ABSTRACT
Brezhnev had seized upon the failure of Khrushchev's agricultural policies to propose a very expensive program for rural development in March 1965 and May 1966. After Brezhnev seized the initiative from Kosygin during 1968, the Party leader reexpanded his political coalition by forging and presenting a comprehensive program of his own. After the matter of agricultural investment had been settled, Brezhnev turned his attention to consumer goods. In addition to these efforts to exercise leadership through the synthesis of domestic political interests, Brezhnev sought to demonstrate that his foreign-policy leadership could improve consumer satisfaction and industrial productivity. As proof of the proposition, Brezhnev dwelt at great length on the manifold inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and technological lags still typical of the Soviet economy. In his speech to the Party Congress, Brezhnev indicated his sensitivity to the need for such political entrepreneurship. Brezhnev also strongly endorsed expanded intra-class material differentiation in his speech at the Party Congress.
