Brezhnevism or Neo-Stalinism?

4.2.3. Is there such a thing as Brezhnevism? What, if anything, characterises the ideological politics of Brezhnev's long term in office?

There is such a thing has Brezhnevism, but I don't think Brezhnevism is the right word to use for it. On the one hand, there certainly was a series of policies and actions undertaken by the Soviet government between 1964 and 1982. On the other hand, whether it is correct to apply Brezhnev's name to these policies and actions seems to be to rely on the extent to which Brezhnev contributed to these policies or whether they would have been pursued if he had not been the leader of the USSR during this period.

If there is one aspect of Brezhnevism that seems initially indisputable, it is the Brezhnev Doctrine of armed intervention to prevent the overthrow of socialist governments in Eastern Europe. No better example of this doctrine in action exists than the Soviet and Warsaw Pact deployment of tanks to Czechoslovakia to put down the so-called Prague Spring. However, the decision to intervene in Prague does not seem to have been Brezhnev's call. For instance, in his discussion of the topic, Stephen Hanson mentions not Brezhnev's concern but Kosygin's, even as he refers to the consequent doctrine promulgated in the general secretary's name to be "Brezhnevian orthodoxy."[1]

The explanation for this focus on Kosygin is given by Richard Sawka, who notes the emphasis during the Brezhnev era on collective leadership. Sawka writes that Brezhnev was "dour and (mindful of his predecessor's fate) sought to rule by consensus."[2] Thus, if there was a Brezhnevism, understood as the body of decisions made by the Soviet leadership when Brezhnev was general secretary, it seems unfair to tag this period with his name, despite his status as first among equals with the CPSU leadership.

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[1] Stephen E. Hanson, "The Brezhnev Era," in Cambridge History of Russia, vol. 3, edited by Roland Suny (New York: Cambridge UP, 2006), 300.
[2] Richard Sawka, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 (New York: Routledge, 1999), 351.