Maksim Saburov
Encyclopedia
Maksim Zakharovich Saburov was a Soviet
engineer, economist and politician, three-time Chairman of Gosplan
and later First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union. He was involved in the Anti-Party Group
's attempt to displace Nikita Khrushchev
in 1957.
in the modern Ukraine
, and joined the Communist Party
in 1920, serving in a detachment with the aim of suppressing resistance to the Communist regime. He attended the Sverdlov Communist University between 1923 and 1926, then studying to become an engineer at the Bauman Institute of Menachics in Moscow
.
Between 1921 and 1926, Saburov was Secretary of the Bachmut Komsomol
Committee, and then that of the Kostiantynivka
raion
. Between 1926 and 1928, Saburov was a propagandist working in the Donets region. After five years of studying at the Bauman Institute, Saburov then became head of the Technological Bureau of a factory in Moscow in 1933, before becoming head of the instrumental division of the Stalin Novokramatorsk Machine Plant until 1937.
Saburov advanced rapidly during the Great Purge
, becoming a minister in the Narkomat for Heavy Machines in 1937, and then Gosplan
Secretary for Machinery in 1938.
of this body until 1957, and he left the Committee in 1961.
(who would later be condemned to death in a show trial
). After being demoted, Saburov moved between various bureaucratic posts in the supreme organs of Soviet government, first becoming a Deputy Chairman of Council of People's Commissars, a position he had also held during his Gosplan chairmanship, and then once more First Deputy Chairman of Gosplan in 1944. He was relegated to a Deputy Chairman of Gosplan in 1946. In 1947 he was made a Deputy Chairman of Council of Ministers.
In 1949 Saburov was made Chairman of Gosplan once again. In this function he helped to formulate and then presided over the Fifth Five-Year Plan
. Saburov was partly responsible for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union after the Second World War: agricultural production in 1950 was barely above the 1940 level. Milk production was lower by 100,000 tons; meat production was only 12,000 tons higher. The Plan, which Saburov co-ordinated as the Chairman of Gosplan, succeeded in increasing coal production by 12 million tons, oil production by over 30 million tons, and electricity production by nearly 80 billion kW.
Saburov was temporarily displaced from his position as Chairman in 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin
, by Grigory Kosyachenko for a period of three months; however, many sources, such as Utechin, leave out this brief interlude in favour of Saburov having two terms. Under this short period of time, Saburov was Minister of Machinery.
In 1954 Saburov criticized the high rate of absenteeism in the Soviet Union, saying that labor productivity was "insufficient" and "further tightening" of "labor discipline" was required. He was responsible for helping to plan the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which would last from 1956 to 1961. However, in 1956 - after he had moved from being Chairman of Gosplan - Saburov, with the other planners, was criticized for having been unrealistic in planning.
Saburov was removed as Chairman in 1955, becoming First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and so the Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union. He was also made Chairman of the State Economic Commission for Short-Term Planning until 1956, when he was criticized for the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which was unprecedently sent back to the planners for revision.
Saburov, however, belonged more to the faction headed by Georgy Malenkov
than to Khrushchev himself, and Malenkov was declining power, being replaced in February 1955 by the rising Nikolai Bulganin
as Chairman of Sovmin.
and Vyacheslav Molotov
, known as the Anti-Party Group
. Saburov, being a friend of Malenkov, was implicated in the coup attempt and removed from his position as First Deputy Premier. Malenkov, in this period was condemned as "loathsome", thus also bringing Saburov into the purge.
Saburov recanted, saying that "It is well known, comrades, that I made a mistake in June 1957 by displaying political instability in the struggle of the Central Committee of the Soviet CP against the anti-Party group." Saburov worked as Deputy Chairman of Comecon
for a short period of time afterwards before moving to a factory in Syzran
, which he managed until his retirement in 1966.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
engineer, economist and politician, three-time Chairman of Gosplan
Gosplan
Gosplan or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Planirovaniyu...
and later First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union. He was involved in the Anti-Party Group
Anti-Party Group
The Anti-Party Group was a group within the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that unsuccessfully attempted to depose Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Party in May 1957. The group, named by that epithet by Khrushchev, was led by former Premiers Georgy Malenkov and...
's attempt to displace Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in 1957.
Early life and career
Saburov was born in 1900 in the town of DruzhkivkaDruzhkivka
Druzhkivka is a city in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 64,557 , and its area is 46 km².Druzhkivka is a city located near the merging of the Kryvoi Torets and Kazennyi Torets rivers, about 80 km to the North-East from the regional center - Donetsk...
in the modern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and joined the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
in 1920, serving in a detachment with the aim of suppressing resistance to the Communist regime. He attended the Sverdlov Communist University between 1923 and 1926, then studying to become an engineer at the Bauman Institute of Menachics in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Between 1921 and 1926, Saburov was Secretary of the Bachmut Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
Committee, and then that of the Kostiantynivka
Kostiantynivka
Kostiantynivka is an industrial city in the Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine, on the Krivoy Torets River, the center of Kostiantynivkyi Raion . It's also known as Kostyantynivka or Konstantinovka. It developed in the Soviet era into a major centre for the production of iron, zinc, steel and glass...
raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
. Between 1926 and 1928, Saburov was a propagandist working in the Donets region. After five years of studying at the Bauman Institute, Saburov then became head of the Technological Bureau of a factory in Moscow in 1933, before becoming head of the instrumental division of the Stalin Novokramatorsk Machine Plant until 1937.
Saburov advanced rapidly during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, becoming a minister in the Narkomat for Heavy Machines in 1937, and then Gosplan
Gosplan
Gosplan or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Planirovaniyu...
Secretary for Machinery in 1938.
Party career
In 1940, Saburov became First Deputy Chairman of Gosplan, the committee responsible for planning the Soviet economy, giving him wide-ranging powers over the Soviet economic apparatus, marking the beginning of the most notable period of his career in the Party. In 1947, Saburov became a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and in 1952 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He served in the PresidiumPresidium
The presidium or praesidium is the name for the heading organ of various legislative and organizational bodies.-Historical usage:...
of this body until 1957, and he left the Committee in 1961.
Career in Gosplan
Saburov became full Chairman of Gosplan in 1941. Documents from the Russian State Economic Archives note that his responsibilities prior to assuming the chairmanship included personnel matters (he oversaw purges of unreliable employees in 1938) and mobilization efforts. He had a brief period in power here until 1942, when he was superseded by his predecessor Nikolai VoznesenskyNikolai Voznesensky
Nikolai Alekseevich Voznesensky was the Soviet economic planner who oversaw the running of Gosplan during the German-Soviet War. A protégé of Andrei Zhdanov, Voznesensky was appointed Deputy Premier in May 1940 at the age of thirty-eight. He was directly involved in the recovery of production...
(who would later be condemned to death in a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
). After being demoted, Saburov moved between various bureaucratic posts in the supreme organs of Soviet government, first becoming a Deputy Chairman of Council of People's Commissars, a position he had also held during his Gosplan chairmanship, and then once more First Deputy Chairman of Gosplan in 1944. He was relegated to a Deputy Chairman of Gosplan in 1946. In 1947 he was made a Deputy Chairman of Council of Ministers.
In 1949 Saburov was made Chairman of Gosplan once again. In this function he helped to formulate and then presided over the Fifth Five-Year Plan
Five-Year Plan (USSR)
The Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union were a series of nation-wide centralized exercises in rapid economic development in the Soviet Union. The plans were developed by a state planning committee based on the Theory of Productive Forces that was part of the general...
. Saburov was partly responsible for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union after the Second World War: agricultural production in 1950 was barely above the 1940 level. Milk production was lower by 100,000 tons; meat production was only 12,000 tons higher. The Plan, which Saburov co-ordinated as the Chairman of Gosplan, succeeded in increasing coal production by 12 million tons, oil production by over 30 million tons, and electricity production by nearly 80 billion kW.
Saburov was temporarily displaced from his position as Chairman in 1953, shortly after the death of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, by Grigory Kosyachenko for a period of three months; however, many sources, such as Utechin, leave out this brief interlude in favour of Saburov having two terms. Under this short period of time, Saburov was Minister of Machinery.
In 1954 Saburov criticized the high rate of absenteeism in the Soviet Union, saying that labor productivity was "insufficient" and "further tightening" of "labor discipline" was required. He was responsible for helping to plan the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which would last from 1956 to 1961. However, in 1956 - after he had moved from being Chairman of Gosplan - Saburov, with the other planners, was criticized for having been unrealistic in planning.
Saburov was removed as Chairman in 1955, becoming First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and so the Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union. He was also made Chairman of the State Economic Commission for Short-Term Planning until 1956, when he was criticized for the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which was unprecedently sent back to the planners for revision.
First Deputy Premier
Saburov became First Deputy Premier in 1955. As the First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union, Saburov agreed with Khrushchev that Soviet economic production would surpass that of the United States, saying at a Moscow embassy party that "the Soviet Union will draw even with the U.S. in the foreseeable future". Saburov was also responsible for using hard figures rather than percentages in the Five-Year Plan for the first time, giving the plan more meaning for experts.Saburov, however, belonged more to the faction headed by Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. After Stalin's death, he became Premier of the Soviet Union and was in 1953 briefly considered the most powerful Soviet politician before being overshadowed by Nikita...
than to Khrushchev himself, and Malenkov was declining power, being replaced in February 1955 by the rising Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin was a prominent Soviet politician, who served as Minister of Defense and Premier of the Soviet Union . The Bulganin beard is named after him.-Early career:...
as Chairman of Sovmin.
Anti-Party Group
In 1957, a failed attempt to depose Khrushchev was run by Malenkov, Lazar KaganovichLazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
and Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, known as the Anti-Party Group
Anti-Party Group
The Anti-Party Group was a group within the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that unsuccessfully attempted to depose Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Party in May 1957. The group, named by that epithet by Khrushchev, was led by former Premiers Georgy Malenkov and...
. Saburov, being a friend of Malenkov, was implicated in the coup attempt and removed from his position as First Deputy Premier. Malenkov, in this period was condemned as "loathsome", thus also bringing Saburov into the purge.
Saburov recanted, saying that "It is well known, comrades, that I made a mistake in June 1957 by displaying political instability in the struggle of the Central Committee of the Soviet CP against the anti-Party group." Saburov worked as Deputy Chairman of Comecon
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...
for a short period of time afterwards before moving to a factory in Syzran
Syzran
Syzran is the third largest city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of Saratov Reservoir of the Volga River. Population: It was founded in 1683 as a fortress, and was granted town status in 1796. One tower from the 17th-century fortress still stands...
, which he managed until his retirement in 1966.
External links
Further reading
- Everyman's Concise Encyclopaedia of Russia, S. V. Utechin, 1961.