Word: leonid
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Since taking over Leonid Brezhnev's job last November, Soviet Communist Party Leader Yuri Andropov has talked a good deal about getting the Soviet Union's sluggish economy moving. At the beginning of the year he ordered police to round up "slackers," who were at the movies or at public baths when they should have been at work. He made a much publicized visit to a Moscow factory in which he told workers that "without discipline we cannot advance quickly." But there have been few substantive actions to match Andropov's words. Last week the government...
West German officials immediately attributed the Soviet leader's absence to a possible kidney ailment and other recurring health problems. Soviet sources, however, encouraged the view that Andropov was administering a diplomatic snub to Kohl. After the eight-year decline and eventual death of Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviets clearly had a stake in demonstrating that the capacity of the nation's leadership was not again in question because of the failing health of their supreme leader. The West Germans, for their part, chose to believe that no rebuff was intended. Still, as one Bonn official remarked, "In Moscow...
...vote came in the midst of a four-day meeting of Soviet leaders that seemed to consolidate Andropov's power after months of uncertainty. As President, General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Defense Council, Andropov now holds the same three positions that his predecessor Leonid Brezhnev did. One difference is that it took Andropov seven months to get the three titles; Brezhnev needed 13 years. In nominating Andropov last week, Chernenko praised him as "an outstanding leader of the Leninist type...
Hungary's economic reforms are tolerated but not widely emulated in Eastern Europe. Fekete noted that Leonid Brezhnev told the last Soviet Party Congress in 1981 that Hungarian agricultural policy should be seen as a model for other Communist countries. Despite that, few have adopted the Hungarian program. When asked why, Banker Fekete replied simply, "Vanity and pride...
Since he replaced Leonid Brezhnev last November, Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov has, whether by choice or political necessity, maintained a low domestic profile. Now, however, the name of the stooped and often visibly tired former KGB chief is beginning to sprout more frequently on the front pages of Soviet newspapers. Moreover, in a long Pravda article published last week, Defense Minister Marshal Dmitri Ustinov for the first time referred to Andropov as Chairman of the Defense Council. The new title meant that Andropov now holds a post equivalent to commander in chief, thereby occupying two of the three top positions...