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Path Soviet Union finally ended in 1991, although in a sense, its agony lasted until 1993. The final privatization started only in 1992-1993, simultaneously with the transition to a new monetary system.

The bright period of the Soviet Union, more precisely, its dying, was the so-called "perestroika". But what brought the USSR first under perestroika, and then under the final dismantling of socialism and the Soviet system?

The year 1953 was marked by the death of the long-term de facto leader of the USSR, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. After his death, a struggle for power began between the most influential members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. On March 5, 1953, the most influential members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU were Malenkov, Beria, Molotov, Voroshilov, Khrushchev, Bulganin, Kaganovich, Mikoyan. On September 7, 1953, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

At the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU in February 1956, Stalin's personality cult was condemned. But the most important mine was placed under the very structure of the Leninist principle of the Soviet state at the XXII Congress in October 1961. This congress removed main principle building a communist society - the dictatorship of the proletariat, replacing it with the anti-scientific concept of a "state of the whole people". What was also terrible here was that this congress became a virtual mass of voiceless delegates. They accepted all the principles of a virtual revolution in the Soviet system. The first shoots of decentralization of the economic mechanism followed. But since the pioneers often do not stay in power for a long time, already in 1964 the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU removed N. S. Khrushchev from the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

This time is often called the "restoration of the Stalinist order", the freezing of reforms. But this is just philistine thinking and a simplified worldview, in which there is no scientific approach. Because already in 1965 the tactic of market reforms won out in the socialist economy. The "People's State" came into its own. In fact, under the strict planning of the national economic complex, the result was summed up. The unified national economic complex began to unravel, and subsequently to disintegrate. One of the authors of the reform was A. N. Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Reformers constantly boast that as a result of their reform, enterprises have gained "independence." In fact, this gave power to the directors of enterprises and the right to conduct speculative transactions. As a result, these actions led to the gradual emergence of a shortage of necessary products for the population.

We all remember the "golden days" of Soviet cinema in the 1970s. For example, in the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession”, the viewer is clearly shown how the actor Demyanenko, who plays the role of Shurik, buys the semiconductors he needs not in stores that are closed for repairs or for lunch for some reason, but from a speculator. A speculator who was kind of "condemned and condemned" by the Soviet society of that period.

The political and economic literature of that time acquires a unique anti-scientific terminology of "developed socialism". But what is "developed socialism"? Strictly following the Marxist-Leninist philosophy, we all know that socialism is a transitional period between capitalism and communism, a period of the withering away of the old order. An acute class struggle led by the working class. And what do we get as a result? That some incomprehensible stage of something appears there.

The same thing happened in the party apparatus. Hardened careerists and opportunists rather than ideologically hardened people began to willingly join the CPSU. The party apparatus becomes virtually uncontrolled by society. No trace of the dictatorship of the proletariat remains here.

In politics, at the same time, there is a tendency towards the irremovability of leading cadres, their physical aging and decrepitude. Career ambitions emerge. Soviet cinematography also did not ignore this moment. In some places this was ridiculed, but there were also brilliant tapes of that time that gave a critical analysis of the ongoing processes. For example, the film of 1982 - the social drama "Magistral", which posed with all its frankness the problem of decomposition and degradation in a single industry - on railway. But in the films of that time, mainly in comedies, we already find direct glorifications of individualism, ridicule of the working man. In this field, the film "Office Romance" especially distinguished itself.

There are already systematic disruptions in trade. Of course, now the directors of enterprises are in fact the masters of their destinies, they have “independence”.

Anti-communists often mention in their "scientific" and anti-scientific writings that in the 1980s the country was already seriously ill. Only an enemy can be closer than a friend. Even if we do not take into account the frank slops that the anti-communists poured out on the USSR, a rather difficult situation actually loomed in the country.

For example, I myself remember well how in the early 1980s we traveled from the “undeveloped” Pskov region of the RSFSR to the “developed” and “advanced” Estonian SSR for groceries.

Such a country approached the turn of the mid-1980s. Even from the films of that period, it is already clear that the country no longer believes in building communism. Even the 1977 film "Racers" clearly shows what ideas were in the minds of the townsfolk, although at that time they also tried to show the character of this film in a negative light.

In 1985, after a series of deaths of "irremovable" leaders, a relatively young politician, M. S. Gorbachev, came to power. His long speeches, the very meaning of which went into the void, could go on for many hours. But the time was such that the people, as in the old days, believed the deceitful reformers, since the main thing on their minds was changes in life. But what happens to the layman? What do I want - I do not know?

Perestroika became a catalyst for accelerating all the destructive processes in the USSR, which had been accumulating and smoldering for a long time. Already by 1986, openly anti-Soviet elements appeared, which set as their goal the dismantling of the workers' state and the restoration of the bourgeois order. By 1988 it was already an irreversible process.

Anti-Soviet groups of that period appeared in the culture of that time - "Nautilus Pompilius" and "Civil Defense". According to an old habit, the authorities try to "drive" everything that does not fit into the framework of the official culture. However, even here dialectics threw out strange things. Subsequently, it was the "Civil Defense" that became a bright revolutionary beacon of anti-capitalist protest, thereby forever fixing all the contradictory phenomena of that era behind the Soviet era, as rather Soviet than anti-Soviet phenomena. But even the criticism of that time was enough professional level, which is clearly reflected in the song of the group "Aria" - "What have you done with your dream?", where the entire path traveled is actually overturned as erroneous.

In its wake, the era of perestroika brought out the most disgusting characters, the vast majority of whom were just members of the CPSU. In Russia, B. N. Yeltsin became such a person, who lowered the country into a bloody mess. This is the shooting of the bourgeois parliament, which, out of habit, still had a Soviet shell, this Chechen War. In Latvia, such a character has become former member CPSU A. V. Gorbunov, who continued to rule bourgeois Latvia until the mid-1990s. These characters were praised by the Soviet encyclopedias of the 1980s, calling them "outstanding leaders of the party and government."

"Sausage inhabitants" usually judge the Soviet era by perestroika horror stories about Stalin's "terror", through the prism of their narrow-minded perception of empty shelves and shortages. But their mind refuses to accept the fact that it was the large-scale decentralization and capitalization of the country that led the USSR to such results.

But how much strength and mind of the ideological Bolsheviks was applied in order to raise their country to a cosmic level of development by the mid-1950s, to go through a terrible war with the most terrible enemy on Earth - fascism. The dismantling of communist development, which began in the 1950s, continued for more than 30 years, preserving the main features of socialist development and a just society. After all, at the beginning of its journey, the Communist Party was a truly ideological party - the vanguard of the working class, a beacon of the development of society.

This whole story clearly shows that not owning one's ideological weapon - Marxism-Leninism - leads the leaders of the party to the betrayal of the entire people.

We did not set ourselves the goal of analyzing in detail all the stages of the decomposition of Soviet society. The purpose of this article is only to describe the chronology of some significant events Soviet life and its individual significant aspects of the post-Stalin period.

Nevertheless, it would be fair to mention that the relative modernization of the country continued throughout the entire period of the country's existence. Until the end of the 1980s, we saw the positive development of many social institutions and technical development. Somewhere the pace of development slowed down significantly, something continued to remain at a very high level. Medicine and education developed, cities were built, infrastructure improved. The country moved forward by inertia.

In the Dark Ages, our path went at an accelerated pace and irreversibly only since 1991.

Andrey Krasny

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2017-Jun-Sun We have always said - and revolutions confirm this - that when it comes to the foundations of economic power, the power of the exploiters, to their property, which puts at their disposal the labor of tens of millions of workers https://website/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/horizontal_6.jpg , site - Socialist information resource [email protected]

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR on March 15, 1990 at the III Extraordinary Congress people's deputies USSR.
December 25, 1991, in connection with the termination of the existence of the USSR as public education, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President and signed a Decree on the transfer of control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Yeltsin.

On December 25, after Gorbachev's resignation, the red state flag of the USSR was lowered in the Kremlin and the flag of the RSFSR was raised. The first and last President of the USSR left the Kremlin forever.

The first president of Russia, then still the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected on June 12, 1991 by popular vote. B.N. Yeltsin won in the first round (57.3% of the vote).

In connection with the expiration of the term of office of the President of Russia, Boris N. Yeltsin, and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the election of the President of Russia was scheduled for June 16, 1996. It was the only presidential election in Russia where it took two rounds to determine the winner. The elections were held on June 16 - July 3 and were distinguished by the sharpness of the competitive struggle between the candidates. The main competitors were considered the current President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin and the leader of the Communist Party Russian Federation G. A. Zyuganov. According to the election results, B.N. Yeltsin received 40.2 million votes (53.82 percent), well ahead of G. A. Zyuganov, who received 30.1 million votes (40.31 percent). 3.6 million Russians (4.82%) voted against both candidates .

December 31, 1999 at 12:00 Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin voluntarily ceased to exercise the powers of the President of the Russian Federation and transferred the powers of the President to Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. On April 5, 2000, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was presented with certificates of a pensioner and labor veteran.

December 31, 1999 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became acting president.

In accordance with the Constitution, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation has set March 26, 2000 as the date for the early presidential elections.

On March 26, 2000, 68.74 percent of the voters included in the voting lists, or 75,181,071 people, took part in the elections. Vladimir Putin received 39,740,434 votes, which amounted to 52.94 percent, that is, more than half of the votes. On April 5, 2000, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation decided to recognize the elections of the President of the Russian Federation as valid and valid, to consider Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich elected to the post of President of Russia.

(November 7, 1875, the village of Upper Troitsa, Korchevsky district, Tver province, - June 3, 1946, Moscow). From peasants. He graduated from the public school in 1888. Since 1893, a turner's apprentice, a turner at St. Petersburg factories, studied at the evening courses of the Russian Technical Society at the Putilov factory. Since 1898, a member of circles of the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Iskra newspaper agent in Revel. After the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP (1903) Bolshevik. Participant in the Revolution of 1905-07 (Petersburg), delegate to the 4th Congress of the RSDLP (1906). Participated in the creation of the newspaper "Pravda". Repeatedly arrested, exiled. In 1916 he was arrested in St. Petersburg, sentenced to exile in Eastern Siberia; released from prison to collect on the road to the place of exile, disappeared and went into hiding. In the February Revolution of 1917, one of the leaders of the disarmament of the guards and the capture of the Finland Station, the release of political prisoners from the Kresty prison. Since March 2, member of the Executive Commission of the first legal Petrograd Committee of the RSDLP, its representative in the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP; member of the editorial board of Pravda. He was elected a member of the Petrograd Soviet of the RSM from the Vyborg side. On May 10, at the Petrograd City Conference, he was elected a member of the Executive Commission of the PC of the RSDLP (b), a member of the Municipal Commission of the Committee. During the days of the June crisis, at a meeting of the PC, it supported the line on the peaceful development of the revolution under conditions of dual power. Delegate of the 6th Congress of the RSDLP (b) (July 26 - August 3). On August 20, he was elected a member of the Petrograd City Duma. In October, he was elected chairman of the factory committee of the Pipe Plant. On October 24-26, on the instructions of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) and the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, Kalinin and other Bolsheviks - vowels prevented the Petrograd City Duma from speaking out against the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of the RSD; participated in the meetings of the congress. He was elected a deputy of the Constituent Assembly from Petrograd, and later - the chairman of the City Council. One of the organizers of the resettlement of working families from the slums of the city outskirts to houses confiscated from the bourgeoisie, the transfer of schools to the maintenance of the City Duma, etc. Delegate of the 3rd All-Russian Congress of Soviets of the RSKD (January 1918). Since March 1918, remaining the head of the city, he headed the Commissariat of Municipal Economy of the Petrograd Labor Commune. Since September 1918, chairman of the board of the Commissariat of Urban Economy of the Union of Communes of the Northern Region. Since March 30, 1919, the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, since 1922 - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, since 1938 - the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Shvernik Nikolai Mikhailovich(May 7, 1888, Petersburg - December 24, 1970, Moscow). The worker's son. From 1902 he worked as a turner. In 1905 he joined the RSDLP(b). Conducted party work in St. Petersburg, Nikolaev, Tula, Samara. In 1910-1911 - Member of the Board of the Union of Metalworkers (Petersburg). In 1917-1918, chairman of the factory committee of the Pipe Plant (Samara), then chairman of the Pipe District Committee of the RCP (b), member of the Samara Council. Since October 1917, the chairman of the All-Russian Committee of Workers of Artillery Plants and a member of the Board of Artillery Plants. In 1918 he was commissioner of the regiment, then in the Main Artillery Directorate. Since April 1919, the chairman of the Samara city executive committee. In 1919-1921 he worked in senior positions in the army supply system in the Caucasus. Since 1921 - at trade union work. Since 1923 People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the RSFSR and member of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Since 1925, a member of the Central Committee of the party. In 1925-1926 he was secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee. 04/09/1926 - 04/16/1927 Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1926-1927 and 1930-1946 he was a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee. In 1927-1928 First Secretary of the Ural Regional Committee. In 1929, chairman of the Central Committee of the Union of Metalworkers. Since 1930, 1st Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and at the same time from 13/7/1930 to 26/1/1934 candidate member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1937-1966 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War- Chairman of the Extraordinary Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders. 03/04/1944-06/25/1946 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and 1st Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. From 03/19/1946 to 03/15/1953 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. From 10/16/1952 - Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. On March 6, 1953, he was again appointed chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and at the same time transferred from members to candidates to members of the Presidium of the Central Committee. In December, a member of the Special Judicial Presence over L.P. Beria. Since 1956, Chairman of the Party Control Committee under the Central Committee of the CPSU. In 1957 he was reinstated as a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Chairman of the Commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU for rehabilitation. Hero Socialist Labor(1958). Since 1962, Chairman of the Party Commission under the Central Committee of the CPSU. Retired since 1966. The ashes were buried in the Kremlin wall.

(January 23 (February 4) 1881 Verkhnee village of the Bakhmut district of the Yekaterinoslav province - December 2, 1969, Moscow). In 1893-1895. studied at the rural district school. He joined the RSDLP in 1903. In 1917, chairman of the Lugansk Soviet and the city party committee, commissar of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, then chairman of the Extraordinary Commission for the Protection of Petrograd. In 1918 in the Red Army, in 1918-1919. Member of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. From 1919 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 1st Cavalry Army, from 1921 commander of the troops of the North Caucasian, from 1924 - of the Moscow military districts. Member of the Central Committee (1921-1961, 1966-1969), member of the Politburo (Presidium) of the Central Committee 01/01/1926 - 07/16/1960, member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee 06/02/1924-12/18/1925. From January 1925, deputy. People's Commissar, in November 1925 - June 1934. People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR, since 1924 a member, in 1925-1934 chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR. In 1934-1940 People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. Since 1940 - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and Chairman of the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War - a member of the GKO. Since 1946 - Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1940-1953 deputy. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Council of Ministers) of the USSR. In 03/15/1953-05/07/1960 Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, since 1960 - member of the Presidium. Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1-7 convocations. Hero of the Soviet Union (1956, 1968). Hero of Socialist Labor (1960). Marshal of the Soviet Union (1935). Buried in Red Square in Moscow.

(December 6, 1906, the village of Kamenskoye (modern Dneprodzerzhinsk) - November 10, 1982, Moscow). At the age of 15, after graduating from the unified labor school, he entered the factory as a mechanic. From 1923 he studied at the Kursk Land Management College. At the end of 1931 he returned to the metallurgical plant in Kamenskoye, joined the CPSU (b), entered the metallurgical technical school, where he successively rose from the party group and chairman of the trade union committee to the secretary of the party committee and director of the technical school. In 1935 -1937 - service in the Red Army. In 1937 he was appointed deputy chairman of the executive committee of the Dneprodzerzhinsky city council. In 1938 - head of the department of Soviet trade, since 1939 - secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the CP (b) of Ukraine for propaganda, since 1940 - member of the bureau of the regional committee in the position of head. defense industry department. From June 1941 - Deputy Head of the Political Directorate of the Southern Front, from 1943 - Head of the Political Department of the 18th Army, in which he participated in the Kerch-Eltigen operation. In 1944 he was promoted to the rank of major general. In 1945 he was appointed head of the Political Administration of the 4th Ukrainian Front, and then head of the Political Administration of the Carpathian Military District. In August 1946, the first secretary of the Zaporozhye Regional Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, in July 1950 - the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova, in October 1952 - the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1953, with the rank of lieutenant general, he was appointed deputy head of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy. In 1954 he was transferred to the second, then the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. In 1956 he was transferred to the secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU (in charge of industry, construction and space research). 05/07/1960-07/15/1964 - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, from June 1963 simultaneously Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. At the October (1964) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (since 1966 - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU). From June 16, 1977 to November 10, 1982 - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

(November 13 (25), 1895, Sanahin village, Bochalin district, Tiflis province October 21, 1978, Moscow) Member of the RSDLP since 1915. Active participant in the revolution and civil war in Transcaucasia in 1917-1921. Secretary of the party organizations of the Nizhny Novgorod province and North Caucasus, candidate member of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) (1922-1923), member of the Central Committee (1923-1976). After being nominated as a candidate member of the Politburo (July 23, 1926 - February 1, 1935), he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal and Foreign Trade (August 14, 1926 - November 22, 1930). He held a number of posts in the government of the USSR in the 1930s: People's Commissar for Supply (November 22, 1930 - July 29, 1934), People's Commissar for the Food Industry (July 29, 1934 - January 19, 1938) and Foreign Trade (November 29, 1938 - March 15, 1946). In 1935 he was elected a member of the Politburo (February 1, 1935 - October 5, 1952), in 1937 he was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (July 22, 1937 - March 15, 1946), led political purges in Armenia. During the Great Patriotic War, a member of the State Defense Committee (February 3, 1942 - September 4, 1945), responsible for supplying the Red Army. Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (March 19, 1946 - March 15, 1953), Minister of Foreign Trade (March 19, 1946 - March 4, 1949), Internal and Foreign Trade (March 5 - August 24, 1953), Minister of Trade (August 24, 1953 - January 22, 1955 ). Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee (October 16, 1952 - March 29, 1966) and Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers (April 27, 1954 - February 28, 1955) and First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers (February 28, 1955 - July 15, 1964). He retained his posts and gradually became a key link in the Khrushchev administration. From July 15, 1964 - December 9, 1965 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Remaining formally a member of the Central Committee and the Presidium of the Supreme Council, respectively, until 1976 and 1974, he completely departed from political activity after the XXIII Party Congress (1966).

(February 5 (18), 1903, the village of Karlovka, Poltava province - January 11, 1983, Moscow). Born into a peasant family. He was secretary of the district committee of the Komsomol in the Poltava province in 1921-1923. He joined the CPSU(b) in 1930. Since 1931, he worked as an engineer, and then as a chief engineer at a number of sugar processing enterprises in Ukraine. In 1939 - Deputy People's Commissar of the Food Industry of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1940 he was appointed Deputy Commissar of the Food Industry of the USSR (1940-1942). In 1942-1944. headed the Moscow Technological Institute of the Food Industry, and then returned to Ukraine in his former position as Deputy People's Commissar of the Food Industry of the Ukrainian SSR (1944-1946). In 1946-1950 - permanent representative Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1953-1957 - the first secretary of the Kharkiv regional party committee, in 1957-1963 - the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. In 1952 he was appointed a member of the Central Audit Commission of the CPSU. Member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1956 to 1981. On June 18, 1958, he was elected a candidate member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. In the rank of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on May 4, 1960, he was transferred to the Presidium. June 21, 1963 approved by the Secretary of the Central Committee. From December 6, 1965 to June 16, 1977 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. On May 24, 1977, he was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee for disagreeing with Brezhnev's proposal to combine the highest state and party posts. Later, the session of the Supreme Council released Podgorny from the post of Chairman of the Presidium (June 16, 1977). Retired since 1977.

(January 31 (February 13), 1901, the village of Sofilovka, Kostroma province - Moscow) Born into a peasant family. From the age of 15 he began independent labor activity. In 1926 he graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Member of the CPSU since 1927. In 1927-31 an engineer at the Makeevka Metallurgical Plant. In 1931-33 he studied metallurgical production abroad. In 1933-37, he was deputy head of a shop, head of a laboratory at the Elektrostal plant (Noginsk). In 1937-40 engineer, chief engineer of Glavspetsstal. In 1940-43 Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, deputy member of the State Defense Committee for metallurgy. In 1943-44 chairman of the Central Committee of the workers' trade union ferrous metallurgy Center. In 1944-53 he was chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. Since 1945, a member of the General Council of the Executive Committee and vice-chairman of the World Federation of Trade Unions. Repeatedly headed Soviet professional delegations at international congresses and conferences. In 1953-55 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to the PRC. Since 1955 First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Delegate of the XIX - XXIV Congresses of the CPSU. From 1952 he was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in 1952-53 he was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. State Prize of the USSR (1941). Hero of Socialist Labor (1971). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-8th convocations. 11/10/1982-06/16/1983; 02/09/1984 - 04/11/1984 and 03/10 - 07/02/1985 - Acting Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

(06/02/1914, the village of Nagutskaya, Stavropol Territory - February 9, 1984, Moscow). In 1930 he graduated from the technical school of water transport in Rybinsk, Komsomol organizer of the shipyard. In 1937, in the wake of the struggle against the "enemies of the people", in the exposure of which Andropov took an active part, he was elected secretary, and a year later - the first secretary of the Yaroslavl regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1938 he was sent for party work to Karelia as the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Karelia. Since 1944 - the second secretary of the Petrozavodsk City Party Committee, since 1947 - the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelian-Finnish SSR, in 1951 he was transferred to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1953 he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Hungary. During the anti-communist uprising October 23 - November 4, 1956 - one of the organizers of its suppression. In 1967-1982 Chairman of the Committee state security(KGB). From 11/11/1982 - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. From 06/16/1983 to 02/09/1984 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

(September 11, 1911. the village of Bolshaya Tes, Krasnoyarsk Territory - March 10, Moscow). He joined the CPSU in 1931, since 1934 - in party work. In 1941 he was elected first secretary of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Party Committee. After graduating from the Higher Party School, he was elected secretary of the Penza regional committee. In 1950 he was transferred to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Moldova. Since February 1956 - in the secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Since 1960 - head of the secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, since 1965 - head of the organizational department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where he dealt with the training and appointment of senior party cadres. In 1967 he was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in 1978 he was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Hero of Socialist Labor (1969, 1979), laureate of the Lenin Prize (1982) and the State Prize of the USSR (1984). From 02/10/1984 - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. 04/11/1984 - 03/10/1985 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

(July 5, 1909, the village of Starye Gromyki, Gomel district, Mogilev province - July 2, 1989, Moscow). From peasants. Graduated from the Minsk Agricultural Institute (1932). In 1931 he joined the CPSU(b). Since 1936 he has been a senior researcher at the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1939 he was transferred to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (NKID) of the USSR in the department of American countries. In 1939-1943 he was an adviser to the USSR Embassy in the USA. Since 1943, he has been ambassador to the United States and at the same time envoy to Cuba. In 1944, he headed the Soviet delegation at the Washington Conference, where it was decided to establish the United Nations (UN), then the head of the Soviet delegation at the United Nations Conference in San Francisco (1945). Participated in the work of the Crimean and Berlin conferences in 1945. In 1946-1951 - the first permanent representative of the USSR to the UN. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 2, 5 - 11 convocations. From 1949 - 1st deputy. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1956-1989. (candidate since 1952), member of the Politburo of the Central Committee from 04/27/1973 to 09/30/1988. In 1952-53 he was the USSR ambassador to Great Britain. From March 1953 - 1st deputy. Minister, and from February 1957 - Minister of Foreign Affairs. From April 1973 to September 1988 he was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1969, 1979). Laureate of the Lenin (1982) and State (1984) Prizes of the USSR. In March 1983 - July 1985, at the same time, the 1st deputy. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. 2.7.1985 - 1.10.1988 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. Since October 1988 - retired.

(March 2, 1931, Privolnoye village, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory) October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR May 25, 1989 - March 15, 1990 - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991 - President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics From the peasants. He joined the ranks of the Komsomol in 1946. A student of the Moscow state university joined the CPSU in 1952. After graduating from the university, he worked in the Komsomol and party work in the Stavropol Territory. From September 1966 to August 1968, the first secretary of the Stavropol city committee and the second secretary of the Stavropol regional committee (August 1968 - April 1970). In April 1970 he was elected first secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee. Member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1971-1991), in 1978 approved by the Secretary of the Central Committee (November 27, 1978 - March 11, 1985). Candidate member of the Politburo (November 27, 1979 - October 21, 1980), member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from October 21, 1980 to August 24, 1991. On March 11, 1985, the Plenum of the Central Committee elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (March 11, 1985 - August 24, 1991). In 1988, he made major personnel changes in the Politburo and insisted on the resignation of many elderly party functionaries. October 1, 1988 was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After the adoption of amendments to the Constitution, the 1st Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was elected May 25, 1989 Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. III-th Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR March 14, 1990 elected the first President of the USSR. August 24, 1991 resigned as General Secretary of the Central Committee and left the CPSU. After the denunciation of the Union Treaty of 1922 by the Representatives of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus on December 8, 1991 and the signing of the protocol on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), he announced his resignation from the post of President of the USSR in a television address on December 25, 1991.

E-book "STATE DUMA IN RUSSIA IN 1906-2006" Transcripts of meetings and other documents.; Office of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Federal Archival Agency; Information company "Kodeks"; OOO "Agora IT"; Databases of "Consultant Plus" company; OOO NPP Garant-Service.

Image caption The royal family hid the illness of the heir to the throne

The controversy over President Vladimir Putin's state of health brings to mind Russian tradition: the first person was considered as an earthly deity, which was not supposed to be remembered irreverently and in vain.

Possessing practically unlimited power for life, the rulers of Russia fell ill and died like mere mortals. It is said that in the 1950s, one of the liberal-minded young "stadium poets" once said: "Only they have no control over heart attacks!"

Discussion of the personal lives of the leaders, including their physical condition, was banned. Russia is not America, where the analysis data of presidents and presidential candidates and their blood pressure figures are published.

Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolayevich, as you know, suffered from congenital hemophilia - a hereditary disease in which blood does not coagulate normally, and any injury can lead to death from internal hemorrhage.

The only person capable of improving his condition in some way still incomprehensible to science was Grigory Rasputin, who, in modern terms, was a strong psychic.

Nicholas II and his wife categorically did not want to make public the fact that their only son is actually a disabled person. Even ministers only in general terms knew that the Tsarevich had health problems. Ordinary people, seeing the heir during rare public outings in the arms of a hefty sailor, considered him a victim of an assassination attempt by terrorists.

Whether Alexei Nikolayevich could subsequently lead the country, or not, is unknown. His life at less than 14 years was cut short by a KGB bullet.

Vladimir Lenin

The founder of the Soviet state died unusually early, at the age of 54, from progressive atherosclerosis. An autopsy showed damage to the cerebral vessels incompatible with life. There were rumors that the development of the disease was provoked by untreated syphilis, but there is no evidence for this.

The first stroke, which resulted in partial paralysis and loss of speech, happened to Lenin on May 26, 1922. After that, for more than a year and a half he was at the dacha in Gorki in a helpless state, interrupted by short remissions.

Lenin is the only Soviet leader whose physical condition was not a secret. Medical bulletins were published regularly. At the same time, comrades-in-arms assured until the last days that the leader would recover. Joseph Stalin, who visited Lenin in Gorki more often than other members of the leadership, posted optimistic reports in Pravda about how he and Ilyich joked merrily about reinsurer doctors.

Joseph Stalin

The "Leader of the Peoples" in recent years suffered from severe damage to the cardiovascular system, probably aggravated by an unhealthy lifestyle: he worked hard, while turning night into day, ate fatty and spicy foods, smoked and drank, and did not like to be examined and treated.

According to some reports, the “doctors' case” began with the fact that professor-cardiologist Kogan advised a high-ranking patient to rest more. The suspicious dictator saw this as someone's attempt to remove him from business.

Having started the "doctors' case", Stalin was left without qualified medical care at all. Even the closest people could not talk to him on this topic, and he intimidated the servants so much that after a stroke that happened on March 1, 1953 at the Middle Dacha, he lay on the floor for several hours, as he had previously forbidden the guards to disturb him without calling.

Even after Stalin turned 70, public discussion of his health and forecasts of what would happen to the country after his departure were absolutely impossible in the USSR. The idea that we would ever be "without him" was considered blasphemous.

For the first time, the people were informed about Stalin's illness the day before his death, when he had long been unconscious.

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev in recent years, as the people joked, "ruled without regaining consciousness." The very possibility of such jokes confirmed that after Stalin the country had changed a lot.

The 75-year-old general secretary had enough senile illnesses. In particular, sluggish leukemia was mentioned. However, it is difficult to say from what, in fact, he died.

Doctors spoke of a general weakening of the body, caused by the abuse of sedatives and sleeping pills, which caused memory lapses, loss of coordination and speech disorder.

In 1979, Brezhnev lost consciousness during a meeting of the Politburo.

"You know, Mikhail," Yuri Andropov said to Mikhail Gorbachev, who had just been transferred to Moscow and was not accustomed to such scenes, "everything must be done to support Leonid Ilyich in this position as well. This is a matter of stability."

Brezhnev was politically killed by television. In the old days, his condition could have been hidden, but in the 1970s it was impossible to avoid regular appearances on the screen, including on the air.

The obvious inadequacy of the leader, combined with the complete absence of official information, caused an extremely negative reaction from society. Instead of pity for the sick person, the people responded with jokes and anecdotes.

Yuri Andropov

Yuri Andropov most of his life suffered from severe kidney damage, from which, in the end, he died.

The disease caused an increase in blood pressure. In the mid-1960s, Andropov was intensively treated for hypertension, but this did not give results, and there was a question about his retirement due to disability.

Kremlin doctor Yevgeny Chazov has had a dazzling career thanks to the fact that he correctly diagnosed the head of the KGB and gave him about 15 years of active life.

In June 1982, at the plenum of the Central Committee, when the speaker called from the rostrum to "give a party assessment" to the spreaders of rumors, Andropov unexpectedly intervened and said in a harsh tone that he was "warning for the last time" those who talk too much in conversations with foreigners. According to the researchers, he meant, first of all, leaks of information about his health.

In September, Andropov went on vacation to the Crimea, where he caught a cold and never got out of bed again. In the Kremlin hospital, he regularly underwent hemodialysis, a blood purification procedure using equipment that replaces normal work kidneys.

Unlike Brezhnev, who once fell asleep and did not wake up, Andropov died a long and painful death.

Konstantin Chernenko

After Andropov's death, the need to give the country a young dynamic leader was obvious to everyone. But the old members of the Politburo nominated 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko, formally the No. 2 man, as general secretary.

As the former Minister of Health of the USSR Boris Petrovsky later recalled, they all thought exclusively about how to die in office, they had no time for the country, and even more so, no time for reforms.

Chernenko had been ill with emphysema for a long time, heading the state, almost did not work, rarely appeared in public, spoke, choking and swallowing words.

In August 1983, he suffered a severe poisoning after eating on vacation in the Crimea fish caught and smoked by his neighbor in the country, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Vitaly Fedorchuk. Many were treated to the gift, but nothing bad happened to anyone else.

Konstantin Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. Three days earlier, elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the USSR. Television showed the General Secretary, who unsteadily walked up to the ballot box, dropped a ballot into it, waved his hand languidly and said indistinctly: "Good."

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin suffered from severe heart disease and reportedly suffered five heart attacks.

The first president of Russia was always proud of the fact that nothing takes him, went in for sports, swam in ice water and built his image on this in many respects, and was used to enduring ailments on his feet.

Yeltsin's health deteriorated sharply in the summer of 1995, but elections were ahead, and he refused extensive treatment, although doctors warned of "irreparable harm to health." According to journalist Alexander Khinshtein, he said: "After the elections, at least cut, but now leave me alone."

On June 26, 1996, a week before the second round of elections, Yeltsin had a heart attack in Kaliningrad, which was concealed with great difficulty.

On August 15, immediately after taking office, the president went to the clinic, where he underwent coronary bypass surgery. This time he conscientiously followed all the instructions of the doctors.

In the conditions of freedom of speech, it was difficult to hide the truth about the state of health of the head of state, but the entourage tried as best they could. It was admitted, in extreme cases, that he had ischemia and temporary colds. Press Secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that the president rarely appears in public, because he is extremely busy working with documents, but his handshake is ironclad.

Separately, the question of Boris Yeltsin's relationship with alcohol should be mentioned. Political opponents constantly exaggerated this topic. One of the main slogans of the Communists during the 1996 campaign was: "Instead of the drunken El, let's choose Zyuganov!"

Meanwhile, Yeltsin appeared in public "under the fly" the only time - during the famous conducting of the orchestra in Berlin.

The former head of the presidential guard, Alexander Korzhakov, who had no reason to shield the former chief, wrote in his memoirs that in September 1994 in Shannon, Yeltsin did not get off the plane to meet with the Prime Minister of Ireland, not because of intoxication, but because of a heart attack. After a quick consultation, the advisers decided that people should believe the "alcoholic" version rather than admit that the leader was seriously ill.

Retirement, regime and peace had a beneficial effect on the health of Boris Yeltsin. He lived in retirement for almost eight years, although in 1999, according to doctors, he was in serious condition.

Is it worth hiding the truth?

According to experts, the disease statesman, of course, not a plus, but in the era of the Internet it is pointless to hide the truth, and with skillful PR, you can even extract political dividends from it.

As an example, analysts point to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who made his fight against cancer good advertising. Supporters got a reason to be proud that their idol does not burn in the fire and even in the face of illness thinks about the country, and rallied around him even stronger.

He began his career after graduating from the 4th grade of the zemstvo school in the house of the nobleman Mordukhai-Bolotovsky. Here he served as a footman.

Then there were hard ordeals in search of work, later the position of an apprentice at a turner at the Stary Arsenal gun factory.

And then there was the Putilov factory. Here, for the first time, he encountered underground revolutionary organizations of workers, whose activities he had long heard about. He immediately joined them, joined the Social Democratic Party, and even organized his own educational circle at the factory.

After the first arrest and release, he left for the Caucasus (he was forbidden to live in St. Petersburg and its environs), where he continued his revolutionary activities.

After a second brief imprisonment, he moves to Revel, where he also actively establishes ties with revolutionary figures and activists. He begins to write articles for Iskra, collaborates with the newspaper as a correspondent, distributor, liaison, etc.

For several years, he was arrested 14 times! But he continued his work. By 1917 he played an important role in the Petrograd organization of the Bolsheviks and was elected a member of the executive committee of the St. Petersburg party committee. Actively participated in the development of the revolutionary program.

At the end of March 1919, Lenin personally proposed his candidacy for the post of chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Simultaneously with him, F. Dzerzhinsky, A. Beloborodov, N. Krestinsky and others applied for this post.

The first document that Kalinin made during the meeting was a declaration containing the immediate tasks of the All-Union Central Executive Committee.

During the civil war, he often visited the fronts, conducted active propaganda work among the soldiers, traveled to the villages of the village, where he held conversations with the peasants. Despite his high position, he was easy to communicate with, able to find an approach to anyone. In addition, he himself was from a peasant family and worked for many years at the factory. All this instilled confidence in him, forced to listen to his words.

For many years, people who faced a problem or injustice wrote to Kalinin, and in most cases received real help.

In 1932, thanks to him, the operation to expel several tens of thousands of dispossessed and expelled families from collective farms was stopped.

After the end of the war for Kalinin became a priority issues of economic and social development countries. Together with Lenin, he developed plans and documents for electrification, the restoration of heavy industry, the transport system and agriculture.

It was not without him when choosing the statute of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, drafting the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR, the union treaty, the Constitution and other significant documents.

During the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR, he was elected one of the chairmen of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

The main activity in foreign policy there was work on the recognition of the country of councils by other states.

In all his affairs, even after the death of Lenin, he strictly adhered to the line of development outlined by Ilyich.

On the first day of winter 1934, he signed a resolution that subsequently gave the "green light" for mass repressions.

In January 1938 he became chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been in this position for over 8 years. Resigned a few months before his death.