NOVEMBER 1982: Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1964 to 1982, dies of a heart attack. Yuri Andropov, the head of the KGB, succeeds him. FEBRUARY 1984: Andropov dies of renal failure. Konstantin Chernenko replaces him. MARCH 1985: Chernenko dies of emphysema. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party and takes steps toward reform, marking the beginning of perestroika. Novy Mir commences serialization of Doctor Zhivago three years later.
