GRISHIN, VIKTOR DMITRIEVICH

(1914–1992), member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Twice decorated Hero of Socialist Labor (1974,1984), Viktor Grishin was one of the highest-ranking members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) on the eve of Michael S. Gorbachev's selection as party leader. Born in Moscow, he received his degree in geodesy in 1932. From 1938 to 1940 he served in the Red Army, during which time he became a member of the CPSU. Following his discharge from the army in 1941, he was assigned to duties in the Moscow Party organization.

Grishin entered the upper echelons of the party when he was made a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1952. He took on additional responsibilities as the head of Soviet professional unions in 1956, a position he held until 1967. In 1961 he was made a candidate of the Politburo, and in 1967 he became First Secretary of the Moscow Party organization, one of the most powerful posts in the CPSU. By 1971, he was a full member of the Politburo.

Grishin was one of Gorbachev's rivals for the post of General Secretary in 1985. In order to ensure the loyalty of the Moscow Party organization, Gorbachev had Grishin removed from both the Politburo and the Moscow Party organization in 1986. He was replaced in both posts by Boris Yeltsin. Grishin was retired from the CPSU and lived on a party pension until his death in 1992.

See also: central committee; gorbachev, mikhail sergeyevich; moscow; politburo

bibliography

Mawdsley, Evan, and White, Stephen. (2000). The Soviet Elite from Lenin to Gorbachev: The Central Committee and Its Members, 1917–1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Terry D. Clark