Beria Case

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Lavrenty Beria Case

Soviet Archives/Beria Case/Beria Case Plenum.pdf


MEETING OF JULY 7

Daytime session


Bulganin: Comrades, are there any objections to continuing the work of the Plenum? Have you read the resolution?

Voices. Read.

Bulganin: Then we proceed to the third question on the agenda. Comrade Khrushchev has the floor.

Khrushchev: Comrades, we have adopted a decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party to remove comrade Ignatiev from the membership of the Central Committee 96 . Remember, everyone, it is necessary to report to the voyagers in detail.

There is a proposal to now reconsider this issue and reinstate Comrade Ignatiev as a member of the Central Committee .

Voices. Correct.

Khrushchev: Because this was also done on the basis of a well-known slander, and now this matter needs to be reviewed and corrected.

Votes: No objections.

Bulganin: Allow me to vote on Comrade Khrushchev's proposal.

I vote. Those who are for this motion, please raise your hands. Please lower your hands. Those who are against? No. Abstain? No. Adopted unanimously.
Khrushchev: Comrades, there is a proposal to transfer from candidate member of the Central Committee to member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Comrade Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

Voices. Correct.

Bulganin: Comrades, I voted for the first proposal and said: "Comrade Khrushchev's proposal." This is the proposal of the Presidium of the Central Committee. The same in this case.

Those who are for this proposal of the Presidium of the Central Committee, please raise your hands. Please lower them. Those who are against? No. Those who abstain? No. Adopted unanimously.

Khrushchev. A proposal is made to remove Goglidze and Kobulov from the list of candidates for membership in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and to expel them from the party for hostile activity against the party and the state.

Voices. Correct.

Bulganin: I vote for this proposal of the Presidium. Those who are for this proposal, please raise your hands. Please lower your hands. Who is against? No. Abstained? No. Adopted unanimously.

So, the third question is exhausting. Let's return to the first question. Comrade Malenko 97 is given the floor for the final word .

Bulganin: Comrades, let us proceed to examine the draft resolution prepared by the Plenum commission. The text of the resolution has been distributed to the members of the Plenum.

Are there any comrades who would like to speak out and express their opinion on the project? No.
There is a motion to vote - to accept the resolution as a basis. No objections? No.

I vote. Those who are in favor of accepting the draft resolution developed by the Plenum commission as a basis, please raise your hands. Please lower your hands. Who is against? Are there any abstentions? The resolution was adopted unanimously. (Applause.)

The resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the criminal anti-party and anti-state actions of Beria was adopted by this Plenum in complete unanimity and unanimously. (Applause.)

What amendments are there, comrades?

Voices. No.

Bulganin: I vote for the resolution as a whole. Those who are in favor of adopting the resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee on Beria's criminal anti-party and anti-state actions as a whole, please raise your hands. Please lower your hands. Who is against? Are there any abstentions? No. (Applause.)

The resolution was adopted unanimously. (Applause.)

This, comrades, concludes the work of the Plenum. I declare the meeting of the Plenum closed.

1 In accordance with the procedure that existed in the Central Committee of the CPSU, the stenographic record was edited after the end of the plenum. What actually happened at the party forums was carefully hidden from society and ordinary members of the Communist Party, and was presented to the party nomenklatura in a prepared form under the heading "Top Secret". The stenographic record of the speeches, properly processed, was printed in the typographic method as a stenographic report of the plenum, intended for distribution to members of the Central Committee, candidates for membership in the Central Committee and members of the Central Committee of the CPSU, as well as to the regional committees, territorial committees, and central committees of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics. In addition to the editorial commission elected at the plenum, this work was also carried out by the staff of the general department of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

The falsification of what was happening at the plenum began already at the first stage of preparing the verbatim report, when the authors of the speeches edited the uncorrected verbatim report of their speeches, sent by the General Department of the Central Committee for verification and correction. Here, not only were stylistic errors corrected, but references to various facts that the authors of the speeches considered undesirable for disclosure were also thrown out. Then the party apparatus — the staff of the General Department, the assistants of the General (First) Secretary — took over the “editing” of the text.

As a result of such revisions, the texts of the speeches included in the verbatim report, as a rule, differed greatly from the speeches delivered at the plenum. In connection with this, when preparing this edition, it became impossible to reflect on the changes made in the page notes. In order to draw attention to the fragments that were subject to revision in both versions of the speeches of the plenum participants (in the verbatim report and the verbatim report), the compilers of the collection marked individual words, paragraphs, and sometimes entire pages of text with underlining. The exceptions are the speeches of N. Patolichev, A. Kirichenko, N. Mikhailov, Z. Ketskhoveli, I. Tevosyan and N. Baibakov. The corrections made by these six speakers are noted in the verbatim report: crossed out words are typed in bold, written in are given in the page footnotes. The named speeches are given only in the verbatim report of the plenum and are not repeated in the verbatim report.

2 The composition of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU was approved on March 5, 1953 at a joint meeting of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the USSR Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In order to "ensure greater efficiency in leadership," the composition of the Presidium of the Central Committee was determined to be 11 members (I. Stalin, G. Malenkov, L. Beria, V. Molotov, K. Voroshilov, N. Khrushchev, N. Bulganin, L. Kaganovich, A. Mikoyan, M. Saburov and M. Pervukhin) and 4 candidates (N. Shvernik, P. Ponomarenko, L. Melnikov and M. Bagirov).

3 The fifth session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the third convocation was held from 5 to 8 August 1953.

4 G. Malenkov's report was not taken down in shorthand. In the archive file with the text of the speeches of the plenum participants at the first session, there is a note: "For the originals of the report, see the shorthand report - author's copy, pp. 2-41."

For the text of Malenkov’s report, see document No. 12, Section II (pp. 219-229 of this edition).

5 The speeches of Khrushchev and other speakers, due to significant editing, which consisted not only of replacing individual expressions and, at times, entire plots, but also of rearranging them, are reproduced twice: in the uncorrected transcript and in the verbatim report of the plenum.

6 At the meeting of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which took place on March 2, 1953 at 12 noon, the following members of the Bureau were present: G. Malenkov, L. Beria, N. Bulganin, K. Voroshilov, L. Kaganovich, M. Pervukhin, M. Saburov, N. Khrushchev and members of the Presidium of the Central Committee: A. Mikoyan, V. Molotov, N. Shvernik; M. Shkiryatov. A decision was made "to establish permanent duty of members of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee with Comrade Stalin."

7 By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 3, 1941, the NKVD of the USSR was divided into two people's commissariats: the NKGB and the NKVD. On July 17, I. Stalin again united them into one people's commissariat: the NKVD of the USSR. On April 14, 1943, an independent People's Commissariat of State Security was again separated from the NKVD of the USSR.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security of the USSR were merged into one ministry - the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR - on March 5, 1953.

8 See document No. 5, Section I.

9 See document No. 9, Section I.

10 We are talking about the statement of V. Kryukov, sent to G. Zhukov on May 4, 1953. On June 2, 1953, G. Zhukov sent this statement to N. Khrushchev with a request to look into the matter.

Lieutenant General V. Kryukov, together with his wife, singer L. Ruslanova, were arrested by the MGB of the USSR on September 18, 1948 and in 1951 were sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to 25 years in a correctional labor camp. In accordance with the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU of June 13, 1953 "On the review of the cases of convicted generals and admirals of the Soviet Army," V. Kryukov and his wife were released and fully rehabilitated.

11 We are talking about generals and admirals of the Soviet Army, who were arrested without grounds in the period 1941-1952. A total of 101 people were arrested, of whom 12 generals died during the investigation, 8 were released due to lack of evidence of a crime; and 81 were convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR and the Special Conference of the MGB of the USSR. On July 13, 1953, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU decided to close the cases and fully rehabilitate most of the generals, admirals, and their family members, and to reduce the punishment of a number of generals to the time actually served and release them from custody.

12 The former head of security No. 1 of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR MGB, Major General S. Kuzmichev, was arrested in January 1953 in connection with the so-called case of former employees of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR MGB. In March 1953, all charges were dropped against him and he was appointed head of the Main Security Directorate of the USSR MVD. The day after L. Beria's arrest, S. Kuzmichev was arrested again and was under investigation until February 1954 on charges of connections with L. Beria, but due to lack of evidence of the charges brought against him, he was released and fully rehabilitated.

13 This refers to the plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) held on June 23-29, 1937. The sessions of the plenum of June 23-26 were not recorded in stenography. The text of G. Kaminsky's speech is missing from the available part of the stenography of the plenum. There is no mention of it in the minutes either. On June 26, at the plenum session, G. Kaminsky was removed from the list of candidates for membership in the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and expelled from the party "as not deserving of trust."

14 No exact information about the date of M. Rakosi's arrival in Moscow in 1953 has been found. In his memoirs, M. Rakosi writes that the meeting at which the issue of the inexpediency of combining the posts of Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Secretary of the Party was discussed took place "two or three months" after the death of I. Stalin. From the Soviet side, G. Malenkov, V. Molotov, L. Beria, and N. Khrushchev were present at the meeting.
15 See note 36 of Section I.

16 As the register of persons received by I. Stalin in his Kremlin office shows, in recent years he has noticeably narrowed his circle of contacts. For example, in 1940 the register recorded over two thousand visits, while in 1950 there were only about seven hundred, and in 1951 and 1952 there were less than five hundred each. In 1950 the break in receptions lasted about five months, from August 2 to December 22, and the next break lasted more than six months, from August 9, 1951 to February 12, 1952. The last entry on a reception is dated February 1951.

17 By the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the USSR Council of Ministers of February 8, 1947, bureaus for various sectors of the national economy of the USSR were created under the USSR Council of Ministers, including the Bureau for Agriculture. G. Malenkov was appointed Chairman of the Bureau.

18 Apparently, this refers to L. Beria's speech at a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU on May 20, 1953, during the discussion of his notes on the situation in the Lithuanian SSR and the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR. The meetings of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU were not recorded in stenography.

19 On May 24, 1945, at a reception in the Kremlin in honor of the commanders of the Soviet Army, I. Stalin declared: “I would like to raise a toast to the health of our Soviet people and, above all, the Russian people” (see Pravda, May 25, 1945; I. Stalin, “On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union,” Moscow, 1949, p. 351).

20 This refers to the forced abdication of the Romanian King Michael on December 30, 1947.

21 No exact information about the date of arrival of the GDR delegation headed by W. Ulbricht and W. Pieck has been found. According to indirect information, the meeting took place after June 12, 1953. From the Soviet side, the meeting was attended by G. Malenkov, N. Khrushchev, L. Beria, V. Molotov, political adviser to the chairman of the SKK in Germany V. Semenov and commander-in-chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany A. Grechko.

22 In accordance with the resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of July 30, 1949, the Bureau of the USSR Council of Ministers was transformed into the Presidium. The Presidium consisted of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, his deputies, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of State Control of the USSR. By the resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of April 7, 1950, the Bureau of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers was formed. In accordance with the decision of the joint meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the USSR Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 5, 1953, instead of two bodies - the Presidium and the Bureau of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers - one body was formed - the Presidium, which included the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, his first deputies, as well as the deputy Chairmen of the Council of Ministers, who are members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

23 June 25, 1953

24 The Fourth Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, held on March 15, 1953, approved the decisions of the joint meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR submitted for its consideration. The joint meeting was held on March 5, 1953. N. Khrushchev chaired. On behalf of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee, G. Malenkov made proposals to liquidate the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee and the Bureau of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the commissions under the Presidium of the Central Committee on foreign affairs and on defense issues, and to merge a number of ministries. At the same meeting, G. Malenkov was approved as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and L. Beria, V. Molotov, N. Bulganin, and L. Kaganovich were appointed first deputy chairmen. Other organizational issues were also considered at the meeting. The minutes of the meeting were published in the journal "Source", 1994, No. 1, p. 106-111.)

25 This concerns the discussion of the situation in Korea, the GDR, and the adoption of the resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers “Question of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” of March 19, 1953 on peace initiatives on the Korean question and the order of the USSR Council of Ministers of June 2, 1953 on the situation in the GDR. (See document No. 18, Section I).

26 This is about L. Beria's brochure "On the History of Bolshevik Organizations in Transcaucasia. Report at a Meeting of the Tiflis Party Activists on July 21-22, 1935" (Moscow, Partizdat, 1936). The brochure was then reprinted several times, the last (ninth) edition was published in 1952.

27 In 1943, L. Ramzin was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree and the Order of Lenin for the creation of a direct-flow boiler design (the “Ramzin boiler”).

28 In September 1950, on the instructions of I. Stalin, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution “On the construction of the Main Canal Amu Darya - Krasnovodsk, on the irrigation and watering of the lands of the southern regions of the Caspian Plain of Western Turkmenistan, the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and the western part of the Kara-Kum desert” to irrigate the northern part of the Caspian Lowland and the Krasnovodsk region. The construction of the canal was supposed to be completed in 1957.

On March 21, 1953, L. Beria sent a note to the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers with proposals to stop construction or liquidate certain projects, "the implementation [of construction. — Ed.] of which in the coming years is not required by urgent needs of the national economy." These included: the Main Turkmen Canal, the Volga-Ural gravity canal, a number of railways and highways in the Far East and Siberia, a railway tunnel under the Tatar Strait, and chemical plants. Based on the note, on March 25, 1953, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution "On Amending the Construction Program of 1953," which instructed ministries and departments to develop measures to preserve or liquidate construction. In development of this resolution, on May 27, 1953, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution “On the cessation of construction of hydraulic structures, irrigation and water supply systems that are not required in the coming years for the development of agriculture.”

29 Stalin I. Economic problems of socialism in the USSR. (M., Gospolitizdat, 1952.)

30 In 1945, by agreement between the allies, Korea was divided into two zones of responsibility: Soviet troops - north of the 38th parallel and American troops - south of the 38th parallel. As a result of this division, in 1948, each of the zones of responsibility formed its own governments, claiming the role of the sole unifier of the two parts of Korea. With the withdrawal of Soviet (in 1948) and American (in 1949) troops from the Korean Peninsula, the situation became even more tense. Both sides sought to unify the country, including with the use of their armed forces. This led to the fact that on June 25, 1950, hostilities broke out between the armed forces of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea along the entire length of the 38th parallel. In July 1951, the front stabilized along the 38th parallel.

31 The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919 in Versailles, France, ended World War I. The treaty was concluded between the victorious countries - France, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, Belgium, etc. - and defeated Germany.

32 This refers to the case of the so-called Mingrelian nationalist group.

33 See documents No. 17 and No. 19 of Section I.

34 See document No. 12, Section I.

35 Correct: R. Ryzhikov.

36 The Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Official Crimes (until August 1918 - for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) was formed under the Council of People's Commissars on December 7 (20), 1917. In February 1922, it was transformed into the State Political Administration under the NKVD of the RSFSR.

37 On March 28, 1953, at the suggestion of L. Beria, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution "On the transfer of correctional labor camps and colonies from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs to the USSR Ministry of Justice." This resolution transferred all correctional labor institutions of the GULAG to the jurisdiction of the USSR Ministry of Justice, with the exception of special camps and prisons of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, which held "especially dangerous state criminals sentenced to imprisonment: spies, saboteurs, terrorists, Trotskyists, rightists, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, White émigrés and members of other anti-Soviet organizations and groups and other persons posing a danger due to their hostile activities, as well as war criminals from among former prisoners of war." On January 21, 1954, by a resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers, all correctional labor camps and colonies were transferred back from the USSR Ministry of Justice to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

38 Serdyuk Z.T. for a very short time, in 1952-1953, was the first secretary of the Lviv regional party committee.

39 Correct: M. Across.

40 OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). Association of nationalists of Western Ukraine, formed in 1929. Successor to the Ukrainian Military Organization. Had its own military formations - the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Banderites). Mainly operated on the territory of Western Ukraine.

41 This means that communists began to work openly on the territory of Western Ukraine after its annexation in September 1939.

42 Apparently, this refers to the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU “On the situation in the MGB” of December 4, 1952.

43 Correct: Ya. Galan. Ukrainian writer Ya. Galan was killed on October 24, 1949 in his apartment in Lviv. On October 27, one of the killers was detained; he turned out to be a student of the Lviv Agricultural Institute, I. Lukashevich. The murder was committed on orders from the OUN underground.

44 The celebration of the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia took place in January 1954.

45 This refers to the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine held on June 2-4, 1953, with the agenda “On the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 26, 1953 “Questions of the Western Regions of the Ukrainian SSR” and the report of Comrade L.P. Beria to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.” Information about the work of the plenum was published in Pravda on June 13, 1953.

46 L. Beria was transferred to work in Moscow in 1938.

47 This refers to the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia held in April 1952 with the agenda “On the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 27, 1952 “The state of affairs in the Communist Party of Georgia”. On the instructions of the Politburo of the Central Committee, L. Beria took part in the work of the plenum.

48 In early 1945, on instructions from L. Beria, P. Sharia went to Paris to negotiate the return of museum valuables taken out of Georgia by Georgian Mensheviks in 1921. In conversations with representatives of the Georgian emigration, the issue of returning some of them to their homeland was raised. A year later, on instructions from L. Beria, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia I. Tavadze was sent to the USSR Embassy in Paris, where he was instructed to negotiate with the leaders of the Georgian emigration on ending the political struggle against the USSR and returning some of them to Georgia. On the proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution on May 26, 1947, “On the Return of Georgian Emigrants from France.” In accordance with this decision, fifty-nine Georgian emigrants were allowed to return to Georgia.

49 This refers to the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia held on April 14, 1953, with the agenda “On the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of April 10, 1953 “On violations of Soviet laws by the former Ministries of State Security of the USSR and the Georgian SSR.”

50 This refers to the conclusion of a friendly treaty (the Treaty of Georgievsk) in 1783, which established a Russian protectorate over Eastern Georgia.

51 L. Kaganovich himself recalled this as follows: “I was leaving, was in the Urals, and then from the Urals I went to Gorky. In Gorky I was involved in the river port and the railway. Then I received a telegram: “Come to Moscow.” I interrupted my stay in Gorky and went to Moscow.” (See the book “Thus Said Kaganovich.” Moscow, 1992, p. 65).

52 L. Beria spoke in the debate on the report at the 19th Party Congress on October 7, 1952 (published in the newspaper Pravda on October 9, 1952).

53 This refers to I. Stalin’s speech “On the shortcomings of party work and measures to eliminate Trotskyist and other double-dealers” at the plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), which took place from February 23 to March 5, 1937.

54 From March to December 1947, L. Kaganovich was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine.

55 This concerns the issues of appointments, in agreement with the Central Committee, of responsible employees of the People's Commissariats, which were repeatedly discussed at the Politburo and the Orgburo of the Central Committee. The final procedure for appointment and the nomenclature of positions were approved at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on March 4, 1926.

56 This refers to the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Brief course.

57 This refers to the mass demonstrations of June 1-4, 1953 in Czechoslovakia, which began as a result of the announced monetary reform, which affected the interests of a significant part of the population, people with savings. Demonstrations and strikes of industrial workers took place in Prague, Ostrava, and a number of other cities. In Pilsen, where about 15 thousand people took part in the demonstrations, the local radio station, which was broadcasting anti-government slogans, was seized for several hours.

58 This refers to the speech of I. Stalin on January 24, 1924, at an evening of Kremlin cadets of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee School, dedicated to the memory of V. Lenin (published: Stalin I., Works, vol. 6, p. 58).

59 This refers to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On measures to improve the production of wheat and cotton in collective and state farms of the Azerbaijan SSR" dated May 20, 1950. The resolution planned to solve the problem of fully providing Azerbaijan with its own grain production within 4-5 years. Similar resolutions were adopted for the Armenian and Georgian SSRs.

60 Government decisions on measures to expand grain crops in the republics of Transcaucasia were cancelled by the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers of May 5, 1953 “On wheat crops in the Azerbaijan SSR, Armenian SSR and Georgian SSR.”

61 Apparently, this refers to the organization in January 1946 of the Caucasian District of Railways, which united the North Caucasian, Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Azerbaijan and Transcaucasian railways.

62 This refers to the order of the USSR Council of Ministers dated March 25, 1953 “On the work plan of KB-11 for 1953.”

63 Apparently, this refers to the discussion at one of the government meetings of the charter of the All-Union Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Aviation and Navy (DOSAAF), which was then approved by a resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers on June 6, 1952.

64 This refers to the 5th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, which took place in early June 1953, with the agenda “On the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 26, 1953 “Questions of the Lithuanian SSR” and the report of Comrade L.I. Beria to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.” Information about the work of the plenum was published in Pravda on June 17, 1953.

65 This concerns the arrest of I. Žemaitis, one of the organizers of the nationalist underground in Lithuania, who had been in an illegal position for more than nine years and was elected in 1949 as the chairman of the presidium of the "Union of Struggle for the Liberation of Lithuania". As a result of an intelligence-Chekist operation, on May 30, 1953, I. Žemaitis was captured alive by a joint operational group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR and the 4th Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in his special underground shelter (bunker) in the forest near the city of Kaunas.

66 This refers to the activities related to the implementation of the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers of April 19, 1949 “On the protection of the territory of the USSR from anti-Soviet broadcasting” of the radio stations “Voice of America”, BBC, Madrid, Athens, Uruguay, Ankara, Vatican in Russian.”

67 The transcript does not contain the name of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR, A. Gailevičius.

68 The editorial article “Eisenhower is getting ready for the campaign...” was published in Pravda on August 29, 1952. The article assessed the speech of US presidential candidate D. Eisenhower at the National Convention of the American Legion on August 25, 1952, in which he outlined his foreign policy program: to take control of a significant part of Eastern Europe by force of arms and, in particular, the Baltic republics.

69 The regional division of the Lithuanian SSR was abolished on May 28, 1953 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

70 This refers to the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR V. Pisarev.

71 This refers to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, “On the reorganization of the apparatus of the Commissioner of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs in the German Democratic Republic,” adopted on May 20, 1953, at the suggestion of L. Beria. In accordance with the resolution, the apparatus of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was significantly reduced.

72 The transcript does not reveal the name of Reichman L.

73 Correct: N. Eitingon.

74 On March 9, 1953, the funeral of I. Stalin took place on Red Square in Moscow. G. Malenkov, L. Beria and V. Molotov spoke at the funeral meeting. The speeches were published in Pravda on March 10, 1953.

75 In 1961, the city of Stalino was renamed the city of Donetsk, and the Stalino region was renamed the Donetsk region.

76 We are talking about the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "On arrests, prosecutorial supervision and the conduct of investigations", adopted on November 17, 1938. In accordance with the resolution, special investigative units (departments) were created in the operational departments of the NKVD.

77 A. Mikoyan meant S. Kasyan (Ter-Kasparyan). The surname of V. Naneishvili was not deciphered in the transcript.

78 This concerns the discussion at the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers of the issue of mutual deliveries of goods between the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic in 1953. The resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers was adopted on May 13, 1953. This issue was not considered at the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee.

79 The Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers “On the conclusion of a Trade Agreement with India and negotiations on the sale of wheat to India” was adopted on July 1, 1953.

80 The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) is an intergovernmental economic organization of socialist countries. It was established in January 1949 by decision of the economic conference of representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia. In 1949-1950, Albania and the GDR joined CMEA, and subsequently Mongolia (1962) and Cuba (1972) joined CMEA. In 1991, CMEA was liquidated.

The Military Coordination Committee was created in 1951 to resolve defense issues of the USSR and the people's democracies. The committee included representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia. It existed until the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

The Secretariat of the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties was formed in June 1948 and consisted of representatives of the central committees of the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Italy, the USSR, France, Czechoslovakia, the Hungarian Workers' Party, the Polish United Workers' Party, and the Romanian Workers' Party, which were members of the Information Bureau. The task of the Secretariat was to ensure communication between the parties that were members of the Information Bureau and to exercise control over the editorial board of its printed organ, the newspaper For a Lasting Peace, for People's Democracy! The activities of the Information Bureau were terminated in April 1956.

81 This refers to a note by L. Beria dated June 1, 1953, sent to the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers in connection with the events in Czechoslovakia. In the note, L. Beria criticized the state of the activities of the coordinating bodies (CMEA and the Military Coordinating Committee) and put forward proposals for their liquidation. To consider issues related to the national economy and defense, it was proposed to create a single body from representatives of the countries of people's democracy and the USSR.

82 This refers to the note by the Minister of Agriculture of the USSR I. Benediktov "On the reduction of cattle population in 38 regions, territories and republics". Based on the note, on December 2, 1952, a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU was adopted, which instructed the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee to develop a draft resolution of the Central Committee and submit it for consideration by the Presidium.

On December 11, 1952, the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee adopted a resolution "On the composition of the commission for developing fundamental measures to ensure the further development of animal husbandry", which instructed the commission consisting of N. Khrushchev (chairman), I. Benediktov, N. Skvortsov, P. Ponomarenko, A. Mikoyan, and others to submit proposals "on fundamental measures to ensure the further development of animal husbandry". When developing proposals, the commission was to pay special attention to increasing the interest of collective farmers in the development of animal husbandry. In February 1953, L. Beria and G. Malenkov were additionally introduced to the commission.

83 The final decisions on increasing the market fund, improving trade, and supplying the population in the second half of 1953 were approved by decrees of the USSR Council of Ministers at the end of July 1953.

84 This refers to the decision of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU of December 29, 1952, which instructed “Comrade Mikhailov and other members of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee to select 5-10 employees and send them to the MGB to improve the work of the investigative bodies.” In January 1953, at the suggestion of N. Mikhailov, a number of responsible employees of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League were approved as employees of the investigative unit for especially important cases of the USSR MGB.

85 Correct: V. Egnatashvili.

86 This refers to the note of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia signed by A. Mirtskhulava with the attached decision of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia “On the results of the investigation of statements received by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia about abuses committed by some leading officials of the Abkhaz ASSR”, sent on June 11, 1953 to the Central Committee of the CPSU to N. Khrushchev.

87 The first American atomic bomb test was conducted on July 16, 1945.

88 This refers to the Monchegorsk plant (Murmansk region) for the production of nickel, blister copper, cobalt, etc. Great importance was attached to the restoration of the plant in 1944.

89 This refers to the decision of the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU of March 14, 1953 on the liquidation of the USSR Ministry of Geology and the transfer of its functions for the exploration of natural resources to the relevant ministries - the metallurgical industry, the coal industry, the oil industry, the building materials industry, and the chemical industry.

90 The head of the UMGB for the Leningrad region, N. Gorlinsky, was removed from his post on the basis of a resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU dated August 29, 1951, as having failed to cope with the job; Lieutenant General N. Ermolaev was appointed in his place.

91 Correct: P. Sakvarlidze.

92 This refers to the resolution of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU “On the decoration of columns of demonstrators and buildings of enterprises, institutions and organizations on the days of state festive holidays”, adopted on May 9, 1953. The resolution ordered the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU to submit a draft resolution within two weeks, “based on the following: ... to refuse to decorate columns of demonstrators with portraits, as well as buildings of enterprises, institutions and organizations on the days of state holidays... to abolish the practice of proclaiming calls addressed to demonstrators from the government rostrum”.

On July 2, 1953, this resolution was cancelled by the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

93 This refers to the resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers adopted on May 20, 1950, "On increasing the production of apatite concentrate", which planned to increase its production by 2.5 times. The State Northern Mining and Chemical Combine "Apatit" was transferred from the Ministry of Chemical Industry to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In accordance with the resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers "On changing the construction program of 1953", the construction of the Kirov Chemical Plant at the combine was terminated.

94 From here on, the discussion concerns the preparation of materials for the plan for the development of the oil industry in the fifth five-year plan (1951-1955). (See: Directives of the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the fifth five-year plan for the development of the USSR for 1951-1955. Pravda, October 10, 1952). Earlier, in July 1949, by decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a 10-year plan for the development of the oil industry was approved, divided into two five-year periods.

95 I. Stalin spoke at a pre-election meeting of voters of the Stalin electoral district of Moscow, held in the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR on February 9, 1946. The speech was published in Pravda on February 10

1946

96 At the meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU on June 29, 1953, G. Safonov was relieved of his duties as the Prosecutor General of the USSR and recalled to the disposal of the Central Committee of the CPSU. At the same meeting, R. Rudenko was approved as the Prosecutor General of the USSR.

97 On April 28, 1953, by a poll of the members of the Central Committee, S. Ignatiev was removed from the membership of the Central Committee; the decision was formalized as a resolution of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU.


On April 5, 1953, by a poll of members of the CPSU Central Committee, S. Ignatiev was relieved of his duties as Secretary of the Central Committee, and on April 28, 1953, he was removed from the membership of the CPSU Central Committee. At the suggestion of L. Beria, supported by other members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Party, the Party Control Committee under the CPSU Central Committee was instructed to consider the issue of his party affiliation.


NEXT - Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. July 1953. Verbatim report. July 2-7, 1953.