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- 1911-1985. Soviet politician, leader of the
- Soviet Communist Party (CPSU) and president
- 1984-85. He was a protege of Brezhnev and
- from 1978 a member of the Politburo.
- Chernenko, born in central Siberia, joined
- the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) 1929
- and the CPSU 1931. The future CPSU leader
- Brezhnev brought him to Moscow to work in the
- central apparatus 1956 and later sought to
- establish Chernenko as his successor, but he
- was passed over in favour of the KGB chief
- Andropov. When Andropov died Feb 1984
- Chernenko was selected as the CPSU's stopgap
- leader by cautious party colleagues and was
- also elected president. From July 1984 he
- gradually retired from public life because of
- failing health.
-