Politburo of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union explained

Number:	23
Start:	8 April 1966
End:	9 April 1971

The Politburo of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was in session from 1966 to 1971.

The 23rd Congress, the first such event since Nikita Khrushchev's ousting, the Presidium reverted to its previous name; Politburo. Mikoyan and Nikolai Shvernik, the two oldest members, were not reelected to the Presidium, while Arvīds Pelše became the only Presidium débutant. While Brezhnev may have been General Secretary, he did not have a majority in the Presidium; when Kosygin and Podgorny agreed on policy, which was not often the case, Brezhnev found himself in the minority. Brezhnev could only count on three to four votes in the Presidium: Suslov, who often switched sides, Kirilenko, Pelše and Dmitry Polyansky. Brezhnev and Kosygin often disagreed on policy; Brezhnev was a conservative while Kosygin was a modest reformer. Kosygin, who had begun his premiership as Brezhnev's equal, lost much power and influence within the Presidium when he introduced the 1965–1971 Soviet economic reform. After the reshuffling process of the Presidium ended in mid-to-late 1970, the Soviet leadership evolved into a gerontocracy, a form of rule in which the rulers are significantly older than most of the adult population; this meant that fewer up-and-comers were promoted to top party positions.

Composition

Members

Name! scope="col" class="unsortable"

Cyrillic	22nd PRE	24th POL				Ethnicity
	Леонид Брежнев	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1906	1982	1931	Ukrainian
	Андре́й Кириле́нко	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1906	1990	1930	Ukrainian
	Алексей Косыгин	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1904	1980	1927	Russian
	Кири́лл Ма́зуров	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1914	1989	1940	Belarusian
	А́рвид Пе́льше	bgcolor = LightGreen		bgcolor = LightGreen		1899	1983	1915	Latvian
	Никола́й Подго́рный	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1903	1983	1930	Ukrainian
	Дми́трий Поля́нский	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1917	2001	1939	Ukrainian
	Алекса́ндр Шеле́пин	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1918	1994	1940	Russian
	Петро Шелест	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1908	1996	1928	Ukrainian
	Михаил Суслов	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1902	1982	1921	Russian
	Геннадий Воронов	bgcolor = Salmon		bgcolor = LightGreen		1910	1994	1931	Russian

Candidates

Name! scope="col" class="unsortable"

Cyrillic	22nd PRE	24th POL				Ethnicity
	Юрий Андропов	bgcolor = LavenderBlush		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1914	1984	1939	Russian
	Пётр Де́мичев	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1917	2010	1939	Russian
	Ви́ктор Гри́шин	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = LightGreen		1914	1992	1939	Russian
	Дінмұхаммед Қонаев	bgcolor = LightGreen		bgcolor = LightGreen		1912	1993	1939	Kazakh
	Пётр Машеров	bgcolor = LightGreen		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1918	1980	1943	Belarusian
	Василий Мжаванадзе	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1902	1988	1927	Georgian
	Шараф Рашидов	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1917	1983	1939	Uzbek
	Влади́мир Щерби́цкий	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = LightGreen		1918	1990	1948	Ukrainian
	Дми́трий Усти́нов	bgcolor = #B2FFFF		bgcolor = #B2FFFF		1908	1984	1927	Russian

References

General
Full- and candidate membership of the Presidium were taken from these sources:

• Book: Fainsod . Merle Fainsod . Merle . Hough . Jerry F.. Jerry F. Hough . 1979. 230–231 . How the Soviet Union Is Governed . none.
• Book: Fainsod . Merle . Hough . Jerry F. . 1979 . 239–240 . How the Soviet Union Is Governed . none.

Specific

Bibliography

• Book: Fainsod, Merle . Merle Fainsod . Hough, Jerry F. . Jerry F. Hough . CITEREFFainsodHough1979 . How the Soviet Union is Governed . . 1979 . 9780674410305.
• Book: Zemtsov, Ilya . Chernenko: The Last Bolshevik: The Soviet Union on the Eve of Perestroika . . 1989 . 9781412819459 . CITEREFZemtsov1989 .
• Book: Brown, Archie . Archie Brown (historian) . The Rise & Fall of Communism . . 2009 . 9780307372246 . CITEREFBrown2009.
• Book: Bacon, Edwin . Sandle, Mark . Brezhnev Reconsidered . . 2002 . 9780333794630 . CITEREFBaconSandle2002 .