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During her lifetime, Furtseva was ironically referred to as Catherine the Third, an allusion to the famous Russian empress likewise named Ekaterina Alekseyevna.^{[citation needed]}

Yekaterina Alexeyevna Furtseva (Russian: Екатерина Алексеевна Фурцева; December 7, 1910, Vyshniy Volochek - October 24, 1974, Moscow) was probably the most influential woman in Soviet politics and the first woman to be admitted into Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (There were only two women to be elected full members of the Central Committee's Politburo: Yekaterina Furtseva (1957–1961) and, at the end of the Perestroika, Galina Semyonova (1990–1991).^[1])

Until the 1940s, Furtseva worked as an ordinary weaver at one of Moscow's textile factories. She had been a minor party worker in Kursk and the Crimea, and was called to Moscow and sent to the Institute of Chemical Technology from where she graduated in 1941 as a chemical engineer.^[2] Furtseva's party career started under Stalin. Gradually, she became active in Komsomol affairs and rose to the position of Secretary of the Moscow City Council in 1950. She gave a speech at the 19th Congress of the CPSU in 1952^[2], the last party congress of the Stalin era, where she was also elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Under Nikita Khrushchev, who sympathized with her, Furtseva was the first secretary of Moscow Committee of the CPSU from 1954 to 1957.

In 1952, Furtseva attacked the leading filmstar, Boris Babochkin, who was famous since starring as Chapaev.^{[citation needed]} This time Furtseva saw the actor starring in a stageplay, and was enraged by Babochkin's satirical portrayal of the Soviet communist leadership. Her angry article in the Soviet newspaper Pravda called for censorship of Babochkin, while Furtseva furthered her career in the Soviet elite.^{[citation needed]} Then Furtseva personally ordered that all film studios and drama companies of the USSR should refuse Babochkin any jobs, keeping him unemployed.^{[citation needed]}

In 1956 she was appointed the Secretary of the Central Committee and was elected a candidate member of Politburo.^[3] She became the first woman to join the Politburo the next year. In this capacity, she sided with Khruschev in de-Stalinization during the Khrushchev's Thaw, and secured the downfall of Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgy Malenkov, and Lazar Kaganovich when they conspired to depose her patron.

At that period, she fell in love with Nikolay Firyubin, the Soviet ambassador in Yugoslavia.^{[citation needed]} Furtseva scandalized the Soviet elite by her weekend trips abroad in order to meet her lover.^{[citation needed]} As he married her and rose to become the Deputy Foreign Minister, they settled in Moscow, and their relations cooled down somewhat.^{[citation needed]}

In 1960, the KGB recorded her telephone call to a friend denouncing Khruschev's policies. This affair led to her being ousted from the Politburo. In exasperation, she made her first attempt at suicide by cutting her veins. Furtseva's ostensible repentance gained her pardon and appointment, also in 1960^[3], to the honourable but powerless position of the Soviet Minister of Culture.

File:Furtseva moscow.jpg

Memorial table on the wall of building 19, Tverskaya Street in Moscow, where lived Yekaterina Furtseva

During the following 14 years, remembered as the Age of Furtseva, she exterted immense influence on Soviet culture, both repressive and beneficent.^{[citation needed]} As she became increasingly interested in manipulating theatre and cinema, many remarkable actors and directors tried to secure her friendship in order to further their own careers. According to the most intimate of her friends (such as the singer Lyudmila Zykina), she also became addicted to alcohol. In 1974, she was implicated in illegal commercial dealings and, wishing to preclude the impending scandal and disgrace, committed suicide.^[4] Furtseva is buried at the Novodevichye Cemetery (her grave).

References

^ Joel C. Moses. The Communist Era and Women: Image and Reality. Russian Women in Politics and Society, Vol. 157. Wilma Rule, Norma Noonan (Editors), pp. 31–39. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 978-0-313-29363-4; p. 33.
^ ^a ^b O, Ekaterina. Time, March 12, 1956. Accessed January 4, 2009.
^ ^a ^b Soviet Official Ekaterina Furtseva Dies. Washington Post, October 26, 1974, page D8.
^ Vladimir Shlapentokh, and Joshau Woods. Contemporary Russia as a Feudal Society: A New Perspective on the Post-Soviet Era. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-230-60096-6; p. 59

[1] Joel C. Moses. The Communist Era and Women: Image and Reality. Russian Women in Politics and Society, Vol. 157. Wilma Rule, Norma Noonan (Editors), pp. 31–39. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 978-0-313-29363-4; p. 33.

[Time-2] O, Ekaterina. Time, March 12, 1956. Accessed January 4, 2009.

[WPobit-3] Soviet Official Ekaterina Furtseva Dies. Washington Post, October 26, 1974, page D8.

[4] Vladimir Shlapentokh, and Joshau Woods. Contemporary Russia as a Feudal Society: A New Perspective on the Post-Soviet Era. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-230-60096-6; p. 59

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 In 1960, the [[KGB]] recorded her telephone call to a friend denouncing Khruschev's policies. This affair led to her being ousted from the Politburo. In exasperation, she made her first attempt at suicide by cutting her veins. Furtseva's ostensible repentance gained her pardon and appointment, also in 1960<ref name="WPobit">[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/119816075.html?dids=119816075:119816075&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=OCT+26%2C+1974&author=By+Dorothy+McCardle+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Soviet+Official+Ekaterina+Furtseva+Dies&pqatl=google ''Soviet Official Ekaterina Furtseva Dies''.] [[Washington Post]], October 26, 1974, page D8.</ref>, to the honourable but powerless position of the Soviet Minister of Culture.
+[[File:Furtseva moscow.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial table on the wall of building 19, [[Tverskaya Street]] in [[Moscow]], where lived Yekaterina Furtseva]]
 During the following 14 years, remembered as the Age of Furtseva, she exterted immense influence on Soviet culture, both repressive and beneficent.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} As she became increasingly interested in manipulating theatre and cinema, many remarkable actors and directors tried to secure her friendship in order to further their own careers. According to the most intimate of her friends (such as the singer [[Lyudmila Zykina]]), she also became addicted to alcohol. In 1974, she was implicated in illegal commercial dealings and, wishing to preclude the impending scandal and disgrace, committed suicide.<ref>Vladimir Shlapentokh, and Joshau Woods. [http://books.google.com/books?id=yRfcAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Ekaterina+Furtseva%22+suicide&ei=NRdgSfb1Co74MMWioNsH ''Contemporary Russia as a Feudal Society: A New Perspective on the Post-Soviet Era''.]  [[Palgrave Macmillan]], 2007.
 ISBN 978-0-230-60096-6; p. 59</ref> Furtseva is buried at the [[Novodevichye Cemetery]] ([http://novodevichye.com/furtseva/ her grave]).