Alexei Kosygin

Alexei Kosygin was a Soviet statesman who held several high-ranking positions in the Soviet Union during the mid-20th century. He served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980, playing a significant role in shaping the country's domestic and foreign policies during the Cold War era. Kosygin joined the Red Army as a volunteer in 1919 and served in the Russian Civil War. Following the war he received some vocational training, joined the Communist Party (1927), and occupied several positions in the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) city government and in industry. By 1939 he had been appointed people’s commissar for the textile industry as well as a member of the party’s Central Committee. In 1940 he became deputy chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars (called Council of Ministers after 1946); he held that post, which gave him special responsibility for consumer industries, until 1953. During World War II Kosygin was premier of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. He next served as minister of finance (1948) and as minister for light industry (1948–53). The party elected him to the Politburo in 1948. Kosygin was demoted to an alternate member when the Politburo was reorganized as the Presidium in October 1952. After Joseph Stalin died (March 1953), Kosygin lost his position on the party Presidium completely and was temporarily removed from his government post. He was reinstated as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers in December 1953 but was removed once again in December 1956. Although he continued from 1953 to hold a variety of ministerial and economic posts, Kosygin did not regain his former authority until June 1957, when, as a supporter of Nikita S. Khrushchev, he was readmitted to the party Presidium as an alternate member and was reinstated as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. Kosygin subsequently worked closely with Khrushchev on economic matters and served as chairman of Gosplan, the Soviet economic planning agency, from March 1959 to May 1960. He was then elected to full membership on the party Presidium and a first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers (May 1960). He supported Khrushchev in the power struggle after Stalin's death and replaced Georgy Malenkov as premier in 1955. He accompanied Khrushchev on many state visits and advocated peaceful coexistence with the West. However, he gradually lost influence and was forced to resign in 1958, after Khrushchev accused him of being part of an anti-party group. He was then demoted to chairman of the State Bank, and later expelled from the Communist Party. He died in 1980 and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.