ABSTRACT
Leonid Brezhnev's failing health meant that the top elite was far more preoccupied with the coming succession than with tackling the country's economic and social problems. A career party official specialising in agitation and propaganda, Konstantin Chernenko had formed a close relationship with Brezhnev when he served under the latter in Moldavia in the early 1950s. Methods of political socialisation that had been reasonably effective when directed at a largely illiterate or semi-literate populace lost much of their effectiveness when directed at the much more educated and sophisticated population that had grown up under Soviet power. The discipline and anti-corruption campaigns of the Andropov era faded, the composition of the top leadership bodies virtually froze, and policy in every realm was characterised by continuity with the Brezhnev years. Poor economic performance undermined the Soviet Union's ability to sustain its ambitious foreign and defence policies at a time when the United States was growing more confident and assertive.
