Brezhnev domestic policies
by: Jacoby Shelton, Class of 2012
During his time as party secretary, Brezhnev had to face several
large economic problems. One of the large domestic problems that
defined the Brezhnev era was the issue of consumer goods. Brezhnev
decided to continue following the Fourth Five-Year Plan created by
Stalin; a centralized planning of the economy. This type of economic
regulation placed quotas on factory production meaning that
factories would focus more on quantity rather than quality. The lack
of quality consumer goods in the USSR lead to an overall decrease in
the standard of living, proving to be lower than some of its
satellite sates in eastern Europe. Brezhnev’s answer to this problem
was the Ninth Five-Year Plan. This was a set of goals set out
specifically to improve the standard of living by increasing state
investments in consumer goods. This plan did not fully reach its
goals. By 1975 consumer good production had once again slowed down
behind capital goods which were still a large proportion of state
investments.
Another part of the economy that suffered under Brezhnev was
agriculture. Like Khrushchev, Brezhnev believed that large
collective farms were the answer to increased production. As a
result Brezhnev supported increased state investment in agriculture
and in 1970 twenty seven percent of state investments were placed
into agriculture. Despite these large investments, agricultural
production did not increase. The problem lied within the system of
collective farms that did not create incentive for farmers to
increase production. Private farming proved to be vastly more
successful during this time. Private plots made up only four percent
of soviet agriculture, but yielded thirty percent of production.
This demonstrated the flaws that collective farming possessed.
Agriculture was also harmed from the increased demand of fodder
crops (livestock food). When government called for increased meat
production farms could not provide the extra grains necessary to
meet this demand. This meant that importing grains from other
countries was necessary to prevent agriculture from failing.
Brezhnev’s solution to these problems was increasing the size of
Soviet owned plots. This failed at providing a solution to the
problem. As a result of the agricultural problems, many farm workers
fled to cities in search of better jobs.
A portion of Brezhnev’s domestic policy belonged to controlling
dissidents present within the Soviet Union. Contrary to Khrushchev’s
De-Stalinization efforts, Brezhnev began making advances towards a
more repressive culture in an attempt to eliminate opposition. The
KGB was once again used to eliminate any anti-government
organizations present within the Soviet Union. The state would claim
the members of these groups and organizations to be mentally
unstable, and would send them to “insane asylums”. An estimated ten
thousand people were sent to these “asylums” under Brezhnev’s rule
others were exiled. A group of intellectuals known as the
intelligentsia still managed to continue the dissident movement
through circulation of underground papers and journals. The
intelligentsias were mainly comprised of Bolsheviks. Brezhnev’s
repression also affected religious freedom. Groups of Soviet Jews
were prevented from emigrating from the Soviet Union to Israel by an
“emigration tax”.
Although Brezhnev attempted to repress dissidents like Stalin his
methods were not as violent.
Works Cited
"Leonid Brezhnev." Wikipedia, the Free
Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev>.
Palmer, R. R., and Joel Colton. "XXI. The Postwar Era: The Age of
the Superpowers." A History of the Modern World. 8th ed. New York:
Knopf, 1965. 906-08. Print.
"Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: The Brezhnev Era —
Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies,
Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework
Help. — Infoplease.com. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0861697.html>.