Labels:text | man | human face | clothing | suit | screenshot | poster | smile | person OCR: THE FALL OF COMMUNISM SOVIET UNION 1 OVERVIEW LEADERSHIP CRISIS SOVIET UNION POLITICAL REFORMS FOREIGN AFFAIRS EASTERN EUROPE INCREASING TURMOIL LEADERS Leonid Brezhnev (center), last of the hardline Soviets 1: SOVIET DECLINE When Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, the Soviet system was economically stagnant and END OF THE UNION politically corrupt. Within the party elite, reformers who wanted to end the corruption and modernize the Communist system began to fight for the leadership. CHRONOLOGY .. NEWSFLASH ...