Николай Тихонов: Советский государственный деятель

Soviet statesman
the Soviet politician

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov (Николай Александрович Тихонов; ; 14 May 1905 [O. S. 1 May 1905] – 1 June 1997) was a Soviet Russian Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1980 to 1985, and as a First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, literally First Vice Premier, from 1976 to 1980. Tikhonov was responsible for the cultural and economic administration of the Soviet Union during the late era of stagnation. He was replaced as Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1985 by Nikolai Ryzhkov. In the same year, he lost his seat in the Politburo; however, he retained his seat in the Central Committee until 1989. He was born in the city of Kharkiv in 1905 to a Russian Ukrainian working class family; he graduated in the 1920s and started working in the 1930s. Tikhonov began his political career in local industry, and worked his way up the hierarchy of Soviet industrial ministries. He was appointed deputy chairman of the Gosplan in 1963. After Alexei Kosygin's resignation Tikhonov was voted into office as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In this position, he refrained from taking effective measures to reform the Soviet economy, a need which was strongly evidenced during the early–mid 1980s. He retired from active politics in 1989 as a pensioner. Tikhonov died on 1 June 1997.

Tikhonov was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 14 May 1905 [O. S. 1 May 1905] to a Russian Ukrainian working class family; he graduated from the St. Catherine Institute of Communications in 1924. Tikhonov worked as an assistant engineer from 1924 to 1926. Four years later, in 1930, Tikhonov graduated as an engineer, earning a degree from the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute. From 1930 to 1941, Tikhonov worked as an engineer at the Lenin Metallurgical Plant in Dnipropetrovsk; he was appointed as the plant's Chief Engineer in January 1941. When Alexei Kosygin, the Premier, was on sick leave in 1976 Brezhnev took advantage of his illness by appointing Tikhonov to the office of First Deputy Premier. As First Deputy Premier, Tikhonov was able to reduce Kosygin to a standby figure. Tikhonov was, however, one of the few who got along with both Brezhnev and Kosygin, both of them liked his candor and honesty. Tikhonov was not informed of the decision to intervene in Afghanistan; the reason being his bad relationship with Dmitriy Ustinov, the Minister of Defense at the time. During his five year term as premier Tikhonov refrained from reforming the Soviet economy, despite all statistics from that time showing the economy was stagnating. In his presentation to the congress, Tikhonov admitted that Soviet agriculture was not producing enough grain. Tikhonov called for an improvement in Soviet–US relations, but dismissed all speculations that the Soviet economy was in any sort of crisis. Despite this, Tikhonov admitted to economic "shortcomings" and acknowledged the ongoing "food problem"; other topics for discussion were the need to save energy resources, boost labour productivity and to improve the quality of Soviet produced goods. Early in his term, in January 1981, Tikhonov admitted that the government's demographic policy was one of the weakest areas of his cabinet.

Leonid Brezhnev awarded Tikhonov the Hero of Socialist Labour, after being advised to do so by Konstantin Chernenko. Upon Brezhnev's death in 1982, Tikhonov supported Chernenko's candidacy for the General Secretaryship. Chernenko lost the vote, and Yuri Andropov became General Secretary. It has been suggested that Andropov had plans of replacing Tikhonov with Heydar Aliyev. Historian William A. Clark noted how Aliyev, a former head of the Azerbaijani KGB, was appointed to the First Deputy Premiership of the Council of Ministers without Tikhonov's consent; however, Andropov's death in 1984 left Tikhonov secure in his office. Some Western analysts speculated that the appointment of Andrei Gromyko to the First Deputy Premiership, again without Tikhonov's consent, was a sign that his position within the Soviet hierarchy was weakened. Tikhonov was on a state visit to Yugoslavia when Gromyko was appointed to the First Deputy Premiership. With his health failing, Andropov used his spare times to write speeches to the Central Committee. In one of these speeches Andropov told the Central Committee that Mikhail Gorbachev, and not Chernenko, would succeed him upon his death. His speech was not read out to the Central Committee plenum because of an anti Gorbachev troika consisting of Chernenko, Dmitriy Ustinov and Tikhonov. During Andropov's last days, Tikhonov presided over the Politburo sessions, headed the 1984 Soviet delegation to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance conference in East Berlin, conducted bilateral relations with the Eastern Bloc states, and hosted the Prime Minister of Finland when he visited the Soviet Union. In short, in between Andropov's last days and Chernenko's rise to power, Tikhonov was the dominant driving figure of the Soviet Union. However, Tikhonov peacefully stepped away, and supported Chernenko's candidacy for General Secretary. When Chernenko died in 1985, Tikhonov tried, but failed, to find a contender to Gorbachev's candidacy to the General Secretaryship.

Upon Gorbachev's ascension to power, Tikhonov was elected chairman of the newly established Commission on Improvements of the Management System. The title of chairman was largely honorary, and its de facto head was its deputy chairman, Nikolai Ryzhkov. On 23 May 1985 Tikhonov presented his development plan for 1985 to 1990, and up until 2000, the plan was criticised by co workers, and Gorbachev told his colleagues that Tikhonov was "ill equipped" for the Premiership. Tikhonov forecast estimated growth of 20–22 percent in Soviet national income, an increase of 21–24 percent in industrial growth and doubling Soviet agriculture output by 2000. of the Politburo, Tikhonov was compelled to retire. His resignation was made official at a Central Committee plenum in September 1985. It is noteworthy that by the time of his resignation, Tikhonov was the oldest member of the Soviet leadership. Tikhonov was active in Soviet politics, albeit in a much less prominent role, until 1989 when he lost his seat in the Central Committee.

After his forced resignation from active politics in 1989, Tikhonov wrote a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev which stated that he regretted supporting his election to the General Secretaryship. Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union Tikhonov worked as a State Advisor to the Supreme Soviet. Tikhonov died on 1 June 1997 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Shortly before his death, he wrote a letter addressed to Yeltsin: "I ask you to bury me at public expense, since I have no financial savings." bquote|As he received a three room apartment when he was deputy chairman, he lived in it with his wife until his death. They had no children, and they lived very modestly. As a former prime minister, he was left with a dacha, private security, and a personal pension. Tikhonov did not have any savings. When he worked in the government, he and his wife spent all their money on the purchase of buses, which they donated to pioneer camps and schools. After the liquidation of the USSR, the personal pension was canceled, and Tikhonov received a regular old age pension. And the guys from the security were buying him fruits from their own salaries. This view is dubious, and not shared by Brezhnev who referred to Tikhonov as his 'Greatest Critic'. A bust dedicated to Tikhonov was erected in Kharkiv, his birthplace, but was dismantled following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tikhonov, when compared to other Soviet premiers, has made little impact on post Soviet culture and his legacy is remembered by few today. During his lifetime Tikhonov was awarded several awards; he was awarded the Order of Lenin nine times, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour twice, one Red Star, two Stalin Prizes and several medals and foreign awards.