Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev Леонід Брежнєв
Born	19 December 1906 Kamenskoye, Russian Empire
Died	10 November 1982 Zarechye, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Cause of death	Heart attack
Nationality	Ukrainian
Political orientation	Marxism–Leninism

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 1906 – 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU from 1964 to 1982. He occupied a middle ideological position between Stalin and Khrushchev. Although he reversed some of Khrushchev's revisionist policies, he maintained some of them and was also responsible for nepotism and corruption.

Domestic policy

Brezhnev reintroduced central economic planning to the Soviet economy and revoked Khrushchev's policy that a third of party officials had to be replaced at every election.

Foreign policy

Brezhnev aided Cuba and the socialist countries of the Eastern Bloc. He supported revolutionary movements in the Third World and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.