Family background
Chernenko's path to power was a breathtaking series of successes that lead him from an obscure Siberian village to the very peak of Soviet power. He was born into a large and impoverished family in the village of Bolshaya Tes' (a Cossack settlement situated in the Krasnoyarsk territory) on September the 24th (September the 11th according to the old Orthodox calendar) 1911.
Although his name is Ukrainian, his official biographers describe him as an ethnic Russian, whose his family migrated from Ukraine to southern Siberia, where they came to consider themselves Russian. His father, Ustin Demidovich, worked in copper and gold mining while his mother took care of the farm. Konstantin lost his mother when he was still a small boy and at the age of 12 was sent to work at a rich master's farm to earn a living.
Master of propaganda
The year of 1929 marked the beginning of forced draft collectivization in the USSR. That year Chernenko joined the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and soon was selected to head the propaganda and agitation (AgitProp) department of the Novoselovo District Komsomol Committee. The post was an important one and a person in Chernenko's position would have played a role in the forcible creation of collective and state farms around Krasnoyarsk, as well as in the expulsion of those considered kulaks (wealthier peasants).
