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Article: Exit Chernenkoism? (Konstantin Chernenko)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- April 19, 1985
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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TWO THOUGHTS passed through the mind when Chernenko died. The first was as written by Gerhart Niemeyer, the distinguished political scientist. It was just after Stalin's death, and he was asked by U.S. News & World Report to write about what might be expected down the line, say thirty years later. He asked himself, and then answered the question: What would happen if a successor to Stalin, finding himself Secretary General of the Communist Party, were to wake up one day and acknowledge that Communism was, really, a discredited ideology that brought about none of the happy social effects predicted by Karl Marx, and that under the circumstances he would retire from duty ...