Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (;
September 24,
1911 –
March 10,
1985) was a
Soviet politician and
General Secretary of the
CPSU who led the Soviet Union from
February 13,
1984 until his death just thirteen months later. Chernenko was also Chairman of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet from
April 11,
1984, until his death.
Chernenko was born in
Bolshaya Tes,
Novosyolovsky District,
Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Siberia. He joined
Komsomol in
1926 and the
Communist Party in
1931. After a brief stint in the Frontier Guard, on the
Sino-Soviet border, he was a career politician. After work in the regions, he was called to
Moscow in
1960 and promoted under the aegis of
Leonid Brezhnev, becoming a candidate member of the
Central Committee in
1966 and a full member in
1971. He joined the
Politburo as a candidate in October
1977, becoming a full member in November
1978.
In
1965 Chernenko became Director of Personnel in the party's General Department. He continued his work as a clerk but he now held a powerful position. He had knowledge about all the top people in the party and monitored
wiretapping and surveillance devices in offices, but his main job was to sign hundreds of documents every day. He did this for 20 years. Even when he became General Secretary, he continued to sign papers, although thanks to Soviet
bureaucracy his signature meant little more than it did in his previous position. Eventually, when he became ill, he was no longer physically able to sign documents and a
facsimile was used instead, further devaluing his signature.
Following the death of Brezhnev in
1982, Chernenko lost the power struggle due to anti-Brezhnev forces, including the
KGB and the
Red Army, and instead
Yuri Andropov, the former head of the KGB, was nominated as General Secretary. When Andropov died in February
1984 after less than 16 months in office, Chernenko was elected to replace him, despite concerns over his health.
Chernenko represented a return to the policies of the late Brezhnev era. Nevertheless, he supported a greater role for the labour unions, reform in education, and trimming of bureaucracy. In foreign policy, he negotiated a trade pact with the
People's Republic of China. Despite calls for renewed
détente, Chernenko did little to prevent the escalation of the
Cold War with the
United States. For example, in 1984, the USSR prevented a visit to
West Germany by
East German leader
Erich Honecker. However, in the late autumn of 1984, the U.S. and the Soviet Union did agree to resume arms control talks in early 1985.
Chernenko's poor health made him unable to govern effectively. His frequent absences from office left little doubt that his reign had only been an interim measure in a longer struggle between conservatives and reformers.
|
Chernenko in 1984, the year before he died |
In what was almost universally regarded, even by his opponents, as a cruel act against Chernenko,
Politburo member
Viktor Grishin dragged the deathly ill Chernenko from his hospital bed to a ballot box to vote in the elections in early
1985.
After the death of a Soviet leader, it was customary for his successor to open and review the objects contained in his personal safe. When Gorbachev had the safe opened, they found a small folder of personal papers and large bundles of money stuffed into the safe. Even more money was discovered in his desk. No one has ever discovered what he had wanted with all the money.
Due to Chernenko's short time in office, very few photos exist of him. The majority of the photos that were taken are in black and white.
He was buried in
the Kremlin.
Chernenko worked in different places and held different positions during his lifetime:
Border Guard, Party Secretary of Border Guard Unit,
Agitprop director in
Krasnoyarsk and other regions, Party
functionary (
apparatchik),
Central Committee member and secretary,
Politburo member,
Supreme Soviet Presidium member, Chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet,
General Secretary of the CPSU.
