Arkady Volsky (15 May 1932 – 9 September 2006) was a Soviet politician and businessman. He served as a senior aide to three
Soviet General Secretaries, including
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, and was one of three
Deputy Prime Ministers
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
in the last
government of the Soviet Union
The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...
between August and December 1991. He was founder and the first head of the
Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a lobby group based in Moscow, promotes the interests of business in Russia. It has over 1,000 members, including both private and state-owned companies, factories, and foreign and Russ ...
(RSPP).
Early life and education
Volsky was born in
Dobrush
Dobrush ( be, Добруш, , russian: Добруш, pl, Dobrusz) is a town within the Gomel Region of Belarus. It is located on the Iput River. Mentioned for the first time in 1335.
Dobruš is governed by a Regional Executive Committee, the ch ...
(now
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
), on 15 May 1932.
He was raised in an orphanage.
[ He studied metallurgy at ]Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys
The National University of Science and Technology (MISiS) (russian: Национальный исследовательский технологический университет МИСиС) is a public technological university in the field ...
and graduated with an engineering degree in 1955.
Career
After graduation, Volsky started his career as an assistant foreman at Likhachyov car plant in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.[ In 1969, he became the ]Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
's top representative at the factory.[ Then he began to work at the machine-building or the engineering industry department of the party.][ During this period he gained influence over the Soviet directorial corps.][
He served as a senior aide to three Soviet General Secretaries.] His first post of advisor was in 1983 for the Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...
concerning economic affairs. He continued to serve as an assistant on economic affairs to the next General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko uk, Костянтин Устинович Черненко, translit=Kostiantyn Ustynovych Chernenko (24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the seventh General Secretary of the Commun ...
.[ When Chernenko died in 1985, Volsky became a senior aide to his successor ]Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
.[ On 24 July 1988, Volsky was named as the representative of the ]Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
in the Karabakh province or governor of the province. His official title was "representative of the central committee and supreme Soviet" in Karabakh.[ During the same period, he became a member of the Communist Party central committee's division in charge of industry.][ On 12 January 1989, Gorbachev appointed him head of an eight-member committee of special administration for Nagorno-Karabakh.][ The commission was incapable of settling the dispute. After bloody conflict on 20 January 1990, Volsky and his team left the region.][ In the 1990 elections, Volsky ran for a parliamentary seat, but he lost the election.][ Shortly after his defeat, Volsky was named as the head of the scientific and industrial union that was a pro-Gorbachev body consisting of the state enterprises directors.][
In July 1991, Volsky and other prominent politicians such as ]Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretar ...
, Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for ...
, Gavriil Popov and Anatoly Sobchak
Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak ( rus, Анатолий Александрович Собчак, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ sɐpˈtɕak; 10 August 1937 – 19 February 2000) was a Soviet and Russian politician, a co-author of the ...
issued a declaration in order to create a movement for democratic reforms.[Text.]
On 24 August 1991, following the August Coup
August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...
, Volsky was appointed by Gorbachev as deputy prime minister in the cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
headed by Prime Minister Ivan Silayev
Ivan Stepanovich Silayev (russian: Ива́н Степа́нович Сила́ев; born 21 October 1930) is a former Soviet and Russian politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union through the offices of chairman of the Commi ...
for operative management of the USSR economy. Volsky was in charge with industry and military complex until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.[
After the communist regime collapsed, Volsky founded the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), the business lobby, in 1991 and headed it until 2005. ]Alexander Shokhin
Alexander Nikolayevich Shokhin (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Шо́хин; born December 25, 1951) is a Russian state, political and public figure and a Member of the Bureau of the Supreme Council of the party United Russia ...
replaced Volsky in the post. The RSPP, called "Union of Red Directors" at the beginning of the 2000s, is the successor of the previous USSR scientific and industrial union in the Russian Federation.[ He was also one of the major leaders of Civic Union, a bloc of centrist figures, which was founded in December 1992.][ The bloc was made up by the People's Party of Free Russia led by ]Alexander Rutskoy
Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (russian: Александр Владимирович Руцкой; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and a former Soviet military officer, Major General of Aviation (1991). He served as the only vic ...
, the Socialist Party of the Working People, the Union for Revival of Russia, the Social Democratic Centre headed by Oleg Rumyantsev, and the RSPP and Democratic Reform Movement, both led by Volsky.[ It became a very powerful movement in summer 1992.] However, its success did not last long, and the bloc was dissolved in summer 1993.[ Volsky also left the bloc.][
In June 1995, Volsky was appointed by Prime Minister ]Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Unio ...
as deputy head of the peace mission for the conflict in the Chechen Republic
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
. Volsky met the Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev
Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (, ; russian: Джохар Мусаевич Дудаев; ; 15 February 1944 – 21 April 1996) was a Soviet Air Force general and Chechen separatist leader who was the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichke ...
at his mountain hide-out near Grozny
Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia.
The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...
in July 1995.[ It was the first meeting between senior Russian and Chechen officials since the beginning of the Chechen War.][
]
Personal life
Volsky was married and had two children, a son and a daughter. He was described as "a man who is always in the shadows."[
]
Death and burial
Volsky died of complications of leukemia at age 74 in Moscow on 9 September 2006.[ After civil memorial and church service with the attendance of state and political figures of Russia, businessmen, ambassadors, his body was buried at Moscow's ]Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...
on 12 September 2006.
Legacy
Robin White's 2002 fiction, ''The Ice Curtain'', includes Volsky's hypothetical activities in regard to a diamond cartel in Russia.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volsky, Arkady
20th-century Russian businesspeople
20th-century Russian engineers
20th-century Russian politicians
1932 births
2006 deaths
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Deaths from leukemia
Eleventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class
Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Soviet economists
Soviet engineers