Grigory Romanov, first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee. The most private people

“WE SURVIVED THE BLOCKADE, AND YOU WILL NOT GIVE US ONIONS”

Once, a long time ago, dad returned from work excited and preoccupied. My mother and I began to wonder what was the matter? It turned out that the poultry farm, which was being built in the region by the construction department where dad worked, would be inspected tomorrow by Grigory Romanov. The boss instructed his father to accompany the distinguished guest and answer his questions.

The next day, dad shared with us his impressions of a meeting with a major party leader: “He knows both construction and agriculture of the region thoroughly. He asked questions clearly and specifically.”

Romanov really wanted to solve the food problem in Leningrad, recalls the famous St. Petersburg journalist, and in the seventies, assistant to the first secretary Alexander Yurkov. - Every morning, reports were placed on his desk: how much meat, butter, and milk were in the city. Agro-industrial associations are one of his favorite brainchildren; they were supposed to feed the region.

Alexander Yurkov told a funny story. One day there was a shortage of onions in the city. It turned out that due to bureaucratic delays, Georgia had not been supplying it to Leningrad for several days.

In my presence, Romanov called the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, - Alexander Alexandrovich smiles. - Grigory Vasilyevich spoke seemingly jokingly, but with metal in his voice: they say, we survived the blockade, but you don’t give us onions. Resolve the issue quickly.

Soon onions reappeared on the shelves of Leningrad stores.

I WANTED TO GET RID OF LIMITERS

Another high-profile initiative of Grigory Romanov is the organization of a vocational education system in Leningrad. Industrial enterprises, including many defense plants, chronically lacked work force. Workers had to be invited from other regions. This did not improve the criminal situation in the Northern capital; moreover, it was necessary to build dormitories for the limiters. Therefore, the idea of opening a network of vocational schools in the city was progressive for that time. Another thing is that it was carried out, so to speak, by force. Upon finishing the eighth grade, the student by law had the right to either go to the ninth or transfer to a vocational school. In reality, school directors, under various pretexts, tried to send as many children as possible to school.

It seems that if the network of vocational schools had not been destroyed in the nineties of the last century, now workshops and construction sites might not have been filled with unskilled migrants who speak Russian poorly.

NOT GOING TO THEATERS

Grigory Vasilyevich was intolerant of any dissent. He had a difficult relationship with the creative intelligentsia.

This is partly because two incidents occurred shortly before Romanov's election. On January 22, 1969, five days before the celebration of the quarter-century anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad, a native of our city, junior lieutenant of the Soviet Army Viktor Ilyin made an attempt on the life of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev. And on June 15, 1970, at Rzhevka airport, “persons of Jewish nationality” made the first attempt to hijack a Soviet plane abroad.

The new first secretary decided that the screws needed to be tightened. He was apparently convinced that even a little freedom of speech and creative thought would not lead to good. During the years of Romanov's rule, several trials of dissidents took place in Leningrad, and many cultural figures moved to Moscow or even abroad.

Romanov, for example, did not like Arkady Raikin and actually forced him to move to the capital, says Alexander Yurkov. - You know, I am inclined to explain such actions of the first secretary also by a lack of internal culture and education. After all, he was born into a large peasant family, then he fought, graduated from college in absentia, and worked in the design bureau at the Zhdanov plant, now Severnaya Verf. Did he care about theaters?

Romanov was also distrustful of the other outstanding figure culture, director Georgy Tovstonogov.

The premiere of the play “Khanuma” took place on the last day of 1972, - BDT set designer Eduard Kochergin shares his memories. - There were rumors in the theater and around the city that they wanted to remove Georgy Alexandrovich from Leningrad and transfer him to the capital. All members of our team came to the premiere, many with their families. After the performance we all met together New Year. Thus, the team expressed support for its leader. I don’t know if this helped or something else, but Tovstonogov remained in Leningrad.

LET THEM BE SICK

During the so-called “period of stagnation,” sport remained, in fact, the only area where people could relatively freely express their feelings and thoughts. According to eyewitnesses, Grigory Romanov was indifferent not only to culture, but also to sports. Although almost during his reign, SKA and Zenit won medals for the first time in their history, and basketball Spartak even became the national champion.

One day, the first secretary looked into Yubileiny for a match in which Spartak and CSKA met, recalls Honored Coach of Russia Anatoly Steinbok. - The famous confrontation between Kondrashin and Gomelsky, the roar of the stands. After the game, the guest put it briefly: “It’s better to shout “Down with Gomelsky!” than “Down with the CPSU!”

SPECIFICALLY

During the thirteen “Romanov” years, more than fifty scientific and production associations appeared in Leningrad.

The famous Kirovets tractors and the Arktika icebreaker were assembled in the city.

Leningrad residents were moved from communal apartments to separate apartments.

Nineteen new subway stations were opened. By the way, the metro is still developing according to schemes developed in the late seventies.

INTERESTING CASE

In the seventies, such a story happened in one of the Leningrad newspapers. The bridge opened, and the first secretary of the regional party committee, candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Grigory Romanov, came to the ceremony. The young reporter prepared material about this event, naming Romanov in the text... as a candidate member of the CPSU. Although several people proofread the material, the editor of the issue caught the mistake only at the very last moment. Already grayed for a long time, climbed up the career ladder the reporter still considers that editor his savior.

However, the vigilant production editor also saved himself and the editor-in-chief. If the newspaper had published such a mistake, all three would probably have been fired.

INTRIGUE AT THE TOP

He knew too much

In the summer of 1983, the newly elected Secretary General The CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov transferred Romanov himself to Moscow, who became the secretary of the Central Committee. After this, foreign political scientists and domestic “Kremlin experts” began to consider him as a candidate for the role of leader of the country. Indeed, Grigory Vasilyevich was much younger than most of his colleagues in the Politburo, and was distinguished by his enviable efficiency and determination. However, the Leningrader also had opponents in the upper echelons of power. An unfounded rumor began to gain momentum again that the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee celebrated his daughter’s wedding in the Tauride Palace, and at the height of the celebration, tipsy guests broke an antique service from the Hermitage. In addition, according to unofficial information, some members of the political borough believed that our country could not be led by a person named Romanov - this would give rise to inappropriate associations.

In the early spring of 1985, when Konstantin Chernenko, who replaced Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, was living out his last days, the contender for the highest post in the party, Grigory Romanov, for some reason was on vacation in a remote area of Lithuania. In fact, he did not participate in the fierce struggle for power that unfolded after Chernenko’s death, which ended in the victory of Mikhail Gorbachev.

On July 1, 1985, Grigory Romanov was relieved of all posts “for health reasons.” After that former owner Leningrad led a secluded life: he did not appear in public, did not comment on the actions of the Russian authorities, and almost did not give interviews. He probably agreed with one of the ancient politicians: “If I tell everything I know, the world will tremble.”

Who is Grigory Romanov?

Among old communists and everyone who greatly regrets the collapse of the USSR and the collapse Soviet power, Grigory Romanov is the very savior and hero who could save everything. It is believed that he would have pursued a conservative line, tightened the screws and continued Brezhnev’s work, prolonging the “Era of Stagnation.” Moreover, he was indeed a very real contender for power and, “according to rumors,” a favorite of Yuri Andropov. Since 1976, he was a member of the Politburo. However, Romanov was famous not for this, but for his thirteen years of ruling the “cradle of the Revolution” - Leningrad. There the period is from 1970 to 1983. sometimes called the "Romanov era".

Romanov was considered a strong business executive and a persecutor of dissent

Assessments of Romanov’s activities differ. Range: from “stormy delights” to “a complete nightmare,” from “outstanding organizer” to “persecutor of all living things.” What is it customary to credit Romanov with as the head of the Leningrad Regional Committee? The rapid development of the metro (19 new stations were opened), the construction of a dam began to protect the city from flooding (completed in 2011), as well as the launch of the Leningrad nuclear power plant, the appearance of the Kirovets tractor and the Arktika icebreaker.

On the other hand, his name was associated with the persecution of any dissent and, especially, with the persecution of all those cultural figures who were not eager to share the party line. Many musicians, writers, and poets had a hard time. Romanov is considered almost personally responsible for the fact that Joseph Brodsky and Sergei Dovlatov had to leave the USSR. Political scientist and journalist Boris Vishnevsky even called Romanov “the Apostle of Stagnation.” Paradoxically, in 1981, it was under Romanov, the first rock club in the Soviet Union opened in Leningrad.

Grigory Romanov

If you compare all this, it turns out quite typical Soviet leader. “A strong businessman” who does not tolerate when something goes against his plans. Another thing is that from the point of view of the nomenclature, Romanov was successful. And in the Politburo he was considered perhaps the main contender for power, especially since the Union was entering the “Five Year Plan” lavish funeral" One after another, the bison of Soviet politics died: Kosygin, Suslov, Brezhnev himself, then Pelshe, Rashidov. Andropov’s hour of death was approaching. Romanov was eight years older than Gorbachev, but significantly younger than Brezhnev’s gerontocrats.

Andropov wanted Romanov to replace him

It was believed that Andropov really wanted Romanov to replace him as General Secretary. Apparently, at that moment, the position of the head of the Leningrad Regional Committee was indeed stronger than ever. But then the Politburo did not dare to go for rejuvenation. Konstantin Chernenko, who went to his grave, was elected General Secretary. He served as head of state for approximately 13 months. Chernenko spent most of this time in the hospital. A couple of times, visiting Politburo meetings were held for him right in the hospital. Chernenko died in March 1985, Gorbachev was appointed chairman of the funeral committee. This is a landmark position. Soviet citizens are already accustomed to the fact that the commission for organizing the funeral of the Secretary General is headed by the future Secretary General. This happened this time too. After this, Romanov's career began to decline. Already on July 1, he was removed from the Politburo, removed from his post as Secretary of the Central Committee. His place was taken by Eduard Shevardnadze.

Could it have been different?

It could, but earlier. There is an opinion that in the winter of 1984, when Andropov died, Romanov was much stronger than in the spring of 1985, when Chernenko died. Within 13 months the wind had changed. The most influential members of the Politburo either initially did not like Romanov very much, or became disillusioned with him over the course of just over a year. Another important circumstance, which, of course, may be a mere coincidence. At the time of Chernenko’s death, Romanov was not in Moscow. The Secretary of the Central Committee was on vacation in Palanga. That is, the entire struggle for power took place without his participation. Was there even a struggle at all?

Konstantin Chernenko

Afghan war would continue, the Berlin Wall would remain in place

After Andropov’s death, the country was left without a secretary general for almost four days. Andropov died on February 9, and Chernenko took office only on the 13th. In the case of Gorbachev, everything happened much faster. Chernenko died on March 10. Already on the 11th the name of the new Secretary General was announced. Gorbachev's candidacy was personally lobbied by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, a very influential and authoritative man. It is unknown whether anyone lobbied Romanov in March 1985. But, apparently, he learned about Chernenko’s death only when the Politburo had already decided on the choice of successor. Romanov's main supporter was Andropov. That is, in February 1984, Romanov had a real chance of leading the country, but in the spring of 1985 he no longer had a chance.

What would be?

It is difficult to say what would have happened, but we can say for sure what would not have happened. There would be no Perestroika, reforms, cooperatives, warming in relations with the West, and so on. The Afghan war would have continued until it stops (although it is difficult to judge where this stop is), the Berlin Wall would have remained in place and would have divided the city in half. The USSR would have buttoned itself up and, using all its resources, would have tried to preserve the empire at any cost. The emphasis in such situations is on the ideological front. The culture would be clamped in a steel vice. No rock wave for you. In this regard, Romanov would do the same thing that Chernenko did - he would strangle him.

Residents of the GDR dismantle the Berlin Wall

How would the Union solve the problems of falling oil prices? By tightening belts and distracting attention. Romanov loved to build. The Union would take on some large-scale construction project. Perhaps they would remember the idea of diverting the Siberian rivers. But the collapse would have happened anyway. Not in the early 90s, but ten years later. The union was showing a crack that could not be hidden in the foundation of a grandiose construction project. And as soon as this crack became visible to the naked eye, the local elite would have pulled the republics into different sides. Romanov could delay this moment for 8-10 years. That's all.

At the age of 86, Grigory Romanov, Soviet party and statesman, which long years was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU.

He was called one of the most influential politicians of the Soviet era. Romanov's character was harsh and tough, many even compared him to Stalin. And the people of St. Petersburg called the time of his reign a “police regime.”

Romanov led the Leningrad regional party committee for 15 years. From 1970 to 1985 - under the General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

As Echo of Moscow reminds, Arkady Raikin could not withstand the constant pressure from the Leningrad authorities and, together with his theater, was forced to move to Moscow. And the writer Daniil Granin, already during the years of perestroika, wrote an ironic novel in which a short regional leader turns from constant lies into a dwarf. Everyone immediately recognized this hero as Grigory Romanov.

At the turn of the 80s, Romanov was unofficially considered one of the possible candidates for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee. Back in 1975, the American magazine Newsweek named him the most likely successor to Leonid Brezhnev. However, Mikhail Gorbachev won the power struggle in March 1985 and Romanov was sent into retirement.

According to Fontanka.ru, in Lately Romanov lived in the country and did not write memoirs. On February 7, 2008, he celebrated his 85th birthday. The place of Grigory Romanov's funeral has not yet been announced.

NTV REPORT

Wedding in Tavrichesky

In the eighties of the 20th century, the news spread around Leningrad and the entire USSR that the first secretary of the regional party committee had arranged the wedding of his daughter in Tauride, and had even “rented” the royal service from the Hermitage and did not return half of it; letters from angry communists.

The German magazine Spiegel produced a sensation. Radio Liberty and Voice of America retold the article. Rumors of the wedding spread overnight. Romanov remained silent, considering it wrong to comment on foreign gossip. Soviet newspapers did not write about this, Vesti reports.

“Andropov told me this: don’t pay attention. We know that nothing like that happened. I say: Yuri Vladimirovich, but you can give information about what didn’t happen! “Okay, we’ll figure it out,” Romanov recalled.

Natalia, youngest daughter Grigory Romanov, still lives in St. Petersburg. Doesn't give interviews as a matter of principle. According to her husband, there were only 10 people at their wedding, which took place in 1974 and captured the imagination of thousands of working people.

The celebration was very modest. “This, of course, is stupidity. The wedding was at a dacha. A state dacha, by the way. And the next day we left on a ship along the Volga. To travel. There was no Tauride. And there was no Hermitage,” recalls Lev Radchenko.

5 minutes to the General Secretary

When the scandal with the mythical wedding subsided, Romanov took up Leningrad. In 10 years, the city built almost 100 million square meters housing. The Leningrad "master" was noticed. Such an active regional leader suited the center, writes newsru.com.

“He had an exceptional relationship with Brezhnev. About two or three years before Brezhnev’s death, the relationship was very good. He trusted him very much. He himself called Leningrad and home,” recalls Romanov’s second daughter Valentina. But Romanov did not enjoy the General Secretary’s favor for long.

However, in 1983 he was invited to Moscow. The new General Secretary, Yuri Andropov, instructed him to oversee the military-industrial complex. But second secretary Mikhail Gorbachev began to appear more and more often next to Andropov - he was entrusted with agriculture. Gorbachev also enjoyed the obvious support of the next general - Konstantin Chernenko.

“Relations were strained between them. We all felt it. And Gorbachev used various methods to not directly, but somehow indirectly present him in a negative form,” former head of the Council of Ministers Vitaly Vorotnikov says about the relationship between Gorbachev and Romanov.

When Chernenko died, Romanov was in the Baltic states. Two other members of the Politburo were also absent. But they decided not to wait and hold an emergency plenum. No one doubted that the next Secretary General would be the one who would be supported by the most influential person in the Politburo - Andrei Gromyko.

Yegor Ligachev undertook to persuade him. “On the eve of the opening of the plenum, Gromyko called me. And he said: Yegor Kuzmich, who will we elect as general secretary? I told him: we need Gorbachev. He says: I also think that we need Gorbachev. And tell me, who could make a proposal? I say: best of all to you, Andrey Andreevich. He says: I also think that I need to make a proposal,” recalls Ligachev.

Romanov’s relationship with Gorbachev and his entourage did not work out. He left the political scene. The official wording is at will and health status. But the “wedding” story haunted even the pensioner Romanov.

Before the election of the first president of the USSR, the Supreme Council even created a commission and conducted its own investigation. But they never found anything untoward.

According to the press service of the administration of the governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko expressed her condolences in connection with the death of Grigory Romanov.

Condolences on the death of G.V. Romanova

I express my most sincere, deepest condolences to the family, friends and family of Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov in connection with his death.

A great statesman and a strong politician has passed away. Grigory Vasilyevich left many bright pages in the history of our country.

Fate generously endowed Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov with the talent of a leader, a person responsible not only for himself, but also for others. His name is inextricably linked with Leningrad - the city in which his career began and which he loved very much.

During the Great Patriotic War he fought on the Leningrad Front. For many years he held the highest positions in the leadership of Leningrad and Leningrad region.

Grigory Vasilievich managed to do a lot for the development of industry, housing construction, solutions social problems Leningraders. Under him, the construction of a complex of flood protection structures began. His personal contribution to the development is enormous vocational education in our city.

Grigory Vasilyevich has always been distinguished by his enormous diligence, enormous capacity for work, integrity, wisdom, and high demands on himself and his subordinates.

The memory of Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov will forever remain in the hearts of Leningraders and St. Petersburg residents.

REFERENCE: Grigory Vasilievich Romanov was born in the village of Zikhnovo, now Vorovichi district, Novgorod region. Member of the CPSU since 1944. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1976-1985); candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1973-1976), secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1983-1985), member of the CPSU Central Committee (1966-1986).

Participant of the Great Patriotic War; from 1946 he worked as a designer, head of the sector of the Central Design Bureau of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry; in 1953 he graduated in absentia from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute; 1954-1961 - secretary of the plant party committee, secretary, first secretary of the Kirov district party committee of Leningrad;

1961-1963 - secretary of the Leningrad city committee, secretary of the regional party committee; 1963-1970 - second secretary, 1970-1983 - first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU; elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th-11th convocations; Hero of Socialist Labor; since 1985 - retired.

Grigory Romanov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, the Order October revolution, orders of the Red Banner of Labor, "Badge of Honor" and medals.

St. Petersburg residents owe Romanov the beginning of the construction of the famous dam, designed to protect the city from floods, and the development of the metro - 19 stations were built during this period.

Three names of the leaders of the Leningrad communists will forever remain in the people's memory: Sergei Mironovich Kirov, Andrei Andreevich Zhdanov and Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov. The further time separates us from those years when G.V. stood at the head of the Leningrad party organization. Romanov, the more the magnitude of his personality is realized. He was a major state talent and creator.

One of many is one of us

The story of Romanov’s personality is noteworthy in that at first it will seem typical for many in Soviet time. The atypicality begins with the manifestation of his remarkable mind as an organizer, capable of realizing the national significance of the current work, like everyone else’s, and raising it to the maximum high level. Organizational talent is a rare phenomenon at all times. He singled out Romanov among many.

But let's return to the typical. He was born in the village of Zikhnovo, Borovichi district, Petrograd province (now Borovichi district, Novgorod region) into a large peasant family. He was the youngest, sixth child. In 1938 he graduated with honors from incomplete high school and even before that he joined the Komsomol. In the same year he entered the Leningrad Shipbuilding College. As we see, Stalin’s slogan “Cadres who have mastered technology decide everything!” did not bypass fifteen-year-old Grigory Romanov. But he didn’t have time to graduate from college - the war broke out...

He fought from bell to bell, from 1941 to 1945. In September 1944, he joined the party at the front. He was shell-shocked and awarded two medals - “For the Defense of Leningrad” (1942) and “For Military Merit” (1944).

At the end of the war, he returned to the technical school and in 1946 defended his diploma with honors and received the specialty of ship hull technician. Sent to work at TsKB-53 Shipyard named after. A.A. Zhdanov (now “Northern Shipyard”). Here Romanov’s professionalism and organizational skills showed themselves, as stated in the description: “he showed himself to be a technically competent designer and was promoted from an ordinary designer to the position of leading designer, and then head of the sector.” He worked and studied at the evening department of the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute. He graduated from it in 1953 with a degree in shipbuilding engineer. Thirty years - everything is ahead...

And, in general, a typical biography of a young Soviet man - a front-line soldier. Yes, I attracted attention with my professional culture, organizational skills, will and determination. But there were many of them.

Demanded by time

The originality of Romanov’s personality, his promotion to the ranks of the few who have organizational, managerial talent, and state thinking - all this became obvious with Grigory Vasilyevich’s transition to party work. In 1954, he was elected secretary of the party committee of the plant. A.A. Zhdanova. At thirty-five years old (mature youth!) Romanov is the first secretary of the Kirov district party committee of Leningrad.

People like him were in demand at that time - the time of scientific, technical and social progress in the USSR. In the 60-70s of the twentieth century, the CPSU, in order to remain the leading force of Soviet society, was obliged to promote production sphere first of all) well-trained party cadres - cadres competent in organizing knowledge-intensive production. And besides, they know firsthand, but from their own life experience, the social needs and aspirations of ordinary production workers, those who were called simple Soviet people. In other words, the party, as always, at the new stage of socialist construction needed personnel who had passed the school of highly qualified labor, a test of personal responsibility for decisions made who have proven their ability to lead with knowledge and in the best possible way and received the trust of the party and non-party lower classes. Romanov met these requirements fully. In addition, he was unusually talented, smart and, as they said about him, devilishly efficient and completely selfless. His rapid ascent to the top of the party leadership in Leningrad was not accidental: in 1961 he was elected secretary of the Leningrad city committee, and in 1962 - secretary of the regional party committee, in 1963 - its second secretary.

Those were the years of Khrushchev’s voluntarism, which Grigory Vasilyevich did not like to remember. He remained silent, which is understandable: alien to ill-conceived hasty solutions to issues of organizing production, he, a production worker to the core, preferred not to talk about the time during which he had to protect, as far as possible, the Leningrad industry (he was responsible for it in the regional committee) from feverish innovations. What was the cost of just reorganizing party bodies along production lines: dividing them into industrial and rural committees?! But this was also a kind of valuable experience for Romanov: he, as they say, sensed adventurism and incompetence a mile away and did not allow those who suffered from these vices into the party leadership.

First

On September 16, 1970, a turning point occurred in the life of Grigory Vasilyevich - he was elected first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. He was in his forty-eighth year - the time for the blossoming of personality!..

For thirteen years Romanov headed one of largest organizations The CPSU, which by 1983 numbered 497 thousand communists. During these thirteen years, his creative nature revealed itself in full force. His name gained all-Union fame. They started talking about him abroad too.

Imagine at least a sketch of all the complex and varied activities of G.V. Romanov when he was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee is impossible within the confines of one essay. Its author did not set such a task for himself. But I will try to talk about the outstanding deeds of the great Leningrader.

The first in their series was the creation of large production and research and production associations, which made it possible to effectively develop and implement new technologies. And the main thing is to connect science with production at the time of the scientific and technological revolution. Only in the sixties last century In Leningrad, nine industry production associations were formed, which covered 43 industrial enterprises and 14 research, design and technological organizations. Associations like LOMO, Svetlana, and Elektrosila did not exist in the West in the nineties (yes!), and they are unlikely to exist there today. Romanov stood at the origins of this epoch-making undertaking, while still secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee. In the seventies, thanks to his will and ability to see the future of production, it received dynamic development. By the end of the eighties, 161 production, scientific-production and industrial-technical associations were already operating in Leningrad and the region. They accounted for 70% of the total production of Leningrad industry. Yes, what a high-tech one! More than one and a half thousand new types of machines and devices were created, including those that had no analogues in the world. The Electrosila association manufactured a turbogenerator with a capacity of 1 million 200 thousand kilowatts. LOMO has a unique optical telescope with a mirror 6 meters in diameter. The capitalist West did not know such masterpieces of industrial production at that time.

Romanov, in one of his conversations with me (and there were many of them: when I was a deputy of the State Duma in 1995-1999, I often met with Grigory Vasilyevich in his Moscow apartment) said: “It’s a lie that we were far behind the West in scientific technically. We were ahead in many ways - in electronics, instrument making, turbo manufacturing, and more. We needed time to translate our achievements in the defense industry into people’s everyday lives. We started this. And they would have pulled ahead if not for Gorbachev’s “perestroika”.

Romanov was one of the few who sought and found a concrete way to combine the advantages of a planned socialist economy with the achievements of scientific and technological progress. This was the essence of creating powerful research and production associations. It is clear that the leading ones were concentrated in the military-industrial complex (MIC), which is the nerve of the entire economy. The USA and the entire West were very worried about this. After the ill-fated “perestroika”, they did not fail to have a hand in removing the said nerve: with feverish privatization, the most powerful associations of the military-industrial complex were dispersed. The pain that Romanov experienced when talking about the tragedy of Leningrad industry cannot be expressed in words. You should have seen his eyes...

City and region considered common house

Another great undertaking of the first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee was the development of a comprehensive plan for economic and social development Leningrad and the region for the X five-year plan (1976-1980). Its main link was the same plan for the development of specific production. Industrial enterprises began to acquire institutions for social, everyday and cultural purposes, all that infrastructure for the life support of their workers, which is now completely finished off (everything that was done in the name of man was destroyed in the name of the profit of the owner). Large industrial associations financed the construction of kindergartens, nurseries, cultural and recreation centers, sanatoriums, hospitals and dispensaries. We launched housing construction for workers and their families.

Romanov understood Stalin’s truth better than others: personnel decide everything. I learned it because I realized: it’s not just a matter of the system of training and retraining of personnel. It also consists of creating socio-economic conditions for their fruitful activities.

Experience integrated planning, born in Leningrad, became widespread in the country and was enshrined in the 1977 USSR Constitution.

Under Romanov, a problem of strategic importance for a city of five million was solved: Leningrad began to be provided with basic food products (meat, milk, butter, eggs, vegetables) produced in the agriculture of the Leningrad region. Solving this problem was extremely difficult in very unfavorable conditions. climatic conditions North-West. First of all, it was necessary to create a powerful material and technical base. For this, the experience of creating large production associations was useful. With the support of Romanov and under his tutelage, they appeared and grew stronger in the Leningrad region: the association of greenhouse state farms “Leto” (1971), the industrial complex for fattening cattle “Pashsky”, the pig-breeding complex “Vostochny” (1973).

I note that during the period when Romanov was the first secretary of the regional committee, the growth of livestock in agricultural production was not only strictly, but strictly controlled. Its reduction was regarded as causing damage to strategic food resources (what today? who thinks about these resources, and do they even exist?).

Regionalists keep good memories of the demanding first secretary. From the villagers’ memories of him: “Everyone knew Romanov. He was a strict and zealous owner. The region did not offend anyone. He considered the city and the region a common home. In a word - the owner."

For the benefit of the working class

And yet, the most significant of all Romanov’s actions, it seems to me, was his work aimed at replenishing the working class of Leningrad with professionally trained personnel. He was the first Soviet politician to realize the severity of this problem during the period of dynamic development of scientific and technological progress. And he was the first to see the way to solve it through the formation of a system of vocational schools on the basis of general secondary education. Personnel decides everything. But in the case when the workforce is well educated, cultured, and smart. Without general secondary education, they cannot become like that. Romanov approached the solution of the problem not as a technocrat-pragmatist, as his ill-wishers often portray him, but as a statesman and party leader who went through an apprenticeship school in a production team.

Grigory Vasilyevich told me how he convinced the country's leadership of the need to transfer vocational schools to train workers only with secondary education. He involuntarily demonstrated not only his ability to think strategically, but also to tactically correctly pursue his strategic line. He recalled: “Before going to Brezhnev, I asked for an appointment with Suslov. And he began to prove to him that the question of vocational schools with secondary education is a question of the future of the working class, of its leading role. The issue is primarily political. I see that he understands me, agrees, supports me. Well, with his support it’s easier to talk to Leonid Ilyich. After all, this is a serious matter, requiring very significant material costs. The Ministry of Finance resisted. And not everyone in the Politburo agreed. Brezhnev listened to me carefully and agreed. The issue was resolved at the Politburo."

Leningrad was the first city in which, by the end of the seventies, the transition of vocational schools to secondary education was completed. IN high words there was no shortage of information about the leading role of the working class in the party press and in oral propaganda. Romanov never competed with anyone in eloquence; he was restrained in his words. He created the conditions for the materialization of the declared great idea. It took time, 10-15 years, for a new generation of workers to form and strengthen, having passed through vocational training based on secondary education. But tragic events for the country (“perestroika” according to Gorbachev and “reforms” according to Yeltsin) stopped the Soviet era and interrupted it.

Slander

Romanov’s time was also interrupted - the time of creation, the creation of something new, a breakthrough into the future. He became an increasingly prominent figure on the political horizon: since 1973 - a candidate member and since 1976 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, since 1983 - Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (left Leningrad, moved to Moscow). In the West they were looking at him more and more closely. Ex-president France's Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in his book “Power and Life” (1990), recalling his meeting with Romanov in the summer of 1973, noted that he differed from others in the Soviet leadership in his “ease of compulsion, clear acuity of mind.”

Western analysts and Sovietologists saw this well and made efforts to ensure that the myth of the “Leningrad dictator” appeared in the USSR as a gray, limited man who suppressed the slightest dissent. Our dissident intelligentsia picked up this myth, accompanying it with slander. The most common slander is about the alleged use by the family of Grigory Vasilyevich of an ancient service from the Hermitage. Anti-Soviet “intellectuals” did not heed the statement of the director of the Hermitage, Academician Piotrovsky, that this did not and could not have happened. Of course, they could not forgive Romanov for his love for Russian and Soviet classics and, in particular, his respectful attitude towards the Leningrad State academic theater dramas named after A.S. Pushkin and his artistic director Igor Gorbachev.

But the intellectual anti-Sovietists do their best to keep silent about one fact. It happened at the end of a performance in one of the popular drama theaters in Leningrad. Grigory Vasilyevich watched the performance and came to the actors to thank them for their talented performance. One of them, a very famous one, turned to him: “Grigory Vasilyevich, you are our benefactor. I come to you with the humblest request: some land, some land for my dacha.” Romanov’s reaction was immediate: “You are forgetting yourself. I don’t sell land.”

Antipode of Gorbachev

After the death of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee K.U. Chernenko Romanov was a real candidate for main role in the party. He learned about the death of the General Secretary on television (a day later than it happened), while on vacation in Sochi, where he was almost forcibly sent by M. Gorbachev, who practically served as the General Secretary of the Party Central Committee during Chernenko’s illness. With great difficulty, Grigory Vasilyevich flew to Moscow - for some reason (?) the plane’s departure was delayed. He arrived at the Politburo meeting when the question of electing the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was already decided. Romanov’s supporters, Shcherbitsky and Kunaev, were not present at this meeting. The reasons for their absence were also well organized by Gorbachev’s team: the first was allegedly detained out of necessity in the USA, where he was sent; the second was notified of the death of the Secretary General late. At the suggestion of A. Gromyko, one candidate was nominated for the upcoming plenum of the Central Committee - Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev saw his antipode in Romanov, but, of course, was unable to admit this. In characterizing the rebellious Leningrader, he attributed to him what he himself suffered from: narrow-mindedness and deceit. Speaking about a man of great talent, Gorbachev argued that “one could rarely expect a sensible thought from him.” Dullness always takes revenge on talent.

In July 1985, the plenum of the Central Committee released G.V. Romanov “from his duties as a member of the Politburo and secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in connection with his retirement for health reasons.” Everyone understood everything: Gorbachev was in a hurry to get rid of his antipode in the party leadership. Is 62 years old for a politician? Grigory Vasilyevich was filled with strength and desire to work for the good of the party and the people. He appealed to the Secretary General with a request to reinstate him to party work, but was refused. Gorbachev wrote in his memoirs: “Having met with Romanov, I made it clear quite frankly that there was no place for him in the leadership.”

We know very well who had a place there.

The Courage of a Stoic

Just as heroism is an alternative to betrayal, and creation is an alternative to destruction, so Grigory Romanov was an alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev. In the West, they were well aware of this, as Alexander Zinoviev wrote: “Brezhnev was ill. His days were numbered. Other members of the Politburo are also sick old people. Romanov and Gorbachev began to appear as future leaders of the party... Having thoroughly studied the qualities of both (and perhaps having somehow “hooked” Gorbachev earlier), the relevant services in the West decided to eliminate Romanov and clear the way for Gorbachev. In means mass media slander against Romanov was invented and launched...” And further A. Zinoviev said that, as a reproach to us communists, this was a shameful page in the history of the CPSU: “The inventors of slander were sure that Romanov’s “comrades-in-arms” would not defend him. And so it happened... No one came out in defense of Romanov.” Cowardice and indifference in the party pave the way for shameless arrogance and betrayal, which is exactly what happened. This is a moral lesson for us. To forget it means to lose your conscience.

Grigory Vasilyevich was very worried about his insecurity. After being expelled from retirement, he remained isolated from the party for a long time, almost throughout the “perestroika”. Few people called him and rarely anyone came, except for his most trusted friends. He was under the surveillance of Gorbachev's spies. Romanov stoically, courageously, and with honor, withstood the political and moral blockade. Didn't bend, didn't break, didn't get embittered. Maintained fortitude and clarity of mind. He was not only a political, but also a moral alternative to Gorbachev.

Romanov adhered to a Puritan lifestyle. Together with his family of six people, he lived in a three-room apartment. He did not tolerate and did not forgive hobbies for materialism. He directly told the leading party workers of Smolny: “Who wants to buy a car and build a dacha - please. But first, write a letter of resignation.” Grigory Vasilyevich was ready for the vicissitudes of fate and never complained about it. I didn’t complain to anyone, I didn’t ask anyone for anything. He was a proud man, independent to the point of scrupulousness. He knew how to take a punch. During “perestroika” he remained rebellious and unconquered. The same can be said about the subsequent times of Romanov’s life.

Legendary person

Grigory Vasilyevich became a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation immediately after its II (restoration) congress. He created a community of Leningraders in Moscow and led it until last day own life. Provided invaluable assistance to the Leningradskaya regional organization Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the elections State Duma Russian Federation in 1995. He called and wrote to his colleagues from many years of work in the city and region, where they remembered him more and more often. More than once I witnessed how people at a rally, on the train, in a store said that they saw Romanov either in the city or in the region. I knew that this could not be: Grigory Vasilyevich did not leave Moscow, because his wife for a long time I was unwell. I did not try to dissuade my comrades, because I understood: they “saw” him because they really wanted to see him. They wanted order and confidence in the future. Romanov was for Leningraders a symbol of the spirit of Soviet times, when everything was as it should be and as needed. It was a symbol of faith for them, and that’s why they saw it. He became a living legend. People like him are not forgotten by the people, just as happiness and joy are not forgotten. They remember not only the great deeds associated with his name, but also his always confident voice, his simplicity, sincerity and openness in communicating with others.

They remember his humanity and nobility. His strict demands, about which there were legends: strict, but fair; First of all, he does not spare himself and does not give in to anyone, in a word - a Man!

Leningrad, which became the city of Romanov’s beautiful, heroic fate, the city to which he gave everything he had - talent, soul, selfless work - will never forget him. Leningrad will always be grateful to him.

St. Petersburg Vice-Governor Viktor Lobko: “Grigory Romanov was a real citizen of Russia”

Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg expressed his condolences on the death of the former first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU . According to the correspondent IA REGNUM , Lobko noted that “all St. Petersburg residents know the name of Romanov, since he played a very significant role in the history of this city.” “This was a real Russian citizen,” the official said.

According to Lobko, it was during the period of Romanov’s leadership of the city that “the most rapid growth occurred housing construction, when people were pulled out of the slums." "There was also a dawn in many cultural areas. It's a shame that he passed away. He lived for the city, the country. Romanov was a very talented and capable organizer,” Lobko said.

Today, June 3, statesman Grigory Romanov passed away in St. Petersburg at the age of 86.

From September 1970 to 1983, Grigory Romanov was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, and from 1971 - a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Died in St. Petersburg former manager Leningrad Grigory Romanov (http://www.regnum.ru/news/1009470.html )

NEWSru.com:: In Russia

Grigory Romanov, the failed successor to General Secretary Brezhnev, died at the age of 86

Died in St. Petersburg at the age of 86Grigory Romanov , Soviet party and statesman, who for many years was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU.

Short in stature and very arrogant, he established strict ideological control over the city. The liberal intelligentsia despised him. First of all, because of the powerful pressure on cultural figures. How reminiscent"Echo of Moscow" , Arkady Raikin could not withstand the constant pressure from the Leningrad authorities and, together with his theater, was forced to move to Moscow. And the writer Daniil Granin, already during the years of perestroika, wrote an ironic novel in which a short regional leader turns from constant lies into a dwarf. Everyone immediately recognized this hero as Grigory Romanov.

There were many rumors about Romanov - about his relationship with the popular singer Lyudmila Senchina, although she herself denies this, abouthis daughter's wedding in the Tauride Palace with dishes from the Hermitage. Then, for several years, the society noisily discussed the service from the Hermitage broken by the guests, and then it turned out that there was no service or wedding in the palace. But this became clear only after the intensity of popular indignation reached its limit.

At the turn of the 80s, Romanov was unofficially considered one of the possible candidates for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee. Back in 1975, an American magazine Newsweek called him the most likely successor to Leonid Brezhnev. However, Mikhail Gorbachev won the power struggle in March 1985 and Romanov was sent into retirement.

According to Fontanka.ru , recently Romanov lived in the country and did not write memoirs. On February 7, 2008, he celebrated his 85th birthday. The place of Grigory Romanov's funeral has not yet been announced.

Wedding in Tauride and Kremlin wars

At the end of the 18th century, Prince Potemkin organized magnificent receptions for several thousand people in the Catherine Hall of the Tauride Palace. Empress Catherine herself was a frequent guest. When in the eighties of the 20th century the news spread around Leningrad and the entire USSR that the first secretary of the regional party committee had arranged the wedding of his daughter in Tavrichesky, and had even “rented” the royal service from the Hermitage and had not returned half of it, letters poured in to the Politburo from angry communists.

A German magazine produced a sensation Spiegel . Radio Liberty and Voice of America retold the article. Rumors of the wedding spread overnight. Romanov remained silent, considering it wrong to comment on foreign gossip. Soviet newspapers did not write about this, they report"News".

Natalya, the youngest daughter of Grigory Romanov, still lives in St. Petersburg. Doesn't give interviews as a matter of principle. According to her husband, there were only 10 people at their wedding, which took place in 1974 and captured the imagination of thousands of working people. The celebration was very modest. “This, of course, is stupidity. The wedding was at a dacha. A state dacha, by the way. And the next day we left on a ship along the Volga. To travel. There was no Tauride. And there was no Hermitage,” recalls Lev Radchenko.

When the scandal with the mythical wedding subsided, Romanov took up Leningrad. Over 10 years, almost 100 million square meters of housing were built in the city. The Leningrad "master" was noticed. Such an active regional leader suited the center.

Romanov’s relationship with Gorbachev and his entourage did not work out. He left the political scene. The official wording is at your own request and state of health. But the “wedding” story haunted even the pensioner Romanov. Before the election of the first president of the USSR, the Supreme Council even created a commission and conducted its own investigation. But they never found anything untoward.

Reference: Grigory Romanov

Grigory Vasilievich Romanov was born in the village of Zikhnovo, now Vorovichi district, Novgorod region. Member of the CPSU since 1944. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1976-1985); candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (1973-1976), secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1983-1985), member of the CPSU Central Committee (1966-1986).

Grigory Romanov was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor and medals.

Updated 2008-06-03 at 13:06:33

The inevitable happened - Mikhail Gorbachev’s competitor in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Grigory Romanov, died

In St. Petersburg, at the age of 86, the former first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU Grigory Romanov, a Soviet party and statesman, died. Recently he lived in the country and did not write memoirs. On February 7, 2008, he celebrated his 85th birthday.

Grigory Romanov led the Leningrad party organization from 1970 to 1985, when Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were at the head of the country. St. Petersburg residents owe him the beginning of the construction of the famous dam, designed to protect the city from floods, and the development of the metro - 19 stations were built during this period.

In the early 80s, Romanov was tipped for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1983 he became secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, but immediately after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power he was sent into retirement.

Grigory Vasilievich Romanov was born on February 7, 1923 in the village of Zikhnovo, now Vorovichi district, Novgorod region.

Member of the CPSU since 1944.

Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 1973 to 1976.

Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 1976 to 1985.

Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from 1983 to 1985.

Member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1966 to 1986.

Participant of the Great Patriotic War; from 1946 he worked as a designer, head of the sector of the Central Design Bureau of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry. In 1953 he graduated in absentia from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute; 1954-1961 - secretary of the plant party committee, secretary, first secretary of the Kirov district party committee of Leningrad; 1961-1963 - secretary of the Leningrad city committee, secretary of the regional party committee; 1963-1970 - second secretary, 1970-1983 - first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU; elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th-11th convocations; Hero of Socialist Labor. Since 1985 - retired.

Romanov was the party leader of Leningrad in 1970-1985, when Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were at the head of the state.

In the late 70s and early 80s, he was unofficially considered one of the possible candidates for the post of head of the Soviet state.

Romanov became one of the iconic figures of the era of stagnation, becoming famous for his tough measures to establish ideological control over the city he led.

Among the cultural and artistic figures forced to leave Leningrad due to powerful ideological pressure were Arkady Raikin and Sergei Yursky.

Grigory Romanov was retired in the summer of 1985, a few months after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.

Grigory Romanov, first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee. The most private people

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