Background

Alexei Kosygin was born on February 21, 1904, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire (present-day Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation) into a working-class family of Nikolai Ilyich Kosygin, a lathe operator in a local factory, and Matrona Alexandrovna Kosygina. Alexei lost his mother in infancy and was brought up by his father.

Education

Young Alexei got caught up in the revolutionary fervor of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924) and his communist followers took control of the Russian government.

In 1919, at the age of fifteen, Kosygin volunteered for the Red Army, which was defending the Bolsheviks' newly established communist government against forces, who were trying to retake control of the government. The Red Army and the Bolsheviks prevailed, and in 1921, Kosygin joined the Komsomol, a government youth organization. Along with many other Soviet youths, he also entered the recently established Communist Party technical education system in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg), which taught basic education and political doctrine. At the Leningrad Co-operative Technical School, where he studied from 1921 to 1924, Kosygin learned how to organize and manage cooperatives. Cooperatives are farmlands, owned by the government, but managed by farmers; the farmers share in the production and profits.

Later, in 1930, after six years in Siberia, Alexei enrolled at the Leningrad Textile Institute (the present-day Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design), graduating from the educational establishment in 1935.

Career

Following graduation from the Leningrad Co-operative Technical School in 1924, Kosygin moved to Siberia, in the eastern Soviet Union, to help create a cooperative work system within the state-controlled economy. Kosygin became head of the Siberian Association cooperatives and he formally joined the Communist Party in 1927.

In 1930, after six years in Siberia, Kosygin returned to Leningrad and entered the Leningrad Textile Institute (present-day Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design). Completing his education there in 1935, he worked his way up in the Leningrad textile plants from shop foreman to factory manager.

By the late 1930's, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) had completed a series of murderous purges of top Communist Party leaders. As a result, the party had many job openings for the new generation of educated young men in the Soviet Union. Promotion in the Communist Party could be very rapid for any young party member, who impressed Stalin. Kosygin was fortunate enough to do just that, and by 1938, he began serving in various party positions. The same year, he was appointed head of Leningrad's Industrial Transport Department. In 1938, he was also appointed mayor of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) and elected to the Supreme Soviet, the Soviet legislative body. On January 2, 1939, Alexei was made People's Commissar of the Soviet Garment Industry. On March 21, 1939, he was elected as a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. The Central Committee in the Communist Party was an important administrative body, that oversaw day-to-day party activities.

Kosygin quickly gained national prominence. In 1940, he was named Deputy Chairman of Sovnarkom, renamed the Council of People's Commissars in 1946. The council was responsible for the economic planning of Soviet industry. In this position, Kosygin became known for his sensible management style and conservative workmanlike approach. Though he was an impeccable dresser in his leadership roles, Kosygin was comfortable among factory workers. He was serious, knowledgeable, tough-minded and skillful.

Kosygin played a critical role for the Soviets throughout World War II (1939-1945). He directed the Soviet war economy and evacuated industries and workers eastward, away from the advancing German army. For example, in January 1942, he heroically helped five hundred thousand inhabitants of Leningrad elude a massive German blockade of the city by leading them across a frozen lake to safety. The city had been under siege for six months.

After the war, Kosygin continued to direct Soviet economic planning as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In March 1946, he became a candidate for the Politburo, the last official step before gaining full voting membership. The Politburo was the executive body of the Central Committee; its members were responsible for making important national policy decisions. In 1948, Kosygin served as Soviet Minister of Finance in addition to his other roles. Kosygin worked to help the Soviet economy recover from the ravages of war; this included rebuilding the defense industry. Perhaps because he focused on administration rather than party politics and ideology, Kosygin was able to barely escape one of Stalin's Communist Party purges in 1948. Having survived the purge, Kosygin moved up to full membership in the Politburo. Also, it was at the end of 1948, that Alexei was named Minister of Light Industry.

Following the death of Stalin in March 1953, Kosygin lost his Politburo position because the group was reduced from twenty-five to ten members. Under the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), he continued to hold important economic positions, including his role as Minister of Food and Light Industry. In 1957, when Khrushchev strengthened his party leadership position, Kosygin regained his earlier position as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He also rejoined the Politburo. Kosygin had hopes of moving up to chairman of the council. However, in 1958, Khrushchev took the position for himself. The relationship between the two was never particularly friendly, but Khrushchev did name Kosygin Head of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, called Gosplan, the post he held from 1959 to 1960.

As the Soviet economy declined, Khrushchev lost political support. He was finally ousted from power in late 1964. Kosygin reportedly played a role in Khrushchev's ouster. In place of Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) took over party leadership, and Kosygin finally became Chairman of the Council of Ministers. They were now the top two officials in the Soviet Union. Kosygin was fully in charge of economic policies and essentially ran the nation's government, while Brezhnev tended to party matters. The two worked smoothly together, even as Brezhnev steadily took over most of the decision making for the country. Kosygin became more and more involved in foreign affairs as a troubleshooter. He traveled to Beijing, China, in September 1969 to negotiate a border settlement, that would ease tensions between the two communist countries.

Kosygin was very concerned about the continued decline of the Soviet economy. He believed, that the Soviet central economic planning system needed basic reform, so he proposed to decentralize production, particularly in agriculture. As early as 1965, he attempted to introduce the basics of a free market economy, or economic conditions, dictated by open competition, into the communist system. He favored monetary rewards for factory managers and workers, believing, that higher pay would increase industrial production efficiency. He also pushed for acquisition of Western technology to modernize the Soviet economy.

Many Soviet officials were highly uncomfortable with Kosygin's proposals for reform. In addition, both Kosygin and Khrushchev had earlier wanted to increase emphasis on the production of consumer goods and light industry. But Brezhnev, Khrushchev's successor, wanted to increase military spending and conduct a massive buildup of arms. When Czechoslovakia attempted to radically reform its communist system in 1968, Soviet communist leaders militarily crushed the Czech reform movement and tabled Kosygin's ideas. However, Kosygin would continue to warn of major problems as Soviet productivity fell and the economy in general deteriorated through the 1970's.

After suppressing Czechoslovakia's reform movement, Brezhnev steadily gained greater control of the Soviet government and would eventually take over Kosygin's foreign affairs responsibilities. Kosygin remained Chairman of the Council of Ministers until October 1980, when he resigned because of ill health. He was also relieved of his duties as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Alexei had suffered two heart attacks in the 1970's. Despite Kosygin's many years of service to the Soviet Union, Brezhnev gave no tribute to Kosygin upon his retirement. When Kosygin died in December at age seventy-six, no official government notice was published for two days. However, his ashes were buried at the Kremlin wall, near the ashes of other deceased Soviet leaders. Just as Kosygin had warned, the Soviet economy would continue its decline, a decline, that would lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union only a decade later.

Achievements

• Alexei Kosygin was a notable Soviet statesman and Premier of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He was known as a competent and pragmatic economic administrator, rather than an ideologue.
  
  For many years, Alexei served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, a top leadership position in the Soviet Union. He attempted to reform the failing Soviet economic system. Kosygin proved to be a very competent administrator, with the Soviet standard of living rising considerably due to his moderately reformist policy. Kosygin's moderate 1965 reform, as with Nikita Khrushchev's thaw, radicalised the Soviet reform movement. While Leonid Brezhnev was content to maintain the centralised structure of the Soviet planned economy, Kosygin tried to revitalise the ailing economic system by decentralising management.
  
  In addition to managing the Soviet Union's economy, Kosygin assumed a preeminent role in the nation's foreign policy by leading arms control talks with the United States and directly overseeing relations with other communist countries. He was also involved in several key foreign affairs issues, including the Vietnam War (1954-1975) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).
  
  During his lifetime, Alexei received many awards, including the Hero of Socialist Labour Medal, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner, the 50 Years of Stay in the CPSU Award, the Order of the White Lion (I Class), the Order of Klement Gottwald, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun, the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and others.

Religion

Kosygin was baptised one month after his birth.

Politics

In 1965, Kosygin introduced comprehensive reforms, that were designed to modernize the Soviet economy. He sought to improve the planning process, to encourage greater initiative on the part of plant managers and to rely more on profit as a means of improving economic efficiency. When he announced, in 1966, the new economic five-year plan to govern the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1970, Kosygin adhered to Khrushchev's policy of placing relatively heavy emphasis on the production of consumer goods, and he altered Khrushchev's objectives only by setting more realistic target dates for various economic projects.

Kosygin favored monetary rewards for factory managers and workers, believing, that higher pay would increase industrial production efficiency. He also pushed for acquisition of Western technology to modernize the Soviet economy.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Kosygin shared the power of governing with Leonid I. Brezhnev and Nikolay V. Podgorny. He apparently exercised a moderating influence on the other Soviet leaders. The government retreated from fully implementing Kosygin's reforms, but his sensible management style helped preserve efficiency and discipline in the Soviet economy into the 1970's. Kosygin's emphasis on economic decentralization and on expanding light industry placed him increasingly at odds with Brezhnev.

As for Kosygin's foreign policy, he strove for greatly enlarged commercial relations with the United States and made expected pleas for the end of the United States "discrimination" against USSR in economic matters. The Six-Day War in the Middle East had the effect of increasing Soviet-American cooperation. To improve relations even further, the United States Government invited Kosygin to a summit with Lyndon B. Johnson, then President of the United States, following his speech to the United Nations. At the summit, which became known as the Glassboro Summit Conference, Johnson and Kosygin failed to reach agreement on limiting anti-ballistic missile systems, but the summit's friendly and even open atmosphere was referred to as the "Spirit of Glassboro". Relations between the two countries improved further, when the 1970 Moscow Treaty was signed on 12 August 1970 by Kosygin and Gromyko and Willy Brandt and Walter Scheel, who represented West Germany. In 1971, Kosygin gave an extensive interview to the American delegation, that included David Rockfeller, presenting his views on the United States-Soviet relations, environment protection, arms control and other issues.

It's also worth mentioning, that Kosygin developed a close friendly relationship with the then President of Finland Urho Kekkonen, that helped the Soviet Union to maintain active mutual trade with Finland and to keep it away from Cold War confrontation.

In 1966, Kosygin served as a conciliator between India and Pakistan in 1966 and got both nations to sign the Tashkent Declaration. It was in 1972, that Kosygin signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the government of Iraq, building on strong Soviet ties to the Iraqi Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and previous close relations with Iraqi leader Abd al-Karim Qasim. In addition, Alexei was a supporter of János Kádár's economic reforms and his position as leader of the People's Republic of Hungary.

In subsequent years, Kosygin became more and more involved in foreign affairs as a troubleshooter. He briefly visited Beijing, China, in 1969, to negotiate a border settlement, that would ease tensions between the two communist countries. Moreover, he was the chief spokesman on the issue of arms control. It's also worth noting, that Kosygin strongly opposed any kind of military intervention.

Kosygin, reportedly, carried out his work "stoically", but lacked "enthusiasm", and therefore never developed a real taste for international politics.

Views

Unlike many other Soviet leaders, Kosygin's overall philosophy, regarding government policy, involved using pragmatism, or common sense, rather than communist ideology as the basis for his decision making.

Quotations: "We should tell Taraki and Amin to change their tactics. They still continue to execute those people, who disagree with them. They are killing nearly all of the Parcham leaders, not only the highest rank, but of the middle rank, too."

Personality

Kosygin was a pragmatic and relatively independent leader. Former United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger said, that Kosygin was devoted, nearly fanatically, to his work. Kosygin was viewed by Western diplomats as a pragmatist "with a glacial exterior, who was orthodox if not rigid". David Rockfeller admitted, that Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin was a talented manager, doing miracles in ruling the clumsy Soviet economy.

Kosygin was viewed with sympathy by the Soviet people and is still presently viewed as an important figure in both Russian and Soviet history. Because of Kosygin's popularity among the Soviet people, Brezhnev developed a "strong jealousy" for Kosygin, according to Nikolai Egorychev. Mikhail Smirtyukov, the former Executive Officer of the Council of Ministers, recalled, that Kosygin refused to go drinking with Brezhnev, a move, which annoyed Brezhnev gravely.

As for Kosygin's personal interests, he was fond of rowing, skiing, running, volleyball and mountain hikes. He always tried to keep himself in a good form. However, Alexei stopped practicing active kinds of sport after a mild stroke in 1978.

Physical Characteristics: On August 1, 1976, while kayaking, Alexei lost consciousness and nearly drowned, having experienced a clinical death, which sharply undermined his health. In 1978, he suffered a mild stroke. In October 1979, the politician had a severe heart attack.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Kosygin was a lonely and somewhat tragic figure, who understood our faults and shortcomings of our situation in general and those in our Middle East policy in particular, but, being a highly restrained man, he preferred to be cautious." - description, given by an anonymous high-ranking GRU official
  
  "He always had an opinion of his own, and defended it. He was a very alert man, and performed brilliantly during negotiations. He was able to cope quickly with the material, that was totally new to him. I have never seen people of that calibre afterwards." - an anonymous former co-worker of Kosygin
  
  "Kosygin was like Khrushchev without the rough edges, a fatherly man, who was the forerunner of Mikhail Gorbachev." - Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada
  
  "Kosygin the most intelligent and toughest man in the Politburo." - Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet dissident
  
  "Kosygin was very quiet-spoken, but very determined, mind of great ability and application." - Lee Quan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  rowing, skiing, running, volleyball, mountain hikes

Connections

Alexei married Klavdia Andreyevna Kosygina in 1927. Their daughter, Lyudmila Alekseevna Gvishiani-Kosygina held the post of the head of Margarita Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature at the Main Archival Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was a member of the editorial board of Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Lyudmila was married to Dzhermen Gvishiani, a Soviet philosopher, management theorist and scientific administrator.

Kosygin's granddaughter, Tatyana, is a Candidate of Sciences, who graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Alexei Gvishiani, Alexei's grandson, is a well-known Russian scientist, full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

Kosygin's great-granddaughter, Catherine, is a mathematician and economist, who heads the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation.

Father:

Nikolai Ilyich Kosygin

Nikolai Ilyich Kosygin was a lathe operator in a factory.

Mother:

Matrona Alexandrovna Kosygina

Matrona Alexandrovna Kosygina passed away in 1908.

political rival:

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a Soviet statesman and Communist Party official. He held a number of important government posts and was a major figure in the post-Stalin era, including his service as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the governing Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982.

late wife:

Klavdia Andreyevna Kosygina

Klavdia Andreyevna Kosygina (1908-1967) was a relative of Alexey Kuznetsov, a Soviet statesman, CPSU functionary, Lieutenant General and member of CPSU Central Committee.

Daughter:

Lyudmila Alekseevna Gvishiani-Kosygina

Lyudmila Alekseevna Gvishiani-Kosygina (1928-1990) held the post of the head of Margarita Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature at the Main Archival Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was a member of the editorial board of Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She was married to Dzhermen Gvishiani.

son-in-law:

Dzhermen Gvishiani

Dzhermen Gvishiani (1928-2003) was a Soviet philosopher, management theorist and scientific administrator.

granddaughter :

Tatyana Gvishiani

Tatyana Gvishiani is a Candidate of Sciences, who graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Grandson:

Alexei Gvishiani

Alexei Gvishiani is a notable Russian scientist. He is also known as an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

great-granddaughter:

Catherine Gvishiani

Catherine Gvishiani, a mathematician and economist, is mostly known as the head of the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation.

Friend:

Urho Kekkonen

Urho Kekkonen was a Finnish politician, who served as the eighth and longest-serving President of Finland.

References

• Kosygin Book by Viktor Andriyanov.
  2003
• The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev and Kosygin: the Transition Years Book by John W. Strong.
  1971
• Kosygin is Coming Book by Tom Ardies.
  1974
• Power in the Kremlin: From Khryshchev to Kosygin Book by Michel Tatu.
  1968
• The Soviet Century A leading historian draws on an archive of previously unavailable material and guides his readers through the inner workings of Soviet power, from October 1917 to the final collapse in the early 1990's.
  2005
• The Foundations of Ostpolitik: The Making of the Moscow Treaty between West Germany and the USSR Based on recently released archival sources, this book is the first systematic analysis of the German-Soviet negotiations, leading to the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty of August 1970. This treaty was the linchpin of the "New Ostpolitik", launched by Chancellor Willy Brandt's government as a policy of reconciliation and an attempt to normalize relations with the countries of the Eastern bloc.
  2008