22 Facts About Alexander Shelepin

Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin was a Soviet politician and intelligence officer.

Alexander Shelepin continued to maintain decisive influence in the KGB until 1967; his successor as chairman of the KGB, Vladimir Semichastny, was his client and protege.

Intelligent, ambitious, and well-educated, Shelepin was the leader of a hard-line faction within the Communist Party that played a decisive role in overthrowing Nikita Khrushchev in 1964.

Alexander Shelepin was born in Voronezh on 18 August 1918 to a middle-class family, the son of Nikolai Shelepin, a railway official.

Alexander Shelepin started his political career in the Communist Youth League while still a student, and already in his teens he had expressed his desire to become a party leader.

Alexander Shelepin briefly served in the Red Army in 1940, during the last stages of the Winter War against Finland, and after the Nazi invasion in 1941, he helped organize the guerrilla partisan movement in the Moscow region; after the notorious execution by the Nazis of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, he caught the eye of Joseph Stalin himself, and his political fortune was made.

Alexander Shelepin became a senior official of the Komsomol, working in the All-Union Secretariat in Moscow, and was then named General Secretary of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, an international youth organization recognized by the United Nations and granted general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

In 1952, in one of Stalin's last personnel reshuffles, Alexander Shelepin became First Secretary of the All-Union Komsomol.

Alexander Shelepin accompanied Khrushchev on the Soviet leader's trip to the People's Republic of China in 1954, and met with Mao Zedong.

Alexander Shelepin attempted to return state security and intelligence to its position of importance during the Stalinist era.

Alexander Shelepin proposed and carried out the destruction of many documents related to the Katyn massacre of Polish officers to minimize the chance that the truth would be revealed.

Alexander Shelepin left the KGB in November 1961 on being promoted to a position as Secretary of the Central Committee, from where he still exercised control over the KGB, which was taken over by his client and protege Vladimir Semichastny.

Alexander Shelepin had powers of supervision over justice and transport.

Alexander Shelepin was a principal player in the coup against Khrushchev in October 1964, obviously influencing the KGB to support the conspirators.

Alexander Shelepin was the only Politburo member who was simultaneously a member of the secretariat, and of the Council of Ministers.

Alexander Shelepin probably expected to become First Secretary and de facto leader of the USSR.

Alexander Shelepin controlled the KGB and led a large hard-line faction within the Party.

In May 1967, Alexander Shelepin underwent an emergency operation on his appendix, which kept him in hospital for eight days.

In July 1967, Alexander Shelepin was ousted from his position as a party secretary, and demoted to the chairmanship of All-Union Trade Union Council, though he survived as a full member of the Politburo.

Alexander Shelepin was deputy chairman of the USSR State Committee for Vocational Education until he retired in 1984.

Alexander Shelepin wanted centralization, discipline and strict oversight of officials domestically, and confrontation on all fronts with the United States abroad; whereas Brezhnev was happy to offer predictability, stability and job security to the party officials, and pursue a balanced foreign policy, combining detente with proxy wars.

Alexander Shelepin died in Moscow on 24 October 1994, at the age of 76, and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.