Yuri Andropov

Yuri Andropov (1914-1984) ruled the country for only 15 months

But it was not primarily Andropov's position as KGB chief that enabled him to gain the top position in the Politburo. He had already moved into a position of strength in the Politburo following the death of Mikhail Suslov in January 1982. Suslov, senior Party ideologue and intellectual, had been the power behind the throne of both Brezhnev and Khrushchev. Yuri Andropov succeeded him. For Andropov, this was the climax of a pattern throughout his rise - a pattern woven from the support of important and influential friends at each stage of his career, from his own intellectual strength, from years of careful and clever maneuvering.

The scenario for the Politburo "election" had apparently been worked out in advance, and when the successor to Brezhnev was to be named, went something like this: Chemenko, who was supposed to be the heir apparent, and as senior Party Secretary present, stunned the group by nominating Yuri Andropov. After some muttering but no real discussion, Chemenko then asked the standard question, "Has anyone anything to say against this candidate?"

Not only stunned, but also fearful from the evidence that something was going on about which they knew nothing, the other Politburo members kept quiet. No one wished to criticize before the others the man who not only had been chief of the secret police for fifteen years, but also now appeared likely to become their new boss. Nothing was said. Chernenko then observed, "It seems to be unanimous that Yuri Alexanderovich Andropov is our new General Secretary." And it was, though neither an accident, nor should it have been as much of a surprise as it appears to have been.

After the inauguration, Andropov took a tough course to rule the country. He had to fight both with negligent officials, which were corrupted with power, as well as with Soviet people, which were corrupted with laziness, irresponsibility, and drunkenness. He wanted to retrieve law and order in the Soviet empire with the help of tough police campaigns. He was a policeman in his nature and skills. His actions were always in compliance with his thoughts. Andropov arranged a grand cleansing process amid top officials of the Soviet government. More than one-third of senior officials were dismissed from their positions both in the Central Committee of the Communist Party and in the Council of Ministers. Andropov reached out to USSR-s regions too: 47 of 150 regional high-ranking officials were fired. Andropov may feel that stronger measures are required. All these does not come as any great surprise to the long-suffering Soviet people. In fact, knowing Andropov's record as KGB chief, they tend to expect the worst.

Without question, Andropov was the toughest, most clever and shrewd Soviet politician since Stalin, and possibly of all Soviet leaders. He was not likely to be easily fooled, and only a fool would fool with him. His could only be a one-man dictatorship.

Much of Andropov's unease comes over concern for the great power held by the Soviet military establishment. Khrushchev had needed the strong support of war hero Marshal George Zhukov to overcome Party and other resistance to his ambitions. Andropov's fifteen years as KGB head could not but have made him acutely aware of the chronic hostility the military has for the secret police. Accordingly, shortly after the Politburo election, Andropov made a speech to the senior military officers. It must have sounded almost too good to be true to the assembled marshals, generals, and admirals. In effect, Andropov told them precisely what they wanted to hear: We will see that you get the best weapons and other armaments. The troops, especially the field grade and senior officers, will receive even higher pay. The Soviet budget can and will sustain all that is necessary to guarantee that the Soviet military establishment will be superior to any in the world. Furthermore, there is a long-range cruise missile now under test that will be superior to anything the Americans have.

Such a speech, whether or not Andropov was bluffing or lying, was bound to bring his audience to their feet, cheering and slapping each other on the back, congratulating themselves on their new leader. But Andropov apparently was not bluffing about the new cruise missile. It should be realized that some of the weapons research for the Soviet military is carried out at KGB installations such as the closed city of Dubna, a short distance north of Moscow. Dubna is an unusual place-a heavily guarded city which few of the top-level research physicists and other scientists working there are ever allowed to leave. All work at the center is carefully overseen by KGB experts working side by side with their civilian counterparts. It does seem more than a little unusual, however, that senior military commanders could be unaware of the development of an important new weapon. But stranger things than that continue to take place in the secretive Soviet system.


Former KGB agent-s information about his former boss was revealed in European and American newspapers in the summer of 1982. That information created a conception of Andropov as of a pro-Western person. Andropov was known for his perfect English. He was a fan of jazz, American mystery books and whiskey; A patron of arts as he was presented by the KGB propaganda machine; An intellectual and a poet as he remained in the memories of his employees.

But he was also a suppressor of the 1956 Budapest uprising, a persecutor of dissidents and an inventor of punitive psychiatry as he has recently been described. It was also during Andropov's time as Soviet leader that Soviet forces shot down a civilian, South Korean airliner, killing all 269 people on board.

Although he was a hardliner, Andropov was responsible for the rise to power of a group of younger, more liberal officials, including Michael Gorbachev. Scholars still debate whether Andropov would have proved to be a real reformer had he lived.

Soviet Poster - "Peace" in Russian and English.