Lenin and Stalin did not like to kiss, at least in public. True, there was a case when the legendary Chkalov hugged Joseph Vissarionovich from an excess of feelings, but this does not count.
The emergence of party fashion kisses
Fashion for government kisses introduced N. S. Khrushchev. His rise to power marked a certain warming of the domestic political situation. Obviously, like any spring phenomenon, it caused a surge of positive emotions, expressed in this gesture, meaning the manifestation of love for one's neighbor, including in the Christian sense of the word. After the asceticism of the Stalin years, the kisses of the leaders of the party and government looked sincere and quite natural. They were readily accepted as the norm of behavior along with the words “our dear”, which came into use at the turn of the sixties.
It is impossible to attribute the manifestation of the First Secretary’s affection to Easter kisses, he did not like the church, and by all means tried to limit its activity. Nikita Sergeyevich received his last official kiss at the plane’s gangway in October 1964 from Klim Voroshilov, whom the participants in his deposition did not inform in advance of their serious intentions. Nobody from the Central Committee members wanted to cuddle with him anymore, although earlier it had happened. During the years of his reign, everyone kissed Khrushchev: Brezhnev, Semichastny, Mikoyan, and Kosygin. In fairness, it should be noted that he showed his feelings timidly, somehow in a pioneer way, and did not abuse this gesture, deeply intimate, showing voluntarism in other matters.
Triple Brezhnev
After embarrassment at the airport, a plenum took place, at which Leonid Brezhnev was elected secretary general. The kiss quickly enough became part of the party ritual, demonstrating to the Soviet people and the entire world community the deeply human essence of their native power. It was impossible to suspect the head of state of any perverse inclinations, and not because someone was afraid of the all-powerful KGB. For him, dear, the fame was firmly entrenched not only for a “walker,” but for a well-known lover of beautiful women, and he himself could afford to behave as he saw fit, and to show his feelings as he pleases.
Brezhnev's first kiss, which went down in the history of the USSR, made a huge impression on the citizens of Czechoslovakia. Gustav Gusak was kissed three times, in a completely Orthodox way, on the cheeks and lips. Perhaps the representatives of the fraternal Slavic peoples who inhabited the then Czechoslovakia would have been more tolerant of this act if it had not been for the preceding events of 1968, after which sarcasm and causticity had formed in their abundance. Showing a reactionary thinking, they called this kiss a “triple Brezhnev,” apparently hinting that a larger numeral definition is possible.
Refuseniks
The Romanian communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was less tolerant . He suffered from bacteriophobia, was terribly afraid of infection by pathogens, and therefore avoided contact with all possible sources of bacilli. Brezhnev’s kiss, he believed, could have caused an infection, since no one wiped alcohol on the Soviet leader, and he was not sterile. History is silent about exactly what words the head of the CRC expressed his disagreement, but he still managed to avoid kissing.
The famous Brezhnev kisses caused serious concern of the British Foreign Ministry on the eve of the forthcoming government visit in 1971. The Iron Lady, who went through a harsh school in the political struggle, was faced with a situation analogous to which the parliament of foggy Albion did not know. Thatcher, like the unyielding Romanian, managed to escape the friendly embrace, which at that moment, she was probably more afraid of than all Soviet ballistic missiles combined.
Fidel Castro wittily turned away, he just lit a cigarette on the ramp, and so, with his cigarette in his mouth, he went to greet him. The case came with a strong handshake and a hug, which is perfectly acceptable on Liberty Island. But kissing with Cuban men is not accepted.
Each kiss Brezhnev fixed lenses
But the young American, who arrived as part of a delegation in Moscow in 1973, got a kiss by Brezhnev, who went down in the history of the USSR and the USA at the same time. Dear Leonid Ilyich, every normal man will understand: a pretty girl gives flowers, how can I stay here? Annie Hallman, a dance teacher, immediately became a celebrity, which, apparently, did not mind. Few Americans could boast of such an event in their lives, except perhaps Jimmy Carter, president. He also got it.
Not sparing the suffering lips
Indira Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, many other leaders of the socialist world, rulers and dictators of developing countries, Latin American liberators fighting against neocolonialism, African leaders and other representatives of progressive humanity were received in Moscow as dear guests. And magnificent receptions invariably supplemented by the legendary kiss of Brezhnev. Perhaps not all guests liked this, but for political and economic reasons they tolerated it. Joseph Broz Tito, according to unverified rumors, got more than others, he even injured his lip.
The most famous kiss of Brezhnev, which went down in the history of the USSR and the whole world
But the most famous and replicated kiss of Brezhnev, which went down in the history of the USSR, East Germany and all of Europe, happened in 1971. The artist Dmitry Vrubel redrawn it with a photo using the graffiti method on the Berlin Wall shortly before its fall, perpetuating the epoch-making moment of an unprecedented unity of the leaders of the countries of the socialist community. Eric Honneker is almost invisible, he can only be recognized by his glasses and hairstyle. It is difficult to explain why this particular moment of eventful Soviet history became so famous. The meeting of the leaders of the USSR and the GDR in the early seventies was a common thing, its protocol was also not original. The kiss of Leonid Brezhnev expressed only sincere respect for the elderly communist and anti-fascist. There was no hypocrisy in him, such was the party ethics that had developed over decades. In general, nothing special.
But when M. S. Gorbachev tried to do the same, everything looked completely different ...