Whos Who in Russia Since 1900

Martin McCauley is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the School of Slavonic and EastEuropean Studies, University of London. He has specialised in the politics andeconomics of Russia and Eastern Europe for over twenty-five years, and he acts as aconsultant for investment in the former Soviet Union. He is the author of Stalin andStalinism, The Origins of the Cold War, The Khrushchev Era, and is writing abiography of Mikhail Gorbachev.

WHOS WHO SERIES Other Whos Whos (available in USA from Oxford University Press):

Whos Who in the Old TestamentJoan Comay

Whos Who in the New TestamentRonald Brownrigg

Whos Who in Classical MythologyMichael Grant and John Hazel

Whos Who in Non-Classical MythologyEgerton Sykes, new edition revised by Alan Kendall

Whos Who in ShakespearePeter Quennell and Hamish Johnson

Whos Who in World War TwoEdited by John Keegan

Whos Who in Jewish HistoryJoan Comay, new edition revised by Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok

Available from Routledge worldwide:

Whos Who in Military HistoryJohn Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft

Whos Who in Nazi GermanyRobert S.Wistrich

Whos Who in World PoliticsAlan Palmer

Whos Who in ChristianityLavinia Cohn-Sherbok

Whos Who inRussia Since 1900

Martin McCauley

London and New York

First published 1997

by Routledge11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

1997 Martin McCauley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be printed orreproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,

mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafterinvented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication DataMcCauley, Martin.

Whos Who in Russia Since 1900/Martin McCauley.Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. RussiaBiographyDictionaries, 2. Soviet UnionBiographyDictionaries. I. Title.CT1203.M37 1997 9642009

920.047dc20 CIP

ISBN 0-203-13782-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-17903-X (Adobe eReader Format)ISBN 0-415-13897-3 (hbk)ISBN 0-415-13898-1 (pbk)

Contents

List of Maps vi

Introduction vii

Chronology xvii

WHOS WHO IN RUSSIA SINCE 1900 1

Glossary 244

Maps 257

Bibliography 267

Maps

Map 1 The Russian Empire, 1914 2589

Map 2 Eastern Europe: territorial changes, 193947 260

Map 3 Europe, 19458 261

Map 4 The USSR, circa 1960 2623

Map 5 The USSR, 1991 2645

Map 6 The Soviet Republics in the USSR after 1924 266

vii

Introduction The October Revolution in 1917 gave birth to the Soviet Union. It took place in anunderdeveloped country and this had a significant impact on the nature of the statewhich emerged. The majority of the population supported revolution in 1917 butwhat type of revolution was it to be? The Bolsheviks, who had launched the successfulbid for power, were quite clear in their own minds. It was to be a socialist revolution.Lenin, their leader, was convinced that Karl Marx had arrived at a definitive analysisof world history and that, by following his writings, the Bolsheviks would succeed inbuilding a new society in the Soviet Union. This would not only be true of the SovietUnion but the whole world would eventually become Marxist socialist. A majordisadvantage of Marxs writings was that they declared the inevitability of socialismbut did not provide a blueprint on how to get there. To Marx, capitalism wouldinevitably collapse and socialism take over. Hence Lenin and the Bolsheviks usedMarx as an inspiration but had to find their own route to the promised land. Giventhe fact that imperial Russia was an autocratic state, only just beginning the processof industrialisation and the move to representative institutions and democracy, it wasalmost inevitable that the new Bolshevik state would borrow heavily from the oldregime. Russia, an empire, was a strong, centralised state, or aspired to be one. Therewas considerable debate among the Bolsheviks about the direction of the new state:should it be weak or strong? In October 1917 Lenin proclaimed that a new state hadcome into being, one ruled by Soviets, hence it was called Soviet Russia and, from1922, the Soviet Union. In October 1917 the Bolsheviks set up their own government,the Council of Peoples Commissars (Sovnarkom) and the division of responsibilitiesmirrored very closely the last imperial government. There was a peoples commissariatfor internal affairs, for foreign affairs, for finance, and so on. To Lenin the keyquestion was not administrative, it was who the official in the commissariat was. If hewas a Bolshevik everything would be fine. Lenin chose to be head of the newgovernment and remained so until his death in 1924. If the government was toexercise executive power, what was to be the role of the Communist Party (the nameadopted for the Party in 1918)? Would it be consultative and restrict itself toproviding ideological inspiration for the new government and state? There was certainto be tension between the government and the Party and how was conflict to beresolved? One of the striking features about the Soviet Union was that the relationshipbetween the government and the Party was never defined. Which is more important?This problem was never resolved.

The experience of the Bolsheviks during their first four years in power shaped theSoviet Union. One of the first problems facing Lenins government was how to end thewar with Germany and its allies. This issue split the Bolsheviks, Lenin wanted peace atany price, Bukharin wanted revolutionary war and Trotsky proposed neither peace norwar. Lenin eventually had his way and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in March1918. However, it had to be ratified. In a free vote, there was not a majority in theCongress of Soviets, the parliament, for ratification so Lenin insisted that Bolshevikmembers did not vote according to their conscience but according to the decision of theBolshevik Party to ratify the treaty. This was democratic centralism in action, anddiscipline held. The treaty was ratified. This underlined one of the problems of the rule

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of soviets; they would not necessarily do Lenins bidding. Bolsheviks were often in theminority in the soviets. The onset of the Civil War in the summer of 1918 brought theproblem of the relationship of the soviets and the Bolshevik Party to a head. The sovietswere directly elected and enjoyed legitimacy. To the Bolsheviks their primary functionwas to implement central policy but the soviets wanted to rule their locality. Thesituation became so desperate that the Bolsheviks became more and more dictatorial inorder to survive. The first Soviet government was all Bolshevik but in December 1917Lenin bowed to pressure from within his own party to fashion a coalition socialistgovernment but it did not survive the conflict over the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Hence from the spring of 1918 the Bolsheviks, a minority in the country,formed the government.

Lenin had not given much thought to the role of the Communist Party afterOctober but the conflict over Brest-Litovsk and the onset of civil war drove theBolsheviks in on themselves. Democracy within the Party was restricted because of thedesperate struggle to survive, and democracy outside the Party, in the soviets, alsosuffered the same fate. All the leading Bolsheviks in the government were alsomembers of the Party Central Committee (CC). The CC became too large for effectivedecision making and so a Politburo came into being in 1919, consisting of the topBolsheviks, most of whom occupied key government posts. Gradually it emerged thatthe Politburo was more important than Sovnarkom. Given a choice, a minister wouldmiss a Sovnarkom meeting but not a Politburo meeting. Lenin hastened this processby allowing ministers, outvoted in Sovnarkom, to appeal to the Politburo. By 1921, atthe end of the Civil War, a pecking order had emerged: first, the Politburo, thenSovnarkom, then the soviets.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War because they were ruthless in pursuing theirobjectivevictory. However, Lenin came to the conclusion that the Bolshevikswould not stay in power if they continued with the policies that had won the CivilWar. The most important problem was agriculture (about 80 per cent of thepopulation lived in the countryside) and the peasants wanted relief from forcedrequisitioning. In March 1921, at the Xth Party Congress, Lenin proclaimed aretreat from socialism and the return of capitalism in the countryside; this wasknown as the New Economic Policy (NEP). How was he to convince delegates tovote for such a policy? Lenin managed to force through a resolution on Party unitywhich stated that decisions of higher Party bodies were binding on lower bodies. Ifa comrade opposed the decisions of the Party leadership he was guilty offactionalism and could be expelled from the Party. This also applied to members ofthe CC; if there was a two-thirds majority in favour of expulsion, the offendingmember could be expelled. This ban on factionalism was perceived by Lenin to beonly temporary but it remained until the Gorbachev era. It had a formative influenceon the Party because it prevented debate and democracy developing. It also stifledinitiative and the introduction of new ideas. By definition they could only emergefrom the top. This also meant that debates within the government on economic andsocial policy could be decided by the Politburo. Lenin, at the Xth Party Congress,introduced the doctrine of the infallibility of the Politburo. Inadvertently, he wasshaping the power struggle which would take place after his demise. To dominatethe country, one had to secure a majority in the Politburo. Since the CC elected thePolitburo, the necessary stepping stone was a majority there. If one had a two-thirdsmajority in the CC, one could expel ones political opponents. Lenin had, withoutknowing it, put in place mechanisms that Stalin could skilfully use later, to thedetriment of the Party and the country.

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The Bolsheviks did not control the country before the onset of the Civil War but in1921 they could expand into every part of the Soviet Union. Many officials were sentfrom the capital to rule in Moscows name. They were called first Party secretaries andwere responsible for everything in their region. Their main responsibility was toensure that Party control in their territory was effective. In this they were aided by thepolitical police, called Cheka in December 1917, and then under various namesthemost well-known being the KGBfrom 1922 onwards. The Cheka had proved itselfduring the Civil War as the ruthless defender of Party power. During NEP only thecommanding heights of the economy (energy, communications, transport, heavyindustry, and so on) were in state hands and light industry, trade and agriculture werein private hands. The mixed economy saw democracy develop in the country but theBolshevik goal was always a socialist economy. The struggle to succeed Lenin beganbefore he died in 1924 and went through various stages until Stalin became theprincipal leader by 1929.

One of Lenins tenets in introducing NEP was that peasants could not be coercedinto socialism. They had to join co-operatives voluntarily. The main reason forintroducing NEP had been the fear that the peasants would cease feeding the cities. Thedecisive factor in ending NEP at the end of the 1920s was the victory of Stalin over hisrivals in the fierce struggle to succeed Lenin. Since the Party leadership was not unitedduring the 1920s, Sovnarkom played an important role and it was headed by one ofStalins rivals. Stalins power base was the Party apparatus and he had been madeGeneral Secretary in 1922. This ensured that there would be tension between the Partyand government apparatuses during the 1920s. Should an aspiring young man orwoman join the Party or state apparatus? It was not clear in the 1920s but it becameclear later. When Stalin became leader it became likely that he would give preference toParty rather than to state institutions.

Stalin became head of government in 1941 and remained so until his death in 1953.His concept of government was to view it as the mechanism for implementingdecisions taken by him and his associates. Who was to supervise the implementationof the plans? That function fell to the Party apparatus. Who supervised the Partyapparatus and everyone else? The political police. Hence there were competing lites,all being juggled by Stalin to ensure that a coalition did not form which could topplehim. Planning favoured the emergence of large enterprises and each one tried tobecome a monopoly. A ministry in Moscow was responsible for all the enterprises inits sector. A major problem for Stalin was to discover each plants reserves and its truepotential since it had a vested interest in concealing both in order to ensure a softplan. Among the tasks of the Party official was to collect such information and also toensure the enterprise fulfilled its plan. If it did not, he and the enterprise would bepunished. This system produced tension between the Party and the governmentapparatuses. Ministries enhanced their power during the Great Fatherland War(19415) when about a third of Soviet industry was moved from European Russia tothe east. Local enterprises collaborated for their mutual benefit and Party officials hada vital role to play, ensuring that bottlenecks were eliminated. After the war ministriesconsolidated their position as the economy expanded and the Cold War got underway. The latter increased secrecy and made it easier for ministries and enterprises toconceal information.

The massive task of introducing a planned economy in a country undergoing rapidindustrialisation and enforced collectivisation of agriculture could not have beenachieved by democratic means. The population would not willingly have voted toundergo the exploitation of the 1930s. Stalinism saw the ruthless mobilisation of the

xIntroduction

population in the pursuit of one goal: to make the Soviet Union a modern state and aleading world power. Coercion was endemic and millions of lives were sacrificed. Thesystem was effective in channelling human and physical resources towards certain goals.Heavy industry had priority and light industry was neglected. The successful officialwas someone who got things done, irrespective of the obstacles. Mutual suspicionreigned. Citizens were encouraged to denounce others. Party officials wished to becomelocal Stalins, subservient to the master in the Kremlin, of course. If they reportedsuccess, they could prosper. These were known as the nomenklatura. There was theParty nomenklatura and the state nomenklatura and they were competitors. Stalinssystem was effective but very wasteful. Since the decisions of the Party could not becriticised, conformism became the rule. If there was not an order to do something,initiative was not advisable. Stalinism was very hierarchical and as the economy becamemore complex the ability of Moscow to regulate it declined. Moscow attempted toensure implementation of its plans by taking every decision and depriving localities ofdecision making. For instance, the hotel menu in Tbilisi, Georgia, was set in Moscowand could not be altered.

Stalin left a flawed legacy. However, under him the Soviet Union was modernised,defeated Germany and thus became the leading power in Europe in 1945, and by the1970s was a superpower, in direct competition with the United States. One can speak ofStalin being absolute ruler from 1934 onwards. He acted like a Russian tsar andautocrat (ironic given that he was not Russian but Georgian) and centralised policymaking. Stalinism is an amalgam of imperial Russian and Soviet political and economiccultures. Stalin did not achieve total control, never being able to take over the privatesphere (why will birth control never work in the Soviet Union? Because the means ofproduction are in private hands!), but he came nearer than any other Soviet ruler toachieving his goal. He was a brilliant and charismatic leader and inspired a wholegeneration. His concept of the state can be compared to a wheel, with the spokes beingthe efforts of the population to achieve the goals set by the master. He destroyed officialintellectual life in the Soviet Union because he wanted to mobilise everyone to a singlegoalmake the Soviet Union great. The Communist Party withered under hisleadership. After 1934 the Politburo did not meet regularly, nor did the CC. There wasno Party Congress between 1939 and 1952. Stalin liked to use military metaphors. Hetalked of the leadership being the General Staff, Party cadres being the officers and therest were the foot soldiers. His power structure was based on three institutions: theParty, the government and the political police. Policy making was concentrated inStalins inner circle and the dictator normally did not take counsel in large groups butin small functional groups. Ideology was simplified and to be learnt by rote. There wasone correct view.

Khrushchev attempted to break the Stalinist mould but insisted that the Partyretain the monopoly of power. He also rejected any market-oriented solutions toSoviet economic problems. Khrushchev was the last Marx-believing communist torule the Soviet Union and he actually thought that communism (to each according tohis needs, from each according to his abilities) could begin in 1980. After Stalinsdeath in 1953, Malenkov thought that the most important post was that of PrimeMinister. Khrushchevs power base was the Party and eventually he defeatedMalenkov and the other government-based opponents. His victory over the those whoopposed his radical innovations, the Anti-Party Group, in 1957, enhanced the role ofthe Party by according it the dominant role in the economy. Khrushchev came torealise that Party officials were a brake on attempts to increase economic efficiency.Cadres were more concerned about increasing their privileges than increasing

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economic efficiency. He split the Party into industrial and non-industrial wings in1962. and introduced restrictions on how long an official could occupy his office.However, the nomenklatura, the Party and state lites, eventually rebelled anddeposed Khrushchev in 1964. The main reason why this was possible was becauseKhrushchev abjured the use of force to resolve problems. His removal demonstratedthe influence of the nomenklatura and under Brezhnev it grew in self-confidence.Brezhnev prided himself that his expertise consisted of keeping cadres happy. This wasfine as long as the Soviet economy was growing but was fatally flawed when thingsbegan to go wrong. Also Brezhnevs own health declined from the mid-1970s when hebecame increasingly dependent on sleeping drugs. The Brezhnev era was the goldenperiod of the nomenklatura. There was stability of cadres; in other words, posts wereusually for life and this led to the rise of the gerontocracy. By the early 1980s mostPolitburo members were pensioners, as was the majority of the government.

If Party officials had become very conservative and resented change, the governmentwas in the same position. In a non-market environment, the state being the customerwho ordered and who bought the product, no company went bankrupt. Each Partyofficial sought to attract as much investment to his or her region as possible and theenterprises and government ministries also wanted more investment and subsidies. Themost powerful regions were those associated with the military-industrial complex sincethey were immune to criticism, except from the Party leader himself. Leningrad oblastis an example of this. Gorbachev states in his memoirs that there were various policyareas which were no-go zones in the Politburo: defence, security, the military-industrialcomplex and foreign trade. The greater the secrecy the greater the opportunity for thoseinvolved to run their own domains. In these circumstances privileged ministries andenterprises paid no attention to the interests of others and were, literally, a law untothemselves.

When Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985 he inherited a conservativeParty, a conservative government and a nomenklatura which was not addressing thepressing economic and social problems of the moment. Kosygin had been frustrated byhis inability to introduce significant economic reforms and the same problems surfacedunder Gorbachev. So many institutions had to be consulted in order to introduce changethat the whole process was cumbersome and lengthy. This style had developed underBrezhnev in order to ensure that decisions were implemented. Gorbachev introducedradical reforms and this disturbed the consensus at the top.

In order to comprehend the world in which Gorbachev operated, it is opportune toconsider three institutions: the Party, the government and the soviets. According tothe statutes of the Party the supreme policy-making body is the Congress, whichconvened every five years once the annual Congresses of the early post-revolutionaryperiod came to an end. Congresses were normally meticulously planned with everyspeech checked and rechecked. It was like a play which unfolded before the audiencewho were also participants. Between Congresses, the Central Committee was thehighest policy-making body and it was an assembly which Party leaders normally tookseriously. However, whereas under Khrushchev it met quite often, under Brezhnev itconvened twice or three times a year, and the same under Gorbachev, and thisindicated that it was not the institution which ran the country on a month to monthor day to day basis. That role fell to the CC Secretariat. Its apparatus consisted ofdepartments, most of which paralleled, by design, government ministries. Eachdepartment had a head and secretaries of the CC supervised groups of departmentscovering his (rarely her) area of responsibility. Some CC secretaries were alsomembers of the Politburo and this marked them out as powerful men and potential

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future Party leaders. The relationship between the CC secretary and a ministerchanged over time; after 1957 the CC secretary was normally superior to the minister.The top secretary was called the General Secretary, responsible for all the othersecretaries, and indeed the Party. Stalin was General Secretary from 192234 but thispost did not confer primacy in the Party and the state on him. He had tooutmanoeuvre his competitors in order to become dictator. From 1934 to his death in1953 he was referred to as a secretary of the Central Committee but this deceived noone. Stalin was boss. When Stalin died there was uncertainty about which institutionwas dominant, the Party or the government. Malenkov chose to be head ofgovernment but Khrushchev, given the title of First Secretary in 1953 (this wasretained until 1966 when Brezhnev reverted to General Secretary), eventually provedthe victor. After his defeat of the Anti-Party Group in 1957, so called because theyopposed a greater role for the Party in the economy, the primary position in the statebecame the head of the Communist Party. This remained the case until Gorbachev waselected President of the USSR in 1990. The supreme policy-making body in the post-Stalin period was the Politburo. It consisted of the top lite in Party, government,security and armed forces. Until 1957 a majority of full members held governmentposts, after 1957 the majority was always made up of Party officials. In 1990Gorbachev reformed the Politburo, with all those performing governmental functionsleaving. The last Politburo consisted entirely of the Party lite. The Politburo waselected at each Congress and a comrade was, as a rule, first elected as a candidatemember (he could attend, speak, but not vote) and then promoted to full membership.Gorbachev, in a hurry, advanced several supporters to full membership without goingthrough the preliminary phase of candidate member. The Politburo was called thePresidium between 1952 and 1966.

There were twenty departments of the CC Secretariat in the autumn of 1988 beforeGorbachev began pruning it back, in line with the decision to remove the Secretariatfrom involvement in the economy. He reduced the number to nine. There are severaldepartments which appear often in this book, because of their significance in themanagement of the Party and state. The general department worked closest with theGeneral Secretary, preparing the agenda for Politburo meetings and providingbackground papers. The organisational department was responsible for cadres. Theadministrative organs department supervised the Ministry of Civil Aviation, theMinistry of Defence, the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice,the Procuracy, the Supreme Court and the civil defence apparatus.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was in theory a federal party, witheach republic, except the Russian Federation until 1990, having its ownCommunist Party. In reality it was a highly centralised party with republicanparties expected to go through Moscow in order to discuss policy with anotherCommunist Party. This rigid centralism began to break down under Brezhnev anddid not apply under Gorbachev. Gorbachevs goal was to promote a genuinelyfederal Communist Party, with each republican party autonomous and Moscowco-ordinating but not running affairs. The republican Communist Party washeaded by a bureau (except in Ukraine where it was also called the Politburo),which was elected by a Central Committee at a Congress. There was also aSecretariat and CC secretaries. The top Party boss was the First Secretary.Meetings of the CC between Congresses were called plenums, as at the all-Unionlevel. Republics were divided administratively into oblasts and krais, with thelatter containing within its territory an autonomous oblast, in which lived a non-Slav nationality. Hence Stavropol krai included a non-Slav ethnic territory.

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Oblasts, krais and cities were divided into raions. The Party leader was the firstsecretary. In this book the first Party secretary in an oblast, krai, raion and city isreferred to as the first secretary of the obkom, kraikom, raikom and gorkom. Thebackbone of the Party were the obkom and kraikom first secretaries. Most of themwere elected to the CC, and the Party leader after 1953 had always occupied oneof these posts. Gorbachevs decis ion to take the Party out of economicmanagement in 1988 was a bitter blow to this lite, who previously had run theirlocalities as their fiefdoms. Soviet politics was like Italian politics, personalrelations taking precedence over law and the state.

The Komsomol (the Communist Party for youth) mirrored the Communist Partyorganisation and it was normal for officials to begin in the Komsomol, prove themselvesand then be promoted to Party work. Patronage was very important in the Komsomoland Communist Party. Rising officials gathered around themselves reliable and effectivemen and a few women so that when they rose, their faithful retinue rose as well.Gorbachevs patrons were Kulakov and Andropov. When Gorbachev became GeneralSecretary he brought a large number of officials from Stavropol krai to Moscow to workwith him there.

State institutions consisted of the government, the executive, and elected agencies,the local soviets. The Constitution stated that the supreme power in the state rested withthe USSR Supreme Soviet which elected the government and passed all the mainlegislation. In reality, the Party Politburo was the supreme policy-making body, thePrime Minister always being a member of it. Until the reforms of 1989, there was almostalways only one candidate in elections to the soviets at all levels. The USSR SupremeSoviet met only twice a year, a week in all, and rubber stamped decisions takenelsewhere. Local soviets (all soviets below the level of the republic) were responsible forrunning local government but were subordinate to the Party organisation. If the Partysecretary thought the soviets were not fulfilling their functions he could take decisionsfor them and order their implementation.

The USSR Council of Ministers was the Soviet government and each republic andautonomous republic had its own Council of Ministers. Some ministries were all-Union, in other words, responsible for the whole of the Soviet Union. All the keyministries were all-Union: the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,the Ministry for Light Machine Building (which produced atomic weapons for themilitary), and so on. Many ministries were Union-republican, in other words, therewas a USSR ministry and a ministry in each republic, all subordinate to the Unionministry. The USSR Ministry for Agriculture was a case in point. Economic ministrieswere powerful as they and the enterprises subordinate to them attempted to becomemonopolies. It became very difficult to reform them as there was no market and all thehigh-technology ministries were connected with the military-industrial complex. Theydefeated Khrushchevs attempts to make them more accountable to the Partyleadership, and under Kosygin (196480) there were no radical reforms. The overallplan was drafted by Gosplan, the State Planning Committee, which found it extremelydifficult to promote innovation and risk taking. Throughout the Soviet periodquantitative plan fulfilment was more important than qualitative. Under Brezhnev,the Party boss usually developed a close relationship with the KGB boss and also withenterprise directors. This led to increasing corruption under Brezhnev and republicssuch as Kazakhstan slipped out of the effective control of Moscow. Radical economicreform could not be carried through successfully if the government, industry andagriculture opposed it.

The most radical reforms of the Soviet political system since 1917 were

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implemented in 1989 and 1990. The essence of these was the transfer of power fromthe Party apparatus to the government and the soviets. The Party was no longer themanager of the country. Elected representatives became accountable, not only to thoseabove them, but to those below them, the electors. Competitive elections wereintroduced, first and foremost to the USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies (it is truethat 750 of the 2,250 places were reserved for social organisations such as the Party).This was a super-parliament. The Congress, in turn, elected from its members a USSRSupreme Soviet. Like the previous body, it was bicameral, Soviet of the Union andSoviet of Nationalities. It was expected to meet for about forty weeks a year. Theseinstitutions became genuine debating bodies and were parliaments in the westernsense of the word.

Gorbachev came to the conclusion that an executive presidency was needed. TheSoviet version, unique in Russian and Soviet history, was based on the French andAmerican presidencies. The chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviethad been head of state and sometimes referred to as President. Now the wordPrezident was introduced to the Constitution. Under the President were two newinstitutions, the Presidential Council and the Soviet (Council) of the Federation. Theywere both consultative. The President nominated his Council and the Soviet of theRepublic brought together the top representatives of the fifteen republics. The latterwas important in keeping the Union together and drafting the treaty for a Union ofSovereign States which would succeed the USSR. The USSR Security Council,dominated by the power ministries (internal affairs, defence and KGB), came intobeing. The Politburo began to meet less frequently and in July 1990 was completelyremodelled, now only consisting of Party officials at the centre and the republicanparties. The executive presidency was also accompanied by a radical shake-up ofgovernment. The USSR Council of Ministers was, according to the Constitution,subordinate to the USSR Supreme Soviet. Gorbachev wanted a government which wassubordinate to the President. The result was a Cabinet of Ministers and a PrimeMinister, a Premer Ministr. Gorbachev needed a body which could perform thefunction of manager of the state. It would be responsible for ensuring theimplementation of reform. This was the USSR State Council but it was not veryeffective.

The republics elected their own parliaments in 1990 and only Russia chose to havethe dual system of a Congress and a Supreme Soviet. All the others made do with aSupreme Soviet. One of the consequences of these elections was that the newparliaments could claim legitimacy and spoke for the people. In Russia this led to theelection of Boris Yeltsin as President and in the Baltic republics their parliaments, ledby Lithuania, made it clear that they wanted independence and therefore wished toleave the Soviet Union. This led to a system which can be called dual power, with theSoviet parliament passing legislation and it being annulled in some republicanparliaments. More and more republics passed laws on sovereignty and defiedMoscow. The key to the future of the Soviet Union was Russia, and Yeltsins decisionto go for independence destroyed Gorbachevs hope of a federal state to succeed theUSSR. On reflection, had Gorbachev succeeded in fashioning a Union of SovereignStates (the Baltic states would never have joined), the former Soviet Union might havebeen better off today.

The attempted coup in August 1991 was timed to prevent the signing of theagreement establishing the Union of Sovereign States. It achieved the opposite of whatit intended: the banning of the Communist Party, the emergence of President Yeltsin asa hero and, in consequence, the break up of the Soviet Union. Many republics rushed to

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escape from the USSR lest another coup succeed. Gorbachevs adoption of an executivepresidency and a government subordinate to the President has stood the test of time andhas functioned in Russia and other states since 1991.

The USSR was sometimes described as a Party-government state. The main featuresof the relationship between the Party and the government are shown below. Theapproximate equivalence of Party and governmental bodies is given at each territoriallevel.

NOTE ON RUSSIAN NAMES

Russian names consist of a first name, patronymic (fathers name) and a surname.Hence Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev or Mikhail, the son of Sergei Gorbachev. A sisterwould have been called Anna Sergeevna (the daughter of Sergei) Gorbacheva.Gorbachevs wife was Raisa Maksimovna, Raisa, the daughter of Maksim, neTitorenko. (Titorenko is a Ukrainian name, hence does not end in the feminine a.)Another Russian name is Rimashevsky (masculine) and Rimashevskaya (feminine). Thelatter denotes both the daughter and the wife.

Many Russian names end in ov and ev. This is the genitive plural. Gorbachev(pronounced Gorba-choff) has an ev ending because it follows ch. The stress is at theend, on the ev. He would have been addressed formally as Mikhail Sergeevich, as thetitle gospodin (mister or lord) had been dropped in 1917. It is now again in use inRussia. He could also be addressed as Tovarishch (Comrade) Gorbachev.

Most Russian names have a diminutive. Sasha for Aleksandr, Volodya for Vladimir,Kolya for Nikolai, Seryozha for Sergei, Misha for Mikhail, Nadya for Nadezhda, Tanyafor Tatyana, Raya for Raisa, and so on. Children, animals and close friends areaddressed with the diminutive. There is also Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov: Ivan (John), the son

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Introduction

of Ivan Johnson. Donald MacDonald, Donald, the son of Donald, would be DonaldDonaldovich Donaldov in Russian.

Ukrainian names sometimes end in afor example, Kuchmabut this is bothmasculine and feminine. As above, Titorenko is masculine and feminine. Some namesend in ofor example, Chernenko. This would be Chernenkov in Russian. There arealso names ending in enko, chenko, lenko, denoting the diminutivefor example,Kirilenko, little Kiril or Cyril; Mikhailichenko, little Mikhail or little Michael. Acommon Armenian surname ending is yanfor example, Mikoyan (the stress isalways at the end). Common Georgian surname endings are vili, adze, elliforexample, Dzhugashvili (or Djugashvili); Shevardnadze; Tseretelli; Chekhidze. Muslimsurnames adopt the Russian ending ov or evfor example, Aliev, Kunaev,Rakhmanov, Nazarbaev.

NOTE

In this book the Russian endings ii, yi have been rendered yfor example,Malinovsky, Podgorny. The phonetic y has been omittedfor example, Erin, notYerin, Efimov, not Yefimov. The exception is Yeltsin as this is now the accepted Englishspelling. Evtushenko is retained even though he is often known in English asYevtushenko. The soft sign in Russian has been omitted throughout.

xvii

Chronology Where there are two dates, the first date is according to the Julian calendar and thesecond (in brackets) is the Gregorian calendar. There is a difference of thirteen days inthe twentieth century. Soviet Russia moved to the Gregorian calendar on 1 February1918. 1917 25 October (7 November): The IInd Congress of Soviets of

Workers and Soldiers Deputies opens and declares that power haspassed from the provisional government to the Soviets 267October (89 November): At an all-night sitting the Congressconfirms a new government, the Sovnarkom or Council of PeoplesCommissars, consisting entirely of Bolsheviks and chaired byVladimir Lenin.

1918 3 March: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey and the RSFSR is signed. Russia loses26 per cent of its population, 27 per cent of its arable land, 73 percent of its steel industry and 75 per cent of its coal industry. June:Civil War between Reds (Bolsheviks) and Whites (anti-Bolsheviks)begins. 13 November: The Soviet government annuls the Treaty ofBrest-Litovsk and sends the Red Army into the German occupiedareas.

1921 816 March: The Xth Congress of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks)bans factionalism in the Party and introduces the New EconomicPolicy (NEP).

1922 30 December: The Ist All-Union Congress of Soviets votes for theformation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1924 21 January: Lenin dies at Gorky, near Moscow. 1 October: The firstFive Year Plan begins (ends on 31 December 1932.).

1929 16 January: Stalins proposal that Trotsky be deported from the SovietUnion is adopted by the Politburo.

1931 2 March: Mikhail Gorbachev born at Privolnoe, Stavropol krai, NorthCaucasus.

1936 5 December: A new Soviet Constitution is adopted which establishesthe USSR Supreme Soviet, consisting of two houses, the Soviet of theUnion and the Soviet of Nationalities.

1939 23 August: Molotov and von Ribbentrop sign in Moscow theSovietGerman Non-Aggression Treaty, including a secret protocol ontheir spheres of influence in Europe (also called the StalinHitler Pact).

1941 22 June: German and allied forces invade the Soviet Union.

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1942 August: The Wehrmacht overruns and occupies Stavropol krai. Itwithdraws in January-February 1943.

1943 31 January: Field Marshal Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad.

1945 30 April: Red Army soldiers hoist the Red Flag over the Reichstag inBerlin. 2 May: German troops surrender to the Red Army in Berlin.9 May: German commanders sign the unconditional surrender ofGerman forces in Berlin Karlshorst, thus ending the Second WorldWar in Europe.

1953 5 March: Stalin dies after suffering a stroke on 1 March. 6 March:Georgy Malenkov becomes Prime Minister and head of the Party. 14March: Malenkov leaves the Party Secretariat and thus ceases to behead of the Party. The main beneficiary is Khrushchev. 26 June:Lavrenty Beria is arrested (and executed in December). 13 September:Khrushchev is elected First Secretary of the CPSU.

1954 2 March: Khrushchev launches his Virgin and Idle Lands programmewhich envisages the rapid expansion of the sown area in northKazakhstan, west Siberia, the Urals, the Volga and the northCaucasus.

1955 8 February: Malenkov resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded byNikolai Bulganin, a Khrushchev nominee.

1956 1425 February: At the XXth Party Congress Khrushchev delivers hisSecret Speech, attacks Stalins personality cult and demands a returnto Leninist principles.

1957 19 June: The Party Presidium votes to dismiss Khrushchev as Partyleader but he argues successfully that only the Central Committee cando this. On 4 July, he eventually defeats his opponents (known as theAnti-Party Group) and thereby becomes undisputed leader of theSoviet Union.

1961 12 April: Yury Gagarin becomes the first man in space and circles theearth in his spacecraft, Vostok-1. 14 October: A CC plenum adopts anew Party programme and statute replacing those of 1919. The newprogramme defines the Party as a Party of the whole people. 1731October: At the XXIInd Party Congress Khrushchev proposes a twenty-year plan which was to usher in a communist society. As part of this, overthe years 196170, the Soviet Union was to surpass the US in per headproduction and by 1980 the Soviet Union would be close to introducingdistribution according to need. Gorbachev attends as a delegate.

1962 22 October: President John F.Kennedy announces to the Americanpeople that the US is aware that there are Soviet missiles on Cuba andimposes a naval blockade. Eventually Khrushchev backs down,removes the missiles but gains the concession from Kennedy that theUS will not attempt to invade Cuba.

1964 14 October: Khrushchev is dismissed as First Party Secretary by aCentral Committee plenum which elects Leonid Brezhnev as his

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Chronology

successor. Aleksei Kosygin becomes Prime Minister. It is also agreedthat in future the same person cannot occupy simultaneously the postsof Party leader and Prime Minister.

1965 9 December: Anastas Mikoyan resigns as chairman of the Presidium ofthe USSR Supreme Soviet (President) and is succeeded by NikolaiPodgorny.

1968 21 August: Soviet and other Warsaw Pact states troops invadeCzechoslovakia bringing to an end the era of socialism with a humanface.

1970 Spring: Gorbachev appointed first Party secretary, Stavropol kraikom.

1975 1 August: The Helsinki Final Act is signed by Leonid Brezhnev thusbringing the third session of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe to a successful end. 9 October: The Nobel PeacePrize is awarded to Academician Andrei Sakharov.

1977 4 June: A new draft Constitution is published for discussion. 16June: Nikolai Podgorny resigns as chairman of the Presidium of theUSSR Supreme Soviet and is succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev. 30September: Discussion of the new Constitution is concluded and theamended text is approved by the Central Committee plenum on 3October.

1978 27 November: Gorbachev appointed Central Committee secretary foragriculture, succeeding Kulakov.

1979 26 December: Soviet troops move into Afghanistan.

1980 21 October: Gorbachev is elected a full member of the Politburo.

1982 10 November: Leonid Brezhnev dies and is succeeded as GeneralSecretary of the Communist Party by Yury Andropov who alsobecomes President. When Andropov is ill, Gorbachev often chairsPolitburo meetings.

1984 9 February: Yury Andropov dies and is succeeded by KonstantinChernenko on 13 February. The latter later also becomesPresident.

1985 10 March: Konstantin Chernenko dies. 11 March: MikhailGorbachev is elected General Secretary of the Communist Party. 8April: Gorbachev announces suspension of deployment of SS-20missiles in Europe. 23 April: The Central Committee plenumadopts a mild reform, proposed by Gorbachev. Viktor Chebrikov,Nikolai Ryzhkov and Egor Ligachev are elected full members of thePolitburo. 15 May: Gorbachev visits Leningrad, is warmly receivedand makes a vigorous speech advocating change. 1 July: CentralCommittee plenum removes Grigory Romanov from Politburo.Boris Yeltsin is appointed a CC secretary. 2 July: USSR SupremeSoviet elects Andrei Gromyko chairman of its Presidium (makinghim President). Eduard Shevardnadze takes over from Gromyko asMinister of Foreign Affairs. 27 September: Nikolai Ryzhkov takes

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over from Nikolai Tikhonov as chairman of the USSR Council ofMinisters (Prime Minister). 26 October: Gorbachev visits France,his first official visit abroad as Soviet leader. 1821 November:Presidents Gorbachev and Reagan meet in Geneva, have a firesidechat and agree to further meetings. 24 December: Boris Yeltsinsucceeds Viktor Grishin as first secretary of Moscow gorkom.

1986 25 February6 March: XXVIIth Party Congress in Moscow.Gorbachev calls for radical economic reform. 26 April: Explosion atthe Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Two dead are reported but it is statedthat there is no additional danger of radiation. 14 May: Gorbachevspeaks for the first time to the nation on the Chernobyl disaster butgives few details. 30 September: A Central Committee resolutioncriticises the slow pace of perestroika and names some ministries. 10October: Gorbachev flies to Reykjavik for a two-day summit withReagan. The two Presidents almost reach agreement on extensive cutsin offensive arms. 16 December: Gorbachev phones AcademicianAndrei Sakharov in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), inviting him andhis wife, Elena Bonner, to return to Moscow after six years ofinvoluntary exile.

1987 26 January: A much postponed Central Committee plenum convenesand Gorbachev proposes multi-candidate elections, the promotion ofnon-party persons to senior government posts and the expansion ofcooperatives. 6 May: About six hundred members of Pamyat, a newRussian nationalist organisation, demonstrate in Moscow and are thenreceived by Boris Yeltsin. 28 May: Mathias Rust, a young WestGerman, lands a single-engine plane near Red Square. 30 May:Wholesale military personnel changes are announced in the wake ofRusts penetration of Soviet airspace. Dmitry Yazov becomes Ministerof Defence. 25 June: At a Central Committee plenum Gorbachevcriticises the head of Gosplan and other top economic officials. 2830June: At a USSR Supreme Soviet session, Nikolai Ryzhkov describesthe central (from Moscow) management of Soviet enterprises asobsolete. A law on state enterprises was passed that affordedenterprises autonomy over their budgets and was to come into force inJanuary 1988. 1 November: Gorbachevs book Perestroika ispublished in Moscow, 11 November: Boris Yeltsin is sharply criticisedby Gorbachev and many Moscow party officials and is succeeded asfirst secretary, Moscow gorkom, by Lev Zaikov. December:Gorbachev visits London and Washington and meets MargaretThatcher and Ronald Reagan. In Washington he signs a treaty banningmedium-range nuclear missiles. His first visit to America is a personaltriumph.

1988 27 February4 March: Further violence in Nagorno-Karabakh whereArmenians are demonstrating for the transfer of the region fromAzerbaijan to Armenia. Armenians and others are murdered inSumgait, Azerbaijan. Tass states that thirty-one people were killed.13 March: Sovetskaya Rossiya publishes Nina Andreevas letterattacking reformers. 14 April: Accords ending the Afghan War are

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signed. The United States and the Soviet Union are to guarantee theaccords and not interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan andPakistan. 29 May2 June: President Reagan visits Moscow for hisfourth summit with Gorbachev. 28 June: XlXth Party Conferenceopens in Moscow and Gorbachev proposes a presidential system forthe Soviet Union, a new parliament to be called the USSR Congressof Peoples Deputies and an increase in the power of local Soviets atthe expense of the Communist Party. 30 September: At a CentralCommittee plenum many members retire and Gromyko leaves thePolitburo. The following day Gorbachev replaces Gromyko aschairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet. 7December: At the United Nations in New York, Gorbachevannounces a reduction of 500,000 in Soviet military personnelwithin two years.

1989 15 February: The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan. 26 March:Elections are held to the USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies. ManyParty candidates lose and the pro-independence parties win in theBaltic states. Boris Yeltsin wins in Moscow. 18 May: Estonia andLithuania declare their sovereignty. Latvia follows on 29 July. 25May: The USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies opens in Moscow andis televised live. Gorbachev is elected chairman and on 26 May themembers of the USSR Supreme Soviet are elected from among theCongresss members. July: Coal miners in the Kuzbass, Siberia, goon strike, followed by those in the Donbass, Ukraine. 29 July: TheInter-Regional Group is formed in the USSR Congress of PeoplesDeputies to promote reform. Among the leaders chosen by these250-odd deputies are Boris Yeltsin, Gavriil Popov and AndreiSakharov. 7 October: Gorbachev, in East Berlin, tells the crowdsthat life punished those who fall behind and this furtherundermines the authority of Erich Honecker, the GDR leader. He isreplaced by Egon Krenz on 18 October. 9 November: The BerlinWall comes down. 24 December: Gorbachev and Bush meet inMalta and discuss recent developments in eastern Europe and armscontrol. 14 December: Andrei Sakharov dies. 20 December: TheCommunist Party of Lithuania declares itself independent of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow.

1990 10 January: Gorbachev travels to Lithuania to discuss the republicsdesire to break away from the Soviet Union. However, Lithuaniansdemonstrate for independence. 1920 January: Clashes in Bakubetween Soviet forces and the local population leave many dead. 5February: At a Central Committee plenum Gorbachev proposes theParty abandon its leading role, accept a multi-party system andadopt humane, democratic socialism. These proposals are acceptedon 7 February after a stormy debate. February-March: Localelections are held throughout the Soviet Union with pro-independence candidates winning in the Baltic states while inMoscow and Leningrad the official Party candidates are rejected. 6March: The USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies amends article sixof the Soviet Constitution, thus ending the Partys monopoly of

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Chronology

power. 11 March: Lithuania declares independence and electsVytautas Landsbergis President. 15 March: Gorbachev is electedSoviet President by the USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies. 246March: Gorbachev chooses his fifteen-person Presidential Council.29 May: Boris Yeltsin is elected chairman (or President) of thePresidium of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. 30 May: Gorbachev travelsto Washington for his second summit with Bush. 8 June: TheRussian parliament declares its laws take precedence over Sovietlaws. 19 June: The founding Congress of the Russian CommunistParty convenes in Moscow. 22 June: Ivan Polozkov, a conservative,is elected leader of the Russian Communist Party. 2 July: TheXXVIIIth Party Congress opens in Moscow. Gorbachev is re-electedleader. The new Politburo contains only Party officials and will haveno role in governing the country. 16 July: Ukraine declares itssovereignty. 20 July: The 500-day programme of the RussianRepublic is published. It envisages moving to a market economy in500 days. 234 August: Armenia, Turkmenistan and Tajikistandeclare their sovereignty. 9 September: Gorbachev and Bush meetfor a one-day summit in Helsinki to discuss the crisis in Kuwait. 24September: The USSR Supreme Soviet grants Gorbachev specialpowers to rule by decree during the transition to a market economybut cannot agree on an economic programme. 3 October: Germanyis reunited. 15 October: Gorbachev is awarded the 1990 NobelPeace Prize. 17 November: The USSR Supreme Soviet acceptsGorbachevs proposal to set up a new Soviet government, consistingof representatives from all fifteen republics, to be called the Soviet(Council) of the Federation. 23 November: The draft treaty of anew union is published, to be called the Union of Sovereign SovietRepublics. 2 December: Vadim Bakatin is removed as USSR Ministerof Internal Affairs and succeeded by Boris Pugo. 20 December:Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs, resigns and warnsof the threat of dictatorship. 26 December: Gorbachev choosesGennady Yanaev as the new Vice-President of the Soviet Union buthe is rejected on the first ballot by the Congress and accepted on thesecond.

1991 1113 January: Soviet black berets (Omon forces under the Ministryof the Interior) fire at the main printing press in Vilnius, Lithuania,and on 13 January attack and take over the TV station there. 17March: Referendums on the future of the USSR, on the creation of apresidency (in the RSFSR) and a directly elected mayor (in Moscow).23 April: In Novo-Ogarevo President Gorbachev and the heads ofstate of nine republics sign a joint statement on speeding up a newUnion agreement. 12 June: Boris Yeltsin elected President of theRSFSR in Russias first democratic elections. He receives 57.3 percent of the vote in a turnout of 74 per cent. Zhirinovsky polls 8 percent. Gavriil Popov elected mayor of Moscow with 65.3 per cent ofthe vote. 1721 June: USSR Cabinet of Ministers attempts to restrictthe power of President Gorbachev. 10 July: Boris Yeltsin sworn in asPresident of the RSFSR and receives the blessing of the Russian

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Orthodox Church. 1821 August: Attempted coup against PresidentGorbachev by the Emergency Committee. 20 August-22 September:Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Belorussia (Belarus), Moldavia (Moldova),Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kirgizia (Kyrgyzstan), Uzbekistan, Tajikistanand Armenia declare independence; only the Baltic states arerecognised internationally (Lithuania had declared independence on11 March 1990). 23 August5 September: President Yeltsin ordersthe Communist Party of the Soviet Union to suspend its activities onthe territory of the Russian Federation. The Central Committeebuilding at Staraya Ploshchad is sealed (22 August). The Russiannational flag flies from the Kremlin, alongside the Soviet flag.Gorbachev resigns (24 August) as General Secretary of the CPSU andadvises the Central Committee to dissolve. 18 October: Treaty onan economic community signed by President Gorbachev andrepresentatives of eight republics: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldavia(Moldova) and Ukraine decline to sign. 28 October: RussianCongress of Peoples Deputies elects Ruslan Khasbulatov itschairman and speaker of the Russian Supreme Soviet. 6 November:President Yeltsin bans the activities of the CPSU and the RussianCommunist Party on the territory of the Russian Federation. 910November: IInd Congress of Democratic Russia (DemRossiya). 1December: In a referendum, Ukrainian voters confirm Ukrainianindependence. 8 December: In Belovezh Forest, near Minsk, thePresidents and Prime Ministers of Russia, Ukraine and Belarusdeclare the USSR dissolved and found a Commonwealth ofIndependent States. 17 December: Yeltsin and Gorbachev agree thatby 1 January 1992 the Soviet Union will no longer exist. 25December: USSR President Gorbachev resigns. 27 December:President Yeltsin takes over President Gorbachevs office in theKremlin. 31 December: the Soviet Union ceases to exist.

1992 2 January: Yegor Gaidar launches his price liberalisation policy, alsoknown as shock therapy. 1331 March: President Yeltsin andrepresentatives of all territorial and national regions of the RussianFederation, except Tatarstan and the Chechen-Ingushetia, sign theFederal Treaty on the delimitation of power between the centre andthe regions. 7 May: President Yeltsin signs a decree establishing thearmed forces of the Russian Federation with himself as commander-in-chief. 6 July: Russian Constitutional Court begins the case against theCPSU. 30 November: The Constitutional Court ends proceedingsagainst the CPSU without any verdict. 14 December: President Yeltsinis forced by the Congress of Peoples Deputies to drop Gaidar asPrime Minister. He chooses Viktor Chernomyrdin as the new PrimeMinister.

1993 20 March: On television, President Yeltsin announces theintroduction of a special regime and a referendum on 25 April. 24March: Yeltsins decree of 20 March is published but special regimehas been removed. 269 March: Motion to impeach PresidentYeltsin at the IXth Congress of Peoples Deputies just fails. 25 April:In a nation-wide referendum voters express their confidence in the

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President and his economic policy. 12 July: Constitutional Assembly,called by Yeltsin, adopts text of draft Constitution. 21 September:President Yeltsin signs a decree dissolving parliament and theelection of a State Duma on 1112. December. Parliament deposesthe President and appoints Rutskoi to replace him, also newMinisters of Defence and Security. 34 October: Conflict betweenforces supporting parliament and President Yeltsin results inbloodshed with Yeltsins forces bombarding the White House. 15October: President Yeltsin signs a decree for a referendum on thedraft Constitution on 12 December: Georgian President EduardShevardnadze signs a decree on Georgian entry to the CIS which nowconsists of all ex-Soviet republics except Moldova and the Balticstates. 12 December: Elections to the State Duma, and the draftConstitution is confirmed.

1Abakumov, Viktor Semenovich (18941954), one of the most brutal henchmenof STALIN and BERIA, who as head ofSmersh, 19426, was ruthless ineliminating Stalins perceived foes.Apparently he gave the order in 1944 tokidnap Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedishdiplomat who had saved thousands ofHungarian Jews by issuing them withSwedish passports. Rumour has it thatAbakumov personally shot Wallenbergduring interrogation in his Lubyankaoffice. Abakumov was USSR Minister ofState Security, 194651, and, as such, incharge of fabricating the Leningrad Affairafter the death of Andrei ZHDANOV inAugust 1948. The Affair cost many theirlives and thousands others their posts.While in Berlin in April 1946 to arrestsome Soviet officers, Abakumov clashedwith Marshal ZHUKOV, commander ofSoviet forces. This led to Zhukov beingrecalled to Moscow and accused ofconspiratorial activities. Stalin hadbecame suspicious of Beria and orderedAbakumov to fabricate a conspiracyagainst several of Berias Mingrelian (oneof the nationalities in Georgia) associates.He claimed later that Stalin had told himto go after the big Mingrelian [Beria].Just as all this was moving into placeStalin had Abakumov arrested in June1951. Aba-kumovs bitter rival,Merkulov, had written a letter to Stalindenouncing Abakumov. The lattersdeputy, M.D. Ryumin, informed Stalinthat Abakumov had known for some timeabout a Jewish bourgeois nationalist plot,involving American spies, but had forsome reason kept it secret. Abakumov hadallegedly also murdered a prisoner, a

Kremlin doctor, who had importantinformation. Stalin appointed SemenIGNATEV to succeed Abakumov in 1951.Abakumov sent many letters to Beriaabout being tortured and begging for helpto get out of prison. Abakumov was nottaken in by the Doctors Plot, launched inJanuary 1953, according to which a groupof doctors (mainly Jewish) had as theiraim the shortening of the life of leadingSoviet officials. He was arrested onStalins orders but released after themasters death by Beria who brought himback into state security work. The fall ofBeria signalled Abakumovs demise. Hewas put on trial in Leningrad for his rolein the Leningrad Affair and he wasexecuted in December 1954.

Abalkin, Leonid Ivanovich (b. 1930), Oneof the leading economic reformers duringperestroika and supporter ofGORBACHEV until he lost patience inNovember 1990. He graduated from theprestigious Moscow PlekhanovEconomics Institute, 1952, and taught atthe institute from 1971 to 1977,becoming a professor. He then moved tothe Academy of Social Sciences where herose to become head of the department ofpolitical economy in 1985. He becamedirector of the Institute of the NationalEconomy, USSR Academy of Sciences,1986, and was elected an academician(member of the USSR Academy ofSciences), 1987. He was a deputy chair ofthe USSR Council of Ministers, 198991.He was elected a deputy to the USSRCongress of Peoples Deputies, 1989, andthen became the first chair of the StateCommission on Economic Reform when it

A

2was set up, June 1989. This meant that hehad to give up his mandate as a deputy. Hefound working with Nikolai Ryzhkov, theUSSR Prime Minister, frustrating, asRYZHKOV was not as enamoured ofmarket solutions as Abalkin.

Abashidze, Irakly Vissarionovich (190992), a leading Georgian poet and literaryfigure who mixed politics and culture. Hewas born in Mingrelia, Georgia, andgraduated from Tbilisi University. Heattended the Ist Congress of the USSRUnion of Writers, 1934, when socialistrealism was laid down as the culturalorthodoxy. He was sent to labour camp(Gulag) immediately afterwards butwrote a highly flattering poem in honourof Lavrenty BERIA (another Mingrelian).Abashidze was released and becameeditor of several literary journals. Hebecame a member of the CommunistParty, 1939, and secretary of the Unionof Georgian Writers (subordinate to theUSSR Union of Writers). He becamechair of the Georgian organisation in1953 and remained until 1967. In 1958he played his part in attacking BorisPASTERNAK for his novel DoctorZhivago and the award of the NobelPrize for Literature to him. He alsojoined in attacks on the United States andBritain when the US intervened inLebanon, 1958. He was a leadingmember of the Georgian Academy ofSciences, becoming its vice-president,1960. He was also a deputy of the USSRSupreme Soviet. He cultivated relationswith KHRUSHCHEV and BREZHNEV,flattering them when the occasion arose.Under perestroika he revised hisbiographical entry in the Soviet GeorgianEncyclopedia to excise his former goodunderstanding with Beria. For ever anestablishment figure, he supported ZviadGAMSAKHURDIA, a fellow Mingrelian,when he came to power after Georgianindependence, 1991. Gamsakhurdiasdictatorial behaviour quickly producedmany enemies and Abashidze

consequently went over to theopposition. The Military Council whichremoved Gamsakhurdia by forceafforded Abashidze a state funeral.

Abdrashitov, Vadim Yusupovich (b.1945), a leading film director who rose toprominence under glasnost. He developedhis skills as a pupil of Romm and had afruitful partnership with AleksandrMindadze which produced many films,including The Parade of the Planets,1984. A constant theme in his work wasthe reality of everyday Soviet life and TheTrain Has Stopped, 1982, was daring inits portrayal of small-time corruption. Hegained an international reputation withPlumbum, or a Dangerous Game, 1986,which portrays the malaise of society,especially its pessimism, towards the endof the communist era.

Abdulatipov,Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich(b. 1946), an Avar, he became a leadingspecialist on nationality issues underGORBACHEV. He was born in Dagestaninto a large family and graduated from thehistory faculty, Dagestan State University,Makhachkala, and worked in the agitationand propaganda department of the Partyapparatus in Dagestan, 19745. In 1975 hebecame a postgraduate student in thefaculty of philosophy, Leningrad StateUniversity, and successfully presented hiscandidate dissertation on personality andethnic relations in a developed socialiststate (PhD). He returned to a pedagogicalinstitute, Makhachkala, and later headed asociological laboratory in Murmansk. In1985 he successfully presented his doctoraldissertation on ethnic relations in adeveloped socialist society (DLitt). In 1978he became head of faculty, MurmanskHigher Marine Engineering TechnicalCollege, and in 1987 he returned again toMakhachkala to head the department ofphilosophy, Dagestan PedagogicalInstitute. In 1988 he was invited toMoscow to head a section of thedepartment for inter-ethnic relations,

Abashidze, Irakly Vissarionovich Abdulatipov,Ramazan Gadzhimuradovich

3Central Committee Secretariat andremained there until June 1990. He waselected to the RSFSR Congress of Peoplesdeputies and the RSFSR Supreme Soviet,1990, and was elected speaker, Soviet ofNationalities, RSFSR Supreme Soviet, June1990. He was a member of the CommunistParty, 197391. Abdulatipov, mainly dueto his Dagestani background, was a leadingadvocate of reconciliation betweennationalities in the Soviet Union. Hequickly came to distrust Boris YELTSINand became an ally of RuslanKHASBULATOV when the lattersucceeded Yeltsin as speaker of parliament.He belonged to the centre right bloc whichattempted to impeach President Yeltsin,March 1993.

Abel, Rudolf Ivanovich (Fischer, William)(190371), a successful Soviet spy whowas exchanged for Francis Gary Powers,the US U-2. pilot shot down overSverdlovsk in May 1960. Abel was borninto the family of a German communistwho moved to the Soviet Union after theNazis came to power. He spent part of hischildhood in England. He was a GRU(military intelligence) agent in Germanyduring the Second World War. In 1947 heentered Canada on a German passportand moved to the US, using a forgedCanadian passport. The Communist Partyof the USA provided him with the birthcertificate of a dead child. He set up abusiness in Brooklyn where he displayedhis multi-faceted talents. He was anexcellent musician, radio engineer andlinguist. He operated a large network ofSoviet agents throughout the US under thename of Emil Robert Goldfus. He wasrecalled to Moscow, and then sent toFinland where he married a Finn. He re-entered the US with her in 1952. His coverwas blown by another GRU agent and hewas arrested and sentenced to thirty years,1957. He was exchanged for Francis GaryPowers in 1962. in East Berlin. On hisreturn to Moscow he took up residence inthe Lubyanka and headed the Anglo-

American desk. Louise Bernikow: Abel,New York, 1970.

Abramov, Fedor Aleksandrovich (192083), a Russian writer who championed therural community against the depradationsof the planned economy. He was born inArkhangelsk oblast and was an officer inSmersh (death to spies) during the GreatFatherland War. He graduated from thefaculty of philology, Kirov LeningradState University, 1948. He taught at theuniversity and became a professor ofliterature. He participated in thecampaign during the Zhdanovshchinaagainst cosmopolitanism (mainly anti-Semitic). He first came to the notice of awider public in 1954 in an articleattacking the over-optimisticrepresentation of rural life in Sovietnovels. He knew of the drudgery andpoverty of many rural areas, especially inthe north, at first hand. He devoted atrilogy of novels to rural life inArkhangelsk oblast (The Pryaslins, 1974)which depicts the stark reality of theeffects of collectivisation on the ruralcommunity and the land. He praised thestoicism of the peasant and as such was aprecursor of the rural school of writers,the derevenshchiki.

Abuladze, Tengiz Evgenevich (b. 1924), aGeorgian film producer who became anovernight sensation in 1987 when hisfilm, Repentance, about the dreadfultimes under STALIN, hit the box office. Ithad been completed in 1984 but withKonstantin CHERNENKO in the Kremlinit was wiser to conceal its existence untilthe first shoots of glasnost appeared. Itbecame an immediate success andprovided a great stimulus to glasnost,especially in the film world. Abuladzestudied in State Film School, Moscow,under Yutkevich and Romm. His firstfeature film (with Revaz Chkheidze),Magdans Donkey, 1955, won a prize atthe Cannes Film Festival, 1956. Heconcentrated on the realities of everyday

Abel, Rudolf Ivanovich Abuladze, Tengiz Evgenevich

4life and as such was skating on thin icewith the Sovietcultural establishment. Hebecame very popular in the Soviet Unionand became an internationally acclaimeddirector with Repentance.

Adamishin, Anatoly Leonidovich (b.1934), a senior Russian diplomat whowas born in Kiev and graduated from theLomonosov Moscow State University,1957. He was a member of theCommunist Party, 196591. He workedin the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MID), 19579; then in the USSR embassyin Rome as attach, third and secondsecretary, 195965. There he struck uprelationships with leading Italiancommunists and their families. Then hereturned to MID, as second and firstsecretary, counsellor and consultant to theFirst European department, 196571. Hewas a senior counsellor in MID, 19738.Then he headed the First Europeandepartment, 197886. He was promotedto deputy USSR Foreign Minister, May1986, and remained in that post until1990. He became first deputy RussianForeign Minister, 19924. He thenreplaced Leonid ZAMYATIN as Russianambassador to the Court of St James,London.

Adamov, Arkady Grigorevich (192091),the Soviet Agatha Christie who washugely popular for his detective stories inthe Soviet Union. His first book, DeloPestrykh (The Motley Case) waspublished in 1956 in Yunost. It was aninstant hit and revealed the almostinsatiable appetite for thrillers in theUSSR. He wrote over thirty books, almostall of which were turned into films.

Adzhubei, Aleksei Ivanovich (b. 1924),KHRUSHCHEVS son-in-law whosefamily connections led to a glitteringcareer as a journalist. He became knownas the king of the Soviet press. He wasborn in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the sonof a Ukrainian peasant who later became a

well-known singer, working on occasionswith Fedor CHALIAPIN. His mother wasa dressmaker and among her clients wasNINA, the wife of Lavrenty BERIA.Adzhubei moved to Moscow with hismother, 1932. He graduated fromLomonosov Moscow State University injournalism, 1952. By this time he andRada KHRUSHCHEVA had alreadymarried and Adzhubei became a topSoviet journalist, becoming editor-in-chiefof Komsomoloskaya Pravda, andIzvestiya. He accompanied his father-in-law on many of his western jaunts,including the hugely successful visit to theUnited States, 1959. During the summerof 1964 Adzhubei unwittingly helped theopposition to oust Khrushchev. Hisfather-in-law wanted to introduce the five-day week, something that would havebeen very popular at a time whenKhrushchevs star was in the descendant.Adzhubei, at the instigation of some of theconspirators, persuaded him otherwisewithout realising that they had an ulteriormotive. One of the accusations levelledagainst Khrushchev in October 1964 wasthat he had turned Adzhubei into ashadow foreign minister and hadattempted to meddle in diplomaticmatters at the highest level, confusing theSoviet ambassadors. On one occasion inBonn, Adzhubei had made a slightingreference to Walter Ulbricht, the EastGerman leader. The latter had personallycomplained to Moscow and it had takensome effort to smooth his ruffled feathers.Adzhubeis visits to Prague and Bonn ledto a rumour that he was preparing the wayfor another Khrushchev initiative onGermany. He fell like a stone withKhrushchev in October 1964 and hisofficial career was over.

Adzhubei, Rada Nikitichna (neKhrushcheva) (b. 1929), the daughter ofNikita and Nina KHRUSHCHEV. Shewas born in Kiev where her father was aParty official. She graduated fromLomonosov Moscow State University,

Adamishin, Anatoly Leonidovich Adzhubei, Rada Nikitichna

51952, in journalism and biology. She andALEKSEI ADZHUBEI had alreadymarried as students. She worked as aneditor of journals such as Nauka i Zhizn,from 1956 onwards. Her husband becamethe journalist of the moment while herfather was in power, rising eventually tobecome editor-in-chief of Izvestiya. Shecontinued her career after her fathersremoval and in 1990 she was deputyeditor-in-chief of Nauka i Zhizn. Theirson, Aleksei Alekseevich, born in 1954, isa biophysicist and in 1990 began workingfor the Imperial Cancer Research Fund,London.

Afanasev, Viktor Grigorevich (b. 1922), aleading Soviet journalist who wasremoved as editor-in-chief of Pravda fornot being sufficiently enthusiastic aboutperestroika. He was born in Aktanysh inpresent-day Tatarstan and is Russian. Heserved in the Red Army, joined theCommunist Party, 1943, and graduatedfrom the Chita Pedagogical Institute,1950. He was Professor of Marxism-Leninism at the institute, 19549, thenProfessor of Scientific Communism at theAcademy of Social Sciences of the CentralCommittee of the Communist Party,19608. He then moved into journalism,working on Voprosy Filosofii and Pravda,196874, ending up as first deputy editor-in-chief of the latter. He was promoted tothe position of editor-in-chief ofKommunist, the Partys theoreticaljournal, 1974. He moved back as editor-in-chief of Pravda in 1976 and remainedthere until 1989 when he was sacked andreplaced by Ivan Frolov. Afanasev wasalso chair of the USSR Union ofJournalists, 197690. He was elected amember of the Central Committee of theCommunist Party, 1976, and remainedthere until 1990. He was elected a memberof the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1981,and this afforded him the much soughtafter title of academician. Such a careerreveals an orthodox, conservativecommunist turn of mind but, in line with

the BREZHNEV times, he did supportmodest reform in the economy andsociety. Under GORBACHEV he foundhimself out of temper with the times andhe was ill-suited to be an iconoclasticeditor when radical solutions wereneeded.

Afanasev, Yury Nikolaevich (b. 1934), oneof the most prominent reformers duringthe GORBACHEV era who eventuallybecame frustrated with the Soviet leaderslack of consistency. He was born into aRussian workers family in Ulyanovsk(Simbirsk). He graduated from LomonosovMoscow State University, 1957, in history,worked in the Komsomol in Krasnoyarsk,Siberia, and joined the Communist Party,1961. He became a specialist in Frenchhistory in 1968 (the year of momentouschanges in de Gaulles France), specialisingin the French Revolution, at the Academyof Social Sciences of the Central Committeeof the Communist Party, undertakingresearch in France. He became editor of thehistory section of the Party journal,Kommunist, 1980. He moved back toacademic life to become rector of theMoscow State Archive Institute, 1986, andhe immediately used his access to Sovietarchives to begin unearthing informationabout the past. As such he was anenthusiastic supporter of glasnost. STALINand Stalinism quickly became targets (heclaimed that Stalin had destroyed history inthe USSR) and as he delved further hebecame more and more radical, not fearingto criticise the founding father, LENIN. Hewent into politics in March 1989 when hewas elected to the USSR Congress ofPeoples Deputies, representing Noginsk,near Moscow. As a radical Communist,Afanasev became one of the leaders of theInter-Regional Group in the parliament. Asan effective and energetic speaker, headdressed many demonstrations andgained respect and support from a widespectrum of opinion. Conflict was boundto accompany such a high-profile figurewho was impatient with anything but

Afanasev, Viktor Grigorevich Afanasev, Yury Nikolaevich

6radical and speedy reform. Inevitably hebecame disillusioned with Gorbachev whohad the unenviable task of balancingvarious power interests in the leadership.One of his accusations against the Sovietleader was that he was tryingsimultaneously to be leader of perestroikaand the nomenklatura. Afanasev resignedfrom the Communist Party, April 1990, thefirst prominent person to do so. He wasactive in the Memorial Society, whose maintask was to make known the repressions ofthe Stalin era and to erect a memorial to itsvictims. During his time at the ArchiveInstitute, Father Aleksandr Men, thecharismatic Orthodox priest, began givinglectures in theology, the first biblicalteaching since the early 1930s. Afanasevwas a prolific author and among hispublications is a two-volume history of theSoviet Union, 1991, which reveals animpressive knowledge of western writingon the Soviet Union. He became rector ofthe Russian Humanitarian University, May1991.

Afinogenov, Aleksandr Nikolaevich(190441), a playwright who was born inRyazan guberniya, joined the CommunistParty, 1922, and published his first play in1924. During the 1920s he was associatedwith the proletarian culture movement(Proletkult) and directed plays. He becamea member of the Russian Association ofProletarian Writers (RAPP) when it wasformed in 1928. These writers werededicated to producing a truly proletarianliterature, imbued with communistideology. He became a leading theorist ofthe movement but wrote plays depictingcharacters living in an epoch of permanentfear. Fear, 1931, and The Lie made himwell known. He married an American. Hecame under criticism, 1936, and wasexpelled from the Party and the USSRUnion of Writers, 1937, but wasreadmitted to both after recanting, 1938.He carried on writing and was killedduring a German air raid on Moscow whilewaiting to be sent to the US as a

representative of the Soviet InformationBureau (Sovinformburo).

Agadzhanova-Shutko, Nina Ferdinandovna(18891974), a leading script-writer whoseearlier career was in intelligence. She was anactive worker for the Bolshevik Party, 191116, being arrested several times. Sheparticipated in the Civil War as a member ofthe Cheka. She was posted to the Sovietembassy in Czechoslovakia, 19212, andthe Soviet embassy in Latvia, 19348,gathering intelligence in both countries. Shetemporarily retired from intelligence, 1924,and devoted herself to writing film scripts:1905 God, (The Year 1905), became thebasis of Sergei EISENSTEINS TheBattleship Potemkin, 1926. She co-scriptedwith Lev Kuleshov the film, Dva Buldi Dva(The Two Buldis), 1930, and also coscriptedwith V.Pudovkin, Dezertir (The Deserter),1933. She taught at the All-Union StateInstitute of Cinematography (VGIK), 194552.

Aganbegyan, Abel Gazevich (b. 1932),one of the key Soviet economists duringthe early phase of GORBACHEVSperestroika. An Armenian, he was bornin Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated fromthe State Institute of Economics,Moscow, 1954, and joined theCommunist Party, 1956. He was engagedin the USSR State Committee on Labourand Wages, 195561. WhenKHRUSHCHEV supported the conceptof moving many scientists out of Moscowto the USSR Academy of Sciences,Novosibirsk, Siberia, Aganbegyan wasamong the first to go. He was head of thelaboratory of the Institute of Economicsand Organisation of IndustrialProduction, Siberian Section, USSRAcademy of Sciences, 1961, and was theinstitutes director, 196785. He alsoedited the institutes journal, EKO,which quickly established itself as one ofthe leading economics journals and themost interesting. One of the reformsfloated was to remove subsidies from

Afinogenov, Aleksandr Nikolaevich Aganbegyan, Abel Gazevich

7everything except education, health, carefor the elderly and book publishing.Gorbachev had been introduced to someradical-thinking specialists, includingTatyana ZASLAVSKAYA, in the early1980s, and Aganbegyan in due courseattended Gorbachevs discussion group.Aganbegyan was not as radical (pro-market) a reformer as others and his star,which had been brightest in the earlyyears of perestroika, waned with himbeing over-taken by YAVLINSKY,SHATALIN and others. Aganbegyanchaired many influential committees,such as the committee on productiveforces, 198591. He was academicsecretary of the USSR Academy ofSciences, 19879. He was also director ofthe Academy of National Economy. AbelAganbegyan: Moving the Mountain.Inside the Perestroika Revolution,London 1987.

Agursky, Mikhail Samuilovich (193391),a leading writer on the Soviet Union afterhe emigrated to Israel, 1975. He was bornin Moscow, the son of a founding memberof the Communist Party of the USA. Hegraduated as a mechanical engineer andbecame a candidate of technical science(PhD (Eng)). He became a leading humanrights activist from the early 1970s. Afteremigration, he studied in Paris andobtained another doctorate from theEcole des Hautes Etudes. He revisited theSoviet Union during the 1980s andbecame well known internationally as acommentator on the Soviet Union. Hedied of a heart attack in Moscow a fewdays after the failed coup in August 1991.

Airikyan, Paruir Arshavirovich (b. 1949),an Armenian nationalist leader whobecame involved in the independencemovement in the 1960s. He became aleading member of the National UnitedParty of Armenia, was arrested in 1969and sentenced to four yearsimprisonment. He was released in March1973 but rearrested, February 1974, and

sentenced to seven years in prison andthree years exile. In 1988 he was aleading light in demonstrationsdemanding the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan to Armenia.He was accused of inciting nationalunrest, March 1988, was expelled fromArmenia to Ethiopia, July 1988, and hadhis Soviet citizenship cancelled. He movedto France and thence back to Armenia. Hewas later elected a deputy to the ArmenianSupreme Soviet.

Aitmatov, Chingiz Torekulovich (alsoAytmatov) (b. 1928), a Kirgiz (Kyrgyz)who writes in his own language andRussian, he acquired an internationalreputation by the late GORBACHEV era.He first published in 1952, became firstsecretary of the Union of Kirgiz Writers,1964, and was elected to the KirgizAcademy of Sciences, 1974. He achievedSoviet and international prominencethrough his story, Dzamilia, 1958, whichchronicles the struggle of a Kirgiz womanto choose her husband herself rather thanfollow tradition and have him presented toher. His collection of short stories, Povestigor i stepei, 1962. (Tales of the Mountainsand Steppes, 1969), introduces local mythsand values. He was elected a deputy to theUSSR Supreme Soviet, 1966. The followingyear he was elected to the executive boardof the USSR Union of Writers and wasawarded the Soviet state prize forliterature, 1968. Aitmatov was a memberof the editorial board of Novy Mir, and waseditor-in-chief of Inostrannaya Liter-atura(Foreign Literature), 198890. He waselected to the USSR Congress of PeoplesDeputies, 1989, and its USSR SupremeSoviet. Gorbachev made him a member ofhis Presidential Council, March 1990, andhe was Soviet ambassador to Luxembourg,19901. His literary themes are love,friendship, the emancipation of Kirgizyouth and spiritual quest. Like mostwriters on traditional values, there is ananti-urban and anti-technological streak inhis work.

Agursky, Mikhail Samuilovich Aitmatov, Chingiz Torekulovich

8Akaev, Askar Akaevich (b. 1944), themost enthusiastic supporter of perestroikaamong the Muslim republics of the SovietUnion, he was elected the first President ofKirgizia (Kyrgyzstan). He was born into aKirgiz (Kyrgyz) family in Keminsky raion,Kirgizia, and graduated from the Instituteof Precision Engineering and Optics,Leningrad, specialising in the use ofcomputers in engineering. There hesuccessfully presented his candidatedissertation (PhD (Eng)) and his doctoraldissertation at the Moscow Institute ofPhysics and Engineering (DSc (Eng)),1980. He then joined the staff of Frunze(Bishkek) Polytechnic Institute, foundinga chair of computer technology. In 1986he was elected a member of the CentralCommittee, Communist Party of Kirgizia.In March 1989 he was elected president ofthe Kirgiz Academy of Sciences and wasalso elected to the USSR Congress ofPeoples Deputies and the USSR SupremeSoviet, 1989. He joined the CommunistParty, 1981, and joined the CentralCommittee at the XXVIIIth PartyCongress, July 1990. In October 1990 hewas elected the first President of Kirgiziaand in October 1991 he was elected thefirst President of the Republic ofKyrgyzstan. In February 1992 he alsobecame Prime Minister of his country. Heenjoys a good reputation abroad as achampion of the market and democracy.

Akhmadulina, Bella Akhatovna (b. 1937),a leading poetess and literary personality,her star rose under glasnost. She was bornin Moscow of ItalianTatar background.She graduated from the Gorky Institute ofLiterature and quickly became a memberof the group which flowered underKHRUSHCHEV in the early 1960s,including EVTUSHENKO andVOZNESENSKY. She marriedEvtushenko, after their divorce, YuryNagibin, and after their divorce, BorisMesserer. She was awarded the state prizefor poetry, 1989. Her poems are personal,lyrical and often speak of friendship. She

travelled widely but never quite achievedthe same impact as Evtushenko andVoznesensky.

Akhmatova, Anna Andreevna (18891966) a great poet of Soviet literature, shesurvived vilification by ZHDANOV in1946 to blossom in the post-STALIN era.She was born near Odessa but moved toTsarskoe Selo (Pushkin) in 1890 and wentto school there. She moved to Kiev in1907 and married Nikolai GUMILEV,1910. She began publishing poetry, 1912,and soon became a leading figure of theSilver Age of Russian poetry. A member ofthe Acmeists (Gumilevs group) for a timeshe branched away and developed herown lyrical style. She declined to emigrateafter the October Revolution and herbitter and tragic experiences (her husbandwas shot and her son, Lev Gumilev spentmany years in the Gulag) foundexpression in her poetry. She managed toescape from Leningrad before the Germansiege became effective, 1941. She lived inTashkent, Uzbekistan, until 1944 whenshe returned to Leningrad after the siegewas lifted. Mikhail ZOSHCHENKO andshe were the main targets of Zhdanovsvituperations against foreign influenceson Soviet culture, August 1946. Referringto Akhmatova, he commented, It wouldbe difficult to say if she is a nun or awhore; better perhaps to say she is a littleof both, her lusts and her prayersintertwine. Spiritual values wereunwelcome, materialism was the order ofthe day. Her expulsion from the USSRUnion of Writers meant that her workcould not be published in the SovietUnion. She continued to write: her Poemwithout a Hero, 194062, publishedoutside the USSR in 1961, portrays life inSt Petersburg on the eve of war andrevolution. Her tribute to the victims ofStalins repressions is Requiem, 193540(published outside the Soviet Union,1963, and in the Soviet Union, 1987). Shepublished several volumes of verse afterStalins death and earned enormous

Akaev, Askar Akaevich Akhmatova, Anna Andreevna

9respect and prestige in the Soviet Union.Among her foreign honours is anhonorary doctorate from the University ofOxford, 1965.

Akhromeev, Marshal Sergei Fedorovich(192391), he ended his brilliant militarycareer by hanging himself in his Kremlinoffice after the failed coup againstGORBACHEV in August 1991. ARussian, he joined the Red Army, 1940,the Communist Party, 1943, and hegraduated from the Military Academy ofTank Troops, 1952, and the MilitaryAcademy of the General Staff, 1967. Herose to become a commander of a tankbattalion on the 4th Ukrainian Front by1945. From 1946 to 1964 he progressedfrom chief of staff of a regiment tocommander of a division. After 1967 hewas qualified for senior posts and in19724 he was chief of staff, Far Easternmilitary district; then deputy Chief of theGeneral Staff, 19729; first deputy Chiefof Staff, 197984. He was elected acandidate member of the CentralCommittee of the Communist Party,1981, and a full member, 1983. In thesame year he was promoted Marshal ofthe Soviet Union. There was a vigorousdebate about military doctrine in the early1980s and Marshal Nikolai OGARKOV,Chief of the General Staff, argued stronglyin favour of expanding conventional(non-nuclear) forces. Akhromeev hadbeen careful not to commit himself andwas rewarded by being chosen to replacethe at times abrasive Ogarkov, September1984. His position qualified him for thepost of deputy USSR Minister of Defence,1984. He accompanied Gorbachev tovarious summits but was regarded as moreconservative than the Soviet leader. Hisview of the US remained adversarial andwhen Gorbachev announced unilateraldefence cuts at the United Nations,December 1988, Akhromeev resigned asChief of the General Staff. However, heremained an adviser to Gorbachev andaddressed the US Congress, July 1989.

Held in high regard by western specialists,Akhromeev, however, could not movewith the political times. He became one ofthe ringleaders of the attempted Augustcoup against Gorbachev and became oneof the few top conspirators to commitsuicide.

Aksenov, Vasily Petrovich (b. 1932), theson of Evgeniya GINZBURG, he became aleading novelist in the Soviet Union. Hewas born in Kazan, Tatarstan, where hisfather was chair of the soviet. His parentswere put in the Gulag when he was fouryears old. His grandmother brought himup and he was reunited with his motherwhen he was sixteen and together theylived in