Konstantin Chernenko, the
son of a peasant farmer, was born in Siberia
in 1911. He joined the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) in 1929.
Two years later he became a member of the Communist
Party (CPSU).
During the Second
World War Chernenko worked as a party propagandist in Krasnoyarsk.
After the war he served under Leonid
Brezhnev in Moldavia.
Brezhnev successfully brought the new republic under the control of
the Communist Party. This impressed Joseph
Stalin and in 1952 Brezhnev was invited to join the Politburo.
Brezhnev now took Chernenko with him as his personal assistant. Brezhnev
was ousted by Nikita Khrushchev in
1956 and this stalled his political career.
In 1971 Chernenko became
a member of the Communist Party Central Committee.
Seven years later he made it into the Politburo.
He worked closely with Leonid
Brezhnev, who was now the most important political figure
in the Soviet Union. Chernenko was expected
to replace Brezhnev when he died in 1982 but he was passed over in
favour of Yuri Andropov.
Andropov attempted to introduce
a series of reforms but he died in 1984 before he could complete his
programme. Chernenko now became the new leader but ill-health forced
him into retirement and he was replaced by Mikhail
Gorbachev.
Konstantin Chernenko died
in 1985.
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