The most closed people. From Lenin to Gorbachev: Encyclopedia of Biographies

Soviet statesman and party leader.

Born into a peasant family. Participant of the Great Patriotic War. He fought as a signalman on the Leningrad and Baltic fronts. Member of the CPSU since 1944. In 1953 he graduated in absentia from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute. In 1946-54, designer, head of the sector of the Central Design Bureau at the plant named after. A. A. Zhdanova (Leningrad) Ministry of Construction and Industry. In 1955-57, secretary of the party committee, party organizer of the CPSU Central Committee at the same plant.

In 1957-61 secretary, 1st secretary of the Kirov district committee of the CPSU in Leningrad. In 1961-62, Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU. In 1962-63 secretary, in 1963-70 2nd secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the CPSU (in 1963-64 2nd secretary of the Leningrad industrial regional committee of the CPSU). From September 1970 to 1983, 1st Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. During this period, a resolution was adopted “On the construction of structures to protect Leningrad from floods.” The following metro stations are open: Lomonosovskaya, Elizarovskaya, Zvezdnaya, Kupchino, Lesnaya, Vyborgskaya, Akademicheskaya, Politekhnicheskaya, Ploshchad Muzhestva, Leninsky Prospekt, Prospekt Veteranov , “Grazhdansky Prospekt”, “Devyatkino”, “Primorskaya”, “Proletarskaya”, “Obukhovo”, “Udelnaya”, “Pionerskaya”, “Chernaya Rechka”.

The construction of the Leningrad Sports Complex named after. V.I.Lenin. The Youth Palace was built on the banks of the Malaya Nevka. A monument to V.V. was erected. Mayakovsky on the street named after the poet. A research institute for the health of children and adolescents has been opened on Aptekarsky Island.

At the 23rd-24th congresses he was elected a member of the CPSU Central Committee. Since 1973 - candidate member, in 1976-85 member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. 1983-85 Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th-9th convocations; since 1971 member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Hero of Socialist Labor (1983). Awarded the Orders of Lenin (3), the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor and medals.

In public opinion he was perceived as a supporter of the “hard line”. He was considered as a real contender for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee after the death of Yu.V. Andropov, but as a result of the behind-the-scenes struggle of factions, a compromise candidate was accepted - the terminally ill K.U. Chernenko, after whose death a candidate from another faction came to power - M.S. Gorbachev, who relied on democratization and openness. The history of Russia has taken another zigzag...

By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin No. 101 of January 28, 1998, G.V. Romanov was established with a personal pension for his significant contribution to the development of domestic mechanical engineering and the defense industry.

Member of the Central Advisory Council under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

ALL PHOTOS

In St. Petersburg, at the age of 86, the Soviet party and statesman, who for many years was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, died.

He was called one of the most influential politicians of the Soviet era. Romanov's character was harsh and tough, many even compared him to Stalin. And the people of St. Petersburg called the time of his reign a “police regime.”

Romanov led the Leningrad regional party committee for 15 years. From 1970 to 1985 - under the General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

Short in stature and very arrogant, he established strict ideological control over the city. The liberal intelligentsia despised him. First of all, because of the powerful pressure on cultural figures. As Echo of Moscow reminds, Arkady Raikin could not withstand the constant pressure from the Leningrad authorities and, together with his theater, was forced to move to Moscow. And the writer Daniil Granin, already during the years of perestroika, wrote an ironic novel in which a short regional leader turns from constant lies into a dwarf. Everyone immediately recognized this hero as Grigory Romanov.

There were many rumors about Romanov - about his relationship with the popular singer Lyudmila Senchina, although she herself denies this, about dishes from the Hermitage. Then, for several years, the society noisily discussed the service from the Hermitage broken by the guests, and then it turned out that there was no service or wedding in the palace. But this became clear only after the intensity of popular indignation reached its limit.

At the turn of the 80s, Romanov was unofficially considered one of the possible candidates for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee. Back in 1975, the American magazine Newsweek named him the most likely successor to Leonid Brezhnev. However, Mikhail Gorbachev won the power struggle in March 1985 and Romanov was sent into retirement.

“Andropov told me this: don’t pay attention. We know that nothing like that happened. I say: Yuri Vladimirovich, but you can give information about what didn’t happen! “Okay, we’ll figure it out,” Romanov recalled.

Natalya, the youngest daughter of Grigory Romanov, still lives in St. Petersburg. Doesn't give interviews as a matter of principle. According to her husband, there were only 10 people at their wedding, which took place in 1974 and captured the imagination of thousands of working people. The celebration was very modest. “This, of course, is stupidity. The wedding was at a dacha. A state dacha, by the way. And the next day we left on a ship along the Volga. To travel. There was no Tauride. And there was no Hermitage,” recalls Lev Radchenko.

When the scandal with the mythical wedding subsided, Romanov took up Leningrad. Over 10 years, almost 100 million square meters of housing were built in the city. The Leningrad "master" was noticed. Such an active regional leader suited the center.

“He had an exceptional relationship with Brezhnev. About two or three years before Brezhnev’s death, the relationship was very good. He trusted him very much. He himself called Leningrad and home,” recalls Romanov’s second daughter Valentina. But Romanov did not enjoy the General Secretary’s favor for long.

However, in 1983 he was invited to Moscow. The new General Secretary, Yuri Andropov, instructed him to oversee the military-industrial complex. But second secretary Mikhail Gorbachev began to appear more and more often next to Andropov - he was entrusted with agriculture. Gorbachev also enjoyed the obvious support of the next general - Konstantin Chernenko.

“Relations were strained between them. We all felt it. And Gorbachev used various methods to not directly, but somehow indirectly present him in a negative form,” former head of the Council of Ministers Vitaly Vorotnikov says about the relationship between Gorbachev and Romanov.

When Chernenko died, Romanov was in the Baltic states. Two other members of the Politburo were also absent. But they decided not to wait and hold an emergency plenum. No one doubted that the next Secretary General would be the one who would be supported by the most influential person in the Politburo - Andrei Gromyko.

Yegor Ligachev undertook to persuade him. “On the eve of the opening of the plenum, Gromyko called me. And he said: Yegor Kuzmich, who will we elect as general secretary? I told him: we need Gorbachev. He says: I also think that we need Gorbachev. And tell me, who could make a proposal? I say: best of all to you, Andrey Andreevich. He says: I also think that I need to make a proposal,” recalls Ligachev.

Romanov’s relationship with Gorbachev and his entourage did not work out. He left the political scene. The official wording is at your own request and state of health. But the “wedding” story haunted even the pensioner Romanov. Before the election of the first president of the USSR, the Supreme Council even created a commission and conducted its own investigation. But they never found anything untoward.

Reference: Grigory Romanov

Grigory Vasilievich Romanov was born in the village of Zikhnovo, now Vorovichi district, Novgorod region. Member of the CPSU since 1944. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1976-1985); candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1973-1976), secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1983-1985), member of the CPSU Central Committee (1966-1986).

Participant of the Great Patriotic War; from 1946 he worked as a designer, head of the sector of the Central Design Bureau of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry; in 1953 he graduated from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute in absentia; 1954-1961 - secretary of the plant party committee, secretary, first secretary of the Kirov district party committee of Leningrad;

1961-1963 - secretary of the Leningrad city committee, secretary of the regional party committee; 1963-1970 - second secretary, 1970-1983 - first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU; elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th-11th convocations; Hero of Socialist Labor; since 1985 - retired.

Grigory Romanov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor and medals.

St. Petersburg residents owe Romanov the beginning of the construction of the famous dam, designed to protect the city from floods, and the development of the metro - 19 stations were built during this period.

, Soviet party and statesman, who for many years was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU.

Short in stature and very arrogant, he established strict ideological control over the city. The liberal intelligentsia despised him. First of all, because of the powerful pressure on cultural figures. How reminiscent"Echo of Moscow" , Arkady Raikin could not withstand the constant pressure from the Leningrad authorities and, together with his theater, was forced to move to Moscow. And the writer Daniil Granin, already during the years of perestroika, wrote an ironic novel in which a short regional leader turns from constant lies into a dwarf. Everyone immediately recognized this hero as Grigory Romanov.

There were many rumors about Romanov - about his relationship with the popular singer Lyudmila Senchina, although she herself denies this, about the wedding of his daughter in the Tauride Palacewith dishes from the Hermitage. Then, for several years, the society noisily discussed the service from the Hermitage broken by the guests, and then it turned out that there was no service or wedding in the palace. But this became clear only after the intensity of popular indignation reached its limit.

At the turn of the 80s, Romanov was unofficially considered one of the possible candidates for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee. Back in 1975, an American magazine Newsweek called him the most likely successor to Leonid Brezhnev. However, Mikhail Gorbachev won the power struggle in March 1985 and Romanov was sent into retirement.

According to Fontanka.ru , recently Romanov lived in the country and did not write memoirs. On February 7, 2008, he celebrated his 85th birthday. The place of Grigory Romanov's funeral has not yet been announced.

Wedding in Tauride and Kremlin wars

At the end of the 18th century, Prince Potemkin organized magnificent receptions for several thousand people in the Catherine Hall of the Tauride Palace. Empress Catherine herself was a frequent guest. When in the eighties of the 20th century the news spread around Leningrad and the entire USSR that the first secretary of the regional party committee had arranged the wedding of his daughter in Tavrichesky, and had even “rented” the royal service from the Hermitage and had not returned half of it, letters poured in to the Politburo from angry communists.

A German magazine produced a sensation Spiegel . Radio Liberty and Voice of America retold the article. Rumors of the wedding spread overnight. Romanov remained silent, considering it wrong to comment on foreign gossip. Soviet newspapers did not write about this, they report"News".

Reference: Grigory Romanov

Grigory Romanov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor and medals.

Who is Grigory Romanov?

Among old communists and everyone who greatly regrets the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of Soviet power, Grigory Romanov is the very savior and hero who could save everything. It is believed that he would have pursued a conservative line, tightened the screws and continued Brezhnev’s work, prolonging the “Era of Stagnation.” Moreover, he was indeed a very real contender for power and, “according to rumors,” a favorite of Yuri Andropov. Since 1976, he was a member of the Politburo. However, Romanov was famous not for this, but for his thirteen years of ruling the “cradle of the Revolution” - Leningrad. There the period is from 1970 to 1983. sometimes called the "Romanov era".

Romanov was considered a strong business executive and a persecutor of dissent

Assessments of Romanov’s activities differ. Range: from “stormy delights” to “a complete nightmare,” from “outstanding organizer” to “persecutor of all living things.” What is it customary to credit Romanov with as the head of the Leningrad Regional Committee? The rapid development of the metro (19 new stations were opened), the construction of a dam began to protect the city from flooding (completed in 2011), as well as the launch of the Leningrad nuclear power plant, the appearance of the Kirovets tractor and the Arktika icebreaker.

On the other hand, his name was associated with the persecution of any dissent and, especially, with the persecution of all those cultural figures who were not eager to share the party line. Many musicians, writers, and poets had a hard time. Romanov is considered almost personally responsible for the fact that Joseph Brodsky and Sergei Dovlatov had to leave the USSR. Political scientist and journalist Boris Vishnevsky even called Romanov “the Apostle of Stagnation.” Paradoxically, in 1981, it was under Romanov, the first rock club in the Soviet Union opened in Leningrad.

Grigory Romanov

If you compare all this, you will come out with a completely typical Soviet leader. “A strong business executive” who does not tolerate when something goes against his plans. Another thing is that from the point of view of the nomenclature, Romanov was successful. And in the Politburo he was considered perhaps the main contender for power, especially since the Union was entering the “five-year period of magnificent funerals.” One after another, the bison of Soviet politics died: Kosygin, Suslov, Brezhnev himself, then Pelshe, Rashidov. Andropov’s hour of death was approaching. Romanov was eight years older than Gorbachev, but significantly younger than Brezhnev’s gerontocrats.

Andropov wanted Romanov to replace him

It was believed that Andropov really wanted Romanov to replace him as General Secretary. Apparently, at that moment, the position of the head of the Leningrad Regional Committee was indeed stronger than ever. But then the Politburo did not dare to go for rejuvenation. Konstantin Chernenko, who went to his grave, was elected General Secretary. He served as head of state for approximately 13 months. Chernenko spent most of this time in the hospital. A couple of times, visiting Politburo meetings were held for him right in the hospital. Chernenko died in March 1985, Gorbachev was appointed chairman of the funeral committee. This is a landmark position. Soviet citizens are already accustomed to the fact that the commission for organizing the funeral of the Secretary General is headed by the future Secretary General. This happened this time too. After this, Romanov's career began to decline. Already on July 1, he was removed from the Politburo, removed from his post as Secretary of the Central Committee. His place was taken by Eduard Shevardnadze.

Could it have been different?

It could, but earlier. There is an opinion that in the winter of 1984, when Andropov died, Romanov was much stronger than in the spring of 1985, when Chernenko died. Within 13 months the wind had changed. The most influential members of the Politburo either initially did not like Romanov very much, or became disillusioned with him over the course of just over a year. Another important circumstance, which, of course, may be a mere coincidence. At the time of Chernenko’s death, Romanov was not in Moscow. The Secretary of the Central Committee was on vacation in Palanga. That is, the entire struggle for power took place without his participation. Was there even a struggle at all?

Konstantin Chernenko

The Afghan war would have continued, the Berlin Wall would have remained in place

After Andropov’s death, the country was left without a secretary general for almost four days. Andropov died on February 9, and Chernenko took office only on the 13th. In the case of Gorbachev, everything happened much faster. Chernenko died on March 10. Already on the 11th the name of the new Secretary General was announced. Gorbachev's candidacy was personally lobbied by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, a very influential and authoritative man. It is unknown whether anyone lobbied Romanov in March 1985. But, apparently, he learned about Chernenko’s death only when the Politburo had already decided on the choice of successor. Romanov's main supporter was Andropov. That is, in February 1984, Romanov had a real chance of leading the country, but in the spring of 1985 he no longer had a chance.

What would be?

It is difficult to say what would have happened, but we can say for sure what would not have happened. There would be no Perestroika, reforms, cooperatives, warming in relations with the West, and so on. The Afghan war would have continued until it stops (although it is difficult to judge where this stop is), the Berlin Wall would have remained in place and would have divided the city in half. The USSR would have buttoned itself up and, using all its resources, would have tried to preserve the empire at any cost. The emphasis in such situations is on the ideological front. The culture would be clamped in a steel vice. No rock wave for you. In this regard, Romanov would do the same thing that Chernenko did - he would strangle him.

Residents of the GDR dismantle the Berlin Wall

How would the Union solve the problems of falling oil prices? By tightening belts and distracting attention. Romanov loved to build. The Union would take on some large-scale construction project. Perhaps they would remember the idea of diverting the Siberian rivers. But the collapse would have happened anyway. Not in the early 90s, but ten years later. The union was showing a crack that could not be hidden in the foundation of a grandiose construction project. And as soon as this crack became visible to the naked eye, the local elite would pull the republics in different directions. Romanov could delay this moment for 8-10 years. That's all.

At the age of 86, Grigory Romanov, a Soviet party and statesman who for many years was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, died.

As Echo of Moscow reminds, Arkady Raikin could not withstand the constant pressure of the Leningrad authorities and, together with his theater, was forced to move to Moscow. And the writer Daniil Granin, already during the years of perestroika, wrote an ironic novel in which a short regional leader turns from constant lies into a dwarf. Everyone immediately recognized this hero as Grigory Romanov.

According to Fontanka.ru, Romanov recently lived in the country and did not write memoirs. On February 7, 2008, he celebrated his 85th birthday. The place of Grigory Romanov's funeral has not yet been announced.

NTV REPORT

Wedding in Tavrichesky

In the eighties of the 20th century, the news spread around Leningrad and the entire USSR that the first secretary of the regional party committee had arranged the wedding of his daughter in Tauride, and had even “rented” the royal service from the Hermitage and did not return half of it; letters from angry communists.

The German magazine Spiegel produced a sensation. Radio Liberty and Voice of America retold the article. Rumors of the wedding spread overnight. Romanov remained silent, considering it wrong to comment on foreign gossip. Soviet newspapers did not write about this, Vesti reports.

The celebration was very modest. “This, of course, is stupidity. The wedding was at a dacha. A state dacha, by the way. And the next day we left on a ship along the Volga. To travel. There was no Tauride. And there was no Hermitage,” recalls Lev Radchenko.

5 minutes to the General Secretary

Before the election of the first president of the USSR, the Supreme Council even created a commission and conducted its own investigation. But they never found anything untoward.

According to the press service of the administration of the governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko expressed her condolences in connection with the death of Grigory Romanov.

Condolences on the death of G.V. Romanova

I express my most sincere, deepest condolences to the family, friends and friends of Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov in connection with his death.

A great statesman and a strong politician has passed away. Grigory Vasilyevich left many bright pages in the history of our country.

Fate generously endowed Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov with the talent of a leader, a person responsible not only for himself, but also for others. His name is inextricably linked with Leningrad - the city in which his career began and which he loved very much.

During the Great Patriotic War, he fought on the Leningrad Front. For many years he held the highest positions in the leadership of Leningrad and the Leningrad region.

Grigory Vasilyevich managed to do a lot for the development of industry, housing construction, and solving social problems of Leningraders. Under him, the construction of a complex of flood protection structures began. His personal contribution to the development of vocational education in our city is enormous.

Grigory Vasilyevich has always been distinguished by his enormous diligence, enormous capacity for work, integrity, wisdom, and high demands on himself and his subordinates.

The memory of Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov will forever remain in the hearts of Leningraders and St. Petersburg residents.

REFERENCE: Grigory Vasilievich Romanov was born in the village of Zikhnovo, now Vorovichi district, Novgorod region. Member of the CPSU since 1944. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1976-1985); candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1973-1976), secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1983-1985), member of the CPSU Central Committee (1966-1986).

Grigory Romanov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor and medals.