Brezhnev’s policies was successful in experiencing an increase in the productivity of consumer goods in the Soviet Union; this was a major improvement in the Soviet Union as consumer investment suffered under Stalin’s rule as he had been too focused in developing and centralizing the Soviet industry in the 1930s. In 1971, the Ninth Five-year Plan saw an increase in consumer goods production, which was an attempt to improve societal welfare and standards of living. However, the plan was short-lived and by 1975, targets were not being met; the failure of the Ninth Five-year Plan owed to the increase in opponents to Brezhnev’s regime who refused to divert resources to aid the reforms. Therefore, the latter part of the policy instead experienced deteriorating onsumer product and civilians continued to suffer under Brezhnev’s rule. Although, the Ninth Five-year Plan had the correct outlook and goals, the lack of labour and technology undermined the economic growth of the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev’s policies saw some improvements in employment rates and wages in the Soviet Society. By 1967 the working week was reduced to a standardized five days, and workers were given fifteen days of holiday per year. Compared to the past, citizens benefited from the increase in minimum wage and this subsequently led to a general rise of social welfare. Yet, these prosperities meant that the rife between regions and professions continued to grow bigger. The rise in education standards was undermined by the lack of employment oppurtunities for the qualified as blue-collar workers generally earned more than skilled professionals. Therefore, it can be said that although working conditions improved in the Soviet Society, it was undermined by the rise in unequal regional improvements.
Brezhnev’s domestic policies gave party leaders the power to maintain influence and control over the society and they were also allowed power to have special privileges, which angered the population and saw a growth in black markets. This meant that Brezhnev’s policies experienced great regional divisions and inequalities - whilst wages, living standards and employment opportunities prospered in some and stagnated in others. The great improvement in working conditions of some areas attracted many labour to migrate. Subsequently, this saw a general decline of labour in stagnated towns and overcrowding in wealthier towns, which further amplified the gap between the rich and the poor regions. Therefore Brezhnev’s promise of ‘Developed Socialism’ had been further undermined by the unequal regional successes in living and working conditions.
Brezhnev’s rule saw an increase in threat to cultural freedom, which led to dissent as writers rejected the heavy censorship imposed on them. The regime was increasingly concerned about the growth of revolutionary ideas and this led to an increase in arrests and imprisonments of scholars and dissidents. These repressive measures, especially the public trials of Daniel and Sinyavsky, highlighted the return to the terror of Stalinist repression. The birth of the new Brezhnev’s constitution in 1977 also gave political leaders the right to arrest and punish those who were spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. There was also an increase in the emphasis of the Russian language and culture; these strict policies in repressing the publications of non-Russian works stirred up a rise in nationalist feeling in the Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic States. Thus, although Brezhnev’s domestic policies attempted to transform the structure of the Soviet society, the repressive measures of his rule undermined his successes and instead, saw a rise in social tension, rife and violence.
In Brezhnev’s foreign policy, he sought to prove that the Soviet Union was a well-managed state. Brezhnev remained on good terms with both the United States and the West and continued with Khrushchev’s policy of détente. Brezhnev’s era saw the birth of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which claimed that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in the affairs of the other socialist states. The Brezhnev Doctrine was an attempt to remind the Satellite states which are tempted to follow the path of Czechoslovakia. Even then, Romania and Albania continued to develop alliances with the Soviet’s rival, Communist China. However the Helsinki Conference and Accord of 1975 compensated the increase in tension between in the Communist Bloc following the Brezhnev Doctrine; this conference saw an increase in economic cooperation and a reduction of tension between the Communist Bloc countries and Western Europe. The conference saw moderate progress in reducing internal tension and also its external tension; thus, this period experienced some hope for the end of the Cold War.
Therefore, in certain parts of the Soviet Union, the general standard of living and working conditions prospered in Brezhnev’s era: there were improvements in housing levels progressed, as well as education. The Ninth Five-year plan attempted in increasing the availability and quality of consumer goods, and although the policy seemed successful in the first five years, the policy backfired and failed to transform the structure of the Soviet society. Soviet citizens also prospered from a general improvement in wages, working benefits and a rise in living conditions. However, these successes were undermined by the increase in inequalities and divisions between regions. The improvements in living standards also backfired and instead saw an increase in widespread social unrest such as alcoholism, crime and divorce. Although, Brezhnev’s policies attempted to transform and to modernize the structure of the Soviet Union, his social reforms did not succeed is solving the many social problems in the Soviet Union.
