Memoirs of contemporaries about the last days and funeral of Yuri Andropov
[ad_1]
On February 9, 1984, Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, died at the age of 70. The former head of the KGB, which he ruled for 15 years, held the highest party post for only 15 months, of which he spent 5 in the hospital. What the media and contemporaries wrote about Andropov’s death and the change of power in the Kremlin – in the Kommersant material.
“A smart but weak person”
Yuri Andropov suffered from chronic kidney disease since his youth. Back in the mid-1960s, before his appointment as head of the KGB, he spent several months in the hospital due to cardiac problems. Academician Yevgeny Chazov, who was in charge of Kremlin medicine at that time, wrote in his memoirs that in 1966 the question of Andropov’s disability and the end of his political career even arose. Health problems were compensated for by the supervision of leading Soviet doctors, prevention and diet – the consequences of frequent illnesses did not affect his performance for a long time.
After death of Leonid Brezhnev in November 1982 and the election of Andropov to the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, his chronic renal failure worsened, and he had to increasingly resort to dialysis – blood purification using an artificial kidney. In the article “Power and Health,” published by Ogonyok magazine in 1991, the former USSR Minister of Health Boris Petrovsky wrote that he condemned the election of Andropov to the highest government post, who in the past was an energetic and businesslike person, but as head of state found himself in the midst of a serious and almost fatal illness: “Not only his ability to work, his decisions, but also his view of the world of God depend on the state of health to a much greater extent than it seems… Andropov’s appointment to a high post was inhumane, extremely dangerous both for himself and for the state. But in our country during the corresponding period, no one voluntarily gave up power.”
The disease progressed and led to complete kidney failure in February 1983. The Kuntsevo hospital had a specially equipped compartment that housed an artificial kidney, a ward, and rooms for guards and doctors. Twice a week Andropov came for the procedure and appeared in public less and less, working from home.
From memory Evgenia Chazova, Assistants to the Secretary General advised him to involve psychics for healing: “At Andropov’s request, the KGB collected a lot of material about the capabilities of psychics operating at that time, which further strengthened him in the opinion that they could not help him in any way.”
On September 1, Yuri Andropov held, as it later turned out, the last Politburo meeting in his life. On the same day, he flew to Crimea to rest, where he caught a cold. Due to the development of phlegmon and subsequent surgery at the end of September, Andropov went to the hospital under the constant supervision of doctors, from where he never left.
The absence of the Secretary General at the celebrations gave rise to many rumors in the country and comments in the Western press. On November 6, Andropov did not attend a meeting in the Kremlin dedicated to the 66th anniversary of the Soviet state.
Correspondent for American Newsweek magazine Robert Collin wrote: “Kremlin state representative Leonid Zamyatin insisted that Andropov only had a cold. But the annual ceremony of the October Revolution has been a ritual act for every Soviet leader since Lenin. Leonid Brezhnev managed to attend last year, although he died three days later. Andropov’s absence reinforces the idea that was created during his first year: this, although intelligent, but in poor health and aging man, would play only a transitional role in Soviet history.”
“It’s a disappointingly short time, comrades.”
From the memoirs of an academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Alexandra Chuchalina:
There is nothing to tell about Brezhnev and Chernenko. In the last months of their lives, they could no longer speak or think. Andropov, in the hospital, maintained a clear mind, although his liver, kidneys, and lungs had failed, and we used intravenous nutrition… Andropov could only see with one eye, but he read a lot – about four hundred pages a day.
On the morning of February 9, 1984, before the start of the Politburo meeting, the second person in the party, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko, informed those gathered about the sharp deterioration in Andropov’s health: “The doctors are doing everything possible. But the situation is critical.” At 16:50 on the same day, Yuri Andropov died.
The country and the world did not immediately learn about what had happened. On February 10, in the first half of the day, neither radio nor television reported the death, but all programs were changed, and sad melodies of Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Tchaikovsky were heard from the receivers.
Newspaper El Pais (Spain) from February 11:
The television had been reporting on the progress of the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo all morning until the documentaries started showing. Later, the program of Pushkin’s poems was replaced by a symphony concert. Exactly at 14:30, television, radio and the TASS agency revealed the secret that French Foreign Minister Claude Chaisson had already revealed shortly before in Brussels: Andropov had died.
All over the country, “in mourning,” the work of enterprises and organizations stopped for five minutes. In factories and plants, on railways, ships of the sea and river fleet, a three-minute salute was given with horns, the TASS agency reported on February 15, 1984.
From the memoirs of an academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Evgenia Chazova:
Andropov’s death was experienced in different ways. I don’t think that in wide circles this was received with pain in the heart. The “age of Andropov” as a leader was too short for the people to fully appreciate and believe him. Rather, they were worried about unfulfilled hopes. And they waited: what will happen? Will some of the young progressive political figures finally come, or will the principle of the “old hierarchy” remain?
The funeral took place on February 14, 1984 at the Kremlin wall on Red Square. The funeral ceremony was attended by heads of state and government of many countries, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US Vice President George H. W. Bush. The White House sent condolences to Moscow expressing hope for “successful cooperation with the USSR to make the world a better place.”
The funeral ritual was worked out to the smallest detail even at the farewell to Leonid Brezhnev, when the leadership of the USSR created a commission to organize the funeral. Then, in 1982, it was headed by Yuri Andropov, now by Konstantin Chernenko.
This cemented the idea in society that “whoever buries, leads the country” – at the first meeting of the Politburo after Andropov’s death, the Plenum unanimously elected 72-year-old Chernenko as the new Secretary General. Having been a seriously ill man for many years, the new Secretary General died a year later, continuing the “five-year period of magnificent funerals” and the “carriage race.”
From speech Konstantina Chernenko On February 13, at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee:
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was destined to work at the head of our party and state for a short, offensively short time, comrades… Continuing and through collective efforts moving forward the work begun under the leadership of Yuri Vladimirovich is the best way to pay tribute to his memory and ensure continuity in politics.
“An opportunity to think about the future”
A month before the death of the Secretary General, Time magazine recognized Yuri Andropov, together with Ronald Reagan, as “Person of the Year”. The main topic after the death of the Secretary General in the Western media concerned the successor and further relations between the USSR and the USA, which were experiencing a new stage of the Cold War (in 1983, Reagan first applied the definition of “evil empire” to the USSR and announced the launch “Strategic Defense Initiative”).
From the President’s radio address USA Ronald Reagan to the nation on US-Soviet relations, February 11:
Changes of leadership in the USSR occurred infrequently. Yuri Andropov was only the sixth leader of the Communist Party in the 66 years since the Russian Revolution. He had been completely absent from public view in recent months, so his death did not come as a shock to the world… The changes in Moscow are an opportunity for both countries to carefully examine the current state of our relations and think about the future.
Newspaper El Pais (Spain) from February 11:
Andropov was a transitional leader not only because of the certainty of his imminent death, but probably because this was how his purpose was originally understood – a compromise between the gerontocracy and new generations. The appointment of his successor may indicate whether the idea of a transition period will continue to triumph in the Kremlin or whether experiments will begin… We do not yet know whether we are on the threshold of a new era similar to the era of Stalin, Khrushchev or Brezhnev, but in any case, what is at stake a form of discharge has been set.
Newspaper The New York Times (USA) from February 11:
The US said it wanted to reaffirm its commitment to “a constructive and realistic” dialogue with the USSR during this transition period in Moscow. The statement, read by Secretary of State George Shultz, was intended as an immediate signal that Washington is more ready than ever for a significant improvement in relations, State Department officials said.
Magazine Der Spiegel (Germany) from February 12:
The Soviet Empire made impressive progress in many areas: science and heavy industry, space flight and weapons. But one thing was not achieved: creating a transparent succession plan for the person at the top. Even the regulations are unknown, they probably do not exist… This leads to incredible consequences even if the secretary general falls ill with the usual flu, and when he dies, a power vacuum arises… The illness of a leader can paralyze any system based on the leader himself.
Newspaper The Washington Post (USA) from February 11:
Reagan administration officials said it was too early to speculate on what the death of Yuri Andropov would mean for Soviet-American relations. The prevailing view was that there would be no rapid change in Soviet politics… The most interesting question in the long term is whether Andropov’s successor will be one of the over 70-year-old members of the Soviet leadership who dominate the ruling Politburo, or one of the few between the ages of 50 and 60 years. The older ones are likely to be transitional figures… The younger ones may well change Soviet policy over time… In fact, one official said, Andropov’s death “takes us back to square one, to where we were in November 1982 when Brezhnev died “
[ad_2]
Source link
