IB History Leadership Style Notes

Collective Leadership and the Fall of Khrushchev

1. Khrushchev was removed in October 1964 by a Politburo conspiracy led by Brezhnev, Kosygin, and Suslov
2. The plotters accused Khrushchev of 'harebrained scheming' - reckless reforms and erratic foreign policy
3. The new leadership explicitly rejected one-man rule and promised collective decision-making
4. Brezhnev became General Secretary; Kosygin became Premier; Podgorny became Head of State - a troika designed to prevent any single leader from dominating the Party
5. Brezhnev was initially chosen because he seemed safe, predictable, and willing to share power
6. Unlike Stalin or Khrushchev, Brezhnev rose through consensus - not purges or dramatic confrontation
7. The Party elite (nomenklatura) wanted stability, guaranteed privileges, and no more surprise reforms
8. Brezhnev's early caution reflected lessons learned from Khrushchev's unpredictable leadership style

Gradual Consolidation of Power

1. Between 1964 and 1971, Brezhnev slowly marginalised Kosygin and Podgorny to become the dominant figure
2. Kosygin's 1965 economic reforms were quietly blocked by Brezhnev's conservative allies in the Politburo
3. Brezhnev built loyalty by promoting allies - Chernenko, Tikhonov, Shcherbitsky - into key positions
4. He used patronage networks (the 'Dnepropetrovsk mafia') rather than terror to secure his position
5. By the early 1970s, Brezhnev controlled foreign policy personally, sidelining Kosygin in diplomacy
6. In 1977, Brezhnev removed Podgorny and combined the roles of General Secretary and Head of State
7. His consolidation was gradual and bureaucratic - no dramatic purges, show trials, or public confrontations
8. The 'trust in cadres' policy meant virtually no turnover in senior Party ranks after the mid-1960s

The Brezhnev Doctrine and Control of the Eastern Bloc

1. The Prague Spring of 1968 tested Brezhnev's leadership - Czechoslovakia attempted liberal socialist reforms under Dubcek
2. Brezhnev initially hesitated but ultimately ordered a Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968
3. The Brezhnev Doctrine declared that no socialist state could leave the socialist bloc - sovereignty was limited
4. Around 500,000 troops from five Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia to crush Dubcek's reforms
5. The Doctrine revealed Brezhnev's conservative instinct - reform in one state threatened the entire system
6. The Doctrine remained in force until Gorbachev abandoned it in 1989 - it defined Cold War Soviet policy for twenty years
7. Western condemnation was strong but short-lived - the US was preoccupied with Vietnam in 1968
8. The invasion damaged Soviet relations with Communist parties in Western Europe (Eurocommunism split)