ABSTRACT
Leonid Brezhnev served as leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years. His rule contributed both to the rise of the Soviet Union as a global military power and to the decline of communism. Elevated to the post of party general secretary, Brezhnev secured the support of conservatives by canceling Khrushchev's plans to reorganize the party. Adopting a slogan called “stability of cadres,” he sought to cooperate with the privileged elite known unofficially as the nomenklatura and was thereby able to steer a stable course for 18 years. Leonid Brezhnev ruled a communist super-power that was increasingly unable to meet the economic, intellectual, and spiritual needs of its population. In a sense, then, his leadership laid the groundwork for the crisis that followed his death. When the Soviet government, which signed these and other treaties, appeared to fall short of its ideals, it thus earned additional censure.
