This was a decisive move in a multi-step Stalinist combination aimed at rotating leadership personnel and masterfully carried out by the leader in 1944, which is known as the year of ten Stalinist strikes on the Soviet-German front.
Stalin, artistically using the immense power over the army, party and country concentrated in his hands, skillfully played on several chessboards at once, acting either as the People’s Commissar of Defense or Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, or as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks or Chairman of the State Defense Committee. And each of his new moves led to an impressive result.
On May 15, 1944, Stalin, as Secretary General, carried out a decisive personnel reshuffle on the Soviet political Olympus: on this day, 7 of Stalin’s 13 Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR were relieved of their duties.
During a short operational pause that arose between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth Stalinist strikes, a resolution was passed by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the Deputy Chairmen of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.” The resolution read:
A.M. Gerasimov “I.V. Stalin” (1944). Photo: reproduction of a painting from the collection of the State Historical Museum
Currently, there are 13 deputies of the Presovnarkom: Molotov (first deputy), Mikoyan, Beria, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Voznesensky, Vyshinsky, Malyshev, Pervukhin, Kosygin, Saburov, Bulganin, Mehlis. Of this number of deputies of the Pre-Soviet People’s Commissars, only 6 or 7 people have the opportunity to perform the functions of deputies, while the rest, either because they are too busy with work in their people’s commissariat, or because they are currently diverted to work at the front (Bulganin, Mehlis), do not have the possibility of assigning the functions of deputies to the Council of People’s Commissars. On the other hand, Comrade Malenkov, who is not a deputy of the Pre-Soviet People’s Commissar, in fact serves as a deputy for a number of people’s commissariats.
In connection with the above, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decides:
a) relieve the deputies of the Council of People’s Commissars from their duties. Mehlis, Bulganin, Vyshinsky, Pervukhin, Saburov, Malyshev, Kaganovich;
b) appoint Comrade Malenkov as Deputy Pre-Council Commissar;
c) approve the Bureau of the Council of People’s Commissars consisting of Molotov (chairman), Mikoyan, Voznesensky, Shvernik, Andreev, Kosygin;
d) approve the Operations Bureau of the State Defense Committee consisting of Beria (chairman), Malenkov, Mikoyan, Voznesensky, Voroshilov.”
This day became a milestone in the political history of the Soviet Union.
It was on this day that the star of Lazar Moiseevich Kaganovich, who had once been the second man in the Bolshevik Party, noticeably dimmed, but did not set: in the pre-war years, when Stalin went on vacation to the Black Sea, it was Kaganovich who remained in the capital as the temporary head of the party leadership.
Lev Zakharovich Mekhlis, who at the beginning of the war held the high rank of army commissar of the 1st rank, finally lost his former military-political significance and became a supporting figure.
On the same day, the star of Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov rose high and shone brightly as the second person in the government.
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, retaining the important post of head of the NKVD, became the de facto leader of the entire military-industrial complex of the country.
On May 18, a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted “On the duties of the deputy chairmen of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and on the work of the Operational Bureau of the State Defense Committee.” This document detailed the broad powers that Stalin delegated to Beria as head of the GKO Operations Bureau.
“Assign to the jurisdiction of the GOKO Operations Bureau:
a) control and supervision of the work of all people’s commissariats of the defense industry (NKAP, EKTP, NKB, NKV, NKMV, NKSP), railway and water transport (NKPS, NKRF, NKMF and GUSMP), ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal, oil, chemical, rubber, paper and pulp, electrical industries and the People’s Commissariat of Power Plants;
b) consideration and submission for approval by the Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the Russian Federation of draft decisions on individual issues, quarterly and monthly production plans of the above-mentioned people’s commissariats and quarterly plans for supplying the national economy with metal, coal, oil products, electricity, as well as monitoring the implementation of these plans and supply plans for the listed people’s commissariats all material and technical means;
c) resolving current issues relating to the People’s Commissariats listed in paragraph a, and issuing decrees and orders on these issues.”
The decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on May 15, 1944 became an important, but not the only move in that multi-step combination to strengthen the vertical of power, which Stalin began to slowly play out since May 1943, called by the British journalist Alexander Werth “the year of difficult victories” .
On May 20, 1943, Stalin, as Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, signed GKO Resolution No. 3399 “On Deputy People’s Commissars of Defense.” The document was classified “Top Secret”. Its introductory part substantiated the need for rotation of senior personnel of the People’s Commissariat of Defense – the Soviet military Olympus:
“At the beginning of the war, when the People’s Commissariat of Defense was restructured in relation to the needs of the war and when new leaders were nominated at the head of the main departments and branches of the NPO troops, whose authority needed to be raised by appointing them as deputy people’s commissars, the appointment of the heads of the main departments and commanders of the branches was quite understandable troops as deputies of the People’s Commissar At the moment, when the People’s Commissariat has already adapted to the needs of the war, and the heads of the main departments and commanders of the military branches have acquired sufficient experience and authority, there is no more. the need to have a large number of deputies and to retain the position of deputy people’s commissar of defense for the heads of main departments and commanders of military branches.”
On this day, 17 military leaders were removed from the top of the military Olympus, including five marshals (Marshals of the Soviet Union Budyonny, Timoshenko, Shaposhnikov; Marshal of Artillery Voronov and Marshal of Aviation Novikov). They lost their high status as Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense. Stalin had only two deputies left as People’s Commissar of Defense: the first deputy, Marshal Zhukov, and the deputy on the General Staff, Marshal Vasilevsky. Stalin’s favorite, Chief Marshal of Aviation Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov, wrote very well about the attitude of the Supreme Commander towards the two famous commanders:
“Once, when there was a conversation about Suvorov and Kutuzov, I witnessed how Stalin silently walked around the office for quite a long time, suddenly stopped and said:
“If it were possible to manage the personal qualities of people, I would add the qualities of Vasilevsky and Zhukov together and divide them in half.”
In November 1944, Stalin made three lightning-fast moves that radically changed the balance of power in the Soviet military-political Olympus.
On November 20, 1944, by a resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Army General Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin, who had received this high military rank just on November 17 (the Council of People’s Commissars resolution on conferring the rank was signed by Stalin), was appointed Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense of the USSR. Thus began Bulganin’s rapid ascent to the top of the military Olympus, which ended in March 1947.
The next day, General Bulganin’s star shone even brighter.
On November 21, 1944, by a resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Marshal Voroshilov was relieved of his duties as a member of the GKO and the GKO Operations Bureau, and General Bulganin was appointed in his place, becoming a member of the GKO and the GKO Operations Bureau. From this moment on, the “first red officer” Voroshilov, who headed the People’s Commissariat of Defense before the war, is completely taken out of the game when resolving any military issues.
The next move would be made by Stalin on November 23, 1944 – and it became significant in the life and fate of all those whom we now rightfully call Marshals of Victory…
Nalbandyan D.A. Gala reception in the Kremlin on May 24, 1945 Photo: Russian Historical Society (RIO)
On this day, Marshal Stalin signed “Order on a preliminary report to the Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense, Army General N.A. Bulganin, of all questions prepared for submission to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command or the People’s Commissar of Defense of the USSR” No. 0379.
November 23, 1944 became an important milestone in the history of military development of the Red Army. The war was still going on, but the Supreme Commander-in-Chief had already begun to think about the post-war structure of the Armed Forces and gradually began to build a rigid vertical of power. The document signed by Stalin as People’s Commissar of Defense read:
“I order:
1. The heads of the main and central departments of NPOs and the commanders of the military branches should report questions prepared for submission to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command or the People’s Commissar of Defense in advance to the Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense, Army General N.A. Bulganin.
2. The Chief of the General Staff, the Head of the Main Political Directorate, the Head of the Main Counterintelligence Directorate “Smersh” shall submit and report to me directly questions that are subject to decision by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command or the People’s Commissar of Defense.”
From now on, all heads of the main and central departments of NGOs and commanders of military branches were forbidden to contact the People’s Commissar of Defense, Comrade Stalin, bypassing Bulganin. The only exceptions were three people: the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Vasilevsky, the Head of the Main Political Directorate, Colonel General Shcherbakov, and the Head of the Main Counterintelligence Directorate SMERSH, State Security Commissioner of the 2nd Rank Abakumov.
On March 3, 1947, Marshal Bulganin will become Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR, replacing Stalin himself in this post.
This new move fits perfectly into the logic of Stalin’s actions towards the creators of Victory. Few of them managed to escape Stalin’s wrath and post-war persecution.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov fell into disgrace.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Rokossovsky was forced to take off his Soviet military uniform and went to serve in Poland.
Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov was removed from his post as commander-in-chief of the Navy and demoted to the rank of rear admiral.
Air Chief Marshal Novikov was convicted and sent to prison.
Air Marshal Khudyakov was arrested and shot.
Marshal of the Armored Forces Rybalko, who dared publicly at a meeting of the Supreme Military Council to doubt the expediency and legality of both the arrest of Novikov and the disgrace of Zhukov, died under mysterious circumstances in the Kremlin hospital. (Marshal called his hospital room a prison and dreamed of being released.)
Chief Marshal of Artillery Voronov was removed from his post as commander of the artillery of the Armed Forces and only miraculously escaped arrest.
Artillery Marshal Yakovlev and Air Marshal Vorozheikin were arrested and released from prison only after Stalin’s death.
And so on and so forth…
Against this background, the fate of Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov, although removed from the post of commander of Long-Range Aviation in May 1948 and miraculously avoided arrest (he hid in his dacha for several months and never again held high command posts corresponding to his military rank), this fate still seems relatively prosperous.
After the great Victory, the Master again surrounded himself with the same “rabble of thin-necked leaders” as before the war. Moreover, if before the war Stalin “played with the services of semi-humans,” then by the end of his life his inner circle had mastered this difficult art and began to manipulate the behavior of the suspicious leader. As soon as Stalin began to work directly with one of the military leaders, ministers or aircraft designers, his inner circle began to intrigue, trying to denigrate such a person in the eyes of the Master. As a result, the next caliph disappeared forever from Stalin’s horizon for an hour.
Marshal Zhukov became victims of insidious intrigues, Fleet Admiral KuznetsovMain Air Marshal GolovanovMinister of State Security General Abakumov, Chief of the General Staff General Shtemenko, aircraft designer Yakovlev. These different people were united by one important circumstance: on the eve or during the war years, they were all promoted to their high positions on the initiative of Comrade Stalin himself, he closely monitored their activities and did not allow anyone to interfere in their lives and fate, he decided everything himself. For a certain time, these Stalinist promoters enjoyed the trust of the suspicious leader, often visited him in the Kremlin or at the “near dacha” in Kuntsevo and had the opportunity to report to Stalin himself, bypassing the jealous control of his inner circle. From them the leader often learned what the “loyal Stalinists” considered necessary to hide from him.
However, in the first post-war years, the inner circle ceased to be a passive spectator of Stalin’s personnel changes and began their own game…
But that’s a completely different story.
Source: rodina-history.ru
