Nikolai Dudorov (1906–1977) was a Soviet politician who served as the

minister of internal affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

between 1956 and 1960.

Early life and education

Dudorov was born in a village, Mishnevo, in Vladimir province in 1906. In 1927 he joined 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 ...

. He attended the Mendeleev Institute in Moscow from 1929 and graduated in 1934.

Career

Following his graduation Dudorov began to work as a factory shop manager. In 1937 he became part of the industrial bureaucracy and was appointed secretary of the committee of the heavy industry of the Communist Party. After serving in various posts he was named as the head the construction department of the Communist Party's

central committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

in December 1954. Dudorov was appointed minister of internal affairs, and his appointment was endorsed by the

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. Communist states In Communist states the presidi ...

on 30 January 1956. He replaced Sergei Kruglov in the post. On 25 February he was also elected a full member of the central committee of the Communist Party in the

twentieth congress The 20th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1827, ...

. Dudorov's appointment as the minister of internal affairs was the end of the hegemony of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

(People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) origin figures in the ministry. One of the reasons for Dudorov's appointment by Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

was his organization skills which were needed to reorganize the Gulag system, the network of forced labor camps. Dudorov advocated

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

as a solution to the Gulag problem. He also developed a detailed plan to modify the Gulag, but his plan was not accepted by the related commission although it included three major points, namely Khrushchev's idea of smaller camps, Stalin's views on the prison camps based on industrial development and dominant ideas of the ministry executives on criminals. Later, Dudorov managed to implement a plan to reorganize the penal system depending on smaller colonies, but the plan was not a success. Dudorov's reformist views could not save him from the dismissal on 1 May 1960. Dudorov's membership in the central committee of the Communist party also ended in 1961. From 1960 to 1967 Dudorov was the general commissioner of the World Exhibition. His last post was the head of a department under the Moscow City executive committee which he held from 1962 to his retirement in 1972 .

Personal life and death

He was married to Zoya Alekseevna Dudorova (1910–2002), and they had two children, a daughter and a son. Dudorov died in Moscow in March 1977 and buried there in the

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 ...

Awards

Dudorov was the recipient of the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

(twice), the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

and the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudorov, Nikolai 1906 births 1977 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Soviet Ministers of Internal Affairs D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia alumni Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members People from Vladimir Oblast Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star