{{Short description|Soviet politician (1905–1950)}} {{otherpeople}} {{Family name hatnote|Alexandrovich|[[Kuznetsov]]|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Infobox Officeholder | name = Alexey Kuznetsov<br/> <small>{{lang|ru|Алексей Кузнецов}}</small> | image = Генерал-лейтенант Алексей Александрович Кузнецов.jpg | office = Senior Secretary of Cadres of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | term_start = 6 May 1946 | term_end = 1 July 1948 | predecessor = [[Georgy Malenkov]] | successor = Georgy Malenkov | office1 = First Secretary of the [[Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Leningrad Regional Party Committee]] | term_start1 = 17 January 1945 | term_end1 = 26 March 1946 | predecessor1 = [[Andrei Zhdanov]] | successor1 = [[Pyotr Popkov]] {{Collapsed infobox section begin|Additional positions}} | office2 = First Secretary of the [[Leningrad City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Leningrad City Party Committee]] | term_start2 = 17 January 1945 | term_end2 = 26 March 1946 | predecessor2 = [[Andrei Zhdanov]] | successor2 = [[Pyotr Popkov]] | office4 = Member of the [[Secretariat of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) |18th]] [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]] | term_start4 = 18 March 1946 | term_end4 = 28 January 1949 | office5 = Member of the [[Orgburo of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|18th]] [[Orgburo]] | term_start5 = 18 March 1946 | term_end5 = 7 March 1949 {{Collapsed infobox section end}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1905|2|20|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Borovichi]], [[Novgorod Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|10|1|1905|2|20|df=y}} | death_place = [[Leningrad]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]] | citizenship = [[Soviet people|Soviet]] | party = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] (1925–1949) | allegiance = {{Flag|Soviet Union}} | branch = [[Red Army]]<br>[[Soviet Armed Forces]] | service_years = 1941–1949 | battles = {{Tree list}} *[[World War II]] **[[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] ***[[Siege of Leningrad]] {{Tree list/end}} | rank = [[Lieutenant general]] }} '''Alexey Alexandrovich Kuznetsov'''{{Family name footnote|Alexandrovich|Kuznetsov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}{{efn|{{langx|ru|Алексей Александрович Кузнецов|Aleksey Aleksandrovich Kuznetsov|link=no}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|20 February|1905|7 February}} – 1 October 1950) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] statesman, [[Lieutenant General]], and member of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU Central Committee]] (1939–1949).
== Early life and career == Born in [[Borovichi]], in the [[Novgorod Governorate]] of northwest Russia, he started work as teenager in a local sawmill.<ref name ="Khron">{{cite web |title=Кузнецов Алексей Александрович 1905–1950 Биографический Указатель |url=http://hrono.ru/biograf/bio_k/kuznecovaa.php |website=Khronos |access-date=5 May 2024}}</ref> In 1924–32, he was an organiser of [[Komsomol]] in the Novgorod and [[Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|Nizhny Novgorod]] provinces. In 1932, he was transferred to Leningrad ([[Saint Petersburg]]) as a minor party official, but rose quickly during the [[Great Purge]], as more senior officials were arrested. In August 1937, he was appointed Second Secretary (deputy leader) to [[Leningrad]] CPSU ''[[gorkom]]'' (city committee) and ''[[obkom]]'' ([[oblast]] committee) making him second in command of the Leningrad province, under [[Andrei Zhdanov]]. On 19 November 1937, speaking at a public meeting in [[Volkhovsky District]], he declared: "I consider it a great happiness to work under the leadership of Comrade Zhdanov. Under his leadership, I will continue to smash vile fascist agents. [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]]–[[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]] saboteurs and spies, and fight for the purity of the ranks of our great communist party."<ref name ="Khron" />
During the [[Siege of Leningrad]], Kuznetsov helped organize the city's defense.{{sfn|Montefiore|2004|p=396}} In January 1945, he was promoted to the post of First Secretary of the Leningrad provincial and city party committees, when his mentor, Zhdanov, was called to Moscow to serve as a Secretary of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]. On 18 March 1946, he was promoted again, to the post of Secretary of the Central Committee, replacing [[Georgy Malenkov]] as the head of party organisation, and working alongside Zhdanov and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]. He was also given responsibility for supervising the police. This made a threat to the former head of the NKVD, [[Lavrentiy Beria]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Khrushchev |first1=Nikita |title='On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" - Speech of the 20th Party Congress of the CPSU, February 1956 |url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/khrushchevs-secret-speech-cult-personality-and-its-consequences-delivered-twentieth-party |website=Wilson Center Digital Archive |publisher=wilsoncenter.org |access-date=5 May 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Conquest|1961|pp=434–35}} Aged 41, he was now part of the 'inner circle' of the roughly nine most powerful Soviet officials, but "Kuznetsov's promotions earned him the undying hatred of the two most vindictive predators in the Stalinist jungle: Beria and Malenkov."{{sfn|Montefiore|2004|p=554}}
== Leningrad affair == {{main|Leningrad affair}}
Kuznetsov's political position became exposed after the death of Zhdanov, in August 1948. On 15 February 1949, he was sacked and accused of 'non-Bolshevik deviation". This may have been because Kuznetsov had been digging into the death of [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] member [[Sergei Kirov]]—suspicion of Stalin's involvement in this murder has never been put to rest—though the official charge against him and several leaders of the Leningrad Party related to the organisation of a wholesale trade fair in Leningrad without proper approval, in what came to be known as the [[Leningrad affair]]. He was appointed Secretary of the Far Eastern Bureau of the CPSU.<ref name ="Khron" />
On 13 August 1949, Kuznetsov was summoned to Malenkov's office with other former Leningrad officials, and arrested, in connection with the Leningrad affair. Soviet leaders accused the trade fair organisers of denigrating the Central Committee and presenting themselves as special defenders of Leningrad.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rudenko |first1=Roman |title=Правленая стенограмма выступления Р.А. Руденко на собрании актива ленинградской партийной организации о Постановлении ЦК КПСС по «Ленинградскому делу». 6 мая 1954 г. СкрытьРеквизиты |url=https://istmat.org/node/57850 |access-date=5 May 2024 |website=Исторические Материалы}}</ref> Kuznetsov was forced to sign a confession under torture, but when put on trial with [[Gosplan]] chairman [[Nikolai Voznesensky]] on 29 September 1950, he refused to confess, insisting, "I am a Bolshevik and remain one in spite of the sentence I have received. History will justify us." This allegedly angered Stalin and embarrassed police chief [[Viktor Abakumov]], but did not help Kuznetsov, who was sentenced to death.{{sfn|Montefiore|2004|p=623}} Kuznetsov was [[rehabilitate (Soviet)|rehabilitate]]d posthumously on 30 April 1954, after the deaths of Stalin and Beria.{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=38-39}}
== Personal life == With his wife Zinaida, Kuznetsov had a son, Valery, and a daughter, Alla. Alla was married to [[Sergo Mikoyan]], son of [[Anastas Mikoyan|Anastas]].{{sfn|Shakarian|2025|pp=38-39}} They were engaged at the time of the downfall of Kuznetsov. The Mikoyan family did not attempt to stop the wedding on 18 February 1949. Kuznetsov attended the wedding, despite his fear that he might be putting his daughter at risk.{{sfn|Montefiore|2004|p=608}}
== Honours and awards == * Two [[Orders of Lenin]] * [[Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"]]
== References ==
=== Notes === {{Notelist}}
=== Citations === {{reflist}}
== Bibliography == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|last=Conquest|first=Robert|title=Power and Policy in the U.S.S.R.: The Study of Soviet Dynastics|date=1961|publisher=MacMillan|location=London}} * {{cite book|last=Montefiore|first=Simon Sebag|title=Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar|date=2004|publisher=Phoenix|location=London|isbn=0-75381-766-7}} * {{cite book|last=Shakarian|first=Pietro A.|title=Anastas Mikoyan: An Armenian Reformer in Khrushchev's Kremlin|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|year=2025|url={{Google Books|rTNgEQAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0253073556}} {{refend}}
{{Governors of Saint Petersburg}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuznetsov, Alexey}} [[Category:Soviet politicians]] [[Category:Russian people executed by the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Members of the Orgburo of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] [[Category:Members of the Secretariat of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] [[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] [[Category:Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Soviet rehabilitations]] [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:Executed people from Novgorod Oblast]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]] [[Category:Executed Soviet people from Russia]] [[Category:People executed for corruption]] [[Category:Residents of the Benois House]] [[Category:Leningrad affair]]