Fyodor Kulakov | |
|---|---|
Фёдор Кулаков | |
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| Head of the Agricultural Department of theCentral Committee | |
| In office 16 November 1964 – May 1976 | |
| Preceded by | Vasily Polyakov |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Korlov |
| First Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of theCommunist Party | |
| In office 25 June 1960 – 16 November 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolai Belyaev |
| Succeeded by | Leonid Efremov |
| Full member of the24th,25thPolitburo | |
| In office 9 April 1971 – 17 July 1978 | |
| Member of the22nd,23rd,24th,25thSecretariat | |
| In office 29 September 1965 – 17 July 1978 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1918-02-04)4 February 1918 nearPenza, Soviet Russia |
| Died | 17 July 1978(1978-07-17) (aged 60) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1940–1978) |
| Profession | Agronomist[1] |
Fyodor Davydovich Kulakov (Russian:Фёдор Давыдович Кулаков; 4 February 1918 – 17 July 1978) was a Soviet bureaucrat during theCold War.
Kulakov served asStavropol First Secretary from 1960 until 1964, immediately followingNikita Khrushchev's ouster. During his First Secretaryship in Stavropol, Kulakov metMikhail Gorbachev; Kulakov became Gorbachev's mentor, and when he left his Stavropol First Secretaryship to enter national politics, Gorbachev took over his former office. Kulakov was elected to several important seats in the 1960s. In 1971, he was elected to thePolitburo. He became a leading figure of Soviet leadership, and impressed Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnev to such an extent that Western commentators believed that Kulakov would become Brezhnev's successor. This did not happen since Kulakov died in 1978, four years before Brezhnev.
Kulakov was born in 1918 to apeasant family inPenza Oblast.[2] Like his parents, Kulakov studied and graduated as anagronomist.[3] In 1938, Kulakov started work in a sugar combine, and attended an Agricultural Institute, from which he graduated in 1941. In 1940, he became a member of theAll-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) and became a leading figure in the localKomsomol regional committee. Kulakov was later appointed to the position of Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Regional Party Committee of the Penza Oblast.[4] In Penza, Kulakov became a close companion of futureSoviet leaderKonstantin Chernenko.[5] He advanced through the Soviet hierarchy quickly and in 1955 he became Deputy Minister of Agriculture of theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), eventually being promoted to Minister of Grain Products. In 1960, he was appointed to First Secretary of theStavropol Regional Party Committee.[4] During his tenure as Stavropol First Secretary he appointedMikhail Gorbachev to the provincial level of the party apparatus—a promotion which would prove to be crucial.[6] In 1964, he left his office in Stavropol to pursue national politics; Gorbachev took over his former office as First Secretary.[7] Throughout his tenure inMoscow, Kulakov remained a loyal client ofMikhail Suslov.[8]
In 1964, Kulakov was brought to Moscow to become the Head of the Agricultural Department of theCentral Committee. Eleven months later, Kulakov was appointed to the post of Central Committee Secretary for Agriculture.[5] He was elected to the Central Committee in 1964, and to a seat in theSecretariat in September 1965.[7] Gorbachev would often consult with Kulakov, as their closeness helped Gorbachev establish friendly relations withKGB chairmanYuri Andropov.[9] At the24th Party Congress, Kulakov became aPolitical Bureau (Politburo) member without serving a term as candidate member. It is believed that Kulakov greatly impressedLeonid Brezhnev due to his achievements inagriculture and politics. Three other young Politburo members,Volodymyr Shcherbytsky,Alexander Shelepin andDmitry Polyansky, were all believed to have a future in theCouncil of Ministers, whileFirst World commentators speculated that Kulakov's future was more in line with political and executive work at the top level of leadership. Kulakov was one of four who had a seat in both the Secretariat and Politburo; the others were Brezhnev, Suslov, andAndrei Kirilenko.[4] In his later years, Kulakov had become one of Kirilenko's "counterweights" in the Central Committee.[10]
While Brezhnev never had a clear heir apparent, Kulakov was seen as a likely successor due to his age. His most notable competitors, Kirilenko and Suslov, were older than Brezhnev and therefore not seen as likely candidates. Despite this widespread belief, in the prestige order voted by theSupreme Soviet in 1975, Kulakov was ranked seventh.[11] During the latter part of his life, Kulakov's relations with Brezhnev, Chernenko, and other leading officials seemed to have shifted in tone, leading Kulakov to be excluded from the 1978 Central Committee plenum on Agriculture. It has been presumed that Kulakov had shifted his allegiance from Chernenko's faction to that of Kirilenko and Andropov. Another incident was that Kulakov had argued with Gorbachev before his death.[5]
The most commonly assumed cause of Kulakov's death isnatural causes, but there exist other theories as well. During Brezhnev's later term, according to some, Brezhnev was living in fear ofYuri Andropov. Anonymous sources state that Andropov may have had been involved in the deaths of Kulakov in 1978, andPyotr Masherov in 1980.[12] According to Fyodor Morgun, aSoviet politician ofUkrainian descent, Kulakov seemed worried just days before his death. Some believe that Kulakov may have committed suicide.[13] According to Mikhail Gorbachev, no members of the Politburo cancelled or interrupted their holidays when hearing the news of Kulakov's death.[14] His successor to the office of Secretary for Agriculture was his formerprotégé, Gorbachev.[15] Kulakov was cremated and his ashes was buried at theKremlin Wall Necropolis.[14] While all Politburo members were obliged by protocol to attend a fellow Politburo member's funeral, none of those who had allegiance to Chernenko and Brezhnev did so. Those who had sworn allegiance to Kirilenko and Andropov were present, including such prominent figures asArvīds Pelše,Kirill Mazurov,Andrei Gromyko, andDmitry Ustinov.[9] Kirilenko served as the funeral's chief eulogist.[16]
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