After the death of the Secretary General of the Communist Party, Yu. Andropov, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was elected to his post. For many, this appointment was a surprise, since the new Secretary General had multiple health problems and, apparently, did not apply for this position at all. As a result, he stayed at his post for no more than a year and died of acute heart and liver failure.
Konstantin Chernenko, biography: early life
The future Secretary General was born in 1911 on September 11 in a peasant family. His childhood passed in the distant Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes (flooded with the waters of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir since 1972 ) in the Yenisei province. Its roots come from Little Russia (Ukraine). As early as the 18th century, the ancestors of Chernenko settled on the banks of the Yenisei and began to engage in agriculture. His father, Ustin Demidovich, after the death of his first wife, the mother of Constantine and the other three children, got married a second time. But the stepmother’s relationship with two stepsons and two stepdaughters did not work out, and they had a difficult life in their father’s house. As a child, Konstantin Chernenko scrambled for local fists. Like all Soviet children, he was accepted into pioneers, and at the age of 14 he joined the Komsomol. And in 1926-1929. studied at a rural youth school in the city of Novoselovo.
Service
In 1931, K. Chernenko was drafted into the army. He received a referral to one of the border military units located in Hogos, on the territory of the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan (on the border with China). Over the two years of service, Konstantin Chernenko proved himself on the best side more than once: he took part in the elimination of the legendary gang of Bekmuratov, became a member in the CPSU (b), was elected secretary of the party organization of the frontier post.
Carier start
Returning from service, Chernenko is appointed director of the regional house of party education in the city of Krasnoyarsk. Along with this, he becomes the head of the department of agitation and propaganda in the Novoselovsky and Uyar districts. After the outbreak of World War II, he was elected secretary of the Communist Party of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Surely many, having read the biography of Konstantin Chernenko, will be surprised at his luck and will ask the question: how did he manage to advance so quickly in the service? There is a version that his sister, Valentina, who was the “girlfriend” of the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, comrade O. Aristov, played a big role in this.
War and post-war years
From 1943-1945 he receives a referral to Moscow to study at the higher school of party organizers. In a word, Konstantin Chernenko spent the whole war, whose photos are posted in the article, spent in the rear and did not participate in any of the hostilities. Nevertheless, during this period he received one award - “For Valiant Labor”. While still a student of a party school, he receives an appointment to the post of secretary of the regional committee of the Penza region, where he works until 1948. Then, from the center, he receives an order to move to the Moldavian SSR and head the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the republic.
Acquaintance with Brezhnev
In Chisinau, Chernenko meets Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. This meeting is a turning point in his fate. Two men begin to feel strong sympathy for each other, which soon develops into a strong friendship. After that, their career paths are intertwined in the most crowded way. In 1953, at the age of 42, Chernenko in absentia graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute and received a diploma of higher education. Three years later, returning to Moscow, not without the patronage of Leonid Ilyich, he received the post of head of the propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee, and from 1960 to 1965. heads the secretariat of the PVS of the USSR. In the same year, Chernenko became head of the Central Committee’s main department, where he worked until 1982. In the same period, he becomes Secretary of the CP. For many members of the Central Committee it becomes clear that the closest person to the new Secretary General is Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko. The years of Brezhnev 's rule were the most fruitful for him, and he ascended the career ladder almost to the very top. In addition to the posts that he held officially, he acted as the most trusted person of Leonid Ilyich. Many envied him, but were afraid.
Grey Cardinal
Sometimes it seemed that the country was ruled not by Brezhnev, but by Konstantin Chernenko, because it was he who performed many functions for the general secretary. And then he was nicknamed the “gray cardinal,” because they suspected that all the important decisions came from him. Leonid Ilyich practically in everything considered his opinion. In a word, Chernenko became an indispensable person for him. On top of that, Brezhnev felt that Kostya (as he affectionately called him) did not pose any threat to his power, since he felt comfortable in the “position” of the right hand of the country's leader.
Trips
Brezhnev’s dependence on Chernenko reached such proportions that he couldn’t even take a step without him. Chernenko accompanied the Secretary General on foreign trips. In 1975, they paid an official visit to Finland, and in 1979 went to Austria. There were several more visits to the socialist countries.
Personal life
K. Chernenko was married twice. His first wife was Faina Vasilievna, who bore him a son and daughter. Several years of married life showed that their marriage was a mistake, and the couple broke up. Nevertheless, Konstantin Ustinovich took care of his children, and later engaged in their promotion on the career ladder. Thus, as a very young man, his son became the 1st secretary of the city committee of the city of Tomsk. My daughter, Vera, had the opportunity to go to study in Washington. The second time, Konstantin Ustinovich married in 1944. Anna Dmitrievna became his new wife. Wise, calculating woman. They say that she knew how to give the right advice to her husband and that it was she who contributed to the emergence of a strong friendship between Brezhnev and Chernenko.
Prophecies ... Belatedly
Since 1974, Brezhnev was seriously ill. And his entourage, of course, thought about who would become his successor. Since Chernenko was the closest person to the Secretary General in those years, it was he who was considered the main candidate for the post of head of state. However, when in November 1982, Brezhnev died in a dream, the first to him were Gromyko and Andropov. Today, details of the day of the death of the Soviet leader are already known, and some details give cause for reflection. At the bed of the deceased, in a narrow circle, it was decided that he would replace him as Secretary General of Brezhnev ... no, not Chernenko, but Yuri Andropov. However, he did not have to take this post for a long time, and a year later the prophecies came true: Konstantin Ustinovich became the head of the Soviet Union. There is a version that his election was promoted by a decision secretly made by an “aging” political bureau, dreaming of restoration, or rather, resuscitation of the Brezhnev era.
Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich: foreign and domestic policy
February 13, 1984, two months before the death of Yu. Andropov, the country recognized the name of the new Secretary General. They became Konstantin Chernenko - the same gray cardinal under the reign of Brezhnev. He was 73 years old and had serious health problems. Nevertheless, the new Secretary General took an active part in the creation of the new Constitution of the USSR. Over the years of service to the Fatherland, he was awarded the Golden Star Order and the title Hero of Socialist Labor three times.
In April of the same year, after the death of Andropov, he was elected chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces. In the short time of his reign, despite frequent deterioration of health, Chernenko still managed to commemorate him with several important events. Under him, several reforms of school education were made. September 1 in the country officially became known as the Day of Knowledge. Chernenko drew attention to the detrimental influence on the youth of Western rock music, as a result, a struggle was waged in the country with amateur music groups. As for foreign policy, during his reign, a warming of relations with the PRC, as well as with Spain, began to be observed. For the first time in the history of diplomatic relations, the king of Spain arrived in Moscow. But with the United States, on the contrary, relations have worsened even more. It was decided to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
More details about 390 days of his reign can be found in the book of Viktor Pribytkov “The Apparatus of Konstantin Chernenko”. There are many interesting facts that will shed light on that short period in the life of the Soviet Union.
K.U. Chernenko died in the hospital in 1985, March 10, and was the last party leader of the USSR, who was buried near the Kremlin walls.