Vasily Prokhorovich Pronin (russian: Васи́лий Про́хорович Про́нин; 25 December 1905 – 12 October 1993) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

statesman and Chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council of Laborers' Deputies (today's equivalent of

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

) between 14 April 1939 and 7 December 1944.

Life and career

Vasily Pronin was born into a peasant family in the village of Pavlovo in Ryazan guberniya. As a young man, he earned his living by working as a farm laborer, repairman at the Nizhny Novgorod Railway, switcher at the

Moscow Railway Moscow Railway (russian: Московская железная дорога) is a subsidiary of Russian Railways that handles half of Russia's suburban railway operations and a quarter of the country's passenger traffic. As of 2009 the railway, wh ...

, and factory

turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

. In 1925, Pronin joined the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and engaged himself in Komsomol and party activities. Later on he graduated from the Institute of Red Professors and moved to

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

on a party assignment. In 1938, Vasily Pronin was appointed secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party and then became chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council in April 1939. Vasily Pronin contributed significantly to the fulfillment of the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow. In 1939–1940, they rid the capital of seasonality in

housing development A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

, introduced the method of rapid-flow construction, and commenced large-scale multi-storey housing development throughout the city. By 1941, they had constructed 13 massive bridges and 45 km of granite embankments and doubled the capacity of water-supply network. Under Pronin's supervision, they strengthened the capital's

anti-aircraft defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

, built and reinforced

bomb shelter A bomb shelter is a structure designed to provide protection against the effects of a bomb. Types of shelter Different kinds of bomb shelters are configured to protect against different kinds of attack and strengths of hostile explosives. Air ...

s, adjusted the

Moscow metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first ...

for the needs of sheltering of population in case of air raids, and conducted civil defense drills around the city. In the summer of 1940, Vasily Pronin was awarded 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 ...

for his success in constant developing and improvement of the municipal services of Moscow. From the first days of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

, Moscow City Council and its executive committee aimed all of its efforts at the

mobilization Mobilization is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the Prussian Army. Mobilization theories and ...

, reserve training for 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, afte ...

, and translation of the State Defense Committee’s decisions into production of ammunition, weapons, and military outfit. They rebuilt the defense industry in Moscow after the evacuation of several factories inland. By the early December 1940, 654 factories out of 670 in direct subordination to the Moscow City Council had already been producing ammunition and weapons. Vasily Pronin personally participated in coordination of work of 50 factories, producing components for the Katyusha multiple rocket launchers and ammunition. In August 1941, they completed the government contract in record short time and sent the first sets of the ''Katyushas'' to the front. Also, Pronin took part in organizing

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

s and other volunteer formations, evacuating equipment and people, constructing a fortified belt along the distant approaches and outskirts of Moscow, and improving the anti-aircraft defense. Vasily Pronin was also in charge of the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

of Moscow, most of which would have been blown up in case of German occupation. As a member of the Military Council of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military D ...

and Moscow Zone of Defense, Vasily Pronin together with the first secretary of the Moscow City Council and Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party Alexander Shcherbakov rendered great assistance to the State Defense Committee and Western Front command in organizing the defense of the capital in the fall and winter of 1941. In late 1944, Pronin was appointed first deputy chairman of the

Council of the People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

of the

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

. Later in his life, he held different posts, such as deputy minister and minister of several all-union and republican ministries. Vasily Pronin was elected deputy of the

Supreme Soviet of the USSR The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

and RSFSR and member of the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).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 ...

's campaign to purge the party of

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 Secretar ...

's associates. He died in 1993 in Moscow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pronin, Vasily 1905 births 1993 deaths People from Ryazan Governorate Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery Candidates of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Chairpersons of the Executive Committee of Mossovet People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Institute of Red Professors alumni