Aleksey Illarionovich Kirichenko
uk, Олексій Іларіонович Кириченко, translit=Oleksii Ilarionovych Kyrychenko ( – 28 December 1975) was a Soviet Ukrainian politician, who was the first ethnic Ukrainian to head the republic's communist party during the Soviet era. Between 1957 and 1960, he was 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 ...

of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the second-highest-ranking official within the party after

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 ...

Early life and career

Aleksey Illarionovich Kirichenko was born in the village of Chornobaivka in the Kherson region of south-eastern Ukraine, which was then part of the

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 a family of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

factory workers. From the age of 11, he started earning for living by working in the fields and then at railways. After graduating from a mechanical school he worked in Kazakhstan as an engineer in 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 ...

'' (state farm). He then returned to Ukraine to receive a university degree and teach agricultural engineering, and graduated in 1936.

Political career

Under Stalin

In 1938, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU), soon after

had been appointed as First Secretary. In 1941, he was appointed Secretary of the CPU during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and served as a member of the military council. Kirichenko was First Secretary of the

Odessa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administ ...

party committee from 1945 to 1949, coinciding with the

Soviet famine of 1946–1947 The Soviet famine of 1946–1947 was a major famine in the Soviet Union that lasted from mid-1946 to the winter of 1947 to 1948. The estimates of victim numbers vary, ranging from several hundred thousand to 2 million. Recent estimates from histo ...

. Ukraine in particular suffered from the effects of the famine, in part due to the devastating effects of World War II on Ukrainian territory. During this period, Kirichenko told Khrushchev that, while visiting the home of ''

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

'' (collective farm) workers: Kirichenko was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1952 to 1961, and Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPU from 1949 to 1953.

Under Khrushchev

According to Khrushchev, Kirichenko's promotion to First Secretary the CPU in June 1953 was originally proposed by chief of the NKVD

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

shortly before his downfall. However, Kirichenko was one of Khrushchev's most influential allies. In July 1955, he was promoted to the 11-member Politburo. In June 1957, he rushed to Moscow at short notice to take part in a Politburo meeting at which Khrushchev's rivals, led by

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 p ...

were seeking to remove him from office. He helped Khrushchev turn the tables and oust Malenkov and others. In December 1957, Kirichenko was transferred to Moscow as the Central Committee Secretary in charge of party appointments. This meant that he was officially ranked as one of the five most senior figures in the party, but because of his office and relative youth, he was the person most obviously placed to succeed Khrushchev. Khrushchev mentioned this to the U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, in June 1959, but added, "I am very jealous of my prerogatives, and while I live, I will run the party." He flew into a rage, banged the desk with his fist and shouted down the phone when Kirichenko tried to transfer a senior official from Moscow to Leningrad without consulting him.

Downfall, later life, and death

On 13 January 1960, it was suddenly announced that Kirichenko had been appointed First Secretary of the Rostov Oblast party committee. In May, he was formally dismissed from the Politburo and the party secretariat, and on 15 June 1960, he was sacked from his post in Rostov, after just five months. He retired in 1962, died in 1975 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. According to Enver Hoxha, in the midst of the Soviet-Albanian split an Albanian military student studying in the Soviet Union had met Kirichenko during a train ride. The latter said to him, "Good for your Party, which exposed Khrushchev. Long live Enver Hoxha! Long live socialist Albania! ... Don't yield, give Enver my best wishes!"Hoxha, Enver.
The Khrushchevites
'. Tirana: 8 Nëntori Publishing House. 1984. pp. 202-203.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirichenko, Alexei 1908 births 1975 deaths People from Chornobaivka People from Khersonsky Uyezd Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Third convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Komsomol of Ukraine members Soviet major generals Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery