Brezhnev (Leonid Ilyich, Ilyich the Second) — (19 December 1906 (1 January 1907) — 10 November 1982) — General Secretary of the CPSU, Soviet statesman and party figure, head of the Soviet Union for the greater part of the Stagnation era.
Nature of the Phenomenon
In October 1964, a conspiracy of senior party and state functionaries formed against N. Khrushchev, initiated by Komsomol chief Shelepin and KGB chairman Semichastny.
Brezhnev was aware of the conspiracy but was not an active participant in it, though he did not take Khrushchev's side either. Chosen as a temporary, not particularly strong, and compromise figure, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and remained in that post for eighteen years, outliving in political terms all the other "principal" conspirators.
Biography
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born in Ukraine, in Yekaterinoslav Governorate, into a Russian family of hereditary workers. His grandfather, father, and brother all worked at the largest plant in the country at that time — that of the "South Russian Metallurgical Society" — and Brezhnev himself did a practical placement there as a fifteen-year-old. After the Civil War the plant was shut down for reconstruction, and the Brezhnev family was forced to move to the countryside and take up agricultural work. In 1923 Leonid Brezhnev enrolled in a land-reclamation technical college, graduated four years later, and in 1929 — the year of the "great Stalinist breakthrough" — became a candidate member of the Party and began working on the then-topical task of building collective farms.
In the 1930s Leonid Ilyich attended evening classes at an institute in a working-class trade while working at a factory during the day, all the while carrying out Party work. For two years, 1935–1936, Brezhnev served in the army as a junior officer, then returned and ran a technical college. In 1937, at the time when "Trotskyists" and "wreckers" were being purged from the Party, Leonid Ilyich was transferred to Party work and by the outbreak of the war had become secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Party Committee. During these years Brezhnev worked under the direct supervision of N. Khrushchev.
From June 1941, as regional Party secretary, Leonid Ilyich organized the mobilization of the population into the Red Army and oversaw the evacuation of his region's industry beyond the Urals. After the German occupation of Dnepropetrovsk Region, Brezhnev was called up into the active army in the capacity of a political officer. He took part in the defense of the Caucasus, the liberation of Ukraine, and the offensive on German territory.
The most celebrated military episode in Brezhnev's biography is the amphibious landing with units of the 18th Army near Novorossiysk and the holding of a strategically vital bridgehead that later came to be known as "Malaya Zemlya" (Little Land). The bridgehead was held for 225 days until the main Soviet forces linked up with the 18th Army's units. As a colonel, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev came under fire on numerous occasions during that time, took part in hand-to-hand fighting, and nearly drowned alongside other assault troops in Tsemes Bay. Brezhnev ended the war in Prague, a major-general serving as head of the Political Directorate of the 4th Ukrainian Front.
In 1946 Brezhnev was demobilized and returned to Party work, heading regional Party committees in Ukraine. Having demonstrated strong results in rebuilding the national economy from postwar devastation, Leonid Ilyich was promoted and in 1950 took charge of the republican Communist Party's leadership — the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Moldavia. On the very day after the death of I. V. Stalin, as early as 6 March 1953, sweeping personnel reshuffles began at the top of the country's leadership. Brezhnev was promoted to lieutenant-general and placed in command of the Main Political Directorate of the entire Army and Navy. As a man trusted by Khrushchev, in June 1953 Brezhnev sided with Khrushchev against Beria and, together with other officers, took part in Beria's arrest on 26 June. As a result of Khrushchev's victory, the latter became head of the Soviet state, and Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev rose rapidly through the Party ranks.
In early 1954 Brezhnev was sent to Kazakhstan, where he was tasked with leading the campaign to develop the virgin and fallow lands. Panteleimon Kondratyevich Ponomarenko was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and Brezhnev was appointed Second Secretary. It is known that shortly before his death, Stalin had regarded Ponomarenko as a successor and continuator of his work; evidently Khrushchev had exiled a potential rival as far from Moscow as possible, assigning his most trusted subordinate as Ponomarenko's deputy — to keep an eye on him.
The territory on which agricultural work was to begin measured 1,300 by 900 kilometres; the area of ploughed fields was to exceed the territory of England.
Over two years of work on the virgin lands, millions of specialists from Russia and Ukraine came to work in northern Kazakhstan, and hundreds of thousands of them settled there permanently. Thanks to the development of the virgin lands, by the mid-1950s Russians made up as much as 60% of the total population there, a fact that shaped the political and cultural integration of Kazakhstan and Russia after the collapse of the USSR.
Brezhnev wrote: "State-farm directors, together with their chief specialists, would drive out into the steppe carrying nothing but the order of their appointment, a bank account number, and a seal. They would arrive, hammer a stake into the ground with the farm's name on it, and get to work… The directors also had briefcases, and inside them — maps of the land holdings and land-management plans for the new farms: where the water sources were, where the farmsteads were to appear, where the pastures would be, and where the fields." In 1956 the virgin lands had their finest hour: the republic sold the state one billion poods of grain, Brezhnev reported to the Party congress on the work accomplished, and was transferred to Moscow to work in the CPSU Central Committee.
In 1957 Leonid Ilyich again backed Khrushchev in the struggle for power, firmly taking his side when the "anti-Party group" of Molotov–Malenkov–Kaganovich "and Shepilov who joined them" attempted to remove him. In 1960, upon the retirement of K. E. Voroshilov, Leonid Ilyich assumed his post as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Formally this was the third most important post in the state, and informally Leonid Ilyich occupied a high position in the ruling hierarchy. Brezhnev did not aspire to be leader at that moment. Yet the adventurist policies of Nikita Khrushchev were generating ever-greater discontent within the country. Ordinary people disliked Khrushchev and awaited a return to the old order; the liberal opposition was likewise discontented but, on the contrary, expected still greater relaxation in the ideological sphere; and the Party bureaucracy suffered under his willfulness.
Economic management had failed; food rationing cards were introduced in cities; on one occasion workers' unrest had even to be suppressed by military means — an unheard-of event for Soviet times. In the end, Khrushchev was ousted during his customary seaside holiday. Brezhnev took over as head of the Party.
Leonid Ilyich's activity in the first phase of his leadership of the country was clearly positive in character. All the ill-conceived initiatives in the economic sphere introduced under Khrushchev were rolled back. Under the economic reform initiated by Kosygin, enterprises were granted greater autonomy, the number of planned targets was reduced, and material incentives and cost-accounting were introduced. The damage done to agriculture by Khrushchev could not be repaired during Brezhnev's rule, and the country continued to purchase grain abroad.
Key events during the years of his rule
October 1964 Removal (14 Oct.) of N. S. Khrushchev from the posts of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Election of L. I. Brezhnev and A. N. Kosygin to those posts respectively.
October 1964 The "Druzhba" oil pipeline enters service, supplying gas from the USSR to European countries.
January 1965 Repeal of acts providing for the criminal prosecution of believers.
18 March 1965 The first spacewalk in history, performed by cosmonaut A. A. Leonov.
April 1965 Commencement of deliveries to Vietnam of surface-to-air missiles to repel US air raids.
27–29 September 1965 CPSU Central Committee Plenum on economic reform: expansion of enterprise autonomy and the role of economic incentives, reduction in the number of planned targets. Abolition of sovnarkhozy (regional economic councils) and return to the sectoral principle of economic management.
9 December 1965 Resignation of A. I. Mikoyan. Election of N. V. Podgorny as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
3 February 1966 First soft landing on the Moon by the automated probe Luna 9; transmission to Earth of a photopanoramic image of the lunar surface.
1 March 1966 The automated probe Venera 3 reaches the surface of Venus.
29 March–8 April 1966 23rd CPSU Congress. Adoption of directives for the 1966–1970 five-year plan. Reinstatement of the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee; election of L. I. Brezhnev to that post.
31 March 1966 Launch of the automated probe Luna 10, which became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.
1 June 1966 Introduction of monthly wages on collective farms.
August 1966 Sharp deterioration in Soviet–Chinese relations in connection with the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China.
27 January 1967 Simultaneous signing in Moscow, Washington, and London by representatives of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain of the treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space (the Outer Space Treaty).
14 March 1967 Introduction of the five-day working week with two days off.
7 September 1967 Rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars (following a mass demonstration of several thousand in Tashkent on 2 September).
September 1967 The Bratsk Hydroelectric Station begins operating at full capacity.
October 1967 The transcontinental gas pipeline from Central Asia to the Centre enters service.
November 1967 The first stage of the Ostankino television centre opens.
1 July 1968 Signing in Moscow, Washington, and London of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
24–26 July 1968 Rally of Meskhetian Turks in Tbilisi demanding the right to return to their homeland.
21 August 1968 Entry of troops from the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, and Poland into Czechoslovakia.
26 August 1968 Signing of an agreement on the "normalization of relations" between the Soviet leadership and Czechoslovak leaders A. Dubček and L. Svoboda, who had been forcibly brought to Moscow.
1969 Armed clashes on the Soviet–Chinese border in the area of Damansky Island (March), Tasty (June), and Lake Zhalanashkol (August).
17 November 1969 Start of Soviet–American arms limitation negotiations.
15 January 1970 All-Union population census. Population of the USSR: 241.7 million.
20 January 1970 Official announcement of the creation of the Unified Energy System of the European part of the USSR.
12 August 1970 Treaty with West Germany. Renunciation of the use of force. Recognition of Poland's western border along the Oder–Neisse line.
11 February 1971 Signing in Moscow, Washington, and London of the treaty prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons on the seabed.
30 March–9 April 1971 24th CPSU Congress. Approval of directives for the 9th five-year plan, 1971–1975. Thesis on the building of "developed socialism" in the USSR put forward.
3 September 1971 Four-power agreement between the USSR, Great Britain, the USA, and France on West Berlin.
11 September 1971 Death of N. S. Khrushchev.
1971 Treaties of friendship and cooperation with Egypt and India.
1971 Opening of the Volga Automobile Plant in Togliatti.
9 April 1972 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with Iraq.
10 April 1972 Signing in Moscow, Washington, and London of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons.
26 May 1972 Treaty with the USA on the limitation of anti-ballistic missile systems. Interim Agreement on the limitation of strategic offensive arms (SALT I).
3 July 1972 Opening of the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Station.
19 May 1973 Signing in Bonn of agreements between the governments of the USSR and West Germany on the development of economic, industrial, and technical cooperation, and on cultural cooperation.
25 May 1973 The first generating unit of the Nurek Hydroelectric Station, with a capacity of 900,000 kW, begins operating.
30–31 July 1973 Meeting in Crimea of the leaders of the Communist and workers' parties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People's Republic, East Germany, the Mongolian People's Republic, the Polish People's Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia.
14 September 1973 Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR conferring the honorary title of "Hero City" on Novorossiysk and Kerch.
25–31 October 1973 World Congress of Peace-Loving Forces in Moscow.
21 November 1973 Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On further increasing pension levels for disabled persons and families who have lost their breadwinner."
1973 Opening of the gas pipeline connecting Ukraine to Western Europe.
27 April 1973 In the first major reshuffle in Soviet leadership since 1964, Andrei Gromyko and Yuri Andropov are admitted to the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.
18–21 May 1973 Soviet leader Brezhnev pays an official visit to West Germany.
13 June 1973 The research vessel Akademik Bert rams the nuclear submarine K-56 in the Peter the Great Gulf. 27 people are killed.
24 June 1973 Leonid Brezhnev, during an official visit to the USA, declares that the Cold War is over.
10 October 1973 The USSR begins airlifting arms to Arab states. Iraq joins the fighting against Israel.
21 October 1973 Henry Kissinger and Leonid Brezhnev meet in Moscow to discuss a plan for ending hostilities in the Middle East.
25 October 1973 In response to the threat of Soviet intervention in the Middle East, the USA places its armed forces on alert.
April 1974 Resumption of construction on the Baikal–Amur Mainline.
11 July 1974 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with Somalia.
May 1975 Opening of the first section of the Baikal–Amur Mainline.
July 1975 Joint Soviet–American space experiment under the Soyuz–Apollo programme.
30 July 1975 Signing in Helsinki by representatives of 33 European states, the USA, and Canada of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. Recognition of postwar borders.
1976 Opening of the Kama Automobile Plant in Naberezhnye Chelny.
24 February–5 March 1976 25th CPSU Congress. Approval of the main targets of the 10th five-year plan, 1976–1980.
15 March 1976 Egypt denounces its treaty with the USSR of 27 May 1971.
28 May 1976 Treaty with the USA on underground nuclear tests for peaceful purposes.
May–July 1976 Commencement of military assistance to Angola and Ethiopia.
8 October 1976 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with Angola.
31 March 1977 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with Mozambique.
16 June 1977 Resignation of N. V. Podgorny. Election of L. I. Brezhnev as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
7 October 1977 Adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR.
13 November 1977 Somalia denounces its treaty with the USSR of 11 July 1974.
1978 Treaties of friendship and cooperation with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (3 Nov.), Ethiopia (8 Nov.), and Afghanistan (5 Dec.).
17 January 1979 All-Union population census. Population of the USSR: 262.4 million.
18 June 1979 Treaty with the USA on the limitation of strategic offensive arms (SALT II).
25 October 1979 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.
26–27 December 1979 Invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet forces.
8 October 1980 Treaty of friendship and cooperation with Syria.
23 October 1980 Resignation of A. N. Kosygin (died 18 December 1980). Appointment of N. A. Tikhonov as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
23 February–3 March 1981 26th CPSU Congress. Approval of the main indicators of the 11th five-year plan, 1981–1985.
1981–1985 Closed trials on corruption charges against a number of senior officials.
Brezhnev's Kisses
Many people remembered Leonid Brezhnev above all for his great love of kissing. The materials of the 1966 Communist Party Congress state plainly: "Comrade Brezhnev embraces. He kisses." But not everyone in the Kremlin was delighted by this "innovation." KGB General Vyacheslav Kevorkov recalled that KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov "could never reconcile himself to the ritual of prolonged male kisses on the lips that had spread under Brezhnev." "In my whole life I have not kissed as many women as I have kissed men in these days. Truly a disgusting spectacle," complained the country's chief secret-policeman.
And in 1979, as Alexander Maisuryan writes, something extraordinary happened. During a meeting in Vienna, US President Jimmy Carter unexpectedly decided to step outside the bounds of protocol. "To general amazement," recalled Foreign Ministry interpreter Viktor Sukhodrev, "Carter leaned toward Brezhnev and put his left arm around his shoulders. Brezhnev in turn leaned toward the American, and before a stunned audience the two leaders suddenly kissed." As Vladimir Medvedev noted, they embraced and kissed "with pointed deliberateness." And since Moscow and Washington were still the principal adversaries in the Cold War, what had happened looked like a clear breach of tradition. Afterwards Leonid Ilyich even asked his interpreter with some anxiety: "Tell me, Vitya — was it all right, my kissing Carter like that? But he was the one who started it…"
Public kisses between politicians in the 1970s were somewhat at odds with the general style of an era sparing in vivid gestures, and so provided material for jokes in Soviet folklore: "The world's longest kiss was recorded during a meeting between Brezhnev and Zhivkov — three hours! In that time the Soviet leader managed to deliver a welcoming speech and listen to the Bulgarian leader's reply." Or: "Brezhnev is saying goodbye at the airport to a politician from the USA. They embrace and kiss for a long time. At last the American boards his plane and flies away. Brezhnev weeps. Suslov walks over to him:
"Come now, Leonid Ilyich, stop that. Is it really worth getting so upset? As a politician he's nothing."
"True. But what a kisser!"
Twilight
In March 1982, in Tashkent, a metal beam fell on Brezhnev and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, Sharaf Rashidov. During Brezhnev's visit to an aircraft factory, thousands of workers eager to catch a glimpse of the leader had clambered up the scaffolding surrounding the aircraft under construction. As Brezhnev walked beneath one of the planes, people began moving along the scaffolding, and the beams collapsed under the uneven weight.
People came sliding down onto the Party leadership. The corner of a metal structure grazed Brezhnev's ear, leaving his entire head covered in blood. The General Secretary also suffered a severe bruise to the collarbone. It was Leonid Brezhnev's last adventure. He lived another seven and a half months after it.
The End
On Soviet Militia Day, 10 November 1982, the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov, congratulating law-enforcement officers on the holiday, did not mention "dear Leonid Ilyich" even once in his speech. Moreover, the customary many-hours concert featuring the most celebrated stars of Soviet popular entertainment was cancelled that day — an event simply unheard-of in those times. Ordinary citizens guessed that something had happened in the country when, instead of the long-awaited concert, they saw the ballet Swan Lake on television.
Only on 12 November did the newspapers carry the traditional announcement: "From the CPSU Central Committee, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of Ministers…" The country declared four days of mourning, which proved unforgettable for virtually all Soviet citizens — even for children, who grieved over the cancellation of the most popular television programme, V Gostyakh u Skazki (A Guest in Fairyland), hosted by the universally beloved presenter "Aunty Valya." The state funeral was held on 15 November.
On that day classes in schools were cancelled. All enterprises in the country halted work for five minutes.
For three minutes, factories, plants, trains, and river and sea vessels paid their respects to the deceased General Secretary with their whistles and horns.
Journalist Alexander Maisuryan, in his book Another Brezhnev, writes that Leonid Ilyich (probably one of the few people alive to have done so) had been acquainted with his own gravedigger long before his death. This man, Georgy Kovalenko, liked to shock new acquaintances by introducing himself with the words: "I have seen every member of the Politburo in a coffin." This was, however, the plain truth — for more than thirty years he had been an invariable participant in the most important funeral ceremonies. "I was deeply grieved when Leonid Ilyich died," recalled Georgy Kovalenko. "He was a very kind man, he felt sorry for everyone. I remember when they buried Suslov (CPSU Central Committee secretary, the Party's chief ideologist, who died on 25 January 1982). Pelsche (a member of the CPSU Central Committee Politburo — Ed.) even went over to the orchestra and asked them to play less mournfully, because Leonid Ilyich had broken down in tears." On the ritual of the state funeral Georgy Kovalenko said: "The hardest part is closing the grave. The earth must be shovelled for exactly 4 minutes and 30 seconds — precisely the length of the Soviet national anthem."
During Brezhnev's funeral, millions of television viewers watching the ceremony live got the impression that at the last moment the gravediggers had simply dropped the coffin, which fell into the grave with a crash. In reality, however, as Georgy Kovalenko maintained, the salvoes of the funeral gun salute had unfortunately coincided with the moment the coffin was being lowered.
At the funerals of Soviet leaders it was customary to carry their decorations, mounted on small velvet cushions. When Suslov was buried, for instance, the deceased's orders and medals were carried by fifteen senior officers walking behind the coffin. But Brezhnev had more than two hundred orders and medals! Several decorations had to be pinned to each cushion. In this way the honour escort was reduced to forty-four officers. It is said, incidentally, that the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR was given the last rites in the Patriarchal Cathedral — though behind closed doors.
Interesting Facts
- George H. W. Bush (at the time Vice President of the United States), who was present at Leonid Brezhnev's funeral, recalled the strange impression made on him by "a funeral without God." "I witnessed a moving incident that was not captured in any of the news broadcasts," he recounted. "I was in the visitors' stand and, having an exceptionally good view, watched as the grief-stricken widow of the deceased approached Brezhnev's coffin to say her last farewell. She looked at him, leaned over the coffin, and then, beyond any doubt, made the sign of the cross over her husband's body. I was astonished."
- There is a rumour that Brezhnev's distinctive manner of speech was connected to a jaw wound he received during the war, the effects of which became more pronounced with age. Other sources, however, claim that Brezhnev was not wounded even once throughout the entire war.
- In the USSR, it was Leonid Brezhnev — a noted collector of wafer cake — who sparked the national interest in that confection.
- Brezhnev was the only person in the entire history of the USSR to hold five Gold Star medals of Hero: one Star of Hero of Socialist Labour and four Stars of Hero of the Soviet Union. Marshal Zhukov had only four Stars of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Brezhnev's predecessor N. S. Khrushchev had three Stars of Hero of Socialist Labour and one Star of Hero of the Soviet Union. No other recipients of the Hero title in the USSR were ever awarded the title and its Gold Star more than three times.
- Brezhnev is also the only recipient of the Order of Victory whose award was annulled (under the order's statute, which states that only those who commanded a front during the war and achieved a strategic turning point in an operation, or commanders-in-chief of Allied armies who made a significant contribution to the victory over fascism, are entitled to receive the order. Brezhnev, who spent the entire war in administrative positions within the political apparatus of the Red Army, had absolutely no right to this order — least of all in 1978, when the award was conferred).
- After Leonid Ilyich was gone, a city named in his honor appeared on the country's map. There are amusing stories about long-distance phone calls in the first days after the renaming. "Brezhnev will speak with you!" the telephone operator would announce. Stunned callers would drop their receivers... But in 1988 the city was restored to its former name — Naberezhnye Chelny.
- When the city of Izhevsk was renamed in memory of former Defence Minister Dmitry Ustinov, there existed a bus route Brezhnev — Ustinov.
- Brezhnev loved to play dominoes.
Stories from Comrades
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"The General Secretary would step off the train wearing, as a rule, a tracksuit and light shoes. The leadership of Kursk Region would meet him on the platform. For some reason he often addressed me. He would ask about the village of Brezhnevka, where his parents were from: 'How is the oak grove doing?' Someone carelessly said it had been cut down, and Leonid Ilyich became upset. He recalled how as a teenager he and his friends would wait for the girls who carried nuts in their skirts. 'And we'd squeeze their tits.' 'Leonid Ilyich! Leonid Ilyich!' Chernenko would admonish him." | 
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At the ceremonial parade on November 7, 1982, Leonid Ilyich attempted to wave to the crowd, but his arm would no longer rise above his shoulder. The next two days the General Secretary went "hunting": he sat unarmed in a car and eagerly watched his bodyguard take shots. Brezhnev had been forced to give up hunting in the late 1970s, when his hands could no longer absorb the recoil of a weapon. "After each shot the gun would kick back and the sight would cut his face. He'd return to Moscow — nose, eyebrow, or forehead bloodied... He would stop in front of a mirror, study himself, and complain in a somehow childlike way, to no one in particular: 'There it is again. How am I supposed to go to work now with a black eye!'" recalled Vladimir Medvedev. |
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In the spring of 1982, members of the Politburo, led by an ailing and barely coherent Brezhnev, attended the Moscow Art Theatre's production of "So We Shall Win!", a play about Lenin staged by Oleg Yefremov. Anatoly Smelyansky, an Honored Art Worker of Russia who at the time served as literary director at the Art Theatre, described in his book "Roman with the Theatre" how, during the first scene — in which secretaries awaiting Lenin's arrival discuss the situation — the hard-of-hearing General Secretary peered at one of the actresses and announced loudly: "She's a pretty one." The audience froze. When Lenin appeared on stage, Leonid Ilyich grew agitated, uncertain how to behave. The custom in the theatre was to applaud at Lenin's entrance. On this occasion there was no ovation, because Yefremov had deliberately blurred the staging and broken with tradition. Lenin appeared sideways, unobtrusively, to the strains of ominous Wagnerian music. The hall was silent. And again, loudly, filling the entire auditorium, came Brezhnev's voice: "Is that Lenin? Should we greet him?" — to which Chernenko, the one being addressed, replied without turning his head, loudly and curtly: "No need." Laughing was out of the question, Anatoly Smelyansky recalls: a great many agents had been seated in a checkerboard pattern throughout the hall and were watching the audience. All one could do was observe the box, where a spectacle of its own was unfolding — no less interesting than the one on stage. The General Secretary gave a running commentary on every scene, attempting to converse with his neighbors. Then, for some reason, Brezhnev left the box for about twenty minutes. In that time, Lenin on stage had managed to hold a conversation with Armand Hammer (a millionaire and great friend of the USSR, one of the most celebrated "bourgeois" figures of the twentieth century). When the General Secretary was brought back into the hall, someone in his entourage informed him loudly that Hammer had just appeared. "Hammer himself?" the sick old man asked again — and at that point the audience could hold back no longer. The only ones not laughing were those seated at the ends of each row — duty called, after all. |
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