ABSTRACT
The chief ideologist of the Brezhnev era, Suslov, died in January 1982. From May 1982, when lury Vladimirovich Andropov became Central Committee Secretary with responsibilities in the ideological field, it seems that it was his policies which became the official line, rather than those of the ailing Brezhnev. In the period of Andropov’s General Secretaryship, from November 1982 to February 1984, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was the ideology Secretary, but the public position of the two leaders in relation to Russian nationalism was the same. Chernenko, who succeeded Andropov as General Secretary, appears to have also held the ideology “portfolio” until late 1984, when M.S.Gorbachev took it over. The latter seems to have avoided committing himself on Russian nationalism before becoming General Secretary in March 1985.
