The best ruler of the USSR. Who was the president of the USSR and the Russian Federation
22 years ago, on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the termination of the existence of the Soviet Union, and the country in which most of us were born disappeared. Over the 69 years of the existence of the USSR, seven people became its head, whom I propose to remember today. And not just remember, but also choose the most popular of them.
And since the New Year is coming soon, and given that in the Soviet Union the popularity and attitude of the people towards their leaders was measured, among other things, by the quality of the jokes written about them, I think it would be appropriate to remember the Soviet leaders through the prism of jokes about them.
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Now we have almost forgotten what a political joke is - most jokes about current politicians are paraphrased jokes from Soviet times. Although there are also witty and original ones, for example, here is an anecdote from the time Yulia Tymoshenko was in power: There is a knock on Tymoshenko’s office, the door opens, a giraffe, a hippopotamus and a hamster enter the office and ask: “Yulia Vladimirovna, how will you comment on the rumors that you use drugs?”.
In Ukraine, the situation with humor about politicians is generally somewhat different than in Russia. In Kyiv they believe that it is bad for politicians if they are not laughed at, it means they are not interesting to the people. And since in Ukraine they still make elections, the PR services of politicians even order laughs at their bosses. It is no secret, for example, that the most popular Ukrainian “95th Quarter” takes money to ridicule the person who paid. This is the fashion of Ukrainian politicians.
Yes, they themselves sometimes don’t mind making fun of themselves. There was once a very popular anecdote about oneself among Ukrainian deputies: The session of the Verkhovna Rada ends, one deputy says to another: “It was such a difficult session, we need to rest. Let's go out of town, take a few bottles of whiskey, rent a sauna, take girls, have sex...” He answers: “How? In front of girls?!!”.
But let's return to the Soviet leaders.
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The first ruler of the Soviet state was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. For a long time, the image of the leader of the proletariat was beyond the reach of jokes, but during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev times in the USSR, the number of Leninist motives in Soviet propaganda increased sharply.
And the endless glorification of Lenin’s personality (as it usually happened in almost everything in the Union) led to the exact opposite of the desired result - to the appearance of many anecdotes ridiculing Lenin. There were so many of them that even jokes about jokes about Lenin appeared.
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In honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth, a competition has been announced for the best political joke about Lenin.
3rd prize - 5 years in Lenin's places.
2nd prize - 10 years of strict regime.
1st prize - meeting with the hero of the day.
This is largely explained by the tough policy pursued by Lenin’s successor Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who in 1922 took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. There were also jokes about Stalin, and they remained not only in the materials of the criminal cases brought against them, but also in people’s memory.
Moreover, in jokes about Stalin one can feel not only a subconscious fear of the “father of all nations,” but also respect for him, and even pride in their leader. Some kind of mixed attitude towards power, which apparently was passed on to us from generation to generation at the genetic level.
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- Comrade Stalin, what should we do with Sinyavsky?
- Which Synavsky is this? Football announcer?
- No, Comrade Stalin, writer.
- Why do we need two Synavskys?
On September 13, 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin (March 1953), Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Since Khrushchev’s personality was filled with deep contradictions, they were reflected in jokes about him: from undisguised irony and even contempt for the leader of the state to a rather friendly attitude towards Nikita Sergeevich himself and his peasant humor.
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The pioneer asked Khrushchev:
- Uncle, is it true what dad said when you launched not only a satellite, but also agriculture?
- Tell your dad that I plant more than just corn.
On October 14, 1964, Khrushchev was replaced as First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who, as you know, was not averse to listening to jokes about himself - their source was Brezhnev’s personal hairdresser Tolik.
In a certain sense, the country was lucky then, because what came to power, as everyone soon became convinced, was a kindly, non-cruel man who did not make any special moral demands on himself, his comrades, or the Soviet people. And the Soviet people responded to Brezhnev with the same anecdotes about him - kindly and not cruel.
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At a Politburo meeting, Leonid Ilyich pulled out a piece of paper and said:
- I want to make a statement!
Everyone looked attentively at the piece of paper.
“Comrades,” Leonid Ilyich began to read, “I want to raise the issue of senile sclerosis. Things have gone too far. Vshera at the funeral of comrade Kosygin...
Leonid Ilyich looked up from the piece of paper.
- For some reason I don’t see him here... So, when the music started playing, I was the only one who thought of asking the lady to dance!..
On November 12, 1982, Brezhnev’s place was taken by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who previously headed the State Security Committee and adhered to a rigid conservative position on fundamental issues.
The course proclaimed by Antropov was aimed at socio-economic transformations through administrative measures. The harshness of some of them seemed unusual to the Soviet people in the 1980s, and they responded with appropriate anecdotes.
On February 13, 1984, the post of head of the Soviet state was taken by Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, who was considered a contender for the post of General Secretary even after Brezhnev’s death.
He was elected as a transitional intermediate figure in the CPSU Central Committee while it was undergoing a struggle for power between several party groups. Chernenko spent a significant part of his reign at the Central Clinical Hospital.
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The Politburo decided:
1. Appoint Chernenko K.U. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
2. Bury him on Red Square.
On March 10, 1985, Chernenko was replaced by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who carried out numerous reforms and campaigns that ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
And Soviet political jokes about Gorbachev, accordingly, ended.
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- What is the peak of pluralism?
- This is when the opinion of the President of the USSR absolutely does not coincide with the opinion of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
Well, now the poll.
Which leader of the Soviet Union, in your opinion, was the best ruler of the USSR?
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
23 (6.4 % )
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
114 (31.8 % )
Image caption The royal family hid the illness of the heir to the throne
Disputes about the state of health of President Vladimir Putin bring to mind the Russian tradition: the first person was considered as an earthly deity, which was disrespectful and should not be remembered in vain.
Possessing virtually unlimited lifelong power, the rulers of Russia fell ill and died like mere mortals. They say that in the 1950s, one of the liberal-minded young “stadium poets” once said: “They only have no control over heart attacks!”
Discussion of the personal lives of leaders, including their physical condition, was prohibited. Russia is not America, where analysis data of presidents and presidential candidates and their blood pressure figures are published.
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, as you know, suffered from congenital hemophilia - a hereditary disease in which the blood does not clot normally, and any injury can lead to death from internal hemorrhage.
The only person capable of improving his condition in some way still incomprehensible to science was Grigory Rasputin, who was, in modern terms, a strong psychic.
Nicholas II and his wife categorically did not want to make public the fact that their only son was actually disabled. Even the ministers only knew in general terms that the Tsarevich had health problems. Ordinary people, seeing the heir during rare public appearances in the arms of a hefty sailor, considered him a victim of an assassination attempt by terrorists.
Whether Alexey Nikolaevich would subsequently be able to lead the country or not is unknown. His life was cut short by a KGB bullet when he was less than 14 years old.
Vladimir Lenin
Image caption Lenin was the only Soviet leader whose health was an open secretThe founder of the Soviet state died unusually early, at 54, from progressive atherosclerosis. An autopsy showed cerebral vascular damage incompatible with life. There were rumors that the development of the disease was provoked by untreated syphilis, but there is no evidence of this.
Lenin suffered his first stroke, which resulted in partial paralysis and loss of speech, on May 26, 1922. After this, he spent more than a year and a half at his dacha in Gorki in a helpless state, interrupted by short remissions.
Lenin is the only Soviet leader whose physical condition was not a secret. Medical bulletins were published regularly. At the same time, his comrades-in-arms assured him until his last days that the leader would recover. Joseph Stalin, who visited Lenin in Gorki more often than other members of the leadership, published optimistic reports in Pravda about how he and Ilyich cheerfully joked about reinsurance doctors.
Joseph Stalin
Image caption Stalin's illness was reported the day before his deathIn recent years, the “Leader of Nations” suffered from severe damage to the cardiovascular system, probably aggravated by an unhealthy lifestyle: he worked a lot, turning night into day, ate fatty and spicy foods, smoked and drank, and did not like to be examined and treated.
According to some reports, the “doctors’ affair” began when professor-cardiologist Kogan advised a high-ranking patient to get more rest. The suspicious dictator saw this as someone’s attempt to remove him from business.
Having started the “doctors’ case,” Stalin was left without qualified medical care at all. Even those closest to him could not talk to him about this topic, and he intimidated the staff so much that after a stroke that happened on March 1, 1953 at the Nizhny Dacha, he lay on the floor for several hours, since he had previously forbidden the guards to disturb him without calling him.
Even after Stalin turned 70, public discussion of his health and forecasts of what would happen to the country after his departure were absolutely impossible in the USSR. The idea that we would ever be left “without him” was considered blasphemous.
The people were first informed about Stalin's illness the day before his death, when he had long been unconscious.
Leonid Brezhnev
Image caption Brezhnev "ruled without regaining consciousness"In recent years, Leonid Brezhnev, as people joked, “ruled without regaining consciousness.” The very possibility of such jokes confirmed that after Stalin the country had changed a lot.
The 75-year-old Secretary General had plenty of aging diseases. Mention was made, in particular, of sluggish leukemia. However, it is difficult to say what exactly he died from.
Doctors spoke of a general weakening of the body caused by the abuse of sedatives and sleeping pills and causing memory loss, loss of coordination and speech disorder.
In 1979, Brezhnev lost consciousness during a Politburo meeting.
“You know, Mikhail,” Yuri Andropov said to Mikhail Gorbachev, who had just been transferred to Moscow and was not accustomed to such scenes, “we must do everything to support Leonid Ilyich in this situation. This is a question of stability.”
Brezhnev was politically killed by television. In earlier times, his condition could have been hidden, but in the 1970s it was impossible to avoid regularly appearing on screen, including live television.
The obvious inadequacy of the leader, combined with the complete lack of official information, caused an extremely negative reaction from society. Instead of pitying the sick person, the people responded with jokes and anecdotes.
Yuri Andropov
Image caption Andropov suffered from kidney damageYuri Andropov suffered from severe kidney damage for most of his life, from which he eventually died.
The disease caused increased blood pressure. In the mid-1960s, Andropov was intensively treated for hypertension, but this did not produce results, and there was a question about his retirement due to disability.
Kremlin doctor Yevgeny Chazov made a dizzying career thanks to the fact that he gave the head of the KGB the correct diagnosis and gave him about 15 years of active life.
In June 1982, at the plenum of the Central Committee, when the speaker called from the podium to “give a party assessment” to the spreaders of rumors, Andropov unexpectedly intervened and said in a harsh tone that he was “for the last time warning” those who talk too much in conversations with foreigners. According to researchers, he meant, first of all, leaks of information about his health.
In September, Andropov went on vacation to Crimea, caught a cold there and never got out of bed. In the Kremlin hospital, he regularly underwent hemodialysis - a blood purification procedure using equipment that replaces the normal functioning of the kidneys.
Unlike Brezhnev, who once fell asleep and did not wake up, Andropov died long and painfully.
Konstantin Chernenko
Image caption Chernenko rarely appeared in public and spoke breathlesslyAfter Andropov's death, the need to give the country a young, dynamic leader was obvious to everyone. But the old members of the Politburo nominated 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko, who was formally the No. 2 man, as general secretary.
As the former Minister of Health of the USSR Boris Petrovsky later recalled, they all thought exclusively about how to die at their posts; they had no time for the country, and even more so, no time for reforms.
Chernenko had been suffering from pulmonary emphysema for a long time, while heading the state, he hardly worked, rarely appeared in public, spoke, choking and swallowing his words.
In August 1983, he suffered severe poisoning after eating fish on vacation in the Crimea that he had personally caught and smoked from his dacha neighbor, USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaly Fedorchuk. Many were treated to the gift, but nothing bad happened to anyone else.
Konstantin Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. Three days earlier, elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the USSR. The television showed the Secretary General walking up to the ballot box with an unsteady gait, dropping a ballot into it, languidly waving his hand and muttering: “Okay.”
Boris Yeltsin
Image caption Yeltsin, as far as is known, suffered five heart attacksBoris Yeltsin suffered from severe heart disease and reportedly suffered five heart attacks.
The first president of Russia was always proud of the fact that nothing bothered him, he went in for sports, swam in icy water and largely built his image on this, and was accustomed to endure ailments on his feet.
Yeltsin's health deteriorated sharply in the summer of 1995, but with elections ahead, he refused extensive treatment, although doctors warned of "irreparable harm to his health." According to journalist Alexander Khinshtein, he said: “After the elections, at least cut them, but now leave me alone.”
On June 26, 1996, a week before the second round of elections, Yeltsin suffered a heart attack in Kaliningrad, which was hidden with great difficulty.
On August 15, immediately after taking office, the president went to the clinic where he underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. This time he conscientiously followed all the doctors’ instructions.
In conditions of freedom of speech, it was difficult to hide the truth about the state of health of the head of state, but those around him tried their best. In extreme cases, it was recognized that he had ischemia and temporary colds. Press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that the president rarely appears in public because he is extremely busy working with documents, but his handshake is ironclad.
Separately, the issue of Boris Yeltsin’s relationship with alcohol should be mentioned. Political opponents constantly discussed this topic. One of the main slogans of the communists during the 1996 campaign was: “Instead of the drunken Elya, we will choose Zyuganov!”
Meanwhile, Yeltsin appeared in public “under the influence” the only time - during the famous conducting of the orchestra in Berlin.
The former head of the presidential security, Alexander Korzhakov, who had no reason to defend his former boss, wrote in his memoirs that in September 1994, in Shannon, Yeltsin did not get off the plane to meet with the Prime Minister of Ireland not because of intoxication, but because of a heart attack. After a quick consultation, the advisers decided that they should let people believe the “alcoholic” version rather than admit that the leader was seriously ill.
Resignation, regime and peace had a beneficial effect on Boris Yeltsin’s health. He lived in retirement for almost eight years, although in 1999, according to doctors, he was in serious condition.
Is it worth hiding the truth?
According to experts, illness is, of course, not a plus for a statesman, but in the era of the Internet, hiding the truth is pointless, and with skillful PR, you can even extract political dividends from it.
As an example, analysts point to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who made good publicity out of his fight against cancer. Supporters got a reason to be proud that their idol does not burn in the fire and even in the face of illness thinks about the country, and they rallied around him even more.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR on March 15, 1990 at the III Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
On December 25, 1991, in connection with the cessation of the existence of the USSR as a state entity, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President and signed a Decree transferring control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Yeltsin.
On December 25, after Gorbachev’s announcement of resignation, the red state flag of the USSR was lowered in the Kremlin and the flag of the RSFSR was raised. The first and last President of the USSR left the Kremlin forever.
The first president of Russia, then still the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected on June 12, 1991 by popular vote. B.N. Yeltsin won in the first round (57.3% of the votes).
In connection with the expiration of the term of office of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, elections for the President of Russia were scheduled for June 16, 1996. This was the only presidential election in Russia where two rounds were required to determine the winner. The elections took place from June 16 to July 3 and were distinguished by intense competition between candidates. The main competitors were considered the current President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin and the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G. A. Zyuganov. According to the election results, B.N. Yeltsin received 40.2 million votes (53.82 percent), significantly ahead of G.A. Zyuganov, who received 30.1 million votes (40.31 percent). 3.6 million Russians (4.82%) voted against both candidates .
December 31, 1999 at 12:00 pm Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin voluntarily ceased to exercise the powers of the President of the Russian Federation and transferred the powers of the President to the Chairman of the Government Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. On April 5, 2000, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was awarded pensioner and labor veteran certificates.
December 31, 1999 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became acting president of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with the Constitution, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation set March 26, 2000 as the date for holding early presidential elections.
On March 26, 2000, 68.74 percent of voters included in the voting lists, or 75,181,071 people, took part in the elections. Vladimir Putin received 39,740,434 votes, which amounted to 52.94 percent, that is, more than half of the votes. On April 5, 2000, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation decided to recognize the presidential elections of the Russian Federation as valid and valid, and to consider Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin elected to the post of President of Russia.