Brezhnev, Andropov and stagnation

Overview

Era of stagnation, trust in cadres policy and second economy.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who succeeded Khrushchev, and in what year?

   Model answer

   Leonid Brezhnev, from 1964.

2. 2

   What is meant by the era of stagnation?

   Model answer

   The long Brezhnev period in which growth slowed steadily, reform was avoided and the leadership aged in office.

3. 3

   What was the trust in cadres policy?

   Model answer

   Brezhnev's guarantee of security of tenure to officials, which ended the churn of the Khrushchev years and produced a stable but ossified elite.

4. 4

   Give two features of the Soviet economy under Brezhnev.

   Model answer

   Growth rates declining decade by decade, and heavy dependence on oil and gas exports, which masked the underlying weakness while prices were high.

5. 5

   Why did the planned economy struggle to produce consumer goods?

   Model answer

   Targets rewarded volume rather than quality or usefulness, and there was no mechanism to signal what people actually wanted.

6. 6

   What was the second economy?

   Model answer

   The unofficial economy of black market goods, private services and bribery that filled the gaps left by state provision.

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