Word: leninism
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...Kremlin wall last week than rumors began to circulate that Chernenko was not in the best of health. It was widely noted that he had disappeared for two months last spring, reportedly because of illness. As the new Soviet leader read a eulogy for Andropov from atop the Lenin Mausoleum, he spoke in short, icy gasps...
Since the Central Committee session was closed to the public, it was during Andropov's burial ceremony that Soviets heard Chernenko speak for the first time as leader of the Communist Party. The performance did not inspire confidence. Standing atop the dark red marble Lenin Mausoleum in 23° F weather, Chernenko read the prepared text of his eulogy haltingly, almost gasping his words. He restated briefly the main foreign policy themes of his address to the party plenum. Noting that the Soviet Union was ready "for honest talks on the basis of equality and equal security," Chernenko also warned that...
...profile that thousands had glimpsed while filing past his coffin. A sea of red floral wreaths followed, adding a brilliant touch to a procession colored mostly in drab grays and black. Then two officers in tall Astrakhan hats appeared, carrying the late leader's 21 medals, including Orders of Lenin and Orders of the Red Banner of Labor on red satin pillows. It was exactly half the number of medals that had accompanied Brezhnev to his grave...
Should the Soviet leadership opt for age over youth, there was always standby Candidate Konstantin Chernenko, 72, who took Andropov's place on the Lenin Mausoleum during the military parade through Red Square in November and was named chairman of Andropov's funeral committee last week. Chernenko worked his way to positions on the Politburo and the Secretariat largely by serving as an aide to Leonid Brezhnev, and he was thought to have been his boss's hand-picked heir. But he lost out, probably when the military and party colleagues decided to back Andropov. Since then, Chernenko has given...
Gorbachev is thought to have been a personal favorite of Andropov's. He was chosen to give the keynote address at the April 22, 1983, ceremony honoring Lenin's birthday, a speech characterized by a calm, businesslike approach to national problems. Gorbachev is also said to have been given the additional responsibility of helping to make party personnel decisions. When John Chrystal, an Iowa businessman, was received at the Kremlin in November, it was Gorbachev who passed along a message from the ailing Soviet leader. Had Andropov lived longer, Gorbachev might have been groomed as heir, but his relative youth...