Soviet party and statesman. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1984-1985), Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1984-1985).

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was born on September 11 (24), 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, Minusinsk district, Yenisei province (later in, now does not exist - flooded in 1972 in connection with the creation of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir) in the family of the peasant Ustin Demidovich Chernenko.

From an early age, K. U. Chernenko worked for hire from the kulaks. In 1926 he joined the Komsomol. In 1929 he graduated from a three-year school for rural youth in.

In 1929-1930, K.U. Chernenko headed the department of propaganda and agitation of the Novoselovsky district committee of the Komsomol of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

In 1930-1933, K. U. Chernenko served in the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR, at the Khorgos and Narynkol border outposts in Kazakhstan. In 1931 he joined the CPSU (b). He was the secretary of the party organization of the 49th border detachment, commanded the border detachment and participated in the liquidation of Bekmuratov’s gang.

In 1933-1941, K. U. Chernenko headed the propaganda and agitation departments of the Novoselovsky, Uyarsky and Kuraginsky district party committees, and headed the Krasnoyarsk regional house of party education. In 1941-1943, he served as secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee, but then left this post to receive an education at the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1943-1945).

In 1945-1948, K. U. Chernenko worked as secretary for ideology in the Penza Regional Committee of the CPSU (b). In 1948-1956, he headed the department of propaganda and agitation in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was there in July 1950 that he met with, with whom his entire subsequent party career was connected.

In 1953, K. U. Chernenko graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute.

In 1956, K. U. Chernenko, on the initiative of L. I. Brezhnev, was promoted to the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee to the position of head of the sector of the propaganda department. Since 1960, he worked as the head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1965, he was approved as head of the general department of the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1966-1971, K. U. Chernenko was a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. At the XXIV Congress of the CPSU (1971) he was elected a member of the party Central Committee, and in March 1976 he became secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Twice K. U. Chernenko accompanied L. I. Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki for the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in 1979 - to Vienna for negotiations on disarmament issues.

K.U. Chernenko was considered a close ally and promoter of L.I. Brezhnev. However, after the death of the latter, he was unable to find sufficient support among factions in the party leadership to take the post of General Secretary, which ultimately went to the one elected by the plenum of the Central Committee on November 12, 1982. The course of the new party leadership to strengthen the fight against corruption and reduce the privileges of the party apparatus caused a negative reaction from the nomenklatura. Therefore, after the death of Yu. V. Andropov in 1984, sentiments in favor of resuscitation of the Brezhnev era prevailed.

At the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, held on February 13, 1984, K. U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. On April 11, 1984, he also took over the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Rapidly deteriorating health did not allow K.U. Chernenko to exercise real governance of the country. He spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital, where meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were even held. There were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers under K.U. Chernenko.

While K.U. Chernenko was in power, detente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense. In 1984, the USSR, in response to the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

K. U. Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. He became the last of the leaders of the Soviet Union to be buried at the Kremlin wall behind the Mausoleum on

Konstantin Chernenko was born in 1911 into a peasant family in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. No special information about the parents has been preserved. It is known that his father was from Ukraine, and his mother died of typhus in 1919.

Konstantin Ustinovich began to work from an early age, worked for wealthy peasants, and helped his family with housework. At his place of residence he graduated from a three-year school for rural youth.

Already in 1929, Chernenko worked as head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky district committee of the Komsomol. In 1931 he was drafted into the army and served in Kazakhstan. The border detachment in which Chernenko served took part in the liquidation of Basmachi gangs. In the army, Konstantin Ustinovich joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and was elected secretary of the party organization of the border detachment.

At party work

In 1933, after serving in the army, he returned to his homeland and took the post of head of the Novoselovsky agitation and propaganda department, as well as the Uyarsky district party committee of the Krasnoyarsk region, and later headed the Krasnoyarsk regional house of party education.

In 1941-1943 he was elected secretary of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and in 1943-1945 he studied at the Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. After graduating from school, Chernenko was sent to work in the Penza region, where he was elected secretary of the Penza regional party committee.

In 1948, Chernenko was transferred to work in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. He again worked as head of the propaganda and agitation department. At the Central Committee he met Leonid Brezhnev. This acquaintance would later develop into a strong friendship that bound them until the end of their lives. At this time, L.I. Brezhnev was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova.

Work in the CPSU Central Committee

Chernenko's career growth is inextricably linked with Brezhnev's promotion. After the latter was transferred to the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chernenko was also transferred there. During his twenty-two years of work at the CPSU Central Committee, Chernenko went from head of a sector to a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Over all these years, Chernenko became the main and indispensable assistant for Brezhnev. All mail addressed to the Secretary General passed through Konstantin Ustinovich; many decisions were made on behalf of the Secretary General, but came directly from Chernenko.

Over time, almost everyone got the impression that Chernenko was the most possible successor to Leonid Ilyich. But after Brezhnev’s death there were two contenders for this post. The Politburo recommended that Chernenko nominate Yu. Andropov for the post of General Secretary. As a result, Andropov was elected to the post of Secretary General.

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee

On February 13, 1984, after the death of Andropov, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was unanimously elected head of the party and state. By this time he was already seriously ill. He spent most of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital.

Some historians and publicists say that the reforms started by Andropov began to wind down, but this is not so. Many initiatives continued and even expanded significantly. First of all, this affected the fight against the shadow economy. Under Chernenko, words about restructuring the governance of the country and the entire economic mechanism began to be heard more often.

Under Chernenko, projects began to be implemented, but were never completed: rehabilitation, school reform, strengthening the role of trade unions. Talk began about a new program of the CPSU. Chernenko reinstated Vyacheslav Molotov in the party.

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. His entire reign lasted one year and twenty-five days. He became the last one buried at the Kremlin wall.

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from February 13 to March 10, 1985. Today there is a special interest in Chernenko’s personality in society.

He did not rule the country for long, but still left a certain mark on history.

Memories about him also appear on television, and the printed press is not far behind, in which one can also find notes about the General Secretary.

Konstantin Chernenko was born in September 1911, in one of the villages of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. His father was a native of Ukraine, there is little information about his mother, it is only known that in 1919 she died of typhus.

As a young boy, the boy was no stranger to work. From an early age, Konstantin worked for wealthy peasants, helping them with their household chores.

In 1929, Chernenko worked in the propaganda department of the local Komsomol committee. At the same time, he graduated from school and became the head of the propaganda department of the district Komsomol committee.

A year later he goes to serve in the NKVD border troops. Soon he joins the All-Union Communist Party of Belarus and becomes secretary of the party organization of his border detachment.

Over the years of service, he managed to become the commander of his squad. Several years before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Konstantin Chernenko was appointed secretary of the Krasnoyarsk People's Commissar of the Party.

In 1943, he goes to Moscow and enters the Higher School of Party Organizers. With the outbreak of the war, before arriving in Moscow, Chernenko was involved in mobilizing the population of Krasnoyarsk into the ranks of the Red Army.

For his work he was awarded a commemorative medal - “For Valiant Labor”.

After graduating in 1945, he would work for three years as secretary of the regional committee in Penza. Later he will be transferred to Moldova, to manage party work on agitation and propaganda of communist ideology.

In Moldova, Konstantin Ustinovich met. Acquaintance grew into friendship. In 1953, Chernenko graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute.

In subsequent years, his career progressed exclusively. In 1956, he became a member of the apparatus of the Central Committee of the KSPP and worked as head of the propaganda department.

In 1960 - chief of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. In 1965 he promoted to head of the General Department of the party. In 1976, Konstantin Chernenko was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor and received. Two years later he became a member of the party's Politburo.

During the reign of Leonid Brezhnev, Chernenko held high positions. The most important documents passed through him, Konstantin Ustinovich was an important figure in the state apparatus, and knew almost everything that was happening in the country and behind the scenes of the party.

At the end of the seventies, rumor predicted Chernenko to replace Brezhnev. But after the death of Leonid Ilyich, the country was headed by Konstantin Ustinovich, who did not live long, and after his death, Konstantin Ustinovich was elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Chernenko at that time was a sickly person, and spent most of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital. Under him, the USSR boycotted the Olympics in Los Angeles.

Under the new Secretary General, the USSR was going to carry out several reforms, which remained unfinished. It was under Chernenko that such a holiday as the Day of Knowledge was established.

Konstantin Ustinovich died on March 10, 1985. Chernenko ruled the country for only one year and 25 days. He was buried on March 13 in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.

Predecessor:	Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
Successor:	Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
9th Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR April 11, 1984 - March 10, 1985
Predecessor:
Successor:	Vasily Vasilievich Kuznetsov (acting)
Education:	Higher School of Party Organizers under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1945), Chisinau Pedagogical Institute (1953)
Birth:
	Ustin Demidovich Chernenko (died in the 1930s)
	Kharitina Dmitrievna Chernenko (died 1919)
	1) Faina Vasilievna, 2) Anna Dmitrievna (born 1913)
	Albert (from 1st marriage), Elena, Vera, Vladimir (from 2nd marriage)
Autograph:
	Foreign awards

Youth

In the Central Committee of the CPSU

Secretary General

Death and legacy

Film incarnations

(September 11 (24), 1911 - March 10, 1985) - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from February 13, 1984, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from April 11, 1984 (deputy - since 1966). Member of the CPSU since 1931, member of the CPSU Central Committee since 1971 (candidate since 1966), member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee since 1978 (candidate since 1977).

Parents and family

Father, Ustin Demidovich, moved from Ukraine to the Siberian village of Bolshaya Tes, Novoselovsky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory, at the end of the 19th century. He lived in a spacious house on the banks of a large river. He didn’t want to work on the land; in the hope of quickly getting rich, he went to the waste industry: first to the copper mines, then to the gold mines. His wife, Kharitina Dmitrievna, did the sowing work. Tall, strong, fast, she lifted and threw three-pound bags in her hands. After her death from typhus in 1919, Ustin married a second time. From his first marriage there were two daughters and two sons. The children did not like the stepmother. The village of Bolshaya Tes, where they were born, was later flooded by a new sea during the creation of the Krasnoyarsk reservoir in 1972, and its inhabitants were resettled to Novoselovo.

Chernenko's sister, Valentina Ustinovna, was born a little earlier than Konstantin Ustinovich. She had a strong, authoritative character.

I also played some role in Chernenko’s nomination. Chernenko worked in Krasnoyarsk. His sister, Valentina Ustinovna, is a smart girl, a little older than Konstantin. She was very friendly with Oleg Borisovich Aristov, who worked as the first secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional committee. Aristov's wife died, he was a widower. Valentina Ustinovna's husband died at the front. Well, they were dating. Valentina Ustinovna then worked as the head of the organizational department of the Krasnoyarsk city committee of the CPSU. At that time I was secretary in Chita. As a member of the military council of the Transbaikal district, I had an airplane. When I was flying to Moscow, Siberian secretaries called me: “Capture.” I captured Khvorostukhin in Irkutsk, and Aristov in Krasnoyarsk. And Aristov very often traveled with Valentina Ustinovna. And one day I took this Kostya with me. Aristov sent him to study at the Higher Party School. We met often in Moscow. Aristov was always with Valentina Ustinovna, and Kostya often came into the hotel room. Once, when the conversation in the Central Committee turned to personnel for Moldova, I went ahead and said that Chernenko could provide propaganda issues; he graduated from the Higher Party School. Aristov supported my proposal. Then Constantine was sent to Moldova. There Brezhnev met him. In fact, they say he couldn’t write properly, but he helped Brezhnev compose speeches. Then Brezhnev showed up in Moscow. And Kostya fled from Moldova. Gennady Voronov

The General Secretary's brother, Nikolai Ustinovich, served in the police in the Tomsk region; I wasn’t in the war. In the early 80s he worked as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR (oversaw educational institutions). Chernenko's other brother's name was Alexander.

Chernenko's first wife's name was Faina Vasilievna. She was born in the Novoselovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The marriage did not work out with her, but during this period a son, Albert, was born. Albert Chernenko was the secretary of the Tomsk city committee of the CPSU for ideological work, the rector of the Novosibirsk Higher Party School. He defended his doctoral dissertation “Problems of Historical Causality” while working in the party. In the last years of his life, he was deputy dean of the law faculty of Tomsk State University located in Novosibirsk. Lived in Novosibirsk. He believed that the theory of convergence - the combination of opposites, in particular capitalism and socialism - was closest to him. Albert Konstantinovich Chernenko has two sons: Vladimir and Dmitry.

Second wife - Anna Dmitrievna (nee Lyubimova) was born on September 3, 1913 in the Rostov region.

Graduated from the Saratov Institute of Agricultural Engineering. She was a Komsomol organizer for the course, a member of the faculty bureau, and secretary of the Komsomol committee. In 1944 she married K.U. Chernenko. She protected her sick husband from going hunting with Brezhnev. Anna Dmitrievna was short, with a shy smile. From her marriage there were children: Vladimir, Vera and Elena.

Vladimir Konstantinovich Chernenko was born in Chisinau in 1936, died of heart failure in 2006. His wife Galina Ivanovna. Has a son (born in 1980), named after Kostya’s grandfather. Vladimir’s son graduated from the Ryazan Airborne School, and daughter Olesya is a schoolgirl.

Elena Konstantinovna was born in Penza. Like her father, she graduated from a pedagogical institute. Educators have always tended to adhere to views that emphasize the importance of education, which is understandable since they themselves are, by definition, educators. In 1974, Elena Chernenko defended her PhD thesis in philosophy on the topic: “Methodological problems of social determinism of human biology.” The very title of this work indicates the positions defended by its author. In 1979, E. Chernenko, together with K. E. Tarasov, published a book based on the dissertation materials and entitled “Social Determination of Human Biology”; in this book, referring to the works of the classics of Marxism, the authors defended the point of view of the primacy of the “social” in the formation of human behavior. In the introduction to their book, Tarasov and Chernenko write that their goal was to demonstrate “the social determinacy of human biology and reveal the meaning of its only correct, Marxist solution” (p. 5). It must be said that, in general, the entire book was an attempt to substantiate the conclusion that from the point of view of Marxism, the solution to the problem of the relationship between the social and the biological is seen in emphasizing the role and significance of the “social.” The analysis of this problem undertaken by the authors of the book was very detailed from both a philosophical and a logical point of view, but was based on a very small amount of experimental data. Tarasov and Chernenko identified no less than 60 options for solving the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social, presenting these options and all sorts of modifications in the form of diagrams and drawings. When she got married, her father, who at that time worked as the head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee, called M. S. Smirtyukov, the head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and asked to provide an apartment for his daughter in the house of the Council of Ministers. “No question,” replied the property manager. According to him, K.U. Chernenko then called for another four months and asked if it was convenient. The same thing happened a few years later, when he asked to give her a larger apartment: “He was a very shy person,” Elena used to say.

Vera, also the daughter of Konstantin Ustinovich and Anna Dmitrievna Chernenko, was born in Penza. She worked in Washington at the Soviet embassy.

Youth

He graduated from a three-year school for rural youth. Basic literacy and political convictions made it possible for him to be appointed head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Komsomol district committee.

In the early 30s, Konstantin Chernenko served in Kazakhstan (49th border detachment of the Khorgos border post, Taldy-Kurgan region), where he commanded a border detachment and participated in the liquidation of Bekmuratov’s gang. While serving in the border troops, he joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and was elected secretary of the party organization of the border detachment. In Kazakhstan, as the writer N. Fetisov wrote, the “baptism of fire” of the future secretary general took place. The writer began preparing a book about the service of a young warrior at the Khorgos and Narynkol outposts - “Six Heroic Days”. Fetisov kept trying to clarify details about Chernenko’s specific participation in the liquidation of Bekmuratov’s gang, about the battle in the Chebortal gorge, and the life of the border detachment. He even wrote a letter about this to the Secretary General, asking Konstantin Ustinovich: “An interesting entertainment for the border guards at the Narynkol outpost was to admire the play of the border guards’ favorites - a goat, a dog and a cat. Do you remember this?

In the pre-war years, he was the secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee.

In 1943-1945, Konstantin Chernenko studied in Moscow, at the Higher School of Party Organizers. I didn’t ask to go to the front. His activities during the war were only awarded with the medal “For Valiant Labor.” For the next three years, Chernenko worked as secretary of the regional committee for ideology in the Penza region, then until 1956 he headed the department of propaganda and agitation in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was here in the early 1950s that Chernenko met Brezhnev, then first secretary. Business communication grew into a friendship that lasted until the end of life. With the help of Brezhnev, Chernenko made a unique party career, going from the base to the top of the pyramid of power, without possessing any noticeable qualities of a leader.

Since 1950, Chernenko's career has been inextricably linked with Brezhnev's career.

In the Central Committee of the CPSU

In 1956, Brezhnev was the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chernenko was the assistant to the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and then the head. sector in the propaganda department.

In 1960-1964, Brezhnev was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, from 1964 - First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (and from 1966 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee), Chernenko - a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Since 1977, Brezhnev became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Chernenko - a candidate member of the Politburo, and since 1978 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. While rewarding himself, Brezhnev did not forget about his comrade-in-arms: in 1976, Brezhnev was awarded the third, and Chernenko - the first Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor; in 1981, Brezhnev got a fifth star on his chest, and Chernenko got a second one.

During the reign of Brezhnev, Chernenko was the head of the general department of the CPSU Central Committee, a large number of documents and entire dossiers on the top of the party and on dissidents of the USSR passed through him; By his very nature, he was inclined to inconspicuous hardware work, but at the same time he was very knowledgeable.

He regularly shared information with Brezhnev and thus had the reputation of "Brezhnev's secretary." For years, Chernenko spent colossal energy, diligence and modest knowledge on an unparalleled bureaucratic career. In clerical work he found his calling. He was in charge of mail addressed to the Secretary General; wrote down preliminary answers. He prepared questions and selected materials for Politburo meetings. Chernenko was aware of everything that was happening in the highest echelon of the party. He could promptly tell Brezhnev about someone’s upcoming anniversary or about the next award.

While for Brezhnev the daily routine work with numerous documents was more than burdensome, for Chernenko it was a pleasure. Often decisions came from Konstantin Ustinovich, but were announced on behalf of the Secretary General. Over the years of working together, he never let Brezhnev down, did not cause his displeasure, much less irritation for any reason. I never objected to him.

But it was not only Chernenko’s diligence and punctuality that impressed Brezhnev. Konstantin Ustinovich skillfully flattered him and always found a reason for admiration and praise. Over time, he became indispensable for Brezhnev. And I felt very comfortable in the supporting roles. Suffering from bronchial asthma, Chernenko got out of bed at Brezhnev’s first suggestion to go hunting. The invitation to hunt in Zavidovo was a sign of special trust of the Secretary General. Chernenko did not like hunting and caught a cold every time there.

Brezhnev especially appreciated all these qualities in Chernenko. He generously rewarded Konstantin Ustinovich, promoted him up the party ladder, and completely trusted him. He met with him more often than with other members of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee, sometimes several times a day.

Twice Konstantin Ustinovich accompanied Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki, where the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe took place, and in 1979 - to negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues.

Chernenko became Brezhnev's shadow, his closest adviser. Since the late 1970s, Chernenko began to be considered one of Brezhnev's possible successors, associated with conservative forces in his circle. By the time of Brezhnev’s death in 1982, he was considered (by both Western political scientists and high-ranking party members) one of two, along with Andropov, contenders for full power; Andropov won. After the death of Brezhnev, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee recommended Chernenko to propose to the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee the candidacy of Andropov for the post of General Secretary. He did this on November 12, 1982 at the end of his speech at the Plenum (most of which was devoted to characterizing Brezhnev), emphasizing, at the same time, the need for collective leadership; After this, Andropov was unanimously elected Secretary General.

In February 1982, the Politburo approved the awarding of the Lenin and State Prizes for “The History of Foreign Policy of the USSR, 1917-1980.” in two volumes, as well as for a multi-volume volume on international conferences during the Second World War. Among the laureates awarded the Lenin Prize was Chernenko, who did not participate in any way in the creation of these scientific works. But the Lenin laureate was considered very prestigious, and Konstantin Ustinovich received it, as well as the third title of Hero, on his seventy-third birthday.

The sudden illness and death of Andropov and difficulties regarding the outcome of further internal party struggle made Chernenko, almost inevitably, the new head of the party and state. When 73-year-old Chernenko received the highest position in the Soviet state, he no longer had either the physical or spiritual strength to lead the country.

Secretary General

On February 13, 1984, K. U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. A man came to power in a huge power who had never worked anywhere on his own. By this time, 72-year-old Chernenko was already very seriously ill and was seen as an intermediate figure. He was seriously poisoned in August 1983, and therefore spent a significant part of his reign in the Central Clinical Hospital, where sometimes even meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were held. In the hospital (shortly before his death) he was given a certificate of election as a people's deputy of the RSFSR; this ceremony was shown on all-Union television.

During Chernenko's reign, several unsuccessful projects were undertaken: school reform, turning of the northern rivers, strengthening the role of trade unions. Under him, the Day of Knowledge was officially introduced as a holiday (September 1, 1984). In June 1983, Chernenko gave a keynote speech “Current issues of ideological and mass political work of the party.” In it, in particular, Konstantin Ustinovich criticized amateur pop groups with the repertoire “ of dubious quality", which " cause ideological and aesthetic damage" This report was the beginning of a large-scale struggle against independent music performers in 1983-84, mainly against Russian rock performers. Performing at apartment buildings and similar amateur concerts was equated to illegal business activity, violating the monopoly of the Rosconcert company, and was threatened with imprisonment.

Under Chernenko, post-Brezhnev and post-Maoist détente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense; in 1984, the USSR, in response to the boycott of the Moscow Olympics by the United States and its allies, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. During this period, the USSR was visited for the first time by the head of the Spanish state, King Juan Carlos I. Under Chernenko, there were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers.

Being Brezhnev's "right hand", he tirelessly revered him. When Konstantin Ustinovich himself became Secretary General, he needed something similar in his address. He demanded from his subordinates that they report to him about responses to his conversations, meetings, speeches, and read reviews about himself. As a rule, enthusiastic reviews of the Secretary General were drawn from the Soviet press and the press of socialist countries. It was more difficult to find anything positive about him in Western publications.

Many active investigations and repressions against various kinds of corrupt officials of the Brezhnev era, begun under Andropov, were partially suspended under Chernenko. Cases that did not develop were put on hold. So, for example, the Uzbek case actually stopped; the investigation against Nikolai Shchelokov was suspended, which was soon continued. The investigation into the “diamond case” was stopped and Galina Brezhneva’s house arrest was lifted. However, some high-profile cases continued. So, already under Chernenko, the former head of the Eliseevsky store Sokolov was shot, after the resumption of the investigation, the former Minister of Internal Affairs N.A. Shchelokov committed suicide.

At the suggestion of Richard Kosolapov, the Secretary General reinstated 94-year-old V. M. Molotov to the CPSU; Molotov, being 21 years older than Chernenko, also outlived him, dying at the age of 96. The decision to rehabilitate and reinstate Molotov in the party was personally announced by the Secretary General. Two days before his death, Chernenko, supported by Grishin, suddenly appeared on television and with difficulty uttered several welcoming phrases.

Death and legacy

Konstantin Ustinovich died after a year and twenty-five days of reign and became the last person buried at the Kremlin wall. Chernenko’s death ended a five-year period during which a significant part of Brezhnev’s Politburo passed away (“the era of magnificent funerals”). He turned out to be the oldest Soviet leader ever to receive the post of General Secretary. The very next day, Mikhail Gorbachev, a representative of the next generation of the Politburo, was elected his successor in this post; however, the permanent Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Gromyko, who was even older than Chernenko, was appointed Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, contrary to the eight-year tradition of combining these posts.

Chernenko’s memory, according to an established ritual, was immortalized, but this, again, was the last such case. The town of Sharypovo and Krasnoyarskaya Street in the Moscow district of Golyanovo were briefly named in honor of Chernenko; Already in 1988, the city returned its historical name, and the street was renamed Khabarovskaya (during this time, the neighboring new street managed to get the name “Krasnoyarskaya”). The initiative to rename the city of Chernenko and the Chernenkovsky region to the city of Penza and the Penza region, where Konstantin Ustinovich was the secretary of the regional committee for ideology for a short time, was not implemented at all. Under Gorbachev, his immediate predecessor, along with Brezhnev, was officially condemned as a figure of the period of stagnation (in contrast to Andropov, who was personally associated with Gorbachev, in whose activities until 1991 official propaganda found positive aspects).

Chernenko was one of 16 three times Heroes of Socialist Labor (1976, 1981 and 1984; besides him, of the members of the Politburo, only N. S. Khrushchev and D. A. Kunaev were three times Heroes of Labor). Awarded the Karl Marx gold medal from the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Chernenko came up with a unique mechanism for instantly removing any document from the gigantic archives of the Kremlin and Stalin’s “Special Folder,” for which he received a State Prize.

Film incarnations

• TV series “Red Square” (2004, actor Yuri Sarantsev).
• TV series “Brezhnev” (2005, actor Afanasy Kochetkov).

Contemporaries, descendants and historians about Konstantin Chernenko

The Sverdlovsk hall was already almost full... The provincial elite was already all here. And everything was as usual: they kissed passionately, greeted each other loudly through the rows, shared “news” about the snow, about the prospects for the harvest, in a word, there was “party talk” between their own people, who felt like masters of life. In this discord, I never heard Andropov’s name or talk about his death... At about twenty minutes to eleven the hall fell silent. The waiting began. With every minute the tension grew, the atmosphere seemed to be filled with electricity... The tension reached its climax. All eyes are directed towards the left door behind the stage, where the exit to the presidium is: who is first?! At exactly 11 o'clock Chernenko's head appeared in the doorway. Behind him are Tikhonov, Gromyko, Ustinov, Gorbachev and others. The audience reacted with silence... - A. S. Chernyaev, assistant to M. S. Gorbachev (about the atmosphere of the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, held in the Kremlin in February 1984 regarding the election of Chernenko)

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee since February 13, 1984 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR since April 11, 1984 Deputy - since 1966 Member of the CPSU since 1931, CPSU Central Committee - since 1971 (candidate since 1966), member of the Politburo of the Central Committee CPSU since 1978 (candidate since 1977).

Born on September 11 (24), 1911 in the village of Bolshaya Tes, now Novoselovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, into a peasant family. Russian.

Chernenko - years of youth

His father, Ustin Demidovich, was an immigrant from Ukraine. He worked in copper mines and gold mines in Siberia. Almost nothing is known about the name of Chernenko’s mother; she died of typhus in 1919. Ustin married a second time. From his first marriage there were two daughters and two sons.

From an early age Konstantin Chernenko worked for hire from the kulaks. But all Chernenko's subsequent career was associated with leadership work in Komsomol, and then in party organizations.

In 1929-30 Konstantin Chernenko headed the propaganda and agitation department of the Novoselovsky district committee of the Komsomol of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Graduated from a 3-year school for rural youth. His political convictions made it possible for him to be appointed head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Komsomol district committee.

In 1930-33 Chernenko served in the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR, at the Khorgos and Narynkol border outposts in Kazakhstan. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1931. He was the secretary of the party organization of the 49th border detachment, commanded the border detachment and participated in the liquidation of Bekmuratov’s gang.

In the pre-war years, he became secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional party committee.

In 1943-1945. Konstantin Ustinovich studied in Moscow, at the Higher School of Party Organizers. During the Great Patriotic War, Party Secretary K. Chernenko worked to mobilize communists, workers of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and for the successful implementation of military orders, training reserves for the active army, he was awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor.”

For the next three years, Konstantin Chernenko worked as secretary of the regional committee for ideology in the Penza region, then until 1956 he headed the department of propaganda and agitation in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was there, in the early 1950s, that he met Brezhnev, then first secretary. Business communication grew into a friendship that lasted until the end of life. With the help of Brezhnev, K. Chernenko made a unique party career, while not possessing any noticeable qualities of a leader.

Since 1950, the career of K.W. Chernenko is inextricably linked with her career.
In 1953, K. Chernenko graduated from the Chisinau Pedagogical Institute.

In 1956, Chernenko was promoted to the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee to the position of head of the sector of the Propaganda Department. Since 1960, he worked as the head of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1965, he was approved as head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1966-71 K.U. Chernenko is a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. At the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, in March 1971, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in March 1976, at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which took place after the XXV Party Congress, he was elected secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 2, 1976, for the successful and fruitful leadership of party organizations and for active and conscientious work in the apparatus of the CPSU Central Committee, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

Since 1977, K.U. Chernenko is a candidate member of the Politburo, and since 1978 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Chernenko headed the CPSU delegations at the congresses of the communist parties of Denmark in 1976 and Greece in 1978.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 23, 1981, he was awarded the title of twice Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

During the reign of Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko was the head of the general department of the CPSU Central Committee, it was through him that a large number of documents and entire dossiers passed to the top of the party. He was an “organizer” of the highest class. In charge of mail addressed to the Secretary General; wrote down preliminary answers. Chernenko was aware of everything that was happening in the highest echelon of the party. I felt comfortable in the supporting roles. Suffering from bronchial asthma, Konstantin Chernenko got out of bed at any suggestion from Brezhnev to go hunting. Brezhnev generously rewarded Konstantin Ustinovich, promoting him up the party ladder, and completely trusted him.
Twice Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko accompanied Leonid Brezhnev on trips abroad: in 1975 - to Helsinki at the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in 1979 - at negotiations in Vienna on disarmament issues.

Since the late 1970s. Chernenko was considered one of Brezhnev's possible successors.

But after Brezhnev’s death in 1982,

In February 1982, Chernenko was among the laureates awarded the Lenin Prize. He also received the third title of Hero, on his seventy-third birthday.

Short reign of Chernenko

On April 11, 1984, after the death of Andropov K.U. Chernenko was unanimously elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. When 73-year-old Chernenko received the highest position in the Soviet state, he no longer had either the physical or spiritual strength to lead the vast country.

Chernenko was seriously ill and was seen as an intermediate figure. Konstantin Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital, where meetings of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee were even held.

In the hospital (shortly before his death), Chernenko was presented with a certificate of election as a people's deputy of the RSFSR.

During the reign of K.U. Chernenko, several unsuccessful projects were undertaken: school reform, turning around the northern rivers, strengthening the role of trade unions.
Under Chernenko, the Day of Knowledge was officially introduced as a holiday (September 1, 1984). In June 1983, Chernenko criticized Russian rock performers, equating their performances to illegal business activities that violated the monopoly of the Rosconcert company, and threatened with imprisonment.

Under K. Chernenko, post-Brezhnev and post-Maoist détente began in relations with the PRC, but relations with the United States remained extremely tense; in 1984, the USSR, in response to the US boycott of the Moscow Olympics, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

During this period, the USSR was visited for the first time by King Juan Carlos I, the head of the Spanish state. Under Chernenko, there were no significant changes in the composition of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers.

Active investigations and repressions did not stop under Chernenko. However, he reinstated 94-year-old V. M. Molotov into the CPSU.

Death of Chernenko

Konstantin Ustinovich died after 1 year and 25 days of reign and became the last person buried at the Kremlin wall. March 10, 1985 K.W. Chernenko died.
He was buried on March 13, 1985 in Moscow on Red Square near the Kremlin wall. There is a bust on his grave.

Chernenko’s death ended a 5-year period during which a significant part of Brezhnev’s Politburo passed away (the so-called “era of magnificent funerals”). Chernenko turned out to be the oldest of all Soviet leaders to ever receive the post of General Secretary. Mikhail Gorbachev, a representative of the next generation of the Politburo, was elected his successor in this post the very next day.

Chernenko was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, 3 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, many medals, as well as the highest award of the German Democratic Republic - the Order of Karl Marx, the highest award of the People's Republic of Bulgaria - the Order of Georgi Dimitrov and medals from foreign countries. He was awarded the title of Lenin Prize laureate (1982).

Chernenko’s memory, according to an established ritual, was immortalized. The town of Sharypovo and Krasnoyarskaya Street in the Moscow district of Golyanovo were briefly named in honor of Chernenko.

The most objective characteristic of K.U. Chernenko was given by Academician E.I. Chazov: “Having stood at the head of the party and the state, Chernenko honestly tried to fulfill the role of the leader of the country. But this was not given to him - both due to the lack of appropriate talent, breadth of knowledge and views, and due to his character. But the most important thing is that he was a seriously ill person.”

Chernenko was married twice:

• on Faina Vasilievna, a native of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. From her marriage there were 2 children: Albert (he was secretary of the Tomsk City Committee of the CPSU, then deputy dean of the Law Faculty of Tomsk State University located in Novosibirsk) and Lydia.
• on Anna Dmitrievna, a native of the Rostov region. Children from her marriage: Vladimir, Vera (teacher) and Elena (worked in Washington at the Soviet embassy).