The USSR under Brezhnev and the rise of Gorbachev

Leonid Brezhnev led the USSR from 1964, when he ousted Nikita Khrushchev in an internal party coup, until his death in 1982. Historians characterize his long tenure as the "era of stagnation" (zastoi), a period defined by political rigidity and a slowing economy. Centralized planning showed mounting signs of inefficiency, with weak productivity growth and chronic shortages of consumer goods, because the system consistently prioritized capital goods and armaments production over goods meant for ordinary citizens. Alongside this economic drift, an extensive and privileged party bureaucracy known as the "nomenklatura" consolidated its position, enjoying preferential access to scarce resources, while corruption and political clientelism spread throughout the Soviet state and party apparatus.