Table of contents:
- How did the "Brezhnev" government adapt to the people? Little Deal between the government and the people
- "Vegetarian times": or rejection of repression as an effective tool to improve "mutual understanding" between the government and the people
- The steady growth of the well-being of the Russian people is the second component of the Little Deal course
- How Little Deal's policy affected the life of the Soviet population and the government itself
Video: How Brezhnev tried to be friends with the Soviet people, and what are "vegetarian times"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The period of developed socialism (1964-1985), which was declared “Brezhnev's stagnation” after the change in the social and social system in 1991, is characterized by both an increase in the material well-being of people and a sharp decline in the number of arrested dissidents. It was under Leonid Brezhnev that the system of mass punishment was replaced by an incentive reward system, which marked Akhmatov's "vegetarian times".
How did the "Brezhnev" government adapt to the people? Little Deal between the government and the people
The reign of Brezhnev (1964-1982), the so-called "Brezhnev stagnation", can be regarded as a process of mutual adaptation of the authorities and the people to new living conditions. American political scientist and economist J. Robert Millar gave a definition of such coadaptation, calling it a "Little Deal". In his opinion, the essence of the deal was that, while guaranteeing the population social security and a certain level of well-being, the state condoned low labor productivity, a hidden economy and the presence of private property in the form of private households among collective farmers.
The Soviet people, even before Millar's conclusions, derived the main condition for such a deal: "Let them pretend that we are being paid, and we pretend that we are working." These words clearly showed the loyalty of citizens to the authorities and spoke about the adoption of official rules instead of the state's ignorance of non-compliance with certain socialist foundations and norms.
The specificity of this period consisted in the absence of confrontation between the people and the authorities, since the adaptation of the “top” and “bottom” took place mainly by mutual desire. The authorities preferred ideological propaganda to large-scale political repressions, as well as a system of material and moral encouragement for any activity for the good of the country. In turn, the people allegedly assimilated the basic socialist ideals and values, having adapted, in fact, to simply live in the current internal political situation.
"Vegetarian times": or rejection of repression as an effective tool to improve "mutual understanding" between the government and the people
There is no doubt that the success of Little Deal consisted, first of all, in the refusal of the state authorities to use massive punishments for political beliefs. So, during the reign of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the results of the KGB's activities were characterized by the lowest indicators for the entire period of the existence of the socialist system.
For comparison: at the time of Khrushchev (1956-1965) under the article "Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda", more than 570 "political" were sentenced to imprisonment annually. During the years of "stagnation", in 1966-1980, 123 anti-Soviet people were convicted in the order, and in the period from 1981 to 1985 - less than 120 people a year.
Despite the fact that not all dissidents served prison terms - some of them were subjected to compulsory psychiatric treatment - the statistics on the number of arrested "enemies of the people" dropped sharply. This happened due to the replacement of repressive practices with preventive "processing" with an ideological component.
Remembering the words of Akhmatova, it is about the period of Brezhnev's rule that one can speak of the “vegetarian time” - when, instead of the punishing “stick,” the “carrot” in the form of a system of awards and incentives began to be used with noticeable success.
The steady growth of the well-being of the Russian people is the second component of the Little Deal course
The second fundamental Little Deal is the orientation of the economic course towards the growth of the people's well-being. According to the Secretary General himself, his main concerns were "bread for the people and the security of the country." Judging by the working records, the leader of the USSR was telling the truth: first of all, he was worried about the level of provision of citizens with food, and, as a result, secondly, the development of agriculture in all directions.
In accordance with this, special attention was paid to the state of the personal economy of collective farmers and the realistic planning of the agricultural sector. Having identified the weaknesses that hinder agricultural production, the leadership of the Union developed a course for improving technical equipment and increasing the use of chemical fertilizers, setting specific tasks for the next five years, independent planning of crop rotation by agricultural enterprises, and introducing self-supporting relations.
Brezhnev believed that by strengthening the economic position of collective and state farms, it was possible to achieve a reduction in the cost of all agricultural products. His calculations turned out to be correct: the economic growth of agricultural production led to an increase in the range of inexpensive food products, as well as an uninterrupted supply of them.
How Little Deal's policy affected the life of the Soviet population and the government itself
The result of the "small deal" was a real improvement in the life of Soviet citizens, to which the country's supreme power was striving. However, following this course, the leadership of the CPSU fell into a trap: the retention of low prices for food, together with an increase in wages with insufficient productivity, over time, had a negative impact on the economy of the national economy.
Along with the satisfaction of food needs, the people have new - material. The idea of building communism, for the sake of which the new social system was created, was replaced by the desire to have symbols of a "beautiful" life - expensive clothes, a car, prestigious household appliances … Having received an unattainable thing yesterday, people wanted more.
Paradoxically, but it was Brezhnev's concern for the "steady growth of the people's material well-being" that ultimately led to perestroika. Having turned into a verbal formality, the idea of building communism went into oblivion, making room for exclusively commodity-money relations and unlimited consumerism.
And it is also interesting learn about the forbidden romance of Brezhnev's niece.
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