Alexey Kuznetsov

Alexey Alexandrovich Kuznetsov (Ru:Алексей Александрович Кузнецов) (20 February 1905 – 1 October 1950) was a Soviet statesman, CPSU functionary, Lieutenant General and member of CPSU Central Committee (1939–1949).

Born in Borovichi, in the Novgorod province of European Russian, he started work as teenager in a local sawmill. In 1924–32, he was an organiser of Komsomol in the Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod provinces. In 1932, he was transferred to Leningrad (St Petersburg) as a minor party official, but rose quickly during the Great Purge, as more senior officials were arrested. In August 1937, he was appointed Second Secretary (deputy leader) to Leningrad CPSU gorkom (city committee) and obkom (oblast committee) making him second in command of the Leningrad province, under Andrei Zhdanov. On 19 November 1937, speaking at a public meeting in Volkhovsky District, he declared: "I consider it a great happiness to work under the leadership of Comrade Zhdanov. Under his leadership, I will continue to smash vile fascist agents. Trotskyist–Bukharin saboteurs and spies, and fight for the purity of the ranks of our great communist party."

During the Siege of Leningrad, helped organize the city's defense.

In January 1945, Kuznetsov was promoted to the post of First Secretary of the Leningrad provincial and city party committees, when his mentor, Zhdanov, was called to Moscow to serve as a Secretary of the Central Committee. On 18 March 1946, he was promoted again, to the post of Secretary of the Central Committee, replacing Georgy Malenkov as the head of party organisation, and working alongside Zhdanov and Stalin. He was also given responsibility for supervising the police. This made a threat to the former head of the NKVD, Lavrentiy Beria. Aged 41, he was now part of the 'inner circle' of the roughly nine most powerful Soviet officials, but "Kuznetsov's promotions earned him the undying hatred of the two most vindictive predators in the Stalinist jungle: Beria and Malenkov."

Arrest and Death
Kuznetsov's political position became exposed after the death of Zhdanov, in August 1948. On 15 February 1949, he was sacked and accused of 'non-Bolshevik deviation". This may have been because Kuznetsov had been digging into the death of Politburo member Sergei Kirov—suspicion of Stalin’s involvement in this murder has never been put to rest —though the official charge against him and several leaders of the Leningrad Party related to the organisation of a wholesale trade fair in Leningrad without proper approval, in what came to be known as the Leningrad affair. He was appointed Secretary of the Far Eastern Bureau of the CPSU.

On 13 August 1949, Kuznetsov was summoned to Malenkov's office with other former Leningrad officials, and arrested, in connection with the Leningrad affair. Soviet leaders accused the trade fair organisers of denigrating the Central Committee and presenting themselves as special defenders of Leningrad. Kuznetsov was forced to sign a confession under torture, but when put on trial with Gosplan chairman Nikolai Voznesensky on 29 September 1950, he refused to confess, insisting, "I am a Bolshevik and remain one in spite of the sentence I have received. History will justify us."

This allegedly angered Stalin and embarrassed police chief Viktor Abakumov. Kuznetsov was sentenced to death, but instead of being shot, he had a meat hook drive through his neck.

Kuznetsov was rehabilitated posthumously in 1954 after the death of Stalin and arrest of Beria.

Family
Kuznetsov had a son, Valery, and daughter Alla. Alla was engaged to Sergo Mikoyan, son of Anastas Mikoyan at the time of her father's downfall. Unusually, the Mikoyan family did not attempt to stop the wedding, on 18 February 1949. Kuznetsov went to the wedding, despite his fear that he might be putting his daughter at risk.

Honours and awards

 * Two Orders of Lenin
 * Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"