ABSTRACT
The role of the second secretary of a republic’s Central Committee as the proponent of All-Union resolutions is revealed through his relationship with the first secretary. Speaking of the leader of a Soviet republic one should bear in mind not only the first secretary but also the whole team of the titular nomenklatura that surrounded him. It is understandable that Brezhnev could not have known all the would-be second secretaries from his earlier career but it was important that an appointment to this position be used as a good occasion to introduce the functionary sent to a republic to the General Secretary and to get acquainted with them. Depending on the situation in a particular republic, the local nomenklatura had their expectations as to whom they would like to see in the role of the first secretary. The first secretary of a republic was not an emperor or a monarch whose throne would be passed on to successors by inheritance.
