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Encyclopedia > Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Константин Устинович Черненко


In office
February 9, 1984 – March 10, 1985
Preceded by Yuri Andropov
Succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev

Born September 24, 1911
Bolshaya Tes, Russian Empire
Died March 10, 1985 (aged 73)
Moscow, USSR
Nationality Russian
Political party Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Russian: Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко, Konstantin Ustinovič Černenko; September 24, 1911March 10, 1985) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU who led the Soviet Union from February 13, 1984 until his death just thirteen months later on March 10, 1985. Chernenko was also Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from April 11, 1984, until his death. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Joseph Stalin, first General Secretary The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenins death in 1924. ... February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов; 15 June [O.S. 2 June] 1914 – February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from November 12, 1982 until his death just sixteen months later. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ), surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; born March 2, 1931) is a Russian politician. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... Anthem God Save the Tsar! The Russian Empire in 1914 Capital Moscow Language(s) Russian Religion Russian Orthodoxy Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1721–1725 Peter the Great  - 1894–1917 Nicholas II History  - Accession of Peter I May 7, 1682 NS, April 27, 1682 OS²  - Empire proclaimed October 22, 1721 NS, October... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... 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... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Joseph Stalin, first General Secretary The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenins death in 1924. ... 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... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Soviet (Russian: , Verhovniy Sovet, literally the Supreme Council) comprised the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments. ... April 11 is the 101st day of the year (102nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ...

Contents

Early life

Chernenko was born to a poor family in the village of Bolshaya Tes (now in Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai). His father worked in copper and gold mines while his mother took care of the farm work. Chernenko joined the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) in 1926 and the Communist Party in 1931. From 1930 to 1933 he served in the Soviet frontier guards on the Soviet-Chinese border and subsequently specialized in propaganda activity for the Communist Party. In 1945 he acquired a diploma from a party training school in Moscow, and in 1953 he finished a correspondence course for school teachers. Krasnoyarsk Krai (Russian: ) (2002 pop. ... General Name, Symbol, Number copper, Cu, 29 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 4, d Appearance metallic pinkish red Standard atomic weight 63. ... GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ... This article is about mineral extraction. ... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist...


The turning point in Chernenko’s career was his assignment in 1948 to head the party’s propaganda department in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). There he met and won the confidence of Leonid Brezhnev, the first secretary of Moldova from 1950 to 1952 and future leader of the Soviet Union. Chernenko followed Brezhnev in 1956 to fill a similar propaganda post in the CPSU Central Committee in Moscow. In 1960, after Brezhnev was named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (titular head of state of the Soviet Union), Chernenko became his chief of staff. State motto: Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, униць-вэ! Official language None. ... Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev Russian: ; January 1, 1907 [O.S. December 19, 1906] – November 10, 1982) was the effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, at first in partnership with others. ...


Brezhnev's shadow

In 1965, Chernenko became Director of Personnel in the party's General Department. He continued his work as a clerk, but he now held a powerful position. He had knowledge about all the top people in the party and monitored wiretapping and surveillance devices in offices, but his main job was to sign hundreds of documents every day. He did this for 20 years. Even when he became General Secretary, he continued to sign papers, although thanks to Soviet bureaucracy, his signature meant little more than it did in his previous position. Eventually, when he became ill, he was no longer physically able to sign documents and a facsimile was used instead, further devaluing his signature. It has been suggested that Telephone recording,Voice logging be merged into this article or section. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Bureaucracy. ... Insert non-formatted text here For the machine that sends, receives, and produces facsimiles, see fax. ...


Following the death of Brezhnev in 1982, Chernenko lost the power struggle and instead Yuri Andropov, the former head of the KGB, was nominated as General Secretary. Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов; 15 June [O.S. 2 June] 1914 – February 9, 1984) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from November 12, 1982 until his death just sixteen months later. ... Note: This article is about the KGB of the Soviet Union. ...


Leader of the Soviet Union

Chernenko in 1984 months before he died
Chernenko in 1984 months before he died

When Andropov died in February 1984, after 16 months in office, Chernenko was elected to replace him, despite concerns over his health. Chernenko represented a return to the policies of the late Brezhnev era. Nevertheless, he supported a greater role for the labour unions, and reform in education and propaganda. The one major personnel change that Chernenko made was the firing of the chief of the General Staff, Nikolay Ogarkov, who had advocated less spending on consumer goods in favor of greater expenditures on weapons research and development. Image File history File linksMetadata Chernenko_1984. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Chernenko_1984. ... Nikolai Vasilievich Ogarkov (October 30, 1917 - January 23, 1994), was appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1977. ...


In foreign policy, he negotiated a trade pact with the People's Republic of China. Despite calls for renewed détente, Chernenko did little to prevent the escalation of the Cold War with the United States. For example, in 1984, the Soviet Union prevented a visit to West Germany by East German leader Erich Honecker. However, in the late autumn of 1984, the U.S. and the Soviet Union did agree to resume arms control talks in early 1985. Détente is a French term, meaning a relaxing or easing; the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... GDR redirects here. ... Erich Honecker (25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was an East German Communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until 1989. ...


Death and legacy

Chernenko's open coffin taken to the grave in Kremlin Wall Necropolis

In the spring of 1984, Chernenko was hospitalized for over a month, but kept working by sending the Politburo notes and letters. In the summer, his doctors sent him to Kislovodsk for the mineral spas, but on the day of his arrival at the resort Chernenko's health deteriorated, and he contracted pneumonia. Chernenko did not return to the Kremlin until late Autumn of 1984. He awarded Orders to astronauts and writers in his office, and was unable to walk-through the corridors of his office and was driven in a wheelchair. By the end of 1984 Chernenko could hardly leave the Central Clinical Hospital, a heavily guarded facility in west Moscow, and the Politburo was affixing a facsimile of his signature to all letters, as Chernenko had done with Andropov's when he was dying. In what was almost universally regarded, even by his opponents, as a cruel act against Chernenko, Politburo member Viktor Grishin dragged the terminally ill Chernenko from his hospital bed to a ballot box to vote in the elections in early 1985. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 797 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (827 × 622 pixel, file size: 113 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) History Channel This image is a screenshot of a copyrighted television program or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 797 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (827 × 622 pixel, file size: 113 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) History Channel This image is a screenshot of a copyrighted television program or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by... Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis (Некрополь у Кремлёвской стены in Russian) is a part of the Kremlin Wall, which surrounds the Moscow Kremlin and overlooks the Red Square. ... Kislovodsk (Кислово́дск) is a city of 129,788 inhabitants (2002 census) in Stavropol Krai, Russia. ... Pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. ... The Central Clinical Hospital (Russian: Центральная клиническая больница c поликлиникой Управления делами Президента Российской Федерации) (also called Kremlin Hospital and Kremlyovka) is a heavily guarded facility seven miles northwest of the Kremlin in an exclusive, wooded suburban area known as Kuntsevo. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ... Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin (Ви́ктор Васи́льевич Гри́шин) (1914?-May 25, 1992) was a Soviet communist and member of the Politburo. ...


The impact of Chernenko—or the lack of it—was evident in the way in which his death was reported in the Soviet press. Soviet newspapers carried stories about Chernenko's death and Gorbachev's selection on the same day. The papers had the same format: page 1 reported the party Central Committee session on March 11 that elected Gorbachev and printed the new leader's biography and a large photograph of him; page 2 announced the demise of Chernenko and printed his obituary. Cities with populations ranging from 250,000 to 600,000 had been named for Andropov, Brezhnev, and Ustinov at their deaths, but Chernenko's name was given to the Siberian town of Sharypo, with 20,000 inhabitants. March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (71st in leap years). ... Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov (Russian: ) (October 17, 1908–December 20, 1984) was Defense Minister of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death. ...


After the death of a Soviet leader it was customary for his successors to open his safe and look in it. When Gorbachev had the safe opened it was found to contain a small folder of personal papers, and more surprisingly, large bundles of money; money was also found in his desk. It is not known what he wanted the money for.


He was buried in the Kremlin necropolis. Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis (Некрополь у Кремлёвской стены in Russian) is a part of the Kremlin Wall, which surrounds the Moscow Kremlin and overlooks the Red Square. ...


He had a son by his first wife (whom he divorced) who became a propagandist in Tomsk. His second wife, Anna Dmitrevna Lyubimova, bore him two daughters, Yelena (who worked at the Institute of Party History) and Vera (who worked at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC), and a son, Vladimir, who was a Goskino editorialist. Flag Seal Location Tomsk and Oblast on the map of Russia Coordinates , Government Oblast Tomsk Mayor Aleksandr Makarov Geographical characteristics Area     City 294,6 km²     Land   294,6 km²     Water   0 km² Population     City (end of 2005) 509,568     Density   1,730/km² Elevation +100 m Website: Municipality website Main... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Goskino or USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Госкино, Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР, Gosudarstvenyy komitet po kinematografii SSSR) was the supreme government organ in charge of cinematography of the Soviet Union It was absorbed by the USSR Ministry of Culture in 1953, it became an independent organization again in 1963. ...


He had a Gosdacha in Troitse-Lykovo named Sosnovka-3 by the Moskva River with a private beach, while Sosnovka-1 was used by Mikhail Suslov. Dacha of Boris Pasternak in Peredelkino. ... Moskva River near the Moscow Kremlin in 19th century. ... Mikhail Suslov. ...

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Konstantin Chernenko
Preceded by
Yuri Andropov
General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
1984–1985
Succeeded by
Mikhail Gorbachev

  Results from FactBites:
 
Konstantin Chernenko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (717 words)
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Russian: Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко; September 24, 1911 – March 10, 1985) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU who led the Soviet Union from February 13, 1984 until his death just thirteen months later.
Chernenko was born in Bolshaya Tes, Novosyolovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia.
Following the death of Brezhnev in 1982, Chernenko lost the power struggle due to anti-Brezhnev forces, including the KGB and the Red Army, and instead Yuri Andropov, the former head of the KGB, was nominated as General Secretary.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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