Gennady Ivanovich Voronov (russian: Генна́дий Ива́нович Во́ронов;

Rameshki Rameshki (russian: Рамешки) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Kostroma Oblast As of 2010, two rural localities in Kostroma Oblast bear this name: *Rameshki, Kologrivsky District, Kostroma Oblast, a village in Ilyinskoye ...

Tver Governorate Tver Governorate (russian: Тверская губерния, ''Tverskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a ''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 ...

, –

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 ...

, 1 April 1994) 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, ...

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 ...

statesman who was from 1962 to 1971 the

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, literally meaning Premier or Prime Minister.

Biography

Voronov was born in

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russian ...

province, Russia, the son of a teacher. Trained as an electrician, he graduated from an Industrial Inst

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

itute in 1936. In 1937, 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 ...

, when mass arrests created vacancies for new party officials, he was appointed head of the

Agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred to ...

department at district level in Tomsk. In 1939, he was appointed second secretary, and in 1948, First Secretary of the Chita regional party committee. He was a member of the

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 1952-76. In May 1955, the head of the soviet communist party,

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 ...

had him transferred to Moscow as Director of Egg Farming in the USSR Ministry of Agriculture. While Khrushchev was engaged in a power struggle with

Georgy 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 ...

and others, Voronov showed his loyalty by signing a written statement demanding that Malenkov and five others should be sacked and subjected to an investigation to consider whether they should be expelled from the party. In 1957-61, he was First Secretary of the Orenburg regional party committee. In January 1961, Voronov was recalled to Moscow and appointed a candidate member of the Praesidium (or

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 ...

and deputy chairman of the bureau in charge of the communist party in the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. He was promoted to the post of 'prime minister' of the RSFSR in December 1962. His specialist field was agriculture. According to the journalist Michel Tatu, who was based in Moscow at the time: A former party official who worked with Voronov described him of sounding like a "mannered provincial lecturer" than a high ranking statesman, who "talked a lot about attention to agriculture, especially animal husbandry, tediously." At the Central Committee plenum which removed Khrushchev from office, Voronov complained that he had not been allowed to express an opinion for three and a half years without being shouted at by Khrushchev, who considered himself an expert on agriculture. When Khrushchev tried to defend himself, Voronov shouted at him "You have no friends here!" But his relations with the new General Secretary,

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

were no better. They clashed on a series of matters, including the decision to invade Czechoslovakia in 1968, which Voronov opposed. In 1971, he was removed from office and relegated to the lesser position of Chairman of the USSR People's Control Committee. He resigned in April 1973, and was removed from the Politburo, and retired on a pension.

Awards

Voronov was awarded two

Orders 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 ...

References