The period of Stalin's reign evokes among historians and ordinary people keen interest, lots of questions. But not only the “leader of the peoples” himself is considered the most mysterious person those times. No less important person- Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. The short biography of the People's Commissar includes quite a lot of facts that still provoke controversy today and become the reason for the construction of new theories concerning his life and work.
Childhood and youth
Lavrenty Pavlovich was born in 1899 on March 29 in Georgia. At that time, the village of Merheuli was part of the Kutaisi province, which was part of Russia. The boy's parents were poor peasants who grew tobacco and kept livestock, which helped provide for the family. The mother had six children from a previous marriage, whom she was forced to give up to relatives due to extreme poverty. Marta Vissarionovna Jakeli herself was related to the princely family.
Lavrentiy Beria's father is Pavel Khukhaevich Beria. He was not a rich man; he moved to the village from Megrelia. The boy had an older brother who died of smallpox at the age of 2, and a sister who became deaf and dumb after a severe nasopharyngeal illness.
If you believe historical information, Beria’s parents immediately noted that the child was capable, attentive and persistent, so they tried to give him everything. The family lived extremely poorly, but even in bad weather and without shoes, Lavrenty got ready and went to school, which was 3 km from home. He longed to receive an education, spared no effort and time in his studies, and showed strength of character. Then the young man’s fate became more favorable:
- After graduating from school, he entered primary school in the city of Sukhumi. To do this, the parents were forced to sell half of their house. However, after some time, Lavrenty began to earn money on his own and was able to provide for himself. According to historians, Beria graduated from college with honors, although some experts found information that the guy’s studies were mediocre, he was even retained in the second year for poor academic performance.
- In 1917, the young man entered the Baku technical school, from which he graduated 2 years later with honors.
Already at the age of 17, Beria could independently support his mother and his sister, who moved to the city with him. His work at an oil company helped him with this. In parallel with his studies and work, the young man was a member of a Marxist secret circle, where he served as treasurer. During the same period, he served in Pascani (Romania), Odessa. This did not last long, as the guy was discharged due to illness.
Beria's youth
After returning from service, Lavrenty Pavlovich came to Baku and worked in the Bolshevik organization. Later he was a member secret society and was in the city until the establishment of new Soviet power in Azerbaijan. The activities of the ambitious guy helped him achieve his goals:
- If you believe historical data, since 1919 Lavrenty worked in counterintelligence and transmitted data to the headquarters of the Red Army. It was not possible to document this information, but during Beria’s arrest this fact was added to the materials of the criminal case as evidence of his guilt.
- In 1919, Beria entered the service of an organization that was engaged in the fight against counter-revolution. Comrade Mirza Balu gave him a recommendation.
- The following year, Lavrentiy learned about the murder of his boss in one of the city's restaurants, left his post and worked for some time at customs in Baku.
- After the complete establishment of power in Azerbaijan, Lavrentiy was sent to the Georgian Democratic Republic for illegal work. However, almost immediately after arriving in Tiflis, he was arrested and then released, but only on condition that he leave the country within 3 days. In his autobiography, Beria wrote that he then managed to stay in the country under a different name and enter the service of Comrade Kirov.
- The following year, Beria was exposed and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison. A few days later he was sent to Azerbaijan.
After returning to Baku, Lavrenty Pavlovich tried to continue his studies at the Baku Institute, which was previously a college. After finishing the third year, he became a secretary in the Cheka (Extraordinary Committee) of Azerbaijan, and worked for about 6 months. In 1921 he was promoted. Beria stopped dealing with issues of peasants and workers and was appointed deputy head of the Cheka for the fight against counter-revolution and banditry. Around the same time, he met Bagirov, who at that time was the chairman of the Cheka.
The friendship between the two men became so strong and close that other members of the emergency committee began to call them Siamese twins. There is evidence of Beria’s underground marriage to Bagirov’s sister, but it has not been confirmed.
After several months as a deputy, Lavrentiy’s activities were criticized, with many claiming that he often exceeded his official authority. Anastas Mikoyan then helped Beria avoid punishment.
Career development
After the authorities had doubts regarding the activities of Lavrenty Pavlovich, an investigation was carried out, and he was removed from business. However, after the completion of the process, Beria took Bagirov’s place and became the head of the Cheka of Azerbaijan.
In 1922, he was transferred to Tiflis to serve as head of the Secret Committee in Georgia. Lavrenty held this position for 4 years. In December 1926, he was appointed chairman of the committee and the Main Political Directorate, and worked there for 5 years. During this period, Beria began to seek a meeting with Stalin, but his attempts were unsuccessful for a long time. However, in 1931 the meeting took place.
In the same year he became the second secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee. In this position, Lavrenty did a lot, contributed significant contribution in the development of Georgia, especially the oil industry. It was under his rule that the territory was declared a resort area of the USSR.
Malenkov, Mikoyan and Beria in 1937 carried out a purge of the party organization in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. At that time, information reached Stalin that these three republics had conspired among themselves to secede from the USSR, so many party workers were shot.
Beria was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs only in November 1938. Some party workers noted that since his arrival in this position, repression has decreased significantly. If you believe the calculations of experts, a year after Lavrenty’s appointment, the number of executed people decreased by almost half.
Until the beginning of 1941, Beria led Soviet intelligence, brought order to internal and external affairs, and stopped terror and lawlessness. In January of the same year, Lavrenty Pavlovich received the post of General Commissioner state security. In addition, he began to supervise the activities of the NKVD, as well as river fleet, oil industry and metallurgy.
Beria played an important role during the Great Patriotic War, carried out tasks directly related to the front and agriculture. In 1943 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In addition, he had the Order of Lenin, the Red Republic.
Post-war years
After the end of the war, Beria was invited to work by many committees and organizations, since they were well aware of his activities. A special committee was created to guide research and new developments atomic weapons, which became the first in the USSR, Lavrenty Pavlovich was appointed chairman.
In 1945, Beria was awarded the rank of marshal. Then his career developed rapidly:
- The next year was significant for the man, as he was included in the seven most influential people of the Soviet Union.
- From 1949 to 1951, Beria's position only strengthened. He carried out a successful operation to test atomic weapons and was included in the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. After some time, the Mingrelian case was brought against Lavrenty, in which he was accused of nationalism and prejudice against many Russians.
- In March 1953, Malenkov, Khrushchev and Beria took part in the funeral procession when Stalin died. The latter made a funeral speech at the leader’s grave and on the platform in front of many people.
This trio began to dominate until the selection of a new leader. Everyone hoped that the people would choose him. At this time, all people holding leadership positions were killed or expelled from the country. Beria then headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and initiated the termination of the “doctors’ case.” He not only released those arrested, but also dropped all charges against them.
Personal life
In 1922, Beria married the beautiful Nina (Nino) Gegechkori. Quite little is known about his personal life. The marriage produced a son who died in infancy. In 1924, the second son Sergo was born, who became the only heir. If you believe the protocols and historians, Lawrence’s wife always justified his activities, supported and helped.
Beria's son Sergo in his youth married Maxim Gorky's granddaughter Marfa Peshkova. The couple gave their parents three grandchildren. Eyewitnesses claimed that in the family Lavrenty was invariably kind, caring and attentive, and devoted a lot of time to his grandchildren and children.
For the last few years of his life, Beria had a mistress, Valentina (Lalya) Drozdova. At the time they met, she was still a schoolgirl. It is known that the woman gave birth to Lawrence’s daughter Martha. After the arrest of the People's Commissar, the common-law wife stated that he raped her and forced her to live with him, threatening her with physical harm. No evidence was found to support this accusation.
There is evidence that Beria had deviations regarding his intimate life. His relationships with women contributed to his moral decay. This point was present in the charge against the People's Commissar, he admitted it. In addition, some journalists and researchers claimed that Lawrence not only sent uncooperative women into exile, but also killed them. After the arrest and execution of the head of the NKVD, all his relatives were sent to Krasnodar region, as well as to Kazakhstan and the Sverdlovsk region.
Arrest and execution
In June 1953, Khrushchev secretly convened the ministers of the USSR to enlist their support in the matter he had planned. He said that Beria's actions bring harm to the entire Soviet people and leaders, so it is necessary to arrest him immediately for everyone's safety. After the arrival of Lavrentiy Beria, charges were brought against him, but he objected. He tried to prove that only the Plenum, which appointed him, could deprive him of his positions and power.
| Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria | |
| Date of birth: | |
|---|---|
| Place of birth: |
With. Merheuli, Sukhumi district, Kutaisi province. |
| Date of death: | |
| Place of death: | |
| Citizenship: |
→ |
| Religion: | |
| Education: |
engineer, construction architect |
| Party: | |
| Key ideas: |
revolutionary, Bolshevik, Soviet state patriotism |
| Type of activity: |
security officer, party worker at the republican level (later a member of the Politburo), head of the all-Union People's Commissariats (ministries), member of the State Defense Committee of the USSR |
| Awards and prizes: |
USSR: Hero of Socialist Labor, Order of Lenin (5), Order of the Red Banner (3), Order of Suvorov 1st degree. |
| Website: | |
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria(Georgian ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია), (March 17 (29), 1899, Merkheuli village, Sukhumi district, Kutaisi province, - December 23 (?) 1953, Moscow) - one of the most prominent leaders of the CPSU (b) and the Soviet state , faithful student and closest ally of I.V. Stalin, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd convocations.
Biography
Childhood and youth
Born in the village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi region (Georgian SSR) into a poor peasant family. In 1915, after graduating from the Sukhumi Higher Primary School, L.P., Beria left for Baku and entered the Baku Secondary Mechanical and Construction Technical School. In October 1915, L.P. Beria, together with a group of comrades, organized an illegal Marxist circle at the school. In March 1917, L.P. Beria joined the Bolshevik Party and organized a cell of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks) at the school. In June 1917, L.P. Beria was enlisted in the army hydraulic engineering unit and left Baku for the Romanian front. At the front, L.P. Beria conducted active Bolshevik political work among the troops. At the end of 1917, L.P. Beria returned to Baku and, while continuing his studies at a technical school, actively participated in the activities of the Baku Bolshevik organization. From the beginning of 1919 until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan (April 1920), L.P. Beria led an illegal communist organization of technicians and, on behalf of the Baku Party Committee, provided assistance to a number of Bolshevik cells. In 1919, L.P. Beria successfully graduated from a technical school and received a diploma as an architect-builder technician. Soon after the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, L.P. Beria was sent to illegal revolutionary work in Georgia, where, having contacted underground Bolshevik organizations, he actively participated in the preparation of an armed uprising against the Menshevik government. At this time, L.P. Beria was arrested in Tiflis and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison. In August 1920, after he organized a hunger strike of political prisoners, L.P. Beria was expelled by the Menshevik Ministry of Internal Affairs in a staged manner from Georgia.
In the state security agencies of Azerbaijan and Georgia
Returning to Baku, L.P. Beria entered the Baku Polytechnic Institute to study. In April 1921, the party directed L.P. Beria to carry out Chekist work. From 1921 to 1931 L. P. Beria - in senior positions in the authorities Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence. L.P. Beria was the deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Extraordinary Commission, the chairman of the Georgian GPU, the chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU and the plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU in the Trans-SFSR, and was a member of the board of the OGPU of the USSR. During his activities in the bodies of the Cheka-GPU in Georgia and Transcaucasia, L.P. Beria, following the instructions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, carried out a great deal of work to defeat the anti-Soviet parties of the Mensheviks, Dashnaks, Musavatists, as well as Trotskyists and other anti-party parties that had gone deep underground. groups that slipped into the anti-Soviet underground, joining forces with the remnants of defeated anti-Soviet parties and the intelligence services of capitalist countries. For the successful fight against counter-revolution in Transcaucasia, L.P. Beria was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Georgian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR.
At party work in Transcaucasia
In 1931, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks exposed gross political mistakes and distortions committed by the leadership of party organizations in Transcaucasia. In its decision dated October 31, 1931, on the reports of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Georgia, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Azerbaijan and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Armenia, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks set before the party organizations of Transcaucasia the task of immediate correction of political distortions in work in the countryside, widespread development of economic initiative and initiative of the national republics that were part of the Transcaucasian Federation. The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) obliged the party organizations to put an end to the unprincipled struggle for influence of individuals observed among the leading cadres of both Transcaucasia and the republics (elements of the “atamanshchina”) and to achieve the necessary solidity and Bolshevik cohesion of the party ranks. In connection with this decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, L.P. Beria was transferred to leading party work. In November 1931, L.P. Beria was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Georgia and secretary of the Transcaucasian regional committee of the CP(b), and in 1932, first secretary of the Transcaucasian regional committee of the CP(b) and secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b) of Georgia. Under the leadership of L.P. Beria, the party organizations of Transcaucasia and Georgia carried out a lot of work on the organizational strengthening of their ranks, on the ideological Bolshevik education of party members in the spirit of boundless devotion to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the great leader and teacher J.V. Stalin. L.P. Beria mobilized all the forces of the party organizations of Transcaucasia to fulfill the tasks assigned to the Bolsheviks of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan Central Committee CPSU(b), Soviet government and personally by I.V. Stalin. Under the leadership of L.P. Beria, the Transcaucasian party organization quickly corrected the errors noted in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on October 31, 1931, eliminated the distortions of party policy and excesses in the countryside, achieved the victory of the collective farm system in Transcaucasia and the organizational and economic strengthening of collective farms, ensured the Bolshevik implementation of the instructions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the economic and cultural upsurge of the Transcaucasian republics. Much work has been carried out on the technical reconstruction and development of the oil industry of Baku. As a result, oil production increased sharply, and in 1936 almost half of the total production of the Baku oil industry came from new fields. Significant successes were achieved in the development of coal, manganese and metallurgy, industry, as well as in implementing the instructions of I.V. Stalin on the use of the gigantic opportunities of agriculture in Transcaucasia (the development of cotton growing, tea culture, citrus crops, viticulture, high-value special and industrial crops, etc. .d.). For the outstanding successes achieved over a number of years in the development of agriculture, as well as industry, the Georgian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR, which were part of the Transcaucasian Federation, were awarded the Order of Lenin in 1935. Under the leadership of L.P. Beria, the party organizations of Transcaucasia honorably justified the trust of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the great leader J.V. Stalin, achieved decisive successes in the cause of socialist construction and ensured the successful implementation of the first Stalinist five-year plans in Transcaucasia. In 1935, L. P. Beria’s book “On the history of Bolshevik organizations in Transcaucasia” was published (report at a meeting of the Tbilisi party activists on July 21-22, 1935), which is a valuable contribution to scientific history Bolshevik party. The significance of this book lies, first of all, in the fact that it talks in detail about the school of political struggle from which came the closest associate, the most devoted and consistent ally of the great Lenin, the leader of the world proletariat J.V. Stalin. This book contains a large amount of material testifying to the enormous revolutionary work of I.V. Stalin during the period of creating the strengthening of the Bolshevik Party under the leadership of V.I. Lenin. in 1934, at the XVII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), L.P. Beria was elected a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In 1938, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks transferred L.P. Beria to work in Moscow.
The NKVD of the USSR and the Great Patriotic War
In 1937 Soviet Union a disaster arose - the Yezhovshchina. Having received the task of ridding the Soviet Union of the fifth column, the People's Commissar (Minister) of Internal Affairs of the USSR, traitor N. Yezhov, selected scoundrels from the NKVD and unleashed terror, including on hundreds of thousands innocent people. It took an unconditionally honest and smart person, capable of simultaneously continuing the fight against traitors and correcting the crimes of the Yezhovshchina. In 1938, Beria, contrary to his wishes, was appointed people's commissar Internal Affairs of the USSR. In this post, Beria cleared the NKVD apparatus of criminals who had infiltrated positions under Yezhov, and began reviewing cases opened under Yezhov. It is characteristic that this enormous work was entrusted not to the prosecutor’s office or the court, but to the NKVD under the leadership of Beria. In 1939 alone, 330 thousand people were released, and the review of cases continued in subsequent years, while Beria continued to cleanse the country of the “fifth column.” During this period, L.P. Beria, by the leadership of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, carried out a great deal of work to improve the activities of the security forces. In February 1941 L.P. Beria was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council People's Commissars USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, from June 30, 1941, he was a member of the State Defense Committee, and from May 16, 1944 - deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee and carried out the most important assignments of the party both to the leadership of the socialist economy and at the front. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 30, 1943, L.P. Beria was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labor for special services in the field of production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions. L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Nuclear project
After the war, he was released from the leadership of the NKVD, but was additionally entrusted with the creation nuclear weapons, a little later - air defense missile systems. In August 1949, an atomic bomb was created and tested; in August 1953, after the assassination of Beria, a “dry” hydrogen bomb, that is, a hydrogen bomb accessible for transportation by air, was tested for the first time in the world.
End of career
After the death of I. Stalin, a fierce struggle for power unfolded. G. Malenkov was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and the secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee was headed by N. Khrushchev. L. Beria was preparing to seize sole power. The leadership of the Communist Party was also drawn into the internal party struggle. Soviet republics. On June 26, 1953, at the July Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, L. Beria was removed from the Central Committee and expelled from the party as an enemy of the Communist Party and the Soviet people. On December 23, 1953, a court sentenced him to death as a spy for foreign intelligence services and “an enemy of the Communist Party and the Soviet people” and was executed on the same day.
In 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place, at which N. S. Khrushchev made a report on exposing the personality cult of J. V. Stalin. Khrushchev did not raise the issue of his personal involvement in the repressions with the congress delegates. He placed the blame for them on Stalin and the heads of the internal affairs bodies - N. I. Ezhov, L. P. Beria. And although the text of the report was not published, its general orientation became known to the public. The exposure of Stalin's personality cult and the condemnation of unjustified repressions were called the “course of the 20th Congress.”
Born into the family of a poor peasant in the village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi district, Tiflis province. In 1919 he graduated from the secondary mechanical-construction school in Baku with a degree in civil engineering. I entered the Polytechnic Institute, but studied only two courses. Joined the Bolshevik Party. In the years Civil War at party and Soviet work in Transcaucasia, including illegal work. After the Civil War - in various positions in the Cheka-GPU-OGPU-NKVD, as well as in party posts. In 1938, he headed the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD, took the post of Deputy People's Commissar and in the same year became People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, remaining in this post until the end of 1945.
After Beria was appointed head of the NKVD and before the start of the Great Patriotic War, some of the “unreasonably convicted” were released from the camps, including officers arrested on false charges. In particular, in 1939, 11,178 previously dismissed and taken into custody commanders were reinstated in the army. However, in 1940-1941. arrests command staff continued, which affected the combat effectiveness of the armed forces. Before the war, the NKVD carried out the forced eviction of “unreliable” residents of the Baltic states, western regions of Belarus and Ukraine to the remote eastern regions of the USSR. At the insistence of Beria, the rights of the Special Meeting under the People's Commissar to issue extrajudicial verdicts were expanded.
Beria was responsible for the completeness and accuracy of reports to Stalin through the NKVD foreign intelligence about the impending German attack on the USSR. The information he supplied to the head of state was often biased, allowing one to think about the possibility of maintaining peace with Germany, at least until 1942. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Beria was included in the State Defense Committee, and in May 1944 - September 1945 - its chairman Operations Bureau, where decisions were made on all current issues.
He supervised the production of aircraft, engines, tanks, mortars, ammunition, the work of the People's Commissariat of Railways, the coal and oil industries. Directly coordinated all intelligence and counterintelligence activities through the NKVD-NKGB. He proved himself to be a talented organizer. In 1943 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In July 1945, he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
During the war, Beria, as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, was directly responsible for the deportation of a number of peoples of the USSR to remote areas of the country, including Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Kalmyks, Crimean Tatars, Germans of the Volga region. Not only criminal elements and collaborators of the enemy were subjected to forcible relocation, but also many innocent people - women, children, and the elderly. Justice for them was restored only after 1953. In the fall of 1941, during the offensive of fascist troops on Moscow, by order of Beria, several dozen prisoners, including prominent military men and scientists, were shot without trial.
Since 1944, on behalf of the State Defense Committee, Beria dealt with the uranium problem. In 1945 he headed the Special Committee for the creation of the atomic bomb. He coordinated foreign intelligence activities to obtain the secrets of the American atomic bomb, which accelerated the work of Soviet nuclear physicists. On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb was successfully tested.
After his death, Beria headed the united Ministry of Internal Affairs, being also the first deputy. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In March-June 1953, he made a number of proposals related to internal and foreign policy, including: on the amnesty of certain categories of prisoners, the closure of the “doctors’ case,” the curtailment of the “building of socialism” in the GDR, etc.
Beria's influence in special agencies and potential capabilities did not suit his opponents in the struggle for power in the Kremlin. On the initiative of N.S. Khrushchev and with the support of a number of high-ranking military men, on June 26, 1953, Beria was arrested at a meeting of the Presidium (Politburo) of the CPSU Central Committee. Accused of espionage, “moral and everyday decay”, of striving to usurp power and restore capitalism. Deprived of party and state posts, titles and awards. The special judicial presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Marshal I.S. Konev was sentenced on December 23, 1953 by L.P. Beria and six of his accomplices were to be shot. On the same day the sentence was carried out.
Literature
Lavrenty Beria. 1953: Transcript of the July plenum of the CPSU Central Committee and other documents / Comp. V.P. Naumov and Yu.V. Sigachev. M., 1999.
Rubin N. Lavrenty Beria: myth and reality. M., 1998.
Toptygin A.V. Unknown Beria. St. Petersburg, 2002.
Lavrentiy Beria is a Russian revolutionary, Soviet statesman and party leader, head of the NKVD of the USSR and Marshal of the USSR.
He oversaw a number of the most important sectors of the defense industry and air defense, including all developments related to the creation of nuclear weapons and missile technology. From August 20, 1945, he led the implementation of the USSR nuclear program.
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria
The personality of Lavrentiy Beria is extremely ambiguous. Some accuse him of involvement in the murders of hundreds of thousands of people when he was part of Stalin's inner circle. Others consider him a brilliant statesman, who was distinguished by his foresight and strong grip.
In this article we will try to consider major events Beria, and also talk about the most interesting facts from his life.
So, in front of you short biography Beria.
Biography of Beria
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was born on March 17, 1899 in the Abkhaz village of Merkheuli. He was brought up in the poor family of Pavel Khukhaevich and Marta Jakeli.
In addition to Lavrentiy, the parents had a girl and a boy, who died in childhood.
Childhood and youth
From an early age, Lavrentiy Beria loved to study and read books. Father and mother wondered why their son had such a thirst for knowledge. For his sake, they sold half of their farm in order to pay for his studies at the Sukhumi Higher Primary School.
Lavrentiy Beria did not let his parents down and graduated with honors educational institution. Then he successfully passed the exams at the Baku Secondary Construction School.
At the same time, he worked at the Nobel oil company, thanks to which he was able to support his mother and sister. It is worth noting that by that time his sister was already deaf and mute, having suffered a serious illness in childhood.
Lavrenty Beria at the beginning of his KGB career, 1920s Lavrenty Pavlovich was a member of the underground Communist Party of technicians, for which reason he was engaged in propaganda activities. In addition, the guy participated in armed conflicts against the authorities. For this he will later be arrested and put behind bars.
In 1919, Beria received a diploma as a construction technician-architect. While still a student, he became seriously interested in the ideas of Marx, studying his works for a long time. Imbued with the spirit of communism, the young man became one of the participants October Revolution 1917
In the 20s, Lavrentiy Beria was expelled from. However, he soon returned to his homeland, where he took up KGB activities. As a result, Beria became a secret employee of the Baku police.
Feeling confident in his abilities, he actively moved up the career ladder and soon took the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. So Beria’s biography headed in a political direction.
Policy
At the end of the 20s, Lavrenty Pavlovich met, who appreciated the work of the People's Commissar. A number of biographers believe that the leader of the people became especially close to Beria, since he was also a Georgian.
In 1931, Lavrentiy was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian party, and 4 years later he became a member of the Central Executive Committee and the Presidium of the USSR. Later, the politician becomes the head of the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. An interesting fact is that he was highly respected by his colleagues and Soviet citizens, who even called him “their favorite Stalinist leader.”
Beria enjoyed special recognition in Georgia, since he managed to develop there national economy. He achieved an unprecedented rise in the oil industry, built dozens of enterprises and improved resort areas. Not only ordinary people, but also prominent party leaders began to go to Georgia on vacation.
In addition, Lavrenty Pavlovich raised the prices for tangerines and tea, thanks to which the well-being of Georgians improved significantly. The growth of agriculture in the republic has increased almost 3 times. This could not but affect Beria's biography.
In July 1953, Beria was arrested and accused of treason, abuse of office, pursuit of capitalism and collaboration with British intelligence.
Personal life
Beria's only official wife was Nina Teymurazovna, who supported her husband in everything. It is interesting that until the end of her days she spoke positively about her husband’s activities. In this marriage they had a boy, Sergo.
Lavrenty Beria with his son Sergo, 1930s IN recent years Lavrentiy Beria cohabited with Lyalya Drozdova. At the time they met, she was still a minor. Later they had a girl, Martha. After Beria’s arrest, Lyalya stated that she lived with him solely out of fear for her life.
Lavrenty Pavlovich had a reputation as a “Kremlin rapist” because he had many relationships with girls. Biographers still vividly discuss his sex life.
There is an opinion that Beria was generally a pervert and mentally unhealthy person. This is confirmed by the “lists of sexual victims” of the politician, which at the beginning of the 21st century were officially recognized in. The lists included about 750 women and girls who were raped by him using sadistic methods.
Lavrenty Beria with Stalin's daughter Historians say that often girls 14-15 years old became victims of Lavrentiy Beria. When the teenagers were in his hands, he took them to the Lubyanka and put them in soundproof cells. Then the head of the NKVD raped his victims, perverting them in every possible way.
During interrogations after his arrest, Beria admitted that he had sexual contact with 62 women. In 1943, he contracted syphilis from a student. It is worth noting that during the search in the politician’s hiding place, women’s underwear and things used for various kinds of perversion were found.
Death
Lavrentiy Beria was tried on December 18-23, 1953. He was convicted by a “special tribunal” without the right to defense or appeal. Along with accusations of espionage and treason, he was also credited with rapprochement with.
On December 23, 1953, Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was shot in a bunker in the Moscow Military District. After the execution, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at the New Donskoy Cemetery.
A number of biographers believe that Soviet people sighed with relief after hearing the news about the execution of Beria. Many knew or at least heard about his cruel and bloodthirsty nature. Following his tip, more than 200 thousand people were subjected to repression, among whom were talented scientists and cultural figures.
At the beginning of the war, Lavrentiy Beria eliminated all dissidents, including the elderly and children. He was also the initiator of large-scale deportation of the peoples of Crimea and.
Photos of Beria
Below you can see a photo of Lavrenty Beria. We tried to find the best photos of him in good quality. Although in fairness it must be said that there are very few of them.
Beria and Stalin's daughter (Stalin himself is sitting at the table in the background) 
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Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich
Marshal of the Soviet Union
Hero of Socialist Labor (1943)
Andrey Parshev
It is BITTER to begin an anniversary article not with a description of merits, but with a refutation of slander, but one cannot do without this.
BERIA, Lavrenty Pavlovich, did not and could not have anything to do with the organization of the so-called. "repressions" in 1937, either due to official position or due to physical absence from the center of events. The decision to carry out repressions was made by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1937, and L.P. Beria was at that time at party work in Transcaucasia. He was transferred to Moscow in the summer of 1938, and appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs in December 1938, when the repressions had already ended.
L.P. Beria was People's Commissar of Internal Affairs from December 1939 to 1945, and then for only three months in 1953. For 8 years after the war, contrary to popular belief, he did not supervise law enforcement agencies, as he was completely occupied with more important matters.
The young man who wanted to study
BERIA, Lavrenty Pavlovich, was born on March 17 (30), 1899 in the village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi region, into a poor peasant family. In 1915, after graduating from the Sukhumi Higher Primary School, L.P. Beria left for Baku and entered the Baku Secondary Mechanical and Construction Technical School.
Now in the capital's universities there is an ironic attitude towards students from the Caucasus - “children of the mountains”, not interested in anything other than dyed blondes and foreign cars. 16-year-old Lavrenty had neither money nor patronage. There were no scholarships then, even less so, and he could only study by earning his own living. In Sukhumi he gave lessons, and in Baku he had to work in a variety of places - as a clerk, a customs officer. From the age of 17, he also supported his mother and deaf-mute sister, who moved in with him.
In March 1917, L.P. Beria organized a RSDLP (Bolshevik) cell at the school in Baku. In June 1917, L.P. Beria left for the Romanian front as part of an army technical unit (in his autobiography he indicated that he was a volunteer; in his official biography it was written that he was enlisted. In Soviet era patriotism shown during the First World War was not welcomed). After the collapse of the army, he returned to Baku and continued his studies at a technical school, participating in the activities of the Baku Bolshevik organization under the leadership of A.I. Mikoyan.
In 1919, L.P. Beria entered the world of “war in the twilight.” At that time, Azerbaijan was ruled by the “Musavatist” party - that was the name of the puppet organization created by the British to control the oil fields of the Caspian Sea. In 1919-1920, he worked in the counterintelligence of the Musavatists, transmitting the information obtained to the headquarters of the Xth Bolshevik Army in Tsaritsyn. Beria wrote about this in his autobiography, no one denies it, nevertheless, it was his infiltration into the Musavat secret service that was the main accusation against him in 1953.
From the beginning of 1919 (March) until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan (April 1920), L.P. Beria also led an illegal communist organization of technicians. In 1919, L.P. Beria successfully graduated from a technical school, received a diploma as a technical architect-builder and tried to study further - by that time the school had been transformed into Polytechnic Institute. But... L.P. Beria was sent to work illegally in Georgia to prepare an armed uprising against the Menshevik government, was arrested and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison. In August 1920, after he organized a hunger strike of political prisoners, L. P. Beria was expelled in stages from Georgia. Returning to Baku, L.P. Beria again went to study at the Baku Polytechnic.
In April 1921, the party sent L.P. Beria to KGB work. From 1921 to 1931 he held senior positions in Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence agencies. Obviously, by that time the young security officer was well known in his circles for his services. It is unlikely that he was introduced into the leadership of the Cheka only because he was a foreign agent - this organization was somewhat different from the Ideological Department of the CPSU Central Committee of the 80s.
L.P. Beria was the deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Extraordinary Commission, the chairman of the Georgian GPU, the chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU and the plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU in the Trans-SFSR, and was a member of the board of the OGPU of the USSR.
Several times he tried to continue his studies at the Baku Polytechnic. Now in the world ranking of universities this educational institution is in second place from the end of the list, but at the beginning of the century it was very high level teaching. Baku was then one of the centers of scientific and technological progress, this is evidenced by Landau, who studied there at the same time.
During his activities in the bodies of the Cheka-GPU in Georgia and Transcaucasia, L.P. Beria did a lot of work to defeat the Mensheviks, Dashnaks, Musavatists, Trotskyists, and foreign intelligence agents. Georgia was engulfed in rampant banditry, as in the 90s, - the GPU restored relative order. Armenian peasants worked in the field with a rifle on their shoulders - Kurdish robbers visited from abroad as if it were their storeroom. By the 1930s, the border was firmly sealed.
The interests of Transcaucasian intelligence agencies also included neighboring countries - Türkiye, Iran, the English Middle East... but the details will forever remain a secret.
For the successful fight against counter-revolution in Transcaucasia, L. P. Beria was awarded the order Red Banner, Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR and Armenian SSR. He was also awarded with a personalized weapon.
At the same time, in the characteristics they wrote about him - “intellectual”. Then this word did not have a negative connotation, it meant educated, cultured person, able to apply theoretical knowledge to practical activities. He wanted to study, most of all, to study, but time did not allow it. Three polytechnic courses and a diploma in architecture are all that he managed to achieve by the age of 22 in the intervals between the fronts, prisons, underground and operational work.
Style
“In 1931, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) revealed gross political mistakes and distortions committed by the leadership of party organizations in Transcaucasia, and ordered party organizations to put an end to the unprincipled struggle for influence of individuals observed among the leading cadres of both Transcaucasia and the republics (elements of the “atamanshchina”).” This was written in the biography of L.P. Beria in 1952.
Transcaucasia - ancient land, people have been living there since time immemorial. The tribal system has taken deep roots there; behind the façade of the state there is always a complex social structure from clans, clans, families. National and public interests are too often an empty phrase there, serving as a cover for inter-tribal struggle.
In November 1931, L.P. Beria was transferred to party work - he was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Bolsheviks) and secretary of the Transcaucasian regional committee of the CPSU (b), and in 1932 - first secretary of the Transcaucasian regional committee of the CPSU (b) and secretary of the Central Committee Communist Party (b) of Georgia.
“Under the leadership of L.P. Beria, the Transcaucasian party organization in a short time corrected the errors noted in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on October 31, 1931, eliminated the distortions of party policy and excesses in the countryside, and achieved the victory of the collective farm system in Transcaucasia..... "
L.P. Beria tamed the appetites of khans and princes with party cards, gaining good memory among ordinary people and the inescapable hatred of the tribal elite.
It was Beria who had a special lifestyle that distinguished him from the leadership. In the 70s, the first secretary of the regional committee would have looked strange, kicking a soccer ball with the boys, and not for show, but for himself. Working in Tbilisi, in the mornings he spun the “sun” on a homemade horizontal bar in the yard, together with the same boys.
Having later moved to Moscow, he began to live differently, which, in general, is natural, but he did not change his habits. A minimum of security, and more often only a driver and a guarantor. The Georgian has an Armenian guarantor. Can you imagine?
Beria was unmercenary, although he was known as a hospitable host. In fact, after his death there was nothing to confiscate, and this is how he always lived. Did the people know about this? In Georgia they knew, and it’s easy to understand how they treated it.
Therefore, at the beginning of his career, Shevardnadze “mowed” under Beria. As Minister of Internal Affairs, he lived in a communal apartment, and when he became First Secretary, he fought corruption. Then it cost him nothing to throw a million dollars at charity. Saved from my salary...
When the First House has nothing, then it is somehow inconvenient for the others to have a house - a full cup. That is why, despite the popularity of this lifestyle among the people, not all leaders were happy with it.
Technocrat
The land of Transcaucasia is one of the most fertile in the world. With very little effort, a person can more than provide for himself and his family, if only there was land. But even on the most fertile land, poor people can live if this land is not enough. And in Transcaucasia there is always little land. All Caucasian languages have a proverb roughly similar to the Ossetian one: “there are always skulls lying on the boundary.” Why?
The Caucasian family has many children, but high birth rates are not at all a consequence of low culture, as is sometimes completely unfoundedly thought. The clan system assumes that a person’s status directly depends on the number of relatives both in peace and even more so in war. Few children mean few warriors, and you can lose in the struggle for land. The price of losing is death. But the father must leave four plots to his four sons, but he has one! Where to get it if the land was divided before our era?
From time immemorial, “human surplus” was destroyed in wars, in ancient times with swords and daggers, now with salvos of Alazan missiles and shells with potassium cyanide. Wild mountain tribes exported slaves to Turkey, external aggressors tried to seize the priceless land, exterminating its inhabitants.
Russia covered Transcaucasia from external enemies and tamed the mountain bandits Soviet power, but where to get bread, where to get land?
In Russia, the problem was solved by the nationalization of estates and collectivization. Collective farm fields cultivated by tractors made it possible to forget about hunger. But collectivization in Transcaucasia, due to special local conditions, did not immediately allow for such a radical increase in productivity. And there were too many free hands. Where is the way out?
The only correct solution was found. The newly created industry absorbed peasant youth, Georgian metallurgists and Azerbaijani oil workers appeared in Transcaucasia.
But where to get bread? Is there no more earth?
Again the only right decision. What could not be done in private fields was made possible by collectivization. Transcaucasia became a zone of subtropical cultures unique to the USSR. Do you think the tangerines that now cover the ground in a thick layer in the gardens of Abkhazia have always grown there? No, citrus orchards appeared in the 30s. Where previously only grains and vegetables were grown, so much tea, grapes, citrus fruits, and rare industrial crops that even had defense significance were now harvested that Transcaucasia became a land of rich people. And Russia was not offended - since the mid-30s, there was already enough collective farm grain for bread and enough to exchange for Caucasian tangerines.
Appeared and new land, for the first time since ancient times. Unusual agricultural technology and planting of eucalyptus trees made it possible to drain the Colchis lowland, which was previously a disastrous malarial area. But a section of primeval swamps was also left, in memory of posterity, and after the war received the status of a nature reserve.
“Great work was done to reconstruct and develop the oil industry of Baku. As a result, oil production increased sharply, and in 1938, almost half of the total production of the Baku oil industry came from new fields. Significant successes were achieved in the development of the coal, manganese and metallurgical industries, the use of gigantic opportunities agriculture of Transcaucasia (development of cotton growing, tea culture, citrus crops, viticulture, high-value special and industrial crops, etc.) for the outstanding successes achieved over a number of years in the development of agriculture, as well as industry, the Georgian SSR and Azerbaijan. The Soviet Socialist Republics, which were part of the Transcaucasian Federation, were awarded the Order of Lenin in 1935."
Maybe you think that the first secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee had nothing to do with it?
Professional
In 1938, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks transferred L.P. Beria to work in Moscow.
By that time, the defeat of Trotskyist and other opposition cadres, begun by decision of the Politburo in 1937, for which the NKVD was headed by high-ranking party workers from the personnel department of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, was completed. It is difficult to say how sincere the Politburo’s position was, but excesses were seen in the activities of the NKVD. To carry out the rehabilitation of those illegally repressed, L.P. Beria was appointed Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs.
The NKVD had to be returned to the work for which it was intended. Therefore, in December 1938, the party personnel officer Yezhov was replaced by the professional security officer Beria.
From 1938 to 1945 L.P. Beria was the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR. He was a good people's commissar, the best assessment in such cases is the assessment of the enemy.
Collection " World War 1939-1945", section "War on land", General von Buttlar:
“The special conditions that existed in Russia greatly hampered the collection of intelligence data regarding the military potential of the Soviet Union, and therefore this data was far from complete. The extremely skillful camouflage by the Russians of everything related to their army, as well as strict control over foreigners and the impossibility of organizing a wide espionage networks made it difficult to verify the little information that the intelligence officers were able to collect..."
Specifically and personally in the USSR, L.P. Beria was responsible for the “impossibility of organizing a wide network of espionage.”
But even under the leadership of the NKVD, L.P. Beria’s special style of work, unique only to him, emerged. He understood the role of new technologies much better than many leaders, both military and civilian, which of course meant not only new technology, but also its correct use.
The name of L.P. Beria is associated with the development of communications of the border troops, which made it possible not only to provide telephone communications to every border guard on many sections of the Far Eastern border. A striking contrast was the readiness of the Border Troops and the NKVD troops for the outbreak of war, compared with the situation in the army. Unlike the army, the communications of the Border Troops were staffed by line supervisors, which made it possible to completely maintain control, although all control went by wire, as in the army. All outposts, except those killed in the all-round defense, by order, moved away from the border, and subsequently formed units whose work is accurately described in V. Bogomolov’s book “In August 44th”.
This is based on a deep understanding of the role of communication in the management process.
Unfortunately, the exploits of the NKVD troops are less well known; this topic is closed for study; even battle paintings about their exploits at Rostov and Stalingrad lie in museum storerooms. The “blue caps” did not retreat without orders and did not surrender; they were well armed and loaded with automatic weapons.
During the war, L.P. Beria, in addition to his many duties, paid great attention to special equipment. In special laboratories of the NKVD, walkie-talkies, radio direction finders, advanced sabotage mines, silent weapons, and infrared sights were created. During the defense of the Caucasus, the use special groups of the border guard officers, armed with silent rifles with night sights, thwarted the offensive impulse of the Kleist group - the usual German tactics turned out to be impossible due to the extermination of about 400 radio operators and aviation and artillery guidance officers.
How can we evaluate the merits of our “authorities” who organized round-the-clock wiretapping of allied delegations at the Tehran Conference? The dream of any diplomat is to know the real positions of the opposing side. Of course, such information also requires real diplomats, because the information must be used in such a way that partners do not become wary.
Unfortunately, a significant amount of falsification about the activities of L.P. Beria dates back to this period. Thus, democratic “historians” thoughtfully discuss the famous text written by Yu. Semenov: “Ambassador Dekanozov is bombarding me with misinformation...... erasing me into camp dust.......” They don’t even bother to think why on earth the ambassador of the Soviet Union, bypassing his immediate superior, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov, would bombard some outside People’s Commissar, not even a member of the Politburo, with information of Special Importance.
Until 1994, L.P. Beria’s accusations of deportation of Chechens and Ingush were very popular. Indeed, 100 thousand soldiers and 20 thousand operatives under his command in just a few days evicted 600 thousand Chechens with losses on both sides of only a few people. But these peoples in 1941 refused mobilization and created, in fact, their own in the rear of the Red Army armed forces, with party secretaries as commanders.
So L.P. Beria deservedly received the Order of Suvorov, but now this is clear to everyone.
By the way, as a result of the “Beria genocide,” the number of Chechens has now doubled.
He protected his native land from death...
"In February 1941, L.P. Beria was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and remained in this post until the end of his life. During the Great Patriotic War, from June 30, 1941 he was a member of the State Defense Committee, and from May 16, 1944 - deputy chairman State Defense Committee and carried out the most important assignments of the party both in the management of the socialist economy and at the front.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 30. 1943 L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for special services in the field of strengthening the production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions. On July 9, 1945, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union."
It’s sad, but there is no available information about the essence of the problems being solved then - this is unplowed ground for the historian. But one merit of L.P. Beria is still mentioned, even his enemies do not dare to keep silent about it. Judge for yourself how big it is.
In one of the books from the time of perestroika, the “Song of Beria” is quoted with irony. The lyrics of the song are really awkward, but there are these words:
"Gardens and fields sing about Beria
He protected his native land from death..."
From what death and how did you protect? Not the people, not the party, but the whole native land? After all, he is not Stalin, not Zhukov, although he is the Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is a Hero, but a Hero of Socialist Labor. What's the matter?
“Since 1944, Beria oversaw all work and research related to the creation of atomic weapons, demonstrating extraordinary organizational skills.”
This phrase from the biography of L.P. Beria, given in the computer encyclopedia "Cyril and Methodius", is perhaps the only information there, besides the name and date of birth, that is close to reality.
The creation of Soviet nuclear weapons is an epoch-making event that completely changed the face of the world for tens, if not hundreds of years. We see now how Western countries behave, with the relative weakness of other countries. But this despite the fact that a dozen countries in the world still have atomic bombs. There is no doubt that if the bomb had not been made in our country during several years of peaceful respite, then, already starting from Korean War, history would have turned out differently. Where? Read the book “Orbital Patrol” by the American science fiction writer R. Heinlein, which was published immediately after the war and became extremely popular in the USA. There as main goal American policy proposed the creation of a network orbital stations With nuclear bombs under the command of the Americans, who, if any country disobeyed, would immediately destroy its capital. This may sound strange (what is it, some kind of science fiction writer), but this book greatly influenced the public consciousness of the United States in terms of introducing the idea of world domination based on the US monopoly on nuclear and orbital technology. In our country, it was not translated until the 90s, and without reading it, it is impossible to understand why there was complete panic in the United States after the launch of the Soviet satellite.
The dictatorship of the West was abolished, and, no matter what happens, forever.
Didn’t L.P. Beria deserve at least a modest monument on Red Square for this?
Merits
The second merit is the organization of major breakthroughs in the scientific and technical field. And not in the form that has been actively promoted in our country since the 50s (dubious discoveries without practical usefulness). It has already been written about the development of an air defense missile ring around Moscow, carried out under the leadership of L.P. Beria. In its own way, no less revolutionary, this work was done contrary to all the canons of technology and, nevertheless, turned out to be successful. Despite its seemingly local significance, even if it concerned our capital, this development significantly influenced the direction of technical progress in the military field, and for all countries of the world. What neither cannon artillery nor aviation could provide, missiles could do. Neither the Germans, nor the Japanese, nor the Western allies could do anything like this before us, although they were directly affected by the problem of bombing during the war. This is where the victorious march of guided missiles around the world began.
These projects have given concrete results during the life of L.P. Beria, and it is impossible to deny his role - too many witnesses and documents have survived. But his role in missile projects is not covered, since TASS’s victorious messages were announced only in 1957. Was L.P. away from heavy missiles? It’s unlikely, because the development of nuclear weapons and rocket launch vehicles for them formed a single whole. I think that it was not without Beria’s participation that the 1946 government “Resolution on the Development of Jet Technology” was developed.
There is an opinion in the mass consciousness that a boss can be a complete ignoramus; he just needs to surround himself with smart, but not responsible, advisers, and the matter will be in the bag. That's where it eventually ended up.
This can be clearly seen from economic policy. Growth rate Soviet economy The 30s - 50s are well known. But in 1965, Kosygin, at the instigation of a group of “advisers,” carried out the first official reform of the Stalinist economy (it is known abroad as the “Liberman reform,” after the name of the head of the group of advisers). The result was not fatal, but “the process began.” Gorbachev and Ryzhkov, for their mind-blowing experiments on transferring funds from non-cash to cash with the help of small enterprises, attracted another group of “economists”, presumably from Shatalin, but everyone knows about the current advisers, and about the results of the reforms too.
Starting with Khrushchev, life shows that if a leader, instead of getting into the swing of things himself, begins to trust advisers, then the results of his rule can be bad. Expressing the same idea, but in other words, I will say: a leader must be educated and smart not only in the science of coming to power. The fate of the country depends on this. How to achieve this is another question, but attracting advisers is not a replacement for brains. Well, Gorbachev brought in Bovin, Burlatsky and Yakovlev as political advisers - and what did he come to, what did he lead the country to? But you can’t say anything, they are smart people, smarter than Gorbachev.
After all, you also need to be able to evaluate advisors. Some people, with all their ranks, are real sheep; among the specialists there are both adventurers and swindlers.
As a historical anecdote, I’ll tell you this story. We had this Lev Theremin, the inventor of electric musical instruments, famous for showing his “theremin” to Lenin himself. Then Theremin lived in America, then he was in a sharashka. So when Beria asked him if he could do atomic bomb, he said he could. And when asked what he needed for this, he answered that “a personal car with a driver and one and a half tons of steel angle.”
But this is a curiosity, but there were critical moments in the history of the “uranium project”. How did we begin work on the “bomb”?
Physicist Flerov was at the front, serving as an aircraft technician without any armor. And it was at the front, looking through Western scientific journals (if someone missed this place, I repeat - being at the front and looking through Western scientific journals), he noticed that articles on the uranium problem had disappeared from them. He concluded that military work had begun in this area in the West, which is why they were classified, and began writing letters to Stalin (and not to the leadership of domestic physics, apparently having a good idea of his level), and one of them reached the addressee.
The Soviet leadership paid attention to Flerov's warning, which was the impetus for the implementation of the uranium project. The corresponding tasks were assigned to our strategic intelligence, and they were set, as you may have guessed, by L.P. Beria. It was he who was in charge of our intelligence, among other things.
And Stalin had an unpleasant conversation with our “leading” physicists. For some reason, not some venerable scientist was chosen for the scientific leadership of the project, but not the very famous Kurchatov.
Please note that neither Flerov nor Kurchatov was perceived as valuable by the “scientific community”. Kurchatov, instead of evacuating to the East, demagnetized the hulls of ships under German bombs in Sevastopol, and Flerov generally fought, not on the “Kazan Front”. He didn't even get the armor!
This suggests that the Soviet leadership of that time itself understood the problem sufficiently to listen not to authorities, but to little-known scientists.
Imagine what would have happened if Stalin and Beria had relied on advisers!
CONSPIRACY
After the war, Khrushchev, Malenkov and Beria formed a stable group. Jealous senior members of the Politburo mockingly called them "Young Turks." Beria did not believe until recently and, perhaps, never found out that he was betrayed by those whom he considered friends - Malenkov and Khrushchev.
So why did Beria become hated by everyone?
The reason is the unhealthy situation in the country after the war, and especially the leadership. Stalin, apparently due to illness, clearly “let go of the reins” that he had previously controlled so well. Proof of this is the fact of a fierce struggle for power between factions - this is a clear sign of the absence of a real cause. There was no one to set tasks for the “ruling elite” and ask for their solution.
War is not a school of humanism. Any, no matter how fair it may be. War is a catastrophe that disfigures all aspects of public and state life.
Ask any veteran front-line soldier, a wounded hero, and he will tell you that there were better people than him, but they died. The best died in the war.
At the end of the war it's awkward important role people and structures associated with war and military production begin to play. After the war, they become unnecessary and must lose their significance, but do they want this?
Paradoxically, the defeated countries, whose military elite has been destroyed, suffer less from this. In Japan and Germany there were no problems with the orientation of politics - only towards peaceful creation. But in France and the USA, for example, instead of the peace-loving pre-war leaders, generals and hawks came to power, who soon plunged their countries into new inglorious wars.
The USSR no longer needed a 10-million-strong army. Where should the generals go?
Look at the statistics - how much unnecessary military equipment was produced in 1945. The manufacturers themselves understood that it was no longer needed, so they pushed for a real defect. Switch to products that still have to win over the buyer? This is a risk. You can't persuade the buyer! It’s a completely different matter when it’s enough to persuade a military receiver, even if he’s wearing marshal’s stars. Who will make consumer goods? Someone will do it.
These are captains of industry, instructors of departments of district committees, regional committees, republican committees. They gave a military plan, and they gave it well. Of course, who is unhappy that the war is over? But giving power to people who are better at sewing dresses and assembling televisions, and, most importantly, cheaper...? Sorry!
That is why the development of the economy took a paradoxical path - consumer goods were not valued by the consumer with their ruble, but by something like the Defense Council, only it was not called that.
And without special analysis, it is clear who the main governing body of the country, the Central Committee, consisted of after the war.
And the problem was deeper - when the direction of the country’s development had already been chosen in the 30s, when politics managed to defend itself from the adherents of the “world revolution” (Trotskyists) and supporters of a return to the primitive communal system (rightists), after which the party was no longer needed , more precisely, it remained needed only as a personnel sieve - after all, theoretically it was possible to democratically block initial stage promotion of the unworthy.
But after the war the party lost its importance. In the late 40s and early 50s, everyone seemed to understand this. The words "Politburo", "Central Committee", " Secretary General“seemed to have been completely banished from the lexicon. Looking ahead, I note that all decisions on the “Beria case” were made, according to reports, by the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Council.
The course of the conspiracy against Beria is a separate topic, but it is obvious that two currents collided. One is Beria's approach: the party is a political instrument that requires supervision and should not deal with economic issues, which should be the responsibility of the Council of Ministers.
As we know now, the other line won then. It is now clear that the duplication of the Council of Ministers by the industrial departments of the Central Committee, which developed in the 50-80s, was a perversion, the result of the victory of the party nomenklatura.
The leaders of the line opposing Beria were Malenkov and Khrushchev, and Khrushchev was not very significant - he was the main party personnel officer, like Yezhov until 1937.
But after Stalin's death the situation worsened. Key events, there were two main pain points.
Firstly, of the things implemented by the new Minister of Internal Affairs, the main thing was not stopping the “case of the Kremlin doctors.” Especially not the 1953 amnesty. Such decisions - political - are not made at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is a decision of the political leadership of the state, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is only the executor.
The main event was a meeting of the leadership of the ministry, at which Beria gave his vision of the tasks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among these tasks was special control over the cleanliness of the ranks of party bodies - a task that was somewhat forgotten in those years.
The point is not that there were fewer repressions after the war by that time, although a kind of “era of mercy” had begun - it was abolished until 1953 death penalty. For some crimes they were still shot, but to control the party elite they used... the party elite itself! It’s hard to believe, but to investigate the “Leningrad case” an investigative unit was created in the party apparatus, and even in Matrosskaya Tishina... a party detention center was allocated! The case was led by G.M. Malenkov. So the NKVD not only had nothing to do with this case, it was not allowed.
But let's go back to 1953. Information about the meeting of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was reported to the party bosses. In particular, his man, General Strokach, reported to Khrushchev. This figure managed to earn the sincere hatred of both Western Ukrainian rebels and, oddly enough, border guards. During the war it was his idea to send German rear"border regiments", which were immediately destroyed by the Germans in open battle. Thousands of the best people died.
Information about possible state control over the party leadership caused a unanimous reaction. It is difficult to say exactly how things happened. But the indictment in the Beria case said specifically: “an attempt to put the Ministry of Internal Affairs over the Party.”
Thus began an almost open confrontation. Khrushchev swore before the Central Committee that there would be no control from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But for all his intelligence, L.P. Beria was completely unprepared for the fact that he, without any objective prerequisites, would be overthrown and shot. Why he did not understand the intentions of his friends is still a mystery.
In fact, in 1953, a coup d’etat took place in favor of those circles that wanted to rule the country in their own interests, without being in any way responsible for the results of their rule.
By 1953, after the murder of Beria, serious decisions were made regulating the activities of law enforcement agencies. Since then, when applying for a job, employees of the “organs” were informed that persons in vacated party positions were not available to them. They cannot be recruited, they cannot be monitored.
It was then that vile individuals like A. Yakovlev “got their shit.”
I will not hide that I believe that this development of events was generated by Stalin’s system. For its time, it was a strong, flexible weapon - the layer of managers was strictly controlled by the top leadership, monolithic and having no other goals than the prosperity of the country. What the action program of the then leadership was, what they wanted, is now unknown exactly. It is precisely the goals, objectives, and program of action of the Stalinist leadership of the 30s and 40s that are the most carefully hidden secret of “democratic historians.”
But this system also contained the seed of destruction. With the disappearance of the guiding and guiding force, the layer of managers begins to live their own lives, solve their own problems, following the problems of the state and society only insofar as they can.
Beria’s fault was that this man, having no personal interests, wanted to do something unprecedented, wanted to express himself in projects for the future and could force others to act not for personal, but for public purposes.
His enemies are tired of working for the future. They wanted to live “here and now” and not for others, but for themselves.
It was difficult to deceive such a person, but the conspirators succeeded for one simple reason. In the conspiracy against Beria, they relied on the full support of their class, which wanted to lead - and led - the country and people straight into the 90s.
Awards
Order of the Red Banner of the Georgian SSR (1923)
Order of the Red Banner (1924)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Georgian SSR (1931)
Order of Lenin (1935, 1943, 1945 and 1949)
Order of the Red Banner (1942 and 1944)
Order of the Republic (Tannu-Tuva) (1943)
Hero of Socialist Labor (1943)
Order of Sukhbaatar (1949)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Armenian SSR (1949)
Order of Suvorov, 1st class (1949)
Stalin Prize, 1st degree (1949)
Certificate of “Honorary Citizen of the Soviet Union” (1949)
