Grigory Artemievich Arutinov or Grigor Artemi Harutyunyan ( hy, Գրիգոր Արտեմի Հարությունյան (Հարությունով), russian: Григроий Артемьевич Арутинов; November 7, 1900 – November 9, 1957) was the First Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Armenian SSR from 24 September 1937 to 12 March 1953. His tenure as first secretary was the longest in the history of the
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...
.
Early life and career
Arutinov was born in
Telavi
Telavi ( ka, თელავი ) is the main city and administrative center of Georgia's eastern province of Kakheti. Its population consists of some 19,629 inhabitants (as of the year 2014). The city is located on the foothills of the Tsiv-Gombo ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
into the family of a small merchant and a winegrower.
In 1911 he entered the Russian
gymnasium in Telavi. He joined the
Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) in 1919 and was arrested by the
Georgian authorities in 1920.
With the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia, he became the head of the propaganda department of the Telavi district committee of the
Communist Party of Georgia
Communist Party of Georgia (, ''Sakartvelos Komunisturi Partia'') is a communist party in Georgia. The party was founded on 23 February 1992 as the Socialist Labour Party. It was registered at the Ministry of Justice on 27 February 1998. In the ...
.
In 1922 he was sent to study in Moscow, at the
Karl Marx Moscow Institute of the National Economy.
In 1924 he was recalled to Georgia and held various positions in the Communist Party bureaucracy in Georgia, eventually becoming secretary of the
Tiflis
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
city party committee in 1934.
Leader of Soviet Armenia
On September 15, 1937, at an extraordinary plenum of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Armenia, Arutinov was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia.
Arutinov's predecessor,
Amatuni Amatuni, was arrested on September 23 and later shot.
Arutinov was recommended to the position by his boss within the Georgian party structure,
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
.
Arutinov had never lived in Armenia before the appointment nor did he know the Armenian language.
During the
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
, Arutinov's brother Sergo and brother-in-law Artyom Geurkov were arrested and shot in Georgia.
During Arutinov's tenure Armenia saw considerable agricultural and industrial expansion, with the capital
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
in particular enjoying significant growth and development.
The
Armenian National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...
was founded and the construction of the main building of
Matenadaran
The Matenadaran ( hy, Մատենադարան), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian ...
began.
Additionally, from 1946 to 1948 some 100,000 Armenians living in the
Armenian diaspora
The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...
immigrated to Soviet Armenia, although some were settled not in Armenia but in Siberia.
In 1945, Arutinov unsuccessfully appealed to
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
to attach the Armenian-majority
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...
, which was part of the
Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
, to Soviet Armenia.
In 1949, under the orders of the
Ministry of State Security of the USSR, approximately 12,000 people were forcibly resettled from Armenia to the
Altai Krai
Altai Krai (russian: Алта́йский край, r=Altaysky kray, p=ɐlˈtajskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan (East Kazakhstan Region and Pavlodar ...
. After the death of Stalin in 1953, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia passed a decision to allow the survivors of the deportation to return to Armenia.
After Lavrentiy Beria's arrest in June 1953, Arutinov came under fierce criticism due to his association with Beria.
At the meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia on November 28, 1953, he was removed from the post of the first secretary and replaced by Suren Tovmasyan.
After being removed from his post, Arutinov served as chairman of a
sovkhoz
A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, abbreviated from ''советское хозяйство'', "sovetskoye khozyaystvo (sovkhoz)"; ) was a form of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union.
It is usually contrasted wit ...
near Yerevan.
He died of a heart attack in Tbilisi in the
Georgian SSR
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
on November 9, 1957.
Personal life
Arutinov was married to Nina Geurkov. They had no children, but adopted Nami Geurkov, the daughter of Nina's brother Artyom Geurkov, who was executed in 1937.
Nami Geurkov married Alexey Mikoyan, son of
Anastas Mikoyan
Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; hy, Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Armenian Communist revolutionary, Old Bolshevik an ...
, and is the mother of Russian musician
Stas Namin
Stas Namin is a Russian rock musician, known as the leader of the popular Soviet music group, Tsvety (russian: link=no, Цветы, lit=The Flowers). He is also a composer, actor, record producer, and director, and lends his name to the theat ...
.
References
Notes
Citations
1900 births
1957 deaths
People from Telavi
People from Tiflis Governorate
Georgian people of Armenian descent
Armenian atheists
Party leaders of the Soviet Union
First Secretaries of the Armenian Communist Party
First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union
Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Third convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
{{USSR-politician-stub
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour