.
Brezhnev and all of the prominent figures of his new regime were basically products of the great purges of Stalin. They all gained power and party positions at a time when it was beneficial for them. This is the era in which we would see the communist system stagnate and decay and eventually lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
As time passed the Brezhnev leadership became increasingly conservative and leadership positions within the party became scarce. The very old and incompetent were not removed, and a party top heavy with hard-line conservative communists proliferated. This new era would be one of conservatism and complacency. Also with leadership such as this you can see where younger members would not question the older ruling elite. Similar to the nobles revering the Tsar as a god in earlier Russia, maybe not so much as a god now, but out of fear. Basically movement within the party halted.
At this point the Soviet Union is burdened by an enormous bureaucracy. Kenez states: "Ministries proliferated, not only on the union level but also in the republics. The governmental structure became so very large because aside from the tasks that any government had, it also controlled the entire economy of the nation. Each small branch of the economy had its own ministry, sometimes several ministries." At this time the structure reflected a feudal style system, where people in high positions would select their own subordinates down to the lowest level. With this system essentially everyone in a position of importance was a member of the Politburo. With a system such as that stated above you have massive inter departmental rivalries over much needed materials, manpower, goods only available through the authorization of the state, and you see members jockeying for better positions within the party basically to gain access to goods previously not available to them. .
Corruption has always been prevalent in most any government especially the Soviet system, but during the Brezhnev era it was rampant and even encouraged to a point far beyond that of previous eras.
