| | Aleksey Kosygin became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and [[Leonid Brezhnev]] was made First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in 1964. In 1971, Brezhnev rose to become "first among equals" in a collective leadership. | | Aleksey Kosygin became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and [[Leonid Brezhnev]] was made First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in 1964. In 1971, Brezhnev rose to become "first among equals" in a collective leadership. |
| − | The Brezhnev era is known as the Years of Stagnation, while the collective [[Marxist]] leadership continued the manufacture and export of conventional weapons to "oppressed" malcontents globally with the stated aim of overthrowing [[bourgeois]] and [[imperialist]] governments worldwide, while sacrificing domestic economic development. Living standards scarcely improved while the [[free market]] and profit motive remained banned. Corruption, the [[blackmarket]], and an unholy alliance between the [[KGB]] and local [[mafia]] groups, who smuggled and traded in foreign goods, flourished. The communist corruption of society, culture, and government engendered duting this time has survived in the post-Soviet era through fraudulent accounting practices, bribery, kickbacks, tax evasion and ethical compromises being commonplace and socially acceptable, and considered necessary to survive. | + | The Brezhnev era is known as the Years of Stagnation, while the collective [[Marxist]] leadership continued the manufacture and export of conventional weapons to "oppressed" malcontents globally with the stated aim of overthrowing [[bourgeois]] and [[imperialist]] governments worldwide, while sacrificing domestic economic development. Living standards scarcely improved while the [[free market]] and profit motive remained banned. Corruption, the [[blackmarket]], and an unholy alliance between the [[KGB]] and local [[mafia]] groups, who smuggled and traded in foreign goods, flourished. The communist corruption of society, culture, and government engendered during this time has survived in the post-Soviet era through fraudulent accounting practices, bribery, kickbacks, tax evasion and ethical compromises being commonplace and socially acceptable, and considered necessary to survive. |