Soviet Leaders and Ice Hockey during the Period of “Developed Socialism”

The author in their article determines the Soviet leaders’ role and degree of involvement in the fate of the popular game of ice hockey. The source base is the memoirs, periodical press materials, L.I. Brezhnev’s diary, as well as the documents from the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI). It is evident from materials that L.I. Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was the number one fan of hockey in the Kremlin. The article reveals his personality as a hockey enthusiast. At the same time, on the basis of various sources, there is an examination of the degree of involvement of other Soviet leaders (in particular, A.N. Kosygin and Yu. V. Andropov) in making important decisions for hockey in the country and the USSR national team during the period under review. The author concludes that, despite the fact that L.I. Brezhnev was a fan of the CSKA Moscow team, K.U. Chernenko of Spartak, and Yu. V. Andropov oversaw Dynamo Moscow, the USSR national hockey team was the main point of interest for state leaders. The prestige of the national team was valued above club allegiances. The decision about holding matches with Canadian professionals in 1972 was taken by the CPSU Central Committee. A key role in this was played by L.I. Brezhnev and A.N. Kosygin. It was the national team’s interests that prompted the Kremlin’s decision in 1977 to appoint V.V. Tikhonov as head coach of the CSKA Moscow team and the USSR national team.