ABSTRACT
The growing prestige and authority of the Committee of State Security (KGB) accommodated those conservative neo-Stalinist trends that manifested themselves during the late 1960s and 1970s. The security police played an important role in Andropov’s accession to the general secretaryship. The available evidence suggests that Iurii Andropov enlisted the KGB in a campaign against corruption in order to attack the Brezhnevites in the party and state bureaucracy, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Brezhnev’s political strategy was based on building coalitions from different institutional groups rather than relying on the party apparatus alone. In terms of political stature and experience, Andropov surpassed his predecessors in the KGB. His early career was typical of the generation of party officials who rose to important posts in the Stalin era. After gaining the post of general secretary in March 1985 Gorbachev moved with unprecedented speed to implement personnel changes in the party and government.
