Vasil Mzhavanadze
Vasil Mzhavanadze | |
---|---|
ვასილ მჟავანაძე | |
First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party | |
In office 20 September 1953 – 29 September 1972 | |
Preceded by | Aleksandre Mirtskhulava |
Succeeded by | Eduard Shevardnadze |
Candidate member of the 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th Politburo | |
In office 29 June 1957 – 18 December 1972 | |
Full member of the 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th Central Committee | |
In office 29 June 1957 – 18 December 1972 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kutaisi, Russian Empire | 20 September 1902
Died | 31 August 1988 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | (aged 85)
Nationality | Soviet (Georgian) |
Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1927–1972) |
Spouse(s) | Anna Ianko Victoria Tereshkevich |
Children | 4 |
Awards | Hero of Socialist Labour |
Military service | |
Branch/service | MVD |
Years of service | 1924–1950 |
Rank | Lieutenant general |
Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze (also Vasily; Georgian: ვასილ მჟავანაძე; 20 September [O.S. 7 September] 1902 – 31 August 1988) was a Georgian Soviet politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR from September 1953 to September 28, 1972 and a member of the CPSU's Politburo from June 29, 1957 to December 18, 1972. Dismissed after a corruption scandal, he was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze.
He was a member of the Communist Party of Georgia since 1927. Mzhavanadze served in the Red Army as a political commissar during World War II.[1] After the war, he became deputy commander for political affairs in the Kiev military district in the Ukrainian SSR, under the administration of Ukrainian Communist Party leader (and later Soviet leader) Nikita Khrushchev.
Georgia was at this time ruled by supporters of Lavrentiy Beria, who had been the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party from 1931 to 1938. In July 1953, following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the arrest of Beria, the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party was purged by Khrushchev's supporters. Mzhavanadze was promoted to lead the Party in Georgia, replacing Beria's protégé Aleksandre Mirtskhulava as First Secretary in September 1953. In an unprecedented display of military presence on the political arena, Mzhavanadze was joined in the Georgian Central Committee by the generals Alexi Inauri and Aleksei Antonov.[2] When Khrushchev became the leader of the USSR in 1957, Mzhavanadze was appointed to become a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo. He became a full member in 1966.
Georgia prospered during Mzhavanadze's term of office against a background of corruption. Mzhavanadze himself became a symbol of corrupt, inefficient governance. He was accused of auctioning jobs, pocketing state funds and running illegal factories for his own enrichment;
In mid-1972, Mzhavanadze was publicly accused of corruption and was denounced by the state-controlled media. He resigned from his post as First Secretary on September 28, 1972, and was replaced by his ambitious Interior Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze. It has widely been speculated that Shevardnadze had a hand in his boss's downfall; he was certainly the obvious candidate to replace Mzhavanadze. On December 18, Mzhavanadze was sacked from his Politburo position and retired to Georgia in disgrace. He died in Moscow in 1988. He was honoured with a state funeral in Tbilisi.[3]
References
- ^ "Vasi Mezhavanadze. warheroes (Russian)".
- ^ Knight, Ami W. (1993), Beria: Stalin's First Lieutenant, p. 214. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, ISBN 0-691-01093-5.
- ^ "Мжаванадзе Василий Павлович". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
- First Secretaries of the Georgian Communist Party
- 1902 births
- 1988 deaths
- People of World War II from Georgia (country)
- Soviet Georgian generals
- Soviet Georgian MVD officials
- Soviet military personnel of World War II
- Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union candidate members
- People from Kutaisi
- Politicians convicted of corruption
- 1950s in Georgia (country)
- 1960s in Georgia (country)
- 1970s in Georgia (country)
- 20th-century politicians from Georgia (country)
- Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Third convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Eighth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
- Recipients of the Order of Lenin
- Recipients of the Medal "For Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the USSR"