The proposed paper is based on my current doctoral research which explores social responses to demographic change in the Brezhnev era Soviet Union. This paper asks how health was valued and what its meaning was under late-Soviet socialism. It explores a mismatch between formal narratives claiming communism was superior for health and wellbeing, and the reality of the period, which saw consistently worsening public health. Using archival evidence and published sources, the paper will explore how this clash between ideology and empirical evidence played out. It will examine narratives of health in popular culture and the mass media, and compare these with the discussions occurring in the ministries and the Party. Behind closed doors leaders often shrugged their shoulders, seemingly paralysed to respond to health problems despite acknowledging them to be a problem. This tendency to let healthcare issues slide stands in contrast to the early Soviet progress in medicine, which saw a determination to improve health and very rapid gains in longevity and mortality rates. Throughout, I will consider the link between health and government legitimacy, arguing that worsening public health acted as an unwelcome reflection of Soviet rule for leaders.
