Lenin and Stalin did not like kissing, at least in public. There was, however, a case when the legendary Chkalov embraced Joseph Vissarionovich from an excess of feelings, but this does not count.
Fashion for government kisses introduced N. S.Khrushchev. His rise to power marked a certain warming of the domestic political situation. Obviously, like any spring phenomenon, it caused a surge of positive emotions, expressed in this gesture, signifying a manifestation of love for one’s neighbor, including in the Christian understanding of the word. After the asceticism of Stalin's years, the kisses of the leaders of the party and the government looked sincere and quite natural. They were readily accepted as the norm of behavior along with the words "our dear", which came into use at the turn of the sixties.
For Easter kissings, however, the manifestation of affectionIt is impossible to attribute the first secretary, he did not like the church, and by all means tried to limit its activities. Nikita Sergeevich received his last official kiss from the ramp in October 1964 from Klim Voroshilov, who was not informed by the participants of his shift in advance about his serious intentions. Nobody wanted to hug the Central Committee members anymore, although it used to happen. During the reign of Khrushchev, everyone kissed Khrushchev: Brezhnev, Semichastny, Mikoyan, and Kosygin. In fairness, it should be noted that he showed his feelings timidly, somehow in a pioneering manner, and did not abuse this gesture, deeply intimate, showing voluntarism in other issues.
After embarrassment at the airport there was a plenum onwhere Leonid Brezhnev was elected General Secretary. The kiss quickly became part of the party ritual, demonstrating to the Soviet people and the entire world community the deeply human nature of their own government. It was impossible to suspect the head of state in some perverse tendencies, and not because someone was afraid of the all-powerful KGB. Behind him, dear, the glory is firmly entrenched not so much as a “walker”, but a well-known lover of beautiful women, and he could allow himself to behave as he saw fit, and his feelings to manifest as he pleases.
The first kiss of Brezhnev, entered the history of the USSR,made an enormous impression on Czechoslovak citizens. Gustav Husak was kissed three times, completely Orthodox, on his cheeks and lips. Perhaps the representatives of the fraternal Slavic peoples who inhabited the then Czechoslovak SSR would have reacted to this act more tolerant if it were not for the preceding events of 1968, after which their sarcasm and causticity were formed in excess. Expressing reactionary thinking, they called this kiss "triple Brezhnev", hinting, apparently, that it is possible to define a larger number with a numeral.
Romanian turned out to be less tolerantCommunist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. He suffered from bacteriophobia, was terribly afraid of infection by pathogens, and therefore avoided contact with all possible sources of bacilli. The kiss of Brezhnev, he believed, could have caused the infection, because no one rubbed the Soviet leader with alcohol, and he was not sterile. History is silent about exactly what words the head of the CRC expressed his disagreement, but he managed to avoid kissing.
Brezhnev's famous kisses caused a seriousBritish Foreign Ministry concern in anticipation of the government visit being prepared in 1971. The Iron Lady, a severe school in political struggle, was confronted with a situation unparalleled by the parliament of Albion. Thatcher, like the intractable Romanian, managed to avoid the friendly embraces, which she at that moment might have feared more than all the Soviet ballistic missiles combined.
Fidel Castro wittily turned, he's just onthe ladder lit a cigarette, and so, with a cigarette gripped in his teeth, he went to greet him. The case cost a strong handshake and a hug, which is quite acceptable on Liberty Island. But kissing at the Cuban men is not accepted.
But the young American woman who arrived in the compositionthe delegation to Moscow in 1973, got a kiss from Brezhnev, which went down in the history of the USSR and the USA at the same time. Dear Leonid Ilyich every normal man will understand: a pretty girl gives flowers, how can you hold on? Annie Hallman, a dance teacher, immediately became a celebrity, against which, apparently, did not mind. Few Americans could boast such an event in their lives, except that Jimmy Carter, the president. He also got it.
Indira Gandhi, Yasir Arafat, many other leaderssocialist world, the rulers and dictators of developing countries, Latin American liberators fighting against neocolonialism, African leaders and other representatives of progressive humanity were received in Moscow as dear guests. And lush tricks invariably complemented the legendary kiss of Brezhnev. Perhaps not all the guests liked it, but for political and economic reasons suffered. Joseph Broz Tito, according to unconfirmed rumors, got more than others, he even hurt his lip.
But the most famous and replicatedBrezhnev's kiss, which went down in history of the USSR, GDR and the whole of Europe, happened in 1971. Artist Dmitry Vrubel redrawed it with a photo using the graffiti method on the Berlin Wall shortly before its fall, perpetuating the epochal moment of the unprecedented unity of the leaders of the countries of the socialist community. Eric Honecker is almost invisible, it can only be recognized by his glasses and hairstyle. Why this particular moment of the rich history of Soviet history is so famous, difficult to explain. The meeting of the leaders of the USSR and the GDR in the early seventies was a matter of ordinary, its protocol also did not differ in originality. The kiss of L. I. Brezhnev expressed only sincere respect for the elderly communist and anti-fascist. There was no hypocrisy in him, such was the party ethics that had formed over the decades. In general, nothing special.
But when M. S. Gorbachev tried to do the same, it looked very different ...
