Brezhnev

Author : Thomas Crump
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781134669158

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Brezhnev and the Decline of the Soviet Union by Thomas Crump Pdf

Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union from 1964-1982, a longer period than any other Soviet leader apart from Stalin. During Brezhnev’s time Soviet power seemed at its height and increasing. Living standards were rising, the Soviet Union was a nuclear power and successful in its space missions, and the Soviet Union's influence reached into all part of the world. Yet, as this book, which provides a comprehensive overview and reassessment of Brezhnev’s life, early political career and career as leader, shows, the seeds of decline were sown in Brezhnev's time. There was a huge over-commitment of resources to the Soviet industrial-military complex and to massively expensive foreign policy overstretch. At the same time there was a failure to deliver on citizens' rising expectations, and an overconfident ignoring of dissidents and their demands. The book will be of great interest to Russian specialists, and also to scholars of international relations and world history.

Author : Susanne Schattenberg
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 505 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2021-11-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780755642113

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Brezhnev by Susanne Schattenberg Pdf

"Schattenberg has done a service in rescuing the Brezhnev period from obscurity." The Morning Star "[Offers an] unparalleled examination of the Brezhnev papers." Literary Review Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for eighteen years, a term of leadership second only in length to that of Stalin. He presided over the Brezhnev Doctrine, which accelerated the Cold War, and led the Soviet Union through catastrophic foreign policy decisions such as the invasion of Afghanistan. To many in the West, he is responsible for the stagnation (and to some even collapse) of the Soviet Union. But much of this history has been based on the only two English-language biographies (both published before Brezhnev's death and without access to archival sources) and Brezhnev's own astonishingly untrue memoirs – written for propaganda purposes. Newly translated from German, Schattenberg's magisterial book systematically dismantles the stereotypical and one-dimensional view of Brezhnev as the stagnating Stalinist by drawing on a wealth of archival research and documents not previously studied in English. The Brezhnev that emerges is a complex one, from his early apolitical years, when he dreamed of becoming an actor, through his swift and surprising rise through the Party ranks. From his hitherto misunderstood role in Khrushchev's ousting and appointment as his successor, to his somewhat pro-Western foreign policy aims, deft consolidation and management of power, and ultimate descent into addiction and untimely death. For Schattenberg, this is the story of a flawed and ineffectual idealist - for the West, this biography makes a convincing case that Brezhnev should be reappraised as one of the most interesting and important political figures of the twentieth century.

Author : Christopher J. Ward
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2009-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780822971214

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Brezhnev's Folly by Christopher J. Ward Pdf

Heralded by Soviet propaganda as the “Path to the Future,” the Baikal-Amur Mainline Railway (BAM) represented the hopes and dreams of Brezhnev and the Communist Party elite of the late Soviet era. Begun in 1974, and spanning approximately 2,000 miles after twenty-nine years of halting construction, the BAM project was intended to showcase the national unity, determination, skill, technology, and industrial might that Soviet socialism claimed to embody. More pragmatically, the Soviet leadership envisioned the BAM railway as a trade route to the Pacific, where markets for Soviet timber and petroleum would open up, and as an engine for the development of Siberia. Despite these aspirations and the massive commitment of economic resources on its behalf, BAM proved to be a boondoggle-a symbol of late communism's dysfunctionality-and a cruel joke to many ordinary Soviet citizens. In reality, BAM was woefully bereft of quality materials and construction, and victimized by poor planning and an inferior workforce. Today, the railway is fully complete, but remains a symbol of the profligate spending and inefficiency that characterized the Brezhnev years. In Brezhnev's Folly, Christopher J. Ward provides a groundbreaking social history of the BAM railway project. He examines the recruitment of hundreds of thousands of workers from the diverse republics of the USSR and other socialist countries, and his extensive archival research and interviews with numerous project workers provide an inside look at the daily life of the BAM workforce. We see firsthand the disorganization, empty promises, dire living and working conditions, environmental damage, and acts of crime, segregation, and discrimination that constituted daily life during the project's construction. Thus, perhaps, we also see the final irony of BAM: that the most lasting legacy of this misguided effort to build Soviet socialism is to shed historical light on the profound ills afflicting a society in terminal decline.

Author : E. Bacon,M. Sandle
Publisher : Springer
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2002-10-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780230501089

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Brezhnev Reconsidered by E. Bacon,M. Sandle Pdf

Leonid Brezhnev was leader of the Soviet Union for almost two decades when it was at the height of its powers. This book is a long overdue reappraisal of Brezhnev the man and the system over which he ruled. By incorporating much of the new material available in Russian, it challenges the received wisdom about the Brezhnev years, and provides a fascinating insight into the life and times of one of the twentieth century's most neglected political leaders.

Author : George W. Breslauer
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 335 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2016-06-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781134875726

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Khrushchev and Brezhnev as Leaders (Routledge Revivals) by George W. Breslauer Pdf

First published in 1982, this book explores how Khrushchev and Brezhnev manipulated their policies and personal images as they attempted to consolidate their authority as leader. Central issues of Soviet domestic politics are examined: investment priorities, incentive policy, administrative reform, and political participation. The author rejects the conventional images of Khrushchev as an embattled consumer advocate and decentraliser, and of Brezhnev’s leadership as dull and conservative. He looks at how they dealt with the task of devising programs that combined the post-Stalin elite’s goals of consumer satisfaction and expanded political participation with traditional Soviet values.

Author : Institut Marksizma-Leninizma
Publisher : Pergamon
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 1977
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015008209275

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Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev by Institut Marksizma-Leninizma Pdf

Author : Natalya Chernyshova
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 526 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781135046262

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Soviet Consumer Culture in the Brezhnev Era by Natalya Chernyshova Pdf

After decades of turmoil and trauma, the Brezhnev era brought stability and an unprecedented rise in living standards to the Soviet Union, enabling ordinary people to enjoy modern consumer goods on an entirely new scale. This book analyses the politics and economics of the state’s efforts to improve living standards, and shows how mass consumption was often used as an instrument of legitimacy, ideology and modernization. However, the resulting consumer revolution brought its own problems for the socialist regime. Rising well-being and the resulting ethos of consumption altered citizens’ relationship with the state and had profound consequences for the communist project. The book uses a wealth of sources to explore the challenge that consumer modernity was posing to Soviet ‘mature socialism’ between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. It combines analysis of economic policy and public debates on consumerism with the stories of ordinary people and their attitudes to fashion, Western goods and the home. The book contests the notion that Soviet consumers were merely passive, abused, eternally queuing victims and that the Brezhnev era was a period of ‘stagnation’, arguing instead that personal consumption provided the incentive and the space for individuals to connect and interact with society and the regime even before perestroika. This book offers a lively account of Soviet society and everyday life during a period which is rapidly becoming a new frontier of historical research.

Author : Robert H. McNeal
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2018-10-12
Category : History
ISBN : 139600405X

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The Bolshevik Tradition by Robert H. McNeal Pdf

Excerpt from The Bolshevik Tradition: Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev In 1952 the all-union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) changed its name to Communist Party of the Soviet Union, just about half a century after the designation Bolshevik had come into use Nonetheless, the term remains serviceable today as an alternative to Russian Communist, partly because there is no equally handy label, partly because the claim of lineal descent from the first Bolshevik, Lenin, was never more ardently stressed than at present. Moreover, the name Bolshevik probably evokes a more vivid image in both friend and foe of the movement Lenin set on foot. This is a book about the Bolsheviks, not about Communists or Marxists in general; it is an attempt to interpret the history of Bolshevism. It is not, however, a general history of the Bolshevik Party, much less of twentieth century Russia. Rather it traces the tradition or continuing theme of the party through the careers of three principal protagonists: Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev. The essay does not pretend to literal chronological balance; the twenty-three years of Stalin's personal ascend ancy are treated as a comprehensible phase of the evolution of the Bolshe vik tradition, as are the eight months of the Revolution of 1917. Such an approach has its limitations, but it follows from the Bolshevik View that their party is always characterized by a unique degree of unity and con tinuity. This approach is also consistent with an axiom of Bolshevism that the party has not usually acknowledged; the party depends upon the leadership of an individual dictator. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author : William J. Tompson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2014-07-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317881728

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The Soviet Union under Brezhnev by William J. Tompson Pdf

The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev provides an accessible post-Soviet perspective on the history of the USSR from the mid-1960’s to the mid-1980’s. It challenges both the ‘evil empire’ image of the USSR that was widespread in the early 1980’s and the ‘stagnation’ label attached to the period by Soviet reformers under Gorbachev. The book makes use of a range of memoirs, interviews, archival documents and other sources not available before 1990 to place Brezhnev and his epoch in a broader historical context. The author: examines high politics, foreign policy and policy making explores broader social, cultural and demographic trends presents a picture of Soviet society in the crucial decades prior to the upheavals and crises of the late 1980’s While stopping well short of a full-scale rehabilitation of Brezhnev, Tompson rejects the prevailing image of the Soviet leader as a colourless non-entity, drawing attention to Brezhnev’s real political skills, as well as his faults, and to the systemic roots of many of the problems he faced.

Author : Dina Fainberg,Artemy M. Kalinovsky
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2016-04-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9781498529945

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Reconsidering Stagnation in the Brezhnev Era by Dina Fainberg,Artemy M. Kalinovsky Pdf

This volume contributes to a growing reevaluation of the Brezhnev era, helping to shape a new historiography that gives us a much richer and more nuanced picture of the time period than the stagnation paradigm usually assigned to the era. The essays provide a multifaceted prism that reveals a dynamic society with a political and intellectual class that remained committed to the ideological foundations of the state, recognized the challenges that the system faced, and embarked on a creative search for solutions. The chapters focus on developments in politics, society, and culture, as well as the state’s attempts to lead and initiate change, which are mostly glossed over in the stagnation narrative. The volume challenges the assumption that the period as a whole was characterized by rampant cynicism and a decline of faith in the socialist creed and instead points to the persistence of popular engagement with the socialist ideology and the power it continued to wield within the Soviet Union.

Author : Matthew J. Ouimet
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2003-10-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807861356

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The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy by Matthew J. Ouimet Pdf

Since the sudden collapse of the communist system in Eastern Europe in 1989, scholars have tried to explain why the Soviet Union stood by and watched as its empire crumbled. The recent release of extensive archival documentation in Moscow and the appearance of an increasing number of Soviet political memoirs now offer a greater perspective on this historic process and permit a much deeper look into its causes. The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy is a comprehensive study detailing the collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe between 1968 and 1989, focusing especially on the pivotal Solidarity uprisings in Poland. Based heavily on firsthand testimony and fresh archival findings, it constitutes a fundamental reassessment of Soviet foreign policy during this period. Perhaps most important, it offers a surprising account of how Soviet foreign policy initiatives in the late Brezhnev era defined the parameters of Mikhail Gorbachev's later position of laissez-faire toward Eastern Europe--a position that ultimately led to the downfall of socialist governments all over Europe.

Author : Paul J. Murphy
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015004802842

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Brezhnev, Soviet Politician by Paul J. Murphy Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : International Universities Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UCAL:B4451633

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Leonid I. Brezhnev, His Life and Work by Anonim Pdf

Author : John Dornberg
Publisher : London : Deutsch
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015004802859

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Brezhnev by John Dornberg Pdf

Author : Maureen Perrie,D. C. B. Lieven,Ronald Grigor Suny
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 25 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521812276

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The Cambridge History of Russia: Volume 1, From Early Rus' to 1689 by Maureen Perrie,D. C. B. Lieven,Ronald Grigor Suny Pdf

An authoritative history of Russia from early Rus' to the reign of Peter the Great.