Romanov, first secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, biography. Former party leader of Leningrad Grigory Romanov died (video)

“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 labor 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 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 the material was proofread by several people, the error was only “caught” by the editor of the issue 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, Yuri Andropov, recently elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, transferred Romanov himself to Moscow, who became 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 significantly 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: did not appear in public, did not comment on actions Russian authorities, almost never gave interviews. He probably agreed with one of the ancient politicians: “If I tell everything I know, the world will tremble.”

Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov was called “master” in Leningrad. His activities are assessed differently: some consider Romanov a strong leader and a good organizer, others consider him a tyrant who stifled dissent. In the mid-1980s, Romanov was tipped for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and was considered as the main competitor of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Beginning of party career

Grigory Romanov was born in the Novgorod region in a village large family. During the Great Patriotic War he fought on the Leningrad and Baltic fronts. After the war he graduated from the Leningrad Shipbuilding University. In the mid-50s, his party career began, first at the Leningrad Zhdanov plant, where Grigory Vasilyevich worked, then Romanov began to be promoted higher up the party line.

From September 1970 to June 1983, G.V. Romanov headed the Leningrad City Party Committee, becoming the de facto head of the city on the Neva.

Builder and oppressor

These 13 years are key in Romanov’s biography. For them they both thank him and curse him. Under Grigory Vasilyevich, 19 Leningrad metro stations, a large sports and cultural complex, and the Youth Palace were opened... At this time, Leningrad factories produced such worldwide famous brands, like the Kirovets tractor (K-700, which is still successfully used in many farms), the Arktika ice drift, the first to reach North Pole. Under Romanov, the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was launched.

At the same time, Grigory Romanov is associated with repressions against representatives of culture and art, in particular, the persecution of dissidents. ABOUT negative impact Romanov is said by some figures from Leningrad television and the Tovstonogov BDT theater. At the same time, the Leningrad Rock Club has been operating in Leningrad since 1981, and since 1975 the first rock opera in the USSR, “Orpheus and Eurydice,” has been performed.

There is no unambiguous assessment of Romanov’s attitude towards all these persecutions. Skeptics argue that Grigory Vasilyevich was not such a monster as they want to show him. In particular, academician Dmitry Likhachev, who repeatedly met with the first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee, said that with Romanov, despite his complex character, nevertheless, “it was possible to agree.” Under Romanov, many Leningrad dissidents were indeed arrested or expelled (from the country, to remote regions of the USSR). However, this issue was then dealt with by the “profile” Fifth Directorate of the KGB, and it is unlikely that the personal intervention of the first secretary of the regional committee was required to speed up this process.

However, shortly before his death, Grigory Vasilyevich in an interview “ Rossiyskaya newspaper"openly admitted his dislike for the work of the writer Daniil Granin - Romanov did not like the writer’s attitude towards Leningrad blockade. The famous “Siege Book” by D. Granin and A. Adamovich in Leningrad was published only when G. V. Romanov moved to work in Moscow in 1984.

The demonization of the “owner” of the city on the Neva was facilitated by the story of “dishes from the Hermitage”, which Grigory Romanov allegedly used at his daughter’s wedding. This fact, although widely discussed in the foreign press back when Soviet power, I never found my confirmation.

Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee

Since 1983, Romanov has been in Moscow, he joined the secretariat of the Central Committee Communist Party Soviet Union, oversaw the military-industrial complex in this capacity. According to the official, Brezhnev “pulled” him to Moscow. Some political historians believe that a relatively young and promising politician, Romanov, at one time could hypothetically replace three general secretaries at once - Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko: each time he had such an opportunity. But as a result of internal party intrigues of stronger competitors and their supporters, Romanov failed to do this every time.

Why didn't he become secretary general?

Grigory Romanov is considered the antipode of Gorbachev. The leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation still believe that if Grigory Vasilyevich had taken the place of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee after the death of K. U. Chernenko - instead of Gorbachev, then the USSR would not have collapsed: the West, afraid of the intractable Romanov, was betting on Gorbachev.

When Chernenko died, Romanov was on vacation in Sochi. When Grigory Vasilyevich arrived in Moscow, everything had already been decided without him. Romanov’s team included 2 more members of the Central Committee - Shcherbitsky and Kunaev. Allegedly, both did not arrive at the decisive meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee due to the fault of Gorbachev’s supporters. Shcherbitsky was on a business trip to the USA, and Kunaev was simply not notified in time about the death of Konstantin Ustinovich. As a result, only one candidate for the post of Secretary General of the party’s central committee was discussed at the plenum - M. S. Gorbachev. In essence, Mikhail Sergeevich performed the duties of K.U. Chernenko during his illness.

How a member of the Politburo found himself out of work

In March 1985, Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and already in July, G.V. Romanov, by decision of the plenum of the Central Committee, was removed from the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, explaining this by his retirement “for health reasons.” Although Romanov was only 62 years old at that time, for a politician this is just mature age. They say that Romanov asked Gorbachev for leadership work, but was refused.

Over the 23 years of his subsequent life, G.V. Romanov no longer held any key positions. In 1998, Yeltsin awarded him a personal pension for his great contribution to the development of domestic industry.

Grigory Romanov died in 2008 in Moscow and was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery.

On February 7, 1923, Grigory Romanov, head of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, “Master of Leningrad,” was born.

Personal matter

Grigory Vasilievich Romanov (1923—2008) born in the village of Zikhnovo, Novgorod region. He was the sixth most youngest child in a large peasant family. In 1938, Grigory graduated with honors from an incomplete high school and entered the Leningrad Shipbuilding College.

During the Great Patriotic War he was a signalman on the Leningrad and Baltic fronts. In 1944 he joined the CPSU(b). At the end of the war, he returned to the technical school and in 1946 defended his diploma with honors, receiving the specialty of a shipbuilding technician, after which he was sent to work at TsKB-53 of the A. A. Zhdanov shipyard in Leningrad.

In 1953, Romanov graduated in absentia from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute with a degree in shipbuilding engineer. In 1954-1957 he held the positions of secretary of the party committee, and then party organizer of the CPSU Central Committee at the same plant.

Subsequently, his career developed along the party line. In 1957-1961, Romanov served as secretary, first secretary of the Kirov district committee of the CPSU of Leningrad. In 1961-1962 - Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU. In 1962-1963, secretary, in 1963-1970 - second secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU.

On September 16, 1970, he was appointed first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU and held this post until 1983. In 1983 he moved to Moscow.

For twenty years, from 1966 to 1986, he was a member of the CPSU Central Committee. From 1976 to 1985 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1983-1985, after moving to Moscow, he was Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, responsible for the military-industrial complex.

After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, he moved away from political activity. On July 1, 1985, Romanov was removed from the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and sent into retirement “for health reasons.”

Grigory Romanov spent the last years of his life in Moscow, eldest daughter Valentines. Died on June 3, 2008. He was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery.

What is he famous for?

Grigory Romanov, the most influential of the Brezhnev-era “governors,” ruled Leningrad for a total of 13 years. In the city they called him “The Boss.” The “Romanov” era was remembered for massive construction, and his name became part of folk toponymy. Thus, the complex of structures for protecting Leningrad from floods, the construction of which began under him, began to be popularly called the “Romanovna Dam”.

The most famous joke about the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee sounded like this: “In Leningrad everything is as before: Zimny stands, Eliseev trades, Romanov rules.”

During the years that Romanov ruled, the region experienced serious positive changes in agriculture, in education and health care, was built greatest number metro stations and housing, there was an active resettlement of hostels. Under him, the largest scientific and production associations were created in Leningrad. “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,” Yuri Belov wrote about him.

However, the period of Romanov’s “management” is associated not only with massive construction projects and attempts to solve social problems, but also persecution of cultural figures and the active suppression of all forms of the dissident movement in Leningrad.

According to the memoirs of Galina Mshanskaya, who had worked at Leningrad Television since 1961, the city had blacklists of artists who were denied access to television and radio broadcasts. In addition, Sergei Yursky and Arkady Raikin were secretly banned. According to human rights activist Yuri Vdovin, during Romanov’s reign, many musicians, actors and artists moved from Leningrad to Moscow because “it was impossible to work under Romanov.”

Under Romanov, Joseph Brodsky and Sergei Dovlatov were expelled from the USSR, although this decision was not made at the city level.

In 2010, the government of St. Petersburg adopted a resolution to install a memorial plaque to Grigory Romanov in the city, which caused indignation among the St. Petersburg intelligentsia. An appeal demanding the cancellation of this decision was signed by Boris Strugatsky, Alexey German, Oleg Basilashvili, Alexander Kushner, Henrietta Yanovskaya, Yuri Shevchuk and many other artists and human rights activists.

“We remember well the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU Grigory Romanov - a man who stifled culture, science, art and freedom, who hated the intelligentsia, expelled artists, poets and painters from the city, and did everything to turn Leningrad into “a great city with a regional destiny,” - says the article, the authors of which demanded the immediate repeal of “this outrageous resolution.”

Despite public protests, in May 2011, a memorial plaque was installed on the facade of house 1/5 on Kuibysheva Street. In February 2012, unknown persons poured blood-red paint over the memorial plaque, as well as the wall next to it.

What you need to know

Grigory Romanov

Grigory Romanov was a real contender for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee after the deaths of both Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

According to Romanov himself, Brezhnev called him his successor. “Leonid Ilyich often told me: “You, Grigory, will take my place.” And he told Fidel Castro that Romanov would be there, and Giscard D'Estaing. I'm very much at Brezhnev's good standing was. And when Andropov came, he directly told me: “I need you in Moscow. Ustinov breaks wood, spends a lot of money on the defense industry, we don’t have enough anymore,” Romanov said in an interview with Russian Life magazine.

Western Sovietologists also named Romanov among possible successors to Leonid Brezhnev back in the late 1970s, as he was considered a strong political player.

It is believed that it was precisely to weaken the position of Grigory Romanov that the rumor was started that the first secretary Leningrad Regional Committee supposedly in 1974 he celebrated his wedding on a grand scale youngest daughter in the Tauride Palace, having “borrowed” for this purpose from the Hermitage an antique royal ceremonial service for 144 persons, which the guests partially smashed at the height of the holiday. The sensation was published by the German magazine Der Spiegel, and then it was retold by Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. As a result, rumors about the wedding spread instantly, despite the fact that Soviet newspapers wrote nothing about it.

According to former first Secretary of the Kronstadt District Party Committee Viktor Lobko, the spread of the story could be beneficial to Chernenko, who at that time headed the general department of the CPSU Central Committee and wanted to replace Brezhnev as General Secretary. “In those days, Romanov was only 60 years old, and he could well have been considered the main candidate for the post of Secretary General. Chernenko understood this and sent information around the country that said in a streamlined form: “In the Leningrad organization of the CPSU there are leaders who allow themselves...”, and so on. But the last name was not mentioned. Everyone knew Romanov, but one could only guess about the leader in question. The information was immediately actively picked up Western media and let’s go promote it,” Lobko said in an interview with the St. Petersburg weekly Delo.

To verify this information, allegedly, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR even established a special commission, which found that the rumor did not contain a word of truth, but this story affected all future political career Grigory Romanov and may have cost him the post of General Secretary.

According to contemporaries, it was Romanov that Yuri Andropov wanted to see as his successor, but after his death, the already seriously ill Chernenko, who was satisfactory to everyone, was chosen. At the time of Chernenko’s death, Romanov was on vacation in Palanga, Lithuania. According to Romanov, neither he nor Gorbachev’s other opponents were notified of the extraordinary plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which took place the day after Chernenko’s death, so Gorbachev was approved by the General Secretary in the absence of competitors.

Many believe that a victory for Grigory Romanov would mean a fundamentally different scenario later life USSR. Romanov “would have taken all measures and would not have allowed the deliberate collapse of the Soviet Union,” argued Anatoly Lukyanov.

“If instead of Gorbachev, Grigory Romanov had been chosen for the post of General Secretary (and he was one step away from this), then you and I would still continue to live in the Soviet Union, of course, reformed, modernized, but prosperous and strong,” also Oleg Baklanov is sure.

The techno-opera “2032: Legend of the Unfulfilled Future” by composer Viktor Argonov, created in 2007, shows an alternative future in which Grigory Romanov, after the death of Chernenko, is elected general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, as a result of which the USSR manages to avoid stagnation and collapse.

Direct speech

“The personal history of Romanov is noteworthy in that at first it will seem typical for many in Soviet era. 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,” Yuri Belov.

“He was a man of his time. Leningrad defended during the war. Got a thorough technical education. Built ships. To some extent, his worldview had a sign of technocracy, which had a positive effect on the style of his party and state work. And in personal terms, Grigory Romanov gave the impression of a deeply decent, principled person,” from the memoirs of Oleg Baklanov, Minister of General Engineering of the USSR.

“He was the city’s first anti-Semite! He fiercely hated and persecuted all cultural figures who “did not adapt”,” writer Nina Katerli about Grigory Romanov.

“I stopped the publication of Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev’s book “Byzantine Legends”. The editor of this book was Sofya Polyakova, a Jew. I invite Likhachev to my place and ask him directly: “Why do you attract such people to work?” He asks: “Which ones?” Me: “Those that are not needed.” He: “Jews, or what?” Me: “Yes.” For some reason, this also offended him, although I was right - Jews then took anti-Soviet positions, and we had to prevent their activities,” Grigory Romanov. "Master of Leningrad"

5 facts about Grigory Romanov

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Gregory began an affair with a girl, Anya. However, her father did not like the student at the shipbuilding college. During the blockade, Anya found Grigory Romanov in the hospital where he was lying and recovering from dystrophy. After the war she became his wife.
Grigory Romanov survived all 900 days of the siege in Leningrad. And until the end of his life, everything connected with the blockade, according to the recollections of contemporaries, “was painted a special color for Romanov.” A person’s request was treated with special care if it was a request from a blockade survivor. At the same time, Romanov had a sharply negative attitude towards Daniil Granin, towards what he said and wrote about the blockade, in particular, in the “Siege Book”.
According to the memoirs of Dmitry Likhachev, a podium was installed in Grigory Romanov’s office, thanks to which he always towered above his interlocutor.
By decree of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin in 1998, Romanov was established a personal pension for his significant contribution to the development of domestic mechanical engineering and the defense industry.
Grigory Romanov remained a communist until the end of his life. After the liquidation of the CPSU, he joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and was a member of the Central Advisory Council under the Central Committee of the party. Paid membership dues to the Communist Party until last days of your life.

Materials about Grigory Romanov

Who is Grigory Romanov?

Among old communists and everyone who greatly regrets the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of 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 business executive” 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 happen?

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? Belt tightening and distraction. 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 it.

Yesterday it became known that Grigory Romanov, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 1976 to 1985, who was considered a rival of Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s, died. Eyewitnesses of those events are confident that the victory of Comrade Romanov in the internal party struggle would mean the preservation of the USSR.

Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov was born on February 7, 1923 in the village of Zikhnovo (Novgorod region). To the Great Patriotic War served as a signalman. After the war, he graduated from the shipbuilding institute and worked at the Leningrad Zhdanov plant, where his party career began in 1955. Since 1970 - first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the CPSU. Since 1973 - candidate, since 1976 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Since 1983 - Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Retired since July 1985.

In the mid-1980s, Grigory Romanov was considered the main rival of Mikhail Gorbachev for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. This was confirmed to Kommersant, in particular, by Anatoly Lukyanov (member of the Central Audit Commission, hereinafter the positions for 1985 are indicated.— "Ъ"). Grigory Romanov, as Comrade Lukyanov emphasizes, “was first on the list of members of the Politburo,” which included Yuri Andropov (General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in 1982-1984.— "Ъ") "intended to advance to general secretaries". Grigory Romanov's former deputy Vladimir Khodyrev (in 1985 the head of the Leningrad executive committee) claims that "when he was transferred for promotion to Moscow, he had every chance of becoming general secretary, but then Gorbachev chatted everyone up, and the West was afraid of him, this also played a role."

Let us note that Grigory Romanov was considered a strong political player even before Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in Moscow. Western Kremlinologists remembered Comrade Romanov among the possible successors of Leonid Brezhnev back in the late 1970s. At the same time, a rumor was started about Comrade Romanov, which in the 1990s would have been assessed as a classic example of black PR. Allegedly, the first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee celebrated the wedding of his youngest daughter in the Tauride Palace on a grand scale, and at the height of the celebration for the health of the newlyweds, an antique set from the Hermitage was smashed. During the times of glasnost, this story came out again, but no reliable evidence of this was found. “And all these slander, that when he gave his daughter in marriage, he took sets from the Hermitage for the wedding, were slander,” which was spread “for the purpose of discrediting,” Comrade Lukyanov claims.

Those who worked with Grigory Romanov in Leningrad note his administrative abilities and energy. “He lived for the city, the country, and was a very talented and capable organizer,” said Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Viktor Lobko (from 1978 to 1983 - first secretary of the Kronstadt district committee of the CPSU). "Under Romanov, a comprehensive plan was developed social development Leningrad until 2005, according to which the Chinese are now developing Shanghai one by one,” says Comrade Khodyrev. “It was Romanov who was the ideologist of the unification of the city and Leningrad region and lobbied in the Politburo and the Council of Ministers for the creation of a united police, united vocational education and land committees,” says Boris Petrov (leader of the Leningrad Komsomol).

The responses about Comrade Romanov’s attitude towards the creative intelligentsia are more contradictory. Galina Mshanskaya, who has worked at Leningrad Television since 1961, told Kommersant that under Romanov in Leningrad there were blacklists of artists who were denied access to television and radio airwaves. This list included, in particular, popular foreign singers. In addition, Sergei Yursky and Arkady Raikin were secretly banned. Natella Tovstonogov, the sister of the main director of the BDT Georgy Tovstonogov, told Kommersant that “It was very difficult for Tovstonogov under Romanov, because of this his heart was damaged. A KGB car followed him from the theater to his home, our apartment 24 hours a day Romanov did not call Tovstonogov to the carpet, but when asked why he did not attend the performances, he told him: “Be grateful that I don’t go, otherwise I would have banned a lot of things.”

However, the granddaughter of Dmitry Likhachev, journalist of the St. Petersburg “Vesti” Zinaida Kurbatova, says that “Romanov was not such a monster as many people think. Grandfather went to see him more than once, he recalled that a podium was installed in Romanov’s office so that he always towered over his interlocutor. But despite this, grandfather managed to come to an agreement with him.”

According to eyewitnesses of the events of the mid-1980s, the victory of Grigory Romanov would have meant a fundamentally different scenario for the USSR. Comrade Lukyanov is confident that he “would firmly defend the socialist choice and the Soviet system,” and also “would take all measures and would not allow the deliberate collapse of the Soviet Union.” Valentin Kuptsov (secretary of the Vologda regional committee) also believes that “under General Secretary Romanov, “we would have been a strong union state to this day.”

It is now difficult to say how true these statements are. The confrontation between Mikhail Gorbachev and Grigory Romanov was a classic example of a “battle of bulldogs under the rug,” in which issues of ideology may not have had the fundamental importance now attributed to them. Rather, the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev was considered a more negotiable and willing to compromise person played a role. And the current complaints about how the election of Grigory Romanov would benefit the USSR can be considered a collective self-justification for the choice in favor of Mikhail Gorbachev.

In March 1985, Comrade Gorbachev became General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and on July 1, 1985, Comrade Romanov was removed from the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and retired “for health reasons.” After this, Comrade Romanov was not seen in active political activity.

Anna Kommersant-Pushkarskaya, St. Petersburg; Viktor Kommersant-Khamraev