WI Kosygin Becomes Soviet Leader

Let's see this assassination attempt succeeds, and Brezhnev dies early 1969 -- what becomes of the Soviet Union under this guy?

(And yes, I know this idea has been bantered on, but I wanted to try a fresh take.)

I could see a good PoD for this: Kosygin's economic reform plan works better and through more successes he is able to replace Brezhnev.

I think this would probably lead to the USSR surviving as a state, but they will still need lots of time to fix the damage done by Khrushchev. At last Brezhnev won't be around to mess things up further, and Khrushchev spent his time fixing what Stalin did, so it kinda balances out. Anyhow, while Kosygin's reforms would go far as in liberalizing the state and reforming it, when he died (say... 1980 as per OTL), who replaces him? And would they be likely to continue his work?

On an unrelated note, I've always found it odd how the guy who tried to kill Brezhnev (and killed a driver instead) in the country infamous for it's harsh prisons and sentences ended up in prison for 21 years, whereas in the USA any murder can potentially get you for life, and attempting to kill a president probably gets you life at least.

I can see Kosygin mend relations with China after Mao's death among other things. Sounds like this would make an interesting TL.

Hresvelgr said:

Anyhow, while Kosygin's reforms would go far as in liberalizing the state and reforming it, when he died (say... 1980 as per OTL), who replaces him? And would they be likely to continue his work?

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Yuri Andropov?

John Fredrick Parker said:

Yuri Andropov?

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Eh, given the different circumstances it's possible he doesn't rise as much and in any case what are the chances of a paranoid, hardline KGB director taking over after him? The different realities of a more liberal Soviet state would probably result in someone else in charge, at least I hope.

To what degree would glasnost or perestroika be in the works? Is it possible they would have similar effects on weakening the union of soviet republics as OTL?

John Fredrick Parker said:

To what degree would glasnost or perestroika be in the works? Is it possible they would have similar effects on weakening the union of soviet republics as OTL?

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You can read about some of his ideas on his wikipedia page. It seems he wanted gradual change from "state-administered economy" to having the state simply guide enterprises. There were some failures and stuff, and there was political backlash, but the era where those plans were implemented also saw high growth in production, grain exports, the salary for Soviet citizens more than doubled, and the standard of life improved. If he was in a greater position of power he could prevent this from reversing like it did in Brezhnev's reign. Gorbachev's attempt failed because it was too sudden, and too late.

A good idea for a Soviet survival would be, say... Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Campaign does not fail. It failed OTL largely due to them not taking proper measures to protect the soil and stuff like that. If they are smarter in that regard, they probably would not be so adverse to future reforms as well, but Khrushchev did not seem to plan any and this scenario demands Kosygin, so let's say that thanks to his increasingly erratic behavior he is still ousted as per OTL.

The troika initially consists of Koysgin as the Premier, Brezhnev as General Secretary, and Anastas Mikoyan as Chairman of the Presidium. Theoretically they are equal, but Brezhnev had been assuming more power as the leader of the CPSU. However, (another POD) Brezhnev suffers a bout of extreme illness and is forced to retire from office entirely as his condition soon deteriorates badly. Kosygin, to fill the vacuum, takes his place and to avoid being seen as a total dictator by the government relinquishes his former post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers to Andrei Gromyko, who until now was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ostensibly Gromyko presides over the ministry and decides domestic policies, but Kosygin decides Party policy and holds more clout, and also Gromyko and Mikoyan are quite loyal to him as well. He uses this opportunity to implement his economic reforms, which although not totally successful, increase the standard of living in the USSR dramatically.

How is this so far? Not too sure where to go after this, though. I don't have a clue as to Soviet politics, and haven't the faintest idea what the Soviet foreign policy TTL would be like. Thoughts?