Leonid Brezhnev and Edward Gierek: The Making and Breaking of an Uneven Friendship
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Jakub Szumski [1]
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[1] Polish Academy of Sciences
Polish Academy of Sciences
Warszawa, Polonia
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- Localización: The Soviet and post-Soviet Review, ISSN 1075-1262, Vol. 45, Nº. 3, 2018, págs. 253-286
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The article examines the relationship between the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, and the First Secretary of the Polish United Worker’s Party, Edward Gierek, during the 1970s and contributes to the understanding of relationships between Brezhnev and other leaders of the Eastern Bloc. In order to fulfill his foreign policy goals, Brezhnev needed active and willing cooperation from the Eastern Bloc and its leaders benefited from this endeavor. Gierek responded to this demand by entering into an “uneven friendship” with Brezhnev that was established according to the Soviet “friendship code.” This privileged relationship was dependent on the inner situation within the Soviet leadership, the progress of détente, Poland’s domestic stability, and ultimately did not counterbalance Poland’s structurally disadvantageous status in the Eastern Bloc.
