RUSSIA: Russia marks 100 years since the birth of the Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev

This month Russia marks 100 years since the birth of the Soviet dictator, Leonid Brezhnev. He was born on Dec. 19, 1906 in a town in what is now Ukraine, but was then the czarist Russian empire. Brezhnev, who ruled from 1964 to his death in 1982, is known for his total clamp down on dissent and brutal suppression of human rights after a brief thaw under Nikita Khrushchev. He also expanded the Soviet empire to its greatest extent by financing socialist coup d'etats and revolutions around the globe. On the 100th anniversary of his birth Russians are looking back on Brezhnev's iron-fisted rule with a nostalgia that is coloured by communist hyperbole. "During his years at the helm, [Brezhnev] got things done,'' said Gennady Zyuganov, the current leader of Russia's Communist Party. "Industrial production almost tripled and the standard of living doubled.'' "These years were a renaissance,'' said Alexei Ponamarev, a Moscow resident. "Even though people call it the 'time of stagnation' in fact these years were a time of rebirth.'' Indeed, after the destruction of World War II, and the upheavals of the Stalin era, Russia had reached rock bottom. Brezhnev's early years did see some improvement, though in terms of living standards the country still lagged far behind other industrial nations. Soon the cost of the arms race with the United States and maintaining a vast empire across the globe began to be felt. By the 1970s the country was plagued by shortages of even the most basic consumer goods and foodstuffs. "It's true that he stayed in power too long,'' said Tatyana Svartsova, a Moscow resident. "He should have stepped down earlier in order to make way for a younger person. If he had done that then we might not be in the situation we are in today.'' Brezhnev's Dec. 19 centenary has prompted a slew of exhibitions, films and television documentaries that all focus on the same themes: nostalgia for the certainties of the Brezhnev era and a yearning to recapture a time when the rest of the world treated the Kremlin with awed respect. Born into a working class family, Brezhnev worked his way up through the Soviet bureaucracy and was a compromise choice to be general-secretary of the Communist Party when Nikita Khrushchev was ousted in 1964. Under Brezhnev, writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was exiled to the United States and dissident Andrei Sakharov was put under house arrest. The Cold War was in full swing. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, an operation that later turned into a military disaster. But the bloody purges of the Stalin period and the turmoil under Khrushchev were over. The communist party elite yearned for stability and wanted to enjoy their privileged status without fear of dismissal. They enjoyed the finest housing and consumer goods available. The vast majority of Russians, however, lived in abysmal poverty and were plagued by shortages of goods. The daily diet of communist propaganda that life was worse in the West kept the people content with their lot. Alcoholism became rampant, however. A period of economic and political stability - known among common Russians as 'stagnation' took over. Nearly all innovation, progress, or attempt to reform of change society was officially discouraged and quashed. The stability offered by Brezhnev and high oil prices proved to be an illusion. After Brezhnev's death in 1982, Soviet rule quickly unravelled. The economy went into terminal decline. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took over and tried to reform the system. But it was too late. The system proved rotten to the core. Still, few Russians today make the connection between the detrimental policies of the Brezhnev era and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead, many see Brezhnev's rule as the Soviet Union's high-water mark. The State Historical Museum on Red Square, located just a few hundred metres (yards) from the spot where Brezhnev used to wave stiffly as tanks and missile launchers rolled past in military parades, is exhibiting photographs taken by the Soviet leader's personal photographer. Most of the photos are bland, lack revelation about Brezhnev's character, and have an official feel to them. Attendance at the exhibit has been lacklustre. When the photos were originally taken, the photographer had a certain task, and one which is similar today --- to show the Soviet leader in a positive light. "My work wasn't just about taking photos,'' said Vladimir Musaelyan, who for most of Brezhnev's 18 years in office was his personal photographer. ``I worked on his image. So of course we were friends.'' A small number of the images are more candid, however. One previously unseen image shows Brezhnev on a hunting trip. In another he is drinking champagne with Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the back of a speedboat. "When I started working for him I couldn't keep up,'' said Vladimir Musaelyan. ``I was 28 and he was 64. He travelled a lot around the country, maybe 20 or 30 days at a time. Of course, I was tired after all this. But I was amazed how he could do this. He usually took only 8 minutes to eat and so in the beginning I often went hungry until I also learned to eat fast.'' Today, Russia is plagued by high crime, corruption, and police abuse, all of which are out of control and growing. These factors, more than anything, fuel the nostalgia for Brezhnev's "era of stagnation''.

ITN Source | December 19, 2006

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