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November 1982 was marked by caution and stability. In domestic policy, the
Brezhnev years were guided by the policy of “stability of cadres.” The unpre-
dictable bureaucratic maneuvers of the Khrushchev years gave way to a stable
conservative party that successfully resisted threats to its control as with the
derailment of the 1965 “Kosygin reform,” which would have injected some mea-
sure of market mechanism into the Soviet command economy, Stalin's arbitrary
terror, which had affected party and nonparty members alike, gave way to a more
selective persecution of the small group of political and religious dissidents
through job harassment and the disturbing use of “psychoprisons,” condemned
by the international community. The period of postwar growth gradually ended,
as the economy stalled and corruption spread through the system.
In foreign policy, Brezhnev is generally associated with two major develop-
ments: the articulation and implementation of the Brezhnev Doctrine with
regard to the Soviet satellites and the policy of détente with the West. The Brezh-
nev Doctrine, used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968,
gave the Soviet Union and its allies the right to intervene in Soviet socialist states
if they judged socialism was under threat. Brezhnev was more personally asso-
ciated with the relaxation of relations with the West, beginning with the nor-
malization of relations with West Germany in 1970, through summit meetings
in Moscow and Vladivostok with U.S. President Richard Nixon, and culminating
with the Helsinki Agreement of 1975, generally seen as favorable to Soviet inter-
ests. Détente in Europe, however, did not mean an end to the cold war, as the
two superpowers jockeyed for influence in the Third World. During these years
the Soviet Union extended its influences to places like Angola, Ethiopia, and
North Vietnam, in addition to providing crucial subsidies to the Castro regime in
Cuba. After 1976, as U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan pursued
less conciliatory policies, U.S.-Soviet relations rapidly deteriorated over issues of
human rights, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the rise of the Soli-
darity trade union in Poland in 1980-81, and the Reagan administration's desire
to place missiles in Western Europe.
Brezhnev's final five years in office were marked by ill health and his inabil-
ity to perform basic duties of leadership, punctuated by numerous Kremlin-level
intrigues over the impending succession. Brezhnev died from a heart attack on
November 10, 1982, three days after standing for long hours on Red Square
watching the traditional parade celebrating the anniversary of the October Rev-
olution. The most significant development of this period was the nation's deep-
ening economic crisis. Evident in both agriculture and industry, Soviet
economic problems made the country increasingly dependent on Western
countries like the United States for technology and even for food. Paradoxically,
the Brezhnev years produced a massive expansion of Soviet military strength,
including a large, modern navy. During this period, Soviet diplomatic contacts
and influence likewise grew, notably in Africa and the Middle East. A significant
development within the Soviet Union was the emergence of a dissident com-
munity that included world-famous writers and scientists. Thus, criticism of the
Soviet system became louder and more widely heard than at any time since the
1920s.
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