Page "History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)" Paragraph 13

After years of stagnation, the " new thinking " ( Anatoli Cherniaev, 2008: 131 ) of younger Communist apparatchiks began to emerge.

Following the death of terminally ill Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU ) in March 1985, marking the rise of a new generation of leadership.

Under Gorbachev, relatively young, reform-oriented technocrats, who had begun their careers in the heyday of " de − Stalinization " under Nikita Khrushchev ( 1958 – 1964 ), rapidly consolidated power within the CPSU, providing new momentum for political and economic liberalization, and the impetus for cultivating warmer relations and trade with the West.