Malenkov, Giorgi Maksimilianovich 1901-79
Soviet politician

Born in Orenburg in Central Russia, he joined the Communist Party in 1920, began working for the Central Committee in Moscow in 1925 and was quickly selected by Stalin to serve as his personal secretary. He was involved in the collectivization of agriculture and Stalin's purges of the 1930s. From 1934 he headed the party's personnel department and during World War II was part of the five-man defence council which managed the Soviet war effort, being placed in charge of armaments. He was appointed deputy Prime Minister in 1946 and made a full member of the politburo, and on Stalin's death in 1953 took over as de facto party leader. This post, however, was soon assumed by Nikita Khrushchev and a power-struggle ensued. In 1955 Malenkov was forced to resign as Prime Minister, pleading inadequate experience and admitting responsibility for the failure of Soviet agricultural policy. He was succeeded by Marshal Nikolai Bulganin and relegated to the office of Minister for Electric Power Stations, but in 1957, having been accused, with Vyacheslav Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich, of setting up an 'anti-party' group, he was dismissed both from the government and the party's presidium and central committee, and was sent to Kazakhstan as manager of a hydroelectric plant. He retired in 1968 and died in obscurity.