Statesman.
Malenkov was the universally acknowledged successor of Stalin. He took over Stalin’s post as a Premiere, but was then completely outwitted and defeated by his fellow party member and rival Nikita Khrushchev.
Background
Lived: 1902-1988.
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov had a middle class background. He graduated from the Moscow Technological Institute and joined the Communist party in 1920.
Malenkov became a close follower of Stalin and made an impressive career from the junior party apparatchik to the deputy prime minister and member of the Politburo in 1946. He was the Prime Minister of Soviet Union from 1945 until Stalin’s death. Stalin chose Malenkov to be his successor.
After Stalin
After Stalin’s death, Georgy Malenkov continued as a Prime Minister (1953-55). At first he sided with Lavrenti Beria and introduced the “New Course” plan of liberal reforms. In December 1953, Malenkov teamed up with Molotov and Khrushchev to arrest and kill Beria.
In 1955 Malenkov was aggressively criticized by Khrushchev about the agricultural policy and replaced with Khrushchev’s candidate Nikolay Bulganin as Premiere.
Fall from power
The failed “Anti-Party Group” conspiracy of 1957 changed the balance of power in the Politburo. The conspirators Malenkov and Molotov were removed from their positions. Malenkov was expelled from the party in 1961. He was exiled to Kazakhstan to manage a hydro-electric plant. He soon returned for a long retirement in Moscow.
Georgy Malenkov
Statesman.
Malenkov was the universally acknowledged successor of Stalin. He took over Stalin’s post as a Premiere, but was then completely outwitted and defeated by his fellow party member and rival Nikita Khrushchev.
Background
Lived: 1902-1988.
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov had a middle class background. He graduated from the Moscow Technological Institute and joined the Communist party in 1920.
Malenkov became a close follower of Stalin and made an impressive career from the junior party apparatchik to the deputy prime minister and member of the Politburo in 1946. He was the Prime Minister of Soviet Union from 1945 until Stalin’s death. Stalin chose Malenkov to be his successor.
After Stalin
After Stalin’s death, Georgy Malenkov continued as a Prime Minister (1953-55). At first he sided with Lavrenti Beria and introduced the “New Course” plan of liberal reforms. In December 1953, Malenkov teamed up with Molotov and Khrushchev to arrest and kill Beria.
In 1955 Malenkov was aggressively criticized by Khrushchev about the agricultural policy and replaced with Khrushchev’s candidate Nikolay Bulganin as Premiere.
Fall from power
The failed “Anti-Party Group” conspiracy of 1957 changed the balance of power in the Politburo. The conspirators Malenkov and Molotov were removed from their positions. Malenkov was expelled from the party in 1961. He was exiled to Kazakhstan to manage a hydro-electric plant. He soon returned for a long retirement in Moscow.
Nikolay Bulganin