by the initiation of criminal cases exposing corruption in power circles. However, Yuri Vladimirovich did not have time to make any changes in the life of the state, as he had serious health problems and died on February 9, 1984.

Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich (1911-1985)

From February 13, 1984, he served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He continued his predecessor's policy of exposing corruption in the echelons of power. He was very ill and died in 1985, having spent a little more than a year in the highest state post. All the past rulers of the USSR, according to the order established in the state, were buried at and K. U. Chernenko was the last on this list.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich (1931)

MS Gorbachev is the most famous Russian politician of the late twentieth century. He won love and popularity in the West, but his rule causes twofold feelings among the citizens of his country. If Europeans and Americans call him a great reformer, then many Russians consider him a destroyer of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev proclaimed internal economic and political reforms under the slogan "Perestroika, Glasnost, Acceleration!", which led to a massive shortage of food and industrial goods, unemployment and a drop in the standard of living of the population.

It would be wrong to assert that the era of M. S. Gorbachev's rule had only negative consequences for the life of our country. In Russia, the concepts of a multi-party system, freedom of religion and the press appeared. For my foreign policy Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The rulers of the USSR and Russia, neither before nor after Mikhail Sergeevich, were awarded such an honor.

22 years ago, on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the demise of the Soviet Union, and the country in which most of us were born is no more. Over the 69 years of the existence of the USSR, seven people became its head, whom I propose to recall today. And not just remember, but also choose the most popular of them.
And since New Year soon after all, and considering that in the Soviet Union the popularity and attitude of the people towards their leaders was measured, among other things, by the quality of the jokes compiled about them, I think it would be appropriate to recall the Soviet leaders through the prism of jokes about them.

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Now we have almost forgotten what a political joke is - most of the jokes about current politicians are paraphrased jokes from Soviet times. Although there are witty original ones, for example, here is an anecdote from the time when Yulia Tymoshenko was in power: They knock on Tymoshenko’s office, the door opens, a giraffe, a hippopotamus and a hamster enter the office and ask: “Yulia Vladimirovna, how would you comment on the rumors that you use drugs?”.
In Ukraine, the situation with humor about politicians is generally somewhat different than in Russia. In Kiev, they believe that it is bad for politicians if they are not laughed at - that means they are not interesting to the people. And since they still elect in Ukraine, the PR services of politicians even order a laugh at their bosses. It's no secret, for example, that the most popular Ukrainian "95th quarter" takes money to make fun of the one who paid. This is the fashion of Ukrainian politicians.
Yes, they themselves are sometimes not averse to making fun of themselves. There was once a very popular anecdote about himself among Ukrainian deputies: Session ends Verkhovna Rada, one deputy says to another: “It was such a hard session, we need to rest. Let's go out of town, take a few bottles of whiskey, rent a sauna, take girls, have sex ... ". He replies: “How? With girls?!".

But back to the Soviet leaders.

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The first ruler of the Soviet state was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. For a long time, the image of the leader of the proletariat was beyond the reach of jokes, but in the Khrushchev and Brezhnev times in the USSR, the number of Leninist motives in Soviet propaganda increased dramatically.
And the endless chanting of Lenin's personality (as it usually happened in almost everything in the Soviet Union) led to the exact opposite of the desired result - to the appearance of many anecdotes ridiculing Lenin. There were so many of them that there were even jokes about jokes about Lenin.

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In honor of the centenary of the birth of Lenin, a competition was announced for the best political joke about Lenin.
3rd prize - 5 years in Lenin places.
2nd Prize - 10 years of strict regime.
1st prize - meeting with the hero of the day.

This is largely due to the tough policy pursued by Lenin's successor, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who in 1922 took the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Jokes about Stalin also took place, and they remained not only in the materials of the criminal cases initiated on them, but also in the people's memory.
Moreover, in the jokes about Stalin, one feels not only a subconscious fear of the “father of all peoples”, but also respect for him, and even pride in his leader. Some kind of mixed attitude to power, which apparently at the genetic level was transmitted in us from generation to generation.

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- Comrade Stalin, what should we do with Sinyavsky?
- This what Synavskiy? Football caster?
- No, Comrade Stalin, a writer.
- And why do we need two Synavsky?

On September 13, 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin (March 1953), Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Since Khrushchev's personality was full of deep contradictions, they were also reflected in jokes about him: from undisguised irony, and even contempt for the head of state, to a rather friendly attitude towards Nikita Sergeevich himself and his peasant humor.

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The pioneer asked Khrushchev:
- Uncle, did dad tell the truth that you launched not only a satellite, but also agriculture?
- Tell your dad that I plant more than just corn.

On October 14, 1964, Khrushchev was replaced as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who, as you know, was not averse to listening to jokes about himself - their source was Brezhnev's personal hairdresser Tolik.
In a certain sense, the country was lucky then, because, as soon everyone was convinced, a person who was not evil, not cruel, and not making special moral demands either on himself, or on his comrades-in-arms, or on the Soviet people, came to power. And the Soviet people answered Brezhnev with the same jokes about him - kind and not cruel.

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At a meeting of the Politburo, Leonid Ilyich pulled out a piece of paper and said:
- I want to make a statement!
Everyone stared at the paper intently.
- Comrades, - Leonid Ilyich began to read, - I want to raise the issue of senile sclerosis. Things have gone too far. Vshera at the funeral of comrade Kosygin ...
Leonid Ilyich looked up from his paper.
- Somehow I don’t see him here ... So, when the music started playing, I alone guessed to invite the lady to dance! ..

On November 12, 1982, Brezhnev was replaced by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who previously headed the State Security Committee, and adhered to fundamental issues tough conservative stance.
The course proclaimed by Antropov was aimed at social and economic transformations through administrative measures. The rigidity of some of them seemed unusual to the Soviet people in the 1980s, and they responded with appropriate jokes.

On February 13, 1984, the post of head of the Soviet state was taken by Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, who was considered a contender for the post of general secretary even after the death of Brezhnev.
He was elected as a transitional intermediate figure in the Central Committee of the CPSU, while there was a struggle for power between several party groups. Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital.

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The Politburo decided:
1. Appoint Chernenko K.U. General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
2. Bury him in Red Square.

On March 10, 1985, Chernenko was replaced by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who carried out numerous reforms and campaigns that ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
And the Soviet political jokes on Gorbachev, respectively, ended.

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- What is the peak of pluralism?
- This is when the opinion of the President of the USSR absolutely does not coincide with the opinion of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Well, now the poll.

Which of the leaders of the Soviet Union, in your opinion, was the best ruler of the USSR?

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

23 (6.4 % )

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin

114 (31.8 % )

In the Soviet Union, the private life of the country's leaders was strictly classified and protected as state secrets of the highest degree of protection. Only an analysis of the materials published recently allows us to lift the veil over the secret of their payrolls.

Having seized power in the country, Vladimir Lenin in December 1917 set himself a monthly salary of 500 rubles, which roughly corresponded to the wages of an unskilled worker in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Any other income, including fees, was strictly forbidden to high-ranking party members at the suggestion of Lenin.

The modest salary of the “leader of the world revolution” was quickly eaten up by inflation, but Lenin somehow did not think about where the money comes from for a completely comfortable life, treatment with the involvement of world luminaries and domestic servants, although he did not forget to strictly say to his subordinates every time: “Subtract these expenses from my salary!”

The general secretary of the Bolshevik Party, Joseph Stalin, at the beginning of the NEP was set a salary less than half of Lenin's salary (225 rubles), and only in 1935 was it raised to 500 rubles, but the next year a new increase to 1200 rubles followed. The average salary in the USSR at that time was 1,100 rubles, and although Stalin did not live on his own salary, he could very well live modestly on it. During the war years, the leader’s salary turned almost to zero as a result of inflation, but at the end of 1947, after the monetary reform, the “leader of all peoples” set himself a new salary of 10,000 rubles, which was 10 times higher than the then average wage in the USSR. At the same time, a system of "Stalin envelopes" was introduced - monthly tax-free payments to the top of the party and Soviet apparatus. Be that as it may, Stalin did not seriously consider his salary and of great importance didn't give it to her.

The first among the leaders of the Soviet Union who became seriously interested in their salary was Nikita Khrushchev, who received 800 rubles a month, which was 9 times higher than the average salary in the country.

Sybarite Leonid Brezhnev was the first who violated the Leninist ban on additional, except for wages, income for the top of the party. In 1973, he awarded himself the International Lenin Prize (25,000 rubles), and starting in 1979, when the name Brezhnev adorned the galaxy of classics of Soviet literature, huge fees began to pour into family budget Brezhnev. Brezhnev's personal account in the publishing house of the Central Committee of the CPSU "Politizdat" is replete with thousands of sums for huge circulations and multiple reprints of his masterpieces "Renaissance", "Small Land" and "Virgin Land". It is curious that the general secretary had a habit of often forgetting about his literary income when paying party dues to his favorite party.

Leonid Brezhnev was generally very generous at the expense of "nationwide" state property - both to himself, and to his children, and to those close to him. He appointed his son First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade. In this post, he became famous for his constant trips for magnificent parties abroad, as well as huge senseless spending there. Brezhnev's daughter led a wild life in Moscow, spending money coming from nowhere on jewelry. Brezhnev's associates, in turn, were generously endowed with dachas, apartments and huge bonuses.

Yuri Andropov, being a member of the Brezhnev Politburo, received 1,200 rubles a month, but when he became General Secretary, he returned the salary of the General Secretary of the Khrushchev era - 800 rubles a month. At the same time, the purchasing power of the “Andropov ruble” was about half that of the “Khrushchev” ruble. Nevertheless, Andropov completely retained the system of "Brezhnev's fees" of the Secretary General and successfully used it. For example, with a basic salary of 800 rubles, his income in January 1984 amounted to 8,800 rubles.

Andropov's successor, Konstantin Chernenko, keeping the general secretary's salary at the level of 800 rubles, intensified his activity in extorting fees, publishing various ideological materials on his own behalf. According to his party card, his income ranged from 1200 to 1700 rubles. At the same time, Chernenko, a fighter for the moral purity of the communists, had a habit of constantly hiding large sums from his native party. So, the researchers could not find in the party card of Secretary General Chernenko in the column for 1984 4550 rubles of the fee received by payroll Politizdat.

Mikhail Gorbachev "reconciled" with a salary of 800 rubles until 1990, which was only four times the average salary in the country. Only by combining the posts of president and general secretary in 1990, Gorbachev began to receive 3,000 rubles, while the average salary in the USSR was 500 rubles.

The successor to the general secretaries, Boris Yeltsin, was almost to the end with the “Soviet salary”, not daring to radically reform the salaries of the state apparatus. Only by decree of 1997, the salary of the President of Russia was set at 10,000 rubles, and in August 1999 its size increased to 15,000 rubles, which was 9 times higher than the average wage in the country, that is, it was approximately at the level of the salaries of his predecessors in governing the country, who had the title of general secretary. True, the Yeltsin family had a lot of income from the “outside”.

Vladimir Putin for the first 10 months of his reign received "Yeltsin's rate". However, effective June 30, 2002, the President's annual salary was set at 630,000 rubles (approximately $25,000) plus secrecy and language bonuses. He also receives a military pension for the rank of colonel.

From that moment on, the main salary rate of the leader of Russia for the first time since Lenin's time has ceased to be just a fiction, although against the background of wage rates for leaders of the leading countries of the world, Putin's rate looks rather modest. For example, the President of the United States receives 400 thousand dollars, almost the same amount has the Prime Minister of Japan. The salaries of other leaders are more modest: the British Prime Minister has $348,500, the German Chancellor has about $220,000, and the French President has $83,000.

It is interesting to see how the "regional general secretaries" - the current presidents of the CIS countries - look against this background. The former member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and now the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, essentially lives according to the “Stalinist norms” for the ruler of the country, that is, he and his family are completely and completely provided by the state, but he also set a relatively small salary for himself - 4 thousand dollars a day. month. Other regional general secretaries - the former first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of their republics - formally set themselves more modest salaries. Thus, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev receives only $1,900 a month, while Turkmen President Sapurmurat Niyazov receives only $900. At the same time, Aliyev, having put his son Ilham Aliyev at the head of the state oil company, actually privatized all the country's income from oil - the main currency resource of Azerbaijan, and Niyazov generally turned Turkmenistan into a kind of medieval khanate, where everything belongs to the ruler. Turkmenbashi, and only he, can solve any issue. All foreign exchange funds are managed only personally by Turkmenbashi (Father of the Turkmens) Niyazov, and the sale of Turkmen gas and oil is managed by his son Murad Niyazov.

The situation is worse than others former first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia and member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU Eduard Shevardnadze. With a modest monthly salary of $ 750, he could not establish full control over the country's wealth because of the strong opposition to him in the country. In addition, the opposition keeps a close eye on all personal expenses of President Shevardnadze and his family.

The lifestyle and real opportunities of the current leaders of the former country of the Soviets are well characterized by the behavior of the wife of Russian President Lyudmila Putina during her husband's recent state visit to the UK. The British prime minister's wife, Sheri Blair, took Ludmila to a 2004 fashion show at Burberry, a well-known design firm among the wealthy. For more than two hours, Lyudmila Putina was shown the latest fashion, and in conclusion, Putin was asked if she would like to buy something. Blueberry prices are very high. For example, even a gas scarf of this company pulls on 200 pounds sterling.

The Russian president's eyes widened so much that she announced the purchase of ... the entire collection. Even super-millionaires did not dare to do this. By the way, because if you buy the entire collection, then people will not understand that you are wearing next year's fashion clothes! After all, no one else has anything comparable. Putin's behavior in this case was not so much the behavior of the wife of a major statesman of the early 21st century, but rather resembled the behavior of main wife Arab sheikh of the middle of the 20th century, distraught from the amount of petrodollars that fell on her husband.

This episode with Mrs. Putina needs some explanation. Naturally, neither she nor the “art historians in civilian clothes” accompanying her during the display of the collection had as much money with them as the collection cost. This was not required, because in such cases, respected people need only their signature on the check and nothing else. No money or credit cards. Even if the very Mr. President of Russia, who is trying to present himself to the world as a civilized European, was outraged by this act, then, of course, he had to pay.

Other rulers of countries - former Soviet republics- also know how to “live well”. So, a couple of years ago, the six-day wedding of the son of the President of Kyrgyzstan, Akaev, and the daughter of the President of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev, thundered all over Asia. The scale of the wedding was truly khan's. By the way, both newlyweds only a year ago graduated from the University in College Park (Maryland).

Against this background, the son of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev, who set a kind of world record, looks quite worthy against this background: in just one evening he managed to lose as much as 4 (four!) Million dollars in a casino. By the way, this worthy representative of one of the “general secretary” clans is now registered as a candidate for the presidency of Azerbaijan. Residents of this one of the poorest countries in terms of living standards are invited to elect either an amateur in the new elections. beautiful life” Aliev’s son or dad Aliev himself, who has already “served” two presidential terms, has crossed the 80-year mark and is so sick that he is no longer able to move independently.