Period of stagnation (Russian: застой, translitrated zastoy), also known as Brezhnevian Stagnation, the Stagnation Period, or the Era of Stagnation, or the Period of Stagnation (Эпоха застоя, Период застоя), refers to a period of socio-economic slowdown in the history of the Soviet Union that started when Leonid Brezhnev's become chairman of the Communist Party. The romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet and into the Latin alphabet, such as the English alphabet and other Latin alphabets in particular (and sometimes non-Latin alphabets). ... Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: , Leonid Ilič Brežnev) December 19, 1906 [O.S. December 19, 1906] – November 10, 1982) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (and thus de facto ruler of the USSR) from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian...

Terminogy

Various authors suggest various definitions of the epoc of stagnation, but generally, it refers to the period while Brezhnev was gensek, including, also, perhaps, the short periods Andropov and Chernenko, i.e., approximately since 1965 until end of 1989th ^{[1] [2]}. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  listen? ( Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев) ( December 19, 1906 – November 10, 1982) was effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with... Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов), (June 2 (O.S.) = June 15 (N.S.), 1914 - February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of... Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко) (September 24, 1911 - March 10, 1985) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU...

The beginning of this stagnation was marked with the Sinyavsky-Daniel trial and suppression of the Prague Spring; these are most known events which indicated that neither discussion nor serious reforms (even within Soviet paradigm) are allowed during that period. That period, any serious critics of communism, communist leaders, Soviet literature, or even typical Soviet events were qualified as anti-Soviet propaganda. Sinyavsky-Daniel trial (Russian: ) was the trial against Russian writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, which took place in Moscow Supreme court, between autumn 1965 and February 1966, presided by L.P. Smirnov. ... People in a café watch Soviet tanks roll past The Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar, Russian: пражская весна) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia starting January 5, 1968 when Alexander Dubček came to power, and running until August 20 of that year when the...

Ironically, Brezhnev himself declared his time as the period of the Developed Socialism, proclaimed constructed in the 1977 Soviet Constitution: The developed Socialist society (развитое социалистическое общество) is a natural, logical stage on the road to Communism. The same constitution stated the leading role of the Communist Party ^[3]. At the Seventh (Special) Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the Brezhnev Constitution, was unanimously adopted. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ...

Stagnation was characterized by suppression of both, growth in the economy and any social life of the country and repression of dissidents. A dissident is a person who actively opposes the established order. ...

In the economy, a sharp reduction of economic growth was observed, in both Soviet and Western statistics. The Soviet Union's foreign trade and imports, once a small part of the economy, was now of great importance, which made detente a top priority. For the Spanish amulet, see: Detente bala. ...

In social life, on the one hand, this period was characterised by domestic peace, social stability and stable (although mostly moderate) incomes for the population of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Soviet society became static. Post-Stalinist reforms initiated under Nikita Khrushchev were discontinued. Not all the people accepted the ideology of stagnation. Non-loyalty was punished. Any non-authorised meetings and demonstrations were suppressed. ^[4]. Dissidents were routinely arrested ^{[5] [6]}. The supporters claimed that these arrests were illegal, because there is no any criminal element in the realization of the human right to obtain and distribute information; this right was declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) ^[7] and the Final Act of the Conference on security and co-operation in Europe (1975) ^[8]. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: , Nikita Sergeevič Chruščiov; IPA: , in English, , or , occasionally ); surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov[1]; April 17 [O.S. April 5] 1894[2]–September 11, 1971) was the chief director of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... A dissident is a person who actively opposes the established order. ... Eleanor Roosevelt with the Spanish version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ... The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is an international organization for security. ...

Many writers did not even talk about the stagnation and repressions. Later, during the glasnost, they pretended that they did not know about repressions of citizens, who did not support the Breznev stagnation ^[9] //   (Russian: IPA: ) is politics of maximal openness, transparency of activity of all official (governmental) institutes, and freedom of information. ...

It was also the time in which social ills like crime and soaring alcohol and drug abuse began to take shape, and also the time in which dissidents within the country began to surface, symbolised by men like Shcharansky and Sakharov. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Natan Sharansky (Hebrew: נתן שרנסקי, Russian: Натан Борисович Щаранский; born January 20, 1948) is a notable former Soviet dissident, anticommunist, Zionist, Israeli politician and writer. ... Andrei Sakharov, 1943 Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов, May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989), was a Russian nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. ...

The stagnation effectively continued under Brezhnev's successors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, until perestroika was initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. Andropov, then the LKSM KFSSR First Secretary, speaks at the May 9, 1945, victory celebrations Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Russian: , Jurij Vladimirovič Andropov) (June 15 [O.S. June 2] 1914 – February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from November 12, 1982 until his death just... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ), surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian politician. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Miscellanea

There was an ironic joke that panegyrists overlooked the fact that Brezhnev's expression "развитое общество" ("razvitoye obshchestvo" "developed society") enriched the Russian language. Until Brezhnev there were two versions of the adjective "развитое" in use: the one with the stress on the first syllable is a derivation of the verb "to develop" and the one with the stress on the second syllable is a derivation of the verb "to unweave". Brezhnev pronounced (and everyone else followed him) "razvitOye (obshchestvo)", with the stress on the third syllable, leaving room for mocking guesses what the word might mean. (Compare with "nucular" of American presidents.) A panegyric is a formal public speech delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. ... Russian ( , transliteration: , ) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. ... In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word. ... A syllable (Ancient Greek: ) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. ... Development has meaning in several contexts: Science and Engineering Biological development of embryos in the context of developmental biology Child development (physical emphasis) or post-natal human development (pediatrics, etc) Software engineering, the methodology and process of development of computer software Technology development in industry, as in Software development New... In computer science, weaving describes the process of combining different aspects into a complete application. ... Nucular is a metathesis of the word nuclear which represents the commonplace NEW-cue-lerr ( IPA ) mispronunciation of that word instead of NEW-clear ( IPA or ); in other words, the pronunciation which rhymes not with likelier, but with ocular. This pronunciation is disapproved of by some who consider it a...

An oversized and inefficient bureaucratic apparatus headed by a club of geriatric Party leaders became the symbol of the stagnation period, and the target of political jokes. One popular joke went like this: Russian humour gains much of its wit from the great flexibility and richness of the Russian language, allowing for plays on words and unexpected associations. ...

The historical period which succeeded was Perestroika, started in the middle of 1980s by Mikhail Gorbachev. May 1st: All-Union Subbotnik, a propaganda poster by Dmitry Moor V. I. Lenin at the All-Russia Subbotnik in the Kremlin grounds. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ), surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian politician. ...

See also

1. ^ Khazanov, Anatoly M. (1992). "Soviet Social Thought in the Period of Stagnation". Philosophy of the Social Sciences 22 (2): 231-237. DOI:10.1177/004839319202200205. 
2. ^ Grant, Ted (22 September 2006). "Russia, from Revolution to Counter-Revolution". In defence of Marxism (Part 6). 
3. ^ http://www.servat.unibe.ch/law/icl/r100000_.html Soviet Union (Former~) - Constitution, {Adopted on: 7 Oct 1977 }
   http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1977toc.html CONSTITUTION (FUNDAMENTAL LAW) OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
   http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/constitution/const-ussr1977.html CONSTITUTION OF THE USSR (1977) CONSTITUTION (FUNDAMENTAL LAW) OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS Adopted at the Seventh (Special) Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Ninth Convocation, On October 7, 1977 Novosti Press Agency Publishing House Moscow, 1985
4. ^ http://www.memo.ru/history/DISS/chr/chr3.htm
5. ^ http://www.memo.ru/history/DISS/chr/chr4.htm
6. ^ Letter by Andropov to the Central Committee (10 July 1970), http://www.yale.edu/annals/sakharov/sakharov_english_txt/e014.txt (English translation).
7. ^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, resolution 217 A (III),accepted 10 Dec. 1948. http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
8. ^ CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE FINAL ACT Helsinki, 1 Aug. 1975. http://www.osce.org/documents/html/pdftohtml/4044_en.pdf.html
9. ^ Sofia Kallistratova. We were not silent! - open letter to writer Chingiz Aitmatov, in Russian. С. В. Калистратова. Открытое письмо писателю Чингизу Айтматову, 5 мая 1988 г., http://www.memo.ru/library/books/sw/chapt55.htm

• Cold War
• History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985): Stagnation and the Brezhnev era