"Sverdlov Hall was already nearly full...The provincial elite were all there. And it was all the usual things: people kissing each other and shouting greetings across the rows of seats, chattering about the snow and the harvest prospects and generally feeling themselves to be masters of their fate. In all the cacophony I didn't hear the name of Andropov mentioned once, not anything said about his death. At twenty minutes to eleven the hall hushed. The waiting began. With each minute the tension rose and the atmosphere felt charged with electricity...The tension reached a climax. All eyes turned towards the door...Who would come through it first? At precisely eleven, Chernenko's head appeared in the doorway. He was followed by Tikhonov, Gromyko, Ustinov, Gorbachev and the rest. The delegates' reaction was silence."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Heads of stateGeneral Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet UnionAtheists from RussiaPeople of the Cold WarCommunist Party of the Soviet Union members
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Anatoly Chernyayev, who was to become an aide to Gorbachev, has described the appointment of Chernenko at the special plenum of the Central Committee on February 13, 1984.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician, who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
11 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Konstantin Chernenko →
Related Quotes
"Those who try to give us advice on matters of human rights do nothing but provoke an ironic smile among us. We will n…"
"If Soviet society is to move forward with confidence toward our great goals, each new generation must rise to an ever…"
"The Soviet Union has long been proposing to outlaw chemical weapons, to remove them from the arsenals of states. We a…"
"Washington's adventuristic policy, whipping up international tension to the utmost, is pushing mankind towards nuclea…"
"As a great socialist power the Soviet Union is fully aware of its responsibility to the peoples for preserving and st…"
"All this is forcing the USSR to fortify the nation's defences. The Soviet people want no arms build-up. What they wan…"
"A staleness was particularly apparent in the early 1980s, and notably under Chernenko, who died on 10 March 1985. An …"
"You know, comrades, that Konstantin Ustinovich has been gravely ill for a long time, and has been in the hospital in …"
"Andropov died the following month, to be succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, an enfeebled geriatric so zombie-like as …"
"Re-elected in 1984, [Reagan] sought to assure the Soviet leadership that he wanted peace; he also signalled that he s…"