Nikolai Aleksandrovich Mikhailov (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Николай Александрович Михайлов; 10 October 1906, Moscow – 25 May 1982, Moscow) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

politician, journalist, diplomat,

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

and

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 ...

official.

Biography

Mikhailov was born into the family of a shoemaker. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, he worked for his father and then became a laborer at the Hammer and Sickle plant. He joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

in 1930 and became a member of the

All-Union Communist Party (b) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),; abbreviated in Russian as or also known by #Name, various other names during its history, was the founding and ruling party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU was the One-party state, sole governing ...

in the same year. He took three courses in journalism at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R78376, Budapest, II

In 1933 he worked at the press department of the Moscow Committee of the VKP (b) and was later sent to work as an employee in the editorial board of the newspaper ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

''. In 1937 he was appointed executive editor of the newspaper ''

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925. History and profile During the Soviet era, ...

''. He used this position to run campaigns against arrested "right-wing Trotskyists, conspirators, wreckers", etc., as well as to glorify

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 ...

. After 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 ...

, Mikhailov was appointed First Secretary of the

Central Committee of the Komsomol The Central Committee of the Komsomol (Russian language, Russian: Центральный комитет ВЛКСМ, ''Tsentral'niy komitet VLKSM'') was the executive leadership of the Komsomol, All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, commonly ...

in 1939 and held the position until 1952; at the age of 46, he was still leader of the country's youth (he was succeeded in 1952 by the much younger

Alexander Shelepin Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin (; 18 August 1918 – 24 October 1994) was a Soviet politician and security and intelligence officer. A long-time member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he served as First Depu ...

). Under his leadership, legends about "pioneer heroes" and "Komsomol heroes" were created and the organization promoted self-sacrifice and loyalty to Stalin and the Communist Party. Mikhailov was rapidly promoted during the last months of Stalin's life. In October 1952 to March 1953 he was appointed a

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

, head of the party's agitation and propaganda department, and a member of its 25-man

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 ...

of the CPSU. This was the time of the antisemitic purges following the

Doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...

, a fabricated conspiracy in which prominent doctors were accused of plotting against Stalin. Other victims included the actor

Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...

, the Old Bolshevik

Solomon Lozovsky Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky (russian: Соломон Абрамович Лозовский, family birth name: Dridzo russian: Дридзо, 1878–1952) was a prominent Communist and Bolshevik revolutionary, a high-ranking official in the Soviet ...

Polina Zhemchuzhina Polina Semyonovna Zhemchuzhina (born Perl Solomonovna Karpovskaya; 27 February 1897 – 1 April 1970) was a Soviet politician and the wife of the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Zhemchuzhina was the director of the Soviet national ...

, and many more. Mikhailov was evidently chosen to play a major role in the persecution of the Jews. He was selected in January 1952 to be the main speaker at the ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

, and devoted almost the entire speech to the "Doctors' Plot". According to Stalin's daughter,

Svetlana Alliluyeva Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, born Stalina (); ka, სვეტლანა იოსების ასული ალილუევა () (28 February 1926 – 22 November 2011), later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only ...

: On 7 March 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, Mikhailov replaced

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 ...

as first secretary of the Moscow provincial party organisation. He retained his post as a secretary of the Central Committee, but only for a week. On 14 March, Khrushchev took over from

Georgi Malenkov Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov ( – 14 January 1988) was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the par ...

as First Secretary, and Mikhailov was removed from the secretariat. This would suggest that he was an ally of Malenkov in the power struggles in the Kremlin. He was a member of the Special Judicial Hearings of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union in December 1953, who sentenced

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 ...

and a number of people close to him to capital punishment. Mikhailov was removed from his post as head of the Moscow party organisation on 31 March 1954, and appointed Ambassador of the Soviet Union to the Polish People's Republic. From 1955 to 1960 he was USSR Minister of Culture of the USSR. Again at diplomatic work, he was the Soviet ambassador to Indonesia from 1960 to 1965. From 1965 to 1970 he was the chairman of the Press Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. Mikhailov retired in Moscow in 1970. He died in May 1983 and was buried at the

Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (russian: Троекуровское кладбище, Troyekurovskoye kladbishche), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (russian: Ново-Кунцевское кладбище, Novo-Kuntsevskoye kladbishch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhailov, Nikolai 1906 births 1982 deaths Culture ministers of the Soviet Union Soviet journalists Soviet diplomats Members of the Orgburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Indonesia Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Poland 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 Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Politicians from Moscow