Romanov was an effective manager, but a complete ignoramus. The most closed people. From Lenin to Gorbachev: Encyclopedia of Biographies

Yesterday it became known that a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1976 to 1985, Grigory Romanov, who was considered a rival of Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s, died. Eyewitnesses of those events are sure that the victory of Comrade Romanov in the internal party struggle would mean the preservation of the USSR.

Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov was born on February 7, 1923 in the village of Zikhnovo (Novgorod Region). During the Great Patriotic War he served as a signalman. After the war, he graduated from the shipbuilding institute, worked at the Zhdanov plant in Leningrad, where his party career began in 1955. Since 1970 - First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. Since 1973 - a candidate, since 1976 - a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Since 1983 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Retired since July 1985.

In the mid-1980s, Grigory Romanov was considered Mikhail Gorbachev's main rival for the post of general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. This "Kommersant" was confirmed, in particular, by Anatoly Lukyanov (a member of the Central Audit Commission, positions for 1985 are indicated hereinafter.— "b"). Grigory Romanov, as Comrade Lukyanov emphasizes, "was the first on the list of members of the Politburo", which Yuri Andropov (general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1982-1984.— "b") "suggested to nominate the General Secretaries." The former deputy of Grigory Romanov, Vladimir Khodyrev (in 1985, the head of the Leningrad executive committee) claims that “when he was transferred to Moscow for a promotion, he had every chance of becoming general secretary, but then Gorbachev talked to everyone, and the West was afraid of him, this also played role".

Note that Grigory Romanov was considered a strong political player even before the appearance of Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. Western Kremlinologists commemorated Comrade Romanov among the possible successors of Leonid Brezhnev as early as the late 1970s. At the same time, a rumor was launched about Comrade Romanov, which in the 1990s would have been evaluated as a classic example of black PR. Allegedly, the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee was celebrating the wedding of his youngest daughter in the Tauride Palace, and in the midst of the holiday for the health of the young, an antique service from the Hermitage was smashed. During the time of glasnost, this story came out again, but no reliable evidence of this was found. "And all these slanders, as if he, when giving his daughter in marriage, took services from the Hermitage for the wedding, were slander," which was spread "with the aim of discrediting," says Comrade Lukyanov.

Those who worked with Grigory Romanov in Leningrad note his administrative abilities and energy. "He lived for the city, the country, he was a very talented and capable organizer," said the vice-governor of St. Petersburg Viktor Lobko (from 1978 to 1983 - the first secretary of the Kronstadt district committee of the CPSU). "Under Romanov, a comprehensive plan was developed social development Leningrad until 2005, according to which the Chinese are now developing Shanghai one to one,” says Comrade Khodyrev. “It was Romanov who was the ideologist of the unification of the city and Leningrad region and lobbied in the Politburo and Council of Ministers for the creation of a united militia, a united vocational education and land committees,” says Boris Petrov (leader of the Leningrad Komsomol).

More contradictory are the responses about Comrade Romanov's attitude towards the creative intelligentsia. Galina Mshanskaya, who has worked on Leningrad television since 1961, told Kommersant that under Romanov there were blacklists of artists in Leningrad who were denied access to television and radio broadcasts. This list included, in particular, popular foreign singers. In addition, Sergey Yursky and Arkady Raikin were secretly banned. Natella Tovstonogov, sister of BDT chief director Georgy Tovstonogov, told Kommersant that "Tovstonogov was very hard under Romanov, because of this his heart was damaged. A KGB car drove him from the theater to the house, our apartment 24 hours a day Romanov Tovstonogov did not call on the carpet, but when asked why he did not attend performances, he told him: “Tell me thank you that I don’t go, otherwise I would ban a lot.”

However, Dmitry Likhachev’s granddaughter, Zinaida Kurbatova, a journalist for the St. Petersburg Vesti, says that “Romanov was not such a monster as many people think. Grandfather went to see him more than once, he recalled that a podium was installed in Romanov’s office to he always towered over his interlocutor, but despite this, grandfather managed to negotiate with him.

According to eyewitnesses of the events of the mid-1980s, the victory of Grigory Romanov would mean a fundamentally different scenario for the USSR. Comrade Lukyanov is sure that he "would firmly defend the socialist choice and the Soviet system", and also "would take all measures and not allow the deliberate collapse of Soviet Union". Valentin Kuptsov (Secretary of the Vologda Regional Committee) also believes that "under General Secretary Romanov," we would have been a strong allied state until now.

It is difficult to say now how true these statements are. The confrontation between Mikhail Gorbachev and Grigory Romanov was a classic example of the "battle of the bulldogs under the rug" in which questions of ideology may not have had the fundamental importance now attributed to them. Rather, the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev was considered a more negotiable and compromise-prone person played a role. And the current lamentations about how the election of Grigory Romanov would benefit the USSR can be considered collective self-justification for choosing in favor of Mikhail Gorbachev.

In March 1985, Comrade Gorbachev became General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and on July 1, 1985, Comrade Romanov was removed from the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and retired "for health reasons." After that, Comrade Romanov actively political activity was not noticed.

Anna b-Pushkarskaya, St. Petersburg; Viktor Kommersant-Khamraev

“WE SURVIVED THE BLOCKADE, AND YOU DO NOT GIVE US A BOW”

Once, a very long time ago, dad returned from work excited and preoccupied. Mom and I began to wonder what was the matter? It turned out that Grigory Romanov will inspect the poultry farm, which was erected on the territory of the region by the construction department where dad worked. The chief instructed the father to accompany the distinguished guest with him and answer his questions.

The next day, dad shared with us his impressions of the meeting with a major party leader: “He knows both the construction and agriculture of the region thoroughly. Questions were asked clearly and specifically.

Romanov really wanted to solve the food problem in Leningrad, - recalls a well-known St. Petersburg journalist, and in the seventies, assistant to the first secretary Alexander Yurkov. - Every morning reports were placed on his desk: how much stock of meat, butter, milk was in the city. Agro-industrial associations are one of his favorite brainchildren, they were supposed to feed the region.

Alexander Yurkov told a funny story. Once there was a shortage of onions in the city. It turned out that due to bureaucratic delays, Georgia has not been delivering it to Leningrad for several days.

With me, Romanov called the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, - Alexander Alexandrovich smiles. - Grigory Vasilievich seemed to be joking, but with metal in his voice: they say, we survived the blockade, but you don’t give us a bow. Resolve the issue quickly.

Soon, the onion reappeared on the shelves of Leningrad stores.

WANTED TO GET RID OF LIMITERS

Another high-profile initiative of Grigory Romanov is the organization of a system of vocational education in Leningrad. Industrial enterprises, among which there were many defense plants, were chronically short of manpower. Hard workers had to be invited from other regions. This did not improve the criminal situation in the northern capital; moreover, dormitories had to be built for limiters. Therefore, the idea to open a network of vocational schools in the city was progressive for that time. Another thing is that it was carried out, so to speak, by force. Finishing the eighth grade, the student by law had the right to either go to the ninth or go to vocational schools. In reality, school directors, under various pretexts, tried to send as many children as possible to the school.

It seems that if the network of vocational schools had not been destroyed in the nineties of the last century, now workshops and construction sites, perhaps, would not have been flooded with unskilled migrants who speak Russian poorly.

NOT TO THEATERS

Grigory Vasilyevich was intolerant of any dissent. He had a difficult relationship with the creative intelligentsia.

This is partly due to the fact that two incidents occurred shortly before Romanov's election. January 22, 1969, five days before the celebration of the quarter-century anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, a native of our city, junior lieutenant Soviet army Viktor Ilyin made an attempt on the life of Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. And on June 15, 1970, at the Rzhevka airport, "persons of Jewish nationality" made the first attempt to hijack a Soviet aircraft abroad.

The new first secretary decided that the screws had to be tightened. He apparently was convinced that even a little freedom of speech and creative thought would not lead to good. During the years of Romanov's rule, several dissident trials took place in Leningrad, and many cultural figures moved to Moscow or even abroad.

Romanov, for example, did not like Arkady Raikin and actually forced him to move to the capital, says Alexander Yurkov. - You know, I am inclined to explain such actions of the first secretary also by the lack of internal culture and education. After all, he was born into a large peasant family, then he fought, graduated from the institute in absentia, worked in a design bureau at the Zhdanov plant, now Severnaya Verf. Was he up to theaters?

Romanov was also distrustful of another prominent cultural figure, director Georgy Tovstonogov.

The premiere of the performance "Khanuma" took place on the last day of 1972, - the stage designer of the BDT Eduard Kochergin shares his memories. - In the theater and around the city then there were rumors that they wanted to remove Georgy Alexandrovich from Leningrad, transfer him to the capital. All members of our team came to the premiere, many with their families. After the performance, we all celebrated the New Year together. Thus, the team expressed support for its leader. I don’t know if this helped or something else, but Tovstonogov remained in Leningrad.

LET THEY BE BETTER SICK

During the so-called "period of stagnation", sport remained, in fact, the only area where people could express their feelings and thoughts relatively freely. According to eyewitnesses, Grigory Romanov was indifferent not only to culture, but also to sports. Although almost during the years of his reign, SKA and Zenit won medals for the first time in their history, and basketball Spartak even became the national champion.

Once the first secretary looked into Yubileiny for a match in which Spartak and CSKA met, - recalls Anatoly Steinbock, Honored Coach of Russia. - The famous confrontation Kondrashin - Gomel, the roar of the stands. After the game, the guest expressed himself briefly: “Let them shout “Down with Gomelsky!” rather than “Down with the CPSU!”.

SPECIFICALLY

During the thirteen "Romanov" years, more than fifty research and production associations appeared in Leningrad.

The famous Kirovets tractors and the Arktika icebreaker were assembled in the city.

Leningrad residents were moved from communal apartments to separate apartments.

Nineteen new underground stations were opened. By the way, the subway is still developing according to the schemes developed in the late seventies.

INTERESTING CASE

In the seventies, in one of the Leningrad newspapers, there was such a story. The bridge was opened, the first secretary of the regional party committee, a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Grigory Romanov, came to the ceremony. A young reporter prepared a material about this event, calling Romanov in the text ... a candidate member of the CPSU. Although several people read the material, the editor of the issue “caught” the error only at the very last moment. Already gray-haired, climbed up career ladder the reporter still considers that editor his savior.

However, the vigilant production editor also saved himself and the editor-in-chief. If the newspaper came out with such a blunder, they would probably have fired all three.

INTRIGUATION AT THE TOP

He knew too much

In the summer of 1983, Yuri Andropov, newly elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, transferred Romanov himself to Moscow, who became Secretary of the Central Committee. After that, foreign political scientists and domestic "Kremlin experts" began to consider him as a candidate for the role of the country's leader. Indeed, Grigory Vasilyevich was much younger than most of his colleagues in the Politburo, he was distinguished by an enviable capacity for work and determination. However, the Leningrader also found opponents in the upper echelons of power. The unsubstantiated rumor began to gain ground again that the First Secretary Leningrad regional committee celebrated his daughter's wedding in the Tauride Palace, and in the midst of the holiday, tipsy guests smashed an antique service from the Hermitage. In addition, according to unofficial information, some members of the politboro believed that a person named Romanov could not lead our country - this gives rise to inappropriate associations.

In the early spring of 1985, when Konstantin Chernenko, who had replaced Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, was living his last days, the contender for the highest post in the party, Grigory Romanov, for some reason, was on vacation in a remote region of Lithuania. In fact, he did not participate in the fierce struggle for power that unfolded after the death of Chernenko, which ended in the victory of Mikhail Gorbachev.

July 1, 1985 Grigory Romanov "for health reasons" was released from all posts. After that, the former owner of Leningrad led closed image life: did not appear in public, did not comment on actions Russian authorities almost never gave interviews. He probably agreed with one of the politicians of antiquity: "If I tell everything I know, the world will tremble."

ROMANOV Grigory Vasilievich

(02/07/1923). Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 03/05/1976 to 07/01/1985 Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 04/27/1973 to 03/05/1976 Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee from 06/1983 to 07/01/1985 Member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1966 - 1986 Member of the CPSU since 1944

Born in the village of Zikhnovo, Borovichi District Novgorod region in a peasant family. Russian. Since 1938 he studied at the technical school. During the years of the Great Patriotic War at the front, was severely shell-shocked and frostbitten. In 1946 - 1954 worked as a designer, head of the sector of the Central Design Bureau of the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry. In 1953 he graduated in absentia from the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute. In 1954 - 1961 secretary of the party committee of the plant, secretary, first secretary of the Kirov district party committee of Leningrad. In 1961 - 1963 secretary of the Leningrad city committee, secretary of the regional party committee. From 1963 to 1970 he was the second secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the CPSU. According to I. D. Laptev, who then worked in the Kommunist magazine, he was struck by the office of G. V. Romanov, who held the post of second secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU: “The office was practically empty - no bookcases, no samples of products from Leningrad enterprises, not any models of aircraft, tanks, boats that adorned work days many Soviet leaders. Romanov's desk impressed me the most. Not in size - an ordinary stationery table, covered with green cloth. But completely empty! No books, no newspapers, no folders of papers, no fountain pen holder, no loose-leaf calendar - nothing! As if it had just been delivered from the store and they had not yet had time to issue it ”(Laptev I.D. Power without glory. M., 2002. P. 32). In 1970 he was elected First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. G. I. Popov, the first secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the CPSU, was also considered for this position, but after long hesitation, his candidacy was withdrawn from the Central Committee of the CPSU. Showed himself on the positive side. In Leningrad, under his leadership, the issues of accelerating scientific and technological progress were actively resolved, the first production associations (firms) in the country arose and strengthened, and integrated planning of socio-economic development at enterprises became widespread. He was exacting towards those who allowed abuses. Unlike other regions, the leading cadres of Leningrad were not corrupt. When G. V. Romanov headed the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, he forbade mentioning his name in newspaper reports about official ceremonies in which he took part on duty. Some saw this not as modesty, but as farsightedness. He lived in an ordinary city house, not standing out among other tenants. A neighbor on the floor above regularly flooded it with water due to a malfunction of the plumbing. French President V. J. d'Estaing in his memoirs "Power and Life" (M., 1990. S. 134 - 136), with reference to L. I. Brezhnev's friend, the Polish leader E. Gierek, wrote that L. I. Brezhnev in 1976 he saw G. V. Romanov as his successor. After this information, d'Estaing asked to be constantly informed about the activities of G. V. Romanov and to send him invitations during the visits of the French president to the USSR. But in 1980, E. Gierek informed d'Estaing that the intention of L. I. Brezhnev had changed, that he read K. U. Chernenko as his successor. The elderly M. A. Suslov and A. N. Kosygin prepared him for the future management of the party and the state instead of themselves. To this end, he was introduced, as an equal member, to the Politburo of the Central Committee, where his predecessor, V. S. Tolstikov, was not admitted, although he dreamed about it. However, with the election of 48-year-old M. S. Gorbachev, at the suggestion of Yu. V. Andropov, in 1979 as a candidate member of the Politburo, and in 1980 as a member of the Politburo, the age advantage of 57-year-old G. V. Romanov faded. At the suggestion of Yu. V. Andropov, he was transferred to Moscow. In 1983 - 1985 Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU for defense issues. He was one of the contenders for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. However, inexperienced in apparatus combinations, from the first days of his stay in the Central Committee, he found himself in isolation. According to V. I. Boldin, he could not rise to the level of national problems and for a long time operated on the scale big city and areas. He was neither a bright political figure nor an eloquent orator. At meetings of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee, he remained silent more. And if he spoke, he behaved evenly, unlike M. S. Gorbachev, he did not curry favor with his senior colleagues and did not seek to impress them with non-standard judgments. He did not achieve popularity among the party activists either. But he was put forward by the forces that opposed MS Gorbachev. I lost to him in the ability to appear the way it was beneficial. In terms of political positions, experience, and ability to organize things, he was clearly stronger, he could compete with MS Gorbachev, which he could not allow. Fearing GV Romanov's coming to power, his powerful opponents launched a subtle behind-the-scenes fight against him. K. U. Chernenko and D. F. Ustinov were informed about the dangerous alliance between the Secretary of the Central Committee for Defense G. V. Romanov and the Chief of the General Staff N. V. Ogarkov. D. F. Ustinov, who suspected that N. V. Ogarkov was aiming for the position of Minister of Defense, persuaded K. U. Chernenko to create commanders-in-chief of directions and transfer the chief of the General Staff as commander-in-chief of the Western direction. As a result, N. V. Ogarkov lost real power on the scale of the military department, and G. V. Romanov began to slowly recede into the background. In the apparatus of the Central Committee, they started talking about the coolness of G. V. Romanov and the democratic nature of M. S. Gorbachev. A false provocative rumor was launched that at the wedding of his daughter, G. V. Romanov allowed the use of the palace mansions and royal dishes from the Hermitage storerooms, which the guests who had been spree beat on the floor. The parliamentary commission of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR checked the statements spread by someone's masterful hand and found out that the wedding consisted of 12 people, it took place at the dacha of G. V. Romanov, who practically did not participate in it, since a certain conflict occurred in the family. The rumor about museum dishes was not confirmed either. MS Gorbachev was informed about the results of the check, it was proposed to publish them in the press, but the consent was not received. Then a provocative rumor was launched about G. V. Romanov's weakness for alcohol. An anecdote was told in all the classrooms: they ask the Armenian radio what has changed in Russia since 1917? Answer: Nothing. They trade in Eliseevsky, they dance in the Mariinsky, and Romanov rules. He was short, strong build, very energetic. The West treated him with apprehension. On March 11, 1985, at a meeting of the Politburo, which discussed the issue of electing the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he spoke in favor of M. S. Gorbachev: “He started from the grassroots work in the Komsomol, then the party organization. And here his quality as an organizer and leader of the masses manifested itself. I can say from my previous work that the party activists highly appreciate the activities of MS Gorbachev. He is an erudite person... Mikhail Sergeevich is very demanding in his work. But this exactingness of his is combined with active help to people, with trust in them. Therefore, I believe that he will fully ensure the succession of leadership in our party and will fully cope with the duties that will be assigned to him ”(TsKhSD. F. 89. Collection of declassified documents). According to V. I. Vorotnikov, M. S. Gorbachev called him on May 13, 1985 and started talking about the shortcomings in the work of the defense department of the Central Committee, which was led by G. V. Romanov: “There are many complaints from the heads of large design bureaus, defense plants. There was a lengthy discussion about it. After all, he, as secretary of the Central Committee, oversees the defense industry. But he does not have good contacts with the defense ministries. There are claims to him on a personal level - about incorrect behavior on some foreign trips. I will raise the question of his replacement. Three months after the election of M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary, he was retired "due to health reasons." MS Gorbachev directly told him that there was no place for him in the leadership and that it would be better to resolve this issue on a voluntary basis, without bringing the matter to a discussion in the Politburo. I took it very painfully, but wrote a statement. At the meeting of the Politburo on May 23, 1985, which discussed his statement, he was not present. Members of the Politburo with remarks supported the proposal for the resignation of a colleague. They understood that these two could not get along in the Politburo. Undeservedly offended and offended, he did not fight against slander and withdrew from social and political life. He was distinguished by modesty and tidiness in personal behavior. Became a victim of the struggle for the placement of key figures in the upper echelon of power and the elimination possible contenders, in which not only domestic special services operated. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 7th - 11th convocations. Hero of Socialist Labor (1983).

Three names of the leaders of the Leningrad communists will forever remain in the people's memory: Sergei Mironovich Kirov, Andrei Andreevich Zhdanov and Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov. The further time separates us from those years when G.V. Romanov, the more one realizes the scale of his personality. It was a major state talent, creator.

One of many is one of us

The history of Romanov's personality is remarkable in that at first it will seem typical for many in Soviet time. Atypicality begins with the manifestation of his remarkable mind as an organizer, able to realize the state significance of the current work, like everyone else, and raise it to the highest possible level. Organizational talent at all times is a rare occurrence. He singled out Romanov among many.

But back to typical. He was born in the village of Zikhnovo, Borovichi district, Petrograd province (now Borovichi district, Novgorod region) in a large peasant family. He was her youngest, sixth child. In 1938 he graduated with honors from an incomplete high school and even before that he joined the Komsomol. In the same year he entered the Leningrad Shipbuilding College. As you can see, the Stalinist slogan “Cadres who have mastered technology decide everything!” did not bypass the fifteen-year-old Grigory Romanov. But he did not have time to graduate from the technical school - the war broke out ...

He fought from start to finish, from 1941 to 1945. In September 1944 he joined the party at the front. He was shell-shocked and awarded two medals - "For the Defense of Leningrad" (1942) and "For Military Merit" (1944).

After the end of the war, he returned to the technical school and in 1946 he defended his diploma with honors, received the specialty of a shipbuilding technician. Sent to work in TsKB-53 Shipbuilding Plant. A.A. Zhdanov (now Severnaya Verf). Here, Romanov's professionalism and organizational skills declared themselves, as stated in the description: "he proved himself to be a technically competent designer and was promoted from an ordinary designer to the position of lead designer, and then head of the sector." He worked and studied at the evening department of the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute. He graduated from it in 1953 with a degree in shipbuilding engineer. Thirty years ahead...

And, in general, a typical biography of a young Soviet man - a front-line soldier. Yes, he drew attention to himself professional culture, organizational skills, will and purposefulness. But there were many.

Claimed by time

The originality of Romanov's personality, his promotion to the ranks of the few with organizational, managerial talent, statesmanship - all this became apparent with the transition of Grigory Vasilyevich to party work. In 1954, he was elected secretary of the party committee of the plant. A.A. Zhdanov. At thirty-five years old (mature youth!) Romanov was the first secretary of the Kirov District Party Committee of Leningrad.

People like him were in demand then by the time - the time of scientific, technical and social progress in USSR. In the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, the CPSU, in order to remain the leading force Soviet society, was obliged to advance to command positions (in control production area first of all) well-trained party cadres - cadres competent in organizing science-intensive production. And besides, they know firsthand, but from their own life experience, the social needs and aspirations of ordinary production workers, those who were called ordinary Soviet people. In other words, the party, as always, at the new stage of socialist construction needed cadres who had gone through the school of highly skilled labor, who had been tested for personal responsibility for the decisions made, who had proved their ability to lead with knowledge of the matter and in the best way and who had received the trust of the party and non-party lower classes. Romanov fully met these requirements. In addition, he was unusually talented, intelligent and, as they said about him, devilishly efficient and completely disinterested. His rapid ascent to the top of the party leadership in Leningrad was not accidental: in 1961 he was elected secretary of the Leningrad city committee, and in 1962 - secretary of the regional party committee, in 1963 - his second secretary.

Those were the years of Khrushchev's voluntarism, which Grigory Vasilievich did not like to remember. He kept silent, which is understandable: alien to the ill-conceived hasty resolution of issues of organizing production, he, a production worker to the marrow of his bones, preferred not to talk about the time at which he had to protect, as far as possible, the Leningrad industry (he was responsible for it in the regional committee) from feverish innovations. What was the cost of only one restructuring of party organs according to the production principle: division into industrial and rural committees?! But even this was a kind of valuable experience for Romanov: he, as they say, sensed adventurism and incompetence from a mile away and did not allow those who suffered from these vices to the party leadership.

First

On September 16, 1970, a turning point occurred in the life of Grigory Vasilyevich - he was elected first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. He was in his forty-eighth year - it was time for the flowering of his personality! ..

For thirteen years Romanov headed one of largest organizations CPSU, numbering by 1983 497 thousand communists. During these thirteen years, his creative nature was revealed in full force. His name gained all-Union fame. It was also talked about abroad.

To imagine, at least sketchily, all the complex and diverse activities of G.V. Romanov when he was the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee is impossible within the boundaries of one essay. The author did not set himself such a task. But I will try to talk about the outstanding deeds of the great Leningrader.

The first in their series is the creation of large production and research and production associations, which made it possible to effectively develop and implement new technologies. And most importantly, to combine science with production at the time of the scientific and technological revolution. In the 1960s alone, nine branch production associations were formed in Leningrad, which included 43 industrial enterprises and 14 research, design and technology organizations. There were no associations like LOMO, Svetlana, Electrosila by the 1990s in the West (yes!), and they are unlikely to be there today. Romanov stood at the origins of this epoch-making undertaking, while still being the secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee. In the seventies, thanks to his will and ability to see the future of production, it received a dynamic development. By the end of the 1980s, there were already 161 production, research and production and production and technical associations in Leningrad and the region. They accounted for 70% of the total output of the Leningrad industry. Yes, what a high-tech! More than one and a half thousand new types of machines and devices have been created, including those that have no analogues in the world. A turbine generator with a capacity of 1 million 200 thousand kilowatts was manufactured at the Electrosila association. LOMO has a unique optical telescope with a mirror 6 meters in diameter. Such masterpieces of industrial production did not know then the capitalist West.

Romanov, in one of his conversations with me (and there were quite a few: when I was a deputy of the State Duma in 1995-1999, I often met with Grigory Vasilyevich in his Moscow apartment) said: “It’s a lie that we were far behind the West in scientific and technically. In many ways, they were ahead - in electronics, instrumentation, turbine building, and not only. We needed time to transfer our achievements in the defense industry to the rails of people's everyday life. We have started this. And they would have pulled ahead if not for Gorbachev's "perestroika".

Romanov was one of the few who looked for and found a concrete way to combine the advantages of a planned socialist economy with the achievements of scientific and technological progress. This was the essence of creating powerful research and production associations. It is clear that the leading ones were concentrated in military-industrial complex(MIC), he is the nerve of the entire economy. The United States, the entire West was very worried about this. After the ill-fated "perestroika", they did not fail to take a hand in removing the named nerve: with feverish privatization, the most powerful military-industrial complex associations were thrown into disarray. The pain that Romanov experienced when the tragedy of the Leningrad industry was discussed cannot be expressed in words. You should have seen his eyes...

City and region counted common home

Another great deed of the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee was the development of a comprehensive plan for the economic and social development of Leningrad and the region for the tenth five-year period (1976-1980). Its main link was the same plan for the development of specific production. Industrial enterprises began to grow into social and cultural institutions, all the life support infrastructure for their workers, which is now completely finished (everything that was done in the name of a person was destroyed in the name of the profit of the owner-owner). Large industrial associations financed the construction of kindergartens, nurseries, cultural and recreation centers, sanatoriums, hospitals and dispensaries. Expanded housing construction for workers and their families.

Romanov learned Stalin's truth better than others: cadres decide everything. I learned it because I realized: it's not just about the system of training and retraining of personnel. It also consists in creating socio-economic conditions for their fruitful activities.

The experience of integrated planning, born in Leningrad, became widespread in the country and was enshrined in the 1977 Constitution of the USSR.

Under Romanov, the task of strategic importance for the city of five million was also solved: Leningrad began to be provided with basic food products (meat, milk, butter, eggs, vegetables) produced in the agriculture of the Leningrad region. It was extremely difficult to solve this problem in the very unfavorable climatic conditions of the North-West. First of all, it was necessary to create a powerful material and technical base. For this, the experience of creating large industrial associations came in handy. With the support of Romanov and under his tutelage, they appeared and became stronger in the Leningrad region: the association of greenhouse state farms "Leto" (1971), an industrial complex for fattening large cattle"Pashsky", pig-breeding complex "Vostochny" (1973).

I note that during the period when Romanov was the first secretary of the regional committee, in agricultural production, the growth of livestock was not only strictly, but strictly controlled. Its decline was regarded as damage to strategic food resources (and what about today? who thinks about these resources, and do they even exist?).

Regional officials keep a good memory of the exacting first secretary. From the memoirs of the villagers about him: “Everyone knew Romanov. He was a strict and diligent host. The region did not offend anyone. The city and the region considered a common home. In a word, the owner.

For the benefit of the working class

And yet the most significant of all the acts of Romanov, it seems to me, was his work aimed at replenishing the working class of Leningrad with professionally trained personnel. He was the first Soviet politician to realize the urgency of this problem during the period of dynamic development of scientific and technological progress. And he was the first to see the way to solve it through the formation of a system of vocational schools on the basis of general secondary education. Cadres are everything. But in the case when the working cadres are well educated, cultured, intelligent. Without a general secondary education, they cannot become such. Romanov approached the solution of the problem not as a pragmatic technocrat, as his ill-wishers often present him, but as a state and party leader who had gone through the school of apprenticeship in a production team.

Grigory Vasilievich told me how he convinced the country's leadership of the need for translation vocational schools to train workers with secondary education only. He involuntarily demonstrated not only his ability to think strategically, but also tactically correctly pursue his strategic line. He recalled: “Before going to Brezhnev, I asked for an appointment with Suslov. And he began to prove to him that the question of vocational schools with a secondary education is a question of the future of the working class, of its leading role. The issue is primarily political. I see that he understands me, agrees, supports me. Well, with his support, it is easier to talk with Leonid Ilyich. After all, this is a serious matter, requiring very significant material costs. The Treasury resisted. And not everyone in the Politburo agreed. Brezhnev listened to me attentively and agreed. The issue was resolved at the Politburo.”

Leningrad was the first city in which, by the end of the seventies, the transition of vocational schools to secondary education was completed. There was no shortage of lofty words about the leading role of the working class in the party press and in oral propaganda. Romanov never competed with anyone in eloquence, he was restrained in words. He created the conditions for the materialization of the declared great idea. It took time, 10-15 years, for a new generation of workers to form and strengthen, having passed vocational training based on secondary education. But the tragic events for the country (“perestroika” according to Gorbachev and “reforms” according to Yeltsin) stopped the Soviet era, interrupted it.

Slander

The time of Romanov was also interrupted - the time of creation, the creation of a new one, a breakthrough into the future. He became an increasingly prominent figure in the political horizon: since 1973 - a candidate member and since 1976 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, since 1983 - Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (left Leningrad, moved to Moscow). In the West, they looked at him more and more closely. Former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in his book "Power and Life" (1990), recalling his meeting with Romanov in the summer of 1973, noted that he differed from others in the Soviet leadership "by ease, clear sharpness of mind."

Western analysts and Sovietologists saw this well and made efforts to ensure that the myth of the “Leningrad dictator” appeared in the USSR as a gray, narrow-minded man who suppresses the slightest dissent. Our dissident intelligentsia picked up this myth, accompanying it with slander. The most common slander is about the alleged use by the family of Grigory Vasilyevich of an old service from the Hermitage. The statement of the Director of the Hermitage, Academician Piotrovsky, that this was not and could not be, was not heeded by the anti-Soviet "intellectuals". Still, they could not forgive Romanov for his love for Russian and Soviet classics and, in particular, his respectful attitude towards the Leningrad State Academic Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin and his artistic director Igor Gorbachev.

But the anti-Soviet intelligentsia in every possible way keep silent about one true story. It happened at the end of the performance in one of the most popular drama theaters in Leningrad. Grigory Vasilievich watched the performance and came to the actors to thank them for their talented performance. One of them, a very famous one, turned to him: “Grigory Vasilyevich, you are our benefactor. I am asking you with the lowest request: land, land would be my dacha. Romanov's reaction was instantaneous: “You are forgetting yourself. I don't sell land.

Gorbachev's antipode

After the death of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU K.U. Chernenko Romanov was a real candidate for leading role in the party. He learned about the death of the General Secretary on television (a day later than it happened), while on vacation in Sochi, where he was almost forcibly sent away by M. Gorbachev, who practically acted as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party during Chernenko's illness. With great difficulty, Grigory Vasilievich flew to Moscow - for some reason (?), the plane's departure was delayed. He arrived at the meeting of the Politburo when the issue of electing the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was already a foregone conclusion. There were no supporters of Romanov at this meeting - Shcherbitsky and Kunaev. The reasons for their absence were also well organized by Gorbachev's team: the first was allegedly detained out of necessity in the United States, where he was sent; the second was informed of the death of the general secretary belatedly. At the suggestion of A. Gromyko, one candidate was put forward for the upcoming plenum of the Central Committee - Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev saw his antipode in Romanov, but, of course, he was not in a position to admit it. In characterizing the recalcitrant Leningrader, he attributed to him what he himself suffered: narrow-mindedness and deceit. Speaking of a man of great talent, Gorbachev argued that it was "rarely one could expect a sensible thought" from him. Dullness always takes revenge on talent.

In July 1985, the plenum of the Central Committee released G.V. Romanov "from the duties of a member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in connection with his retirement for health reasons." Everyone understood everything: Gorbachev was in a hurry to get rid of his antipode in the party leadership. Is 62 years old for a politician? Grigory Vasilyevich was full of strength and desire to work for the good of the party and the people. He turned to the General Secretary with a request to reinstate him in party work, but was refused. Gorbachev wrote in his memoirs: “After meeting with Romanov, I quite frankly made it clear that there was no place for him in the leadership.”

Who was there, we know well.

Stoic Courage

Just as heroism is an alternative to betrayal, and creation to destruction, so Grigory Romanov was an alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev. The West was well aware of this, as Alexander Zinoviev wrote: “Brezhnev was ill. His days were numbered. The other members of the Politburo are also sick old people. Romanov and Gorbachev began to appear as future leaders of the party ... Having thoroughly studied the qualities of both (and perhaps already somehow “hooked” Gorbachev earlier), the relevant services of the West decided to eliminate Romanov and clear the way for Gorbachev. In means mass media slander against Romanov was invented and launched ... "And then A. Zinoviev said that in reproach to us - the communists, this was a shameful page in the history of the CPSU:" The inventors of slander were sure that Romanov's "comrades-in-arms" would not protect him. And so it happened ... No one came out in defense of Romanov. Cowardice and indifference in the party pave the way for shameless arrogance and betrayal, which happened. This is a moral lesson for us. To forget it means to lose conscience.

Grigory Vasilyevich was very worried about his insecurity. After his retirement, he spent a long time, almost the entire "perestroika", in isolation from the party. Few people called him and rarely anyone came, except for the most loyal friends. He was under the supervision of Gorbachev's spies. Romanov stoically, courageously, having honor, withstood the political and moral blockade. Not bent, not broken, not embittered. He retained strength of mind and clarity of mind. He was not only a political but also a moral alternative to Gorbachev.

Romanov adhered to a puritanical way of life. Together with a family of six, he lived in a three-room apartment. He did not tolerate and did not forgive the passion for materialism. He told the leading party workers of Smolny directly: “Whoever wants to buy a car and build a dacha, please. But first write a letter of resignation. Grigory Vasilyevich was ready for the vicissitudes of fate and never complained about it. He didn't complain to anyone, he didn't ask anyone for anything. He was a proud man, independent to the point of scrupulousness. He knew how to take a hit. In the "perestroika" he remained recalcitrant and unsubdued. The same can be said about the subsequent times of Romanov's life.

Legendary person

Grigory Vasilievich became a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation immediately after its II (restoration) congress. Created a community of Leningraders in Moscow and led them until last day own life. He provided invaluable assistance to the Leningrad regional organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 1995. He called and wrote to his associates for many years of work in the city and the region, where he was remembered more and more often. More than once I witnessed how people at a rally, on the train, in the store said that they had seen Romanov either in the city or in the region. I knew that this could not be: Grigory Vasilievich did not leave Moscow, since his wife for a long time was unwell. I did not try to dissuade my comrades, because I understood: they "saw" him because they really wanted to see him. They wanted order, confidence in the future. Romanov was for Leningraders a symbol of the spirit of the Soviet era, when everything was as it should and as it should. It was for them a symbol of faith, and therefore they saw it. He became a living legend. People like him are not forgotten by the people, just as happiness and joy are not forgotten. They remember not only the great deeds associated with his name, but also his always confident voice, his simplicity, sincerity and openness in communicating with others.

Remember his humanity and nobility. His strict exactingness, about which there were legends: strict, but fair; first of all, he does not spare himself and does not give anyone a descent, in a word - Man!

Leningrad, which became the city of the wonderful, heroic fate of Romanov, the city to which he gave everything he had - talent, soul, selfless work - will never forget him. Leningrad will always be grateful to him.

: Invalid or missing image

Grigory Vasilievich Romanov( - ) - Soviet party and statesman. Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1976-1985). Candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1973-1976). Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1983-1985), First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU (1970-1983). After the collapse of the USSR, he joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, where he held leadership positions.

Biography

The construction of the Leningrad Sports and Concert Complex named after V.I. V. I. Lenin. The Palace of Youth was built on the banks of the Malaya Nevka. A monument to V. V. Mayakovsky was erected on the street named after the poet. A research institute for the protection of the health of children and adolescents has been opened on Aptekarsky Island. On August 21, 1976, Leningrad switched to seven-digit telephone numbering.

In public opinion, he was perceived as a supporter of the "hard line". He was a real contender for the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU after the death of Yu. V. Andropov and the subsequent K. U. Chernenko, however, in the first case, a compromise candidate was elected - the seriously ill Chernenko, after whose death power was seized by M. S. Gorbachev.

According to Andrei Sidorenko, who refers to the words of V. M. Chebrikov, it was Romanov who wanted to see Yu. V. Andropov as his successor. At the time of Chernenko's death, Romanov was on vacation in Lithuanian Palanga.

Grigory Romanov died on June 3, 2008 in Moscow. He was buried on June 6 at the Kuntsevo cemetery.

Performance evaluations

In Leningrad, Romanov was called "master". Because 13 Romanov years - those that he led the region and the city - are then recognized as the most successful in the life of the region for the entire twentieth century. Under Romanov, more than fifty research and production associations will appear here, a record number of metro stations will be opened, the famous Kirovets tractor and the even more famous Arktika icebreaker will be built, the first to reach North Pole. The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant will be launched. [Valentin Nikiforov], First Secretary of the Vyborg District Party Committee of Leningrad

Grigory Romanov was one of the most odious party leaders and personally responsible for many abominations committed under his direct supervision and with his highest approval. Boris Vishnevsky, political scientist

The history of Romanov's personality is remarkable in that at first it will seem typical for many in the Soviet era. Atypicality begins with the manifestation of his remarkable mind as an organizer, able to realize the state significance of the current work, like everyone else, and raise it to the highest possible level. Organizational talent at all times is a rare occurrence. He singled out Romanov among many.

He fiercely hated and poisoned all cultural figures who "did not adapt." Under him, in 1980, the case of the writer and historian Konstantin Azadovsky, who worked as head of the department of foreign languages ​​at the Mukhinsky school, was fabricated. Under him, Sergei Yursky was forced to leave the city. At the same time, the version of the expulsion of Arkady Raikin from Leningrad does not find confirmation, since he moved to Moscow at the initiative of his son for the sake of organizing the Satyricon Theater, and such a move would not have been possible without the sanctions of the USSR party leadership (Brezhnev), which was given after studying characteristics of the actor, issued by the party authorities in the field (Romanov).

Under Romanov, Joseph Brodsky and Sergei Dovlatov were expelled from the USSR, but such a decision was not made at the level of the city of Leningrad.

Grigory Vasilyevich stated that "almost all Jews are citizens of a country - a potential enemy" Nina Katerli

He made it so that the entire city center was in communal apartments - because strangers were settled in the vacated rooms. And when he began the construction of the dam and Sergei Zalygin wrote in Novy Mir that the Gulf of Finland would rot, Romanov replied: well, figs with him, it will rot - so let's fall asleep ... A lot of musicians, actors, artists moved to Moscow under him - to work under Romanov was impossible. Yuri Vdovin, human rights activist

Under Romanov, the dissident Yuli Rybakov was imprisoned on a fabricated criminal case; under Romanov, objectionable performances and concerts were banned. However, it should be noted that it was under Romanov in Leningrad that the first rock opera in the USSR "Orpheus and Eurydice" was staged and continuously performed for ten years (1975-1985), and also in 1981 the Leningrad Rock Club was launched - the first in the USSR there is a similar freedom-loving institution.

In a personal sense, Grigory Romanov gave the impression of a deeply decent, principled person. He was also distinguished by evenness in dealing with people, no matter who was in front of him. As far as I know, a kind, warm atmosphere reigned in his family too ... If Gorbachev had not been able to seize power and commit all his black deeds of betraying the interests of the country, if Grigory Romanov had been elected instead of Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary (and he was from this in one step), then you and I would still continue to live in the Soviet Union, of course, reformed, modernized, but prosperous and strong.

During the years when G.V. Romanov headed the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, there were positive changes that took place in agriculture, in the field of culture, in education and healthcare in the Leningrad Region. During the thirteen-year period that Romanov headed the region, a number of large agricultural construction projects came into operation here, and a significant step forward was made in the development of industrial poultry farming. Huge buildings of poultry farms and other agro-industrial facilities have rightfully become a monument of those years. It is noteworthy that the foundations laid in those years were not only preserved, but also received further development and, moreover, are multiplying at the present time. So, the agriculture of the Leningrad region has reached a completely new level. Through the implementation of priority national projects, the latest technologies are used in agro-industrial production. Currently, livestock and poultry farming in the Leningrad Region are considered to be among the most advanced in the world. Russian Federation. A lot was done under Romanov in the field of culture. Received a significant impetus in the development of the system of rural libraries. Houses of culture were built.

Romanov's statements

"Union of Struggle for Individual Freedom" (V. A. Dzibalov's group; 6 people were arrested in 1971); distribution of leaflets calling for a boycott of the elections (Yu. E. Minkovsky was arrested in 1973), in defense of A. I. Solzhenitsyn (L. L. Verdi was arrested in 1974); the activities of the Circle of Friends of Socialist Legality (O. N. Moskvin was arrested in 1977); protests against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan (B. S. Mirkin was arrested in 1981); demonstrations: the memory of the Decembrists at " Bronze Horseman"(12/14/1975), artists and writers at the Peter and Paul Fortress (May-June, 1976), in defense of human rights on December 10, 1977, 1978, 1979; the inscription on the wall of the Sovereign's bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress: "You crucify freedom, but the human soul has no fetters" (Yu. A. Rybakov, O. A. Volkov arrested in 1976).

Another form was the activity of various independent associations: the Leningrad branch of the Russian Public Fund, the Fund for Assistance to the Families of Political Prisoners (1974-83, managers - V. I. Isakova, V. T. Repin, V. N. Gaenko), independent trade union work (SMOT - Free Interprofessional Association of Workers, created in 1978, L. Ya. Volokhonsky was arrested in 1979, V. E. Borisov was expelled from the country in 1981, V. I. Sytinsky was arrested in 1984); workshop on general theory systems (1968-82, in the apartment of S. Yu. Maslov), women's club "Maria"; religious and philosophical seminar by T. M. Goricheva (1974-80); a Christian seminar and the publication of the journal "Community" (1974-79, V. Yu. Poresh was arrested in 1979); editing ist. Sat. "Memory" (A. B. Roginsky was arrested in 1981); distribution of publications of Seventh-day Adventists (arrested by I. S. Zvyagin in 1980, L. K. Nagritskaite in 1981, etc.); apartment art exhibitions (GN Mikhailov was arrested in 1979); organization of groups for hatha yoga classes (A. I. Ivanov, a preventive conversation was held in 1973, continued to engage in criminal activities, arrested in 1977, articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR "Private entrepreneurial activity", "Illegal medical treatment", "Manufacturing or sale of pornographic objects" and "Dissemination of deliberately false fabrications discrediting the Soviet state and social system", 8,520 rubles of unearned income were confiscated). A special place was occupied by Jewish national associations - the Leningrad Zionist Organization (G. I. Butman, M. S. Korenblit, and others were arrested in 1970); Seminar of Jewish "refuseniks" (1979-81, E. Lein arrested in 1981).

Family

Wife (since 1946) - Anna Stepanovna.
Daughter Valentina - graduated from the Leningrad State University. A. A. Zhdanova, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, taught at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, in 1996-1998. Chairman of the Board of Directors of CB Russian Industrial Bank, since 1998 Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bankhaus Erbe AG (in 1992-1998 "International Bank of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior"), Her husband is O. I. Gaidanov.
Daughter Natalya (married, since 1974, Radchenko).

Awards

• Hero of Socialist Labor ()
• medal "For Military Merit" (10/15/1944)

Memory

References in art

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Notes

• « Our dear Roman Avdeevich» D. A. Granin (satire on Grigory Romanov)

Mayors Petersburg - Petrograd ( -): Soviet period (1917-): "Dual power" regional committee and Leningrad City Council ( -1991): post-soviet period (s):

An excerpt characterizing Romanov, Grigory Vasilyevich

“Your excellency, your excellency, your excellency ...” the bereytor said stubbornly, without looking at Pierre and, apparently, having lost hope of waking him up, shaking him by the shoulder.
- What? Began? Is it time? Pierre spoke, waking up.
“If you please, hear the firing,” said the bereytor, a retired soldier, “already all the gentlemen have risen, the brightest ones themselves have long passed.
Pierre hastily dressed and ran out onto the porch. Outside it was clear, fresh, dewy and cheerful. The sun, having just escaped from behind the cloud that obscured it, splashed up to half of its rays broken by the cloud through the roofs of the opposite street, onto the dew-covered dust of the road, onto the walls of houses, onto the windows of the fence and onto Pierre's horses standing by the hut. The rumble of cannons was heard more clearly in the yard. An adjutant with a Cossack roared down the street.
- It's time, Count, it's time! shouted the adjutant.
Ordering to lead the horse behind him, Pierre went down the street to the mound, from which he had looked at the battlefield yesterday. There was a crowd of military men on this mound, and the French dialect of the staff was heard, and Kutuzov's gray-haired head was visible with his white cap with a red band and a gray-haired nape sunk into his shoulders. Kutuzov looked through the pipe ahead along the high road.
Entering the steps of the entrance to the mound, Pierre looked ahead of him and froze in admiration before the beauty of the spectacle. It was the same panorama that he had admired yesterday from this mound; but now this whole area was covered with troops and the smoke of shots, and the oblique rays of the bright sun, rising behind, to the left of Pierre, threw on her in the clear morning air a piercing light with a golden and pink hue and dark, long shadows. The distant forests that complete the panorama, as if carved from some kind of precious yellow-green stone, could be seen with their curved line of peaks on the horizon, and between them, behind Valuev, the big Smolensk road cut through, all covered with troops. Closer, golden fields and copses gleamed. Everywhere - in front, on the right and on the left - troops were visible. All this was lively, majestic and unexpected; but what struck Pierre most of all was the view of the battlefield itself, Borodino and the hollow above Kolochaya on both sides of it.
Above Kolochaya, in Borodino and on both sides of it, especially to the left, where the Voyna flows into Kolocha in the swampy banks, there was that fog that melts, blurs and shines through when the bright sun comes out and magically colors and outlines everything seen through it. This fog was joined by the smoke of shots, and through this fog and smoke lightnings of morning light shone everywhere - now over the water, then over the dew, then over the bayonets of the troops crowding along the banks and in Borodino. Through this fog one could see the white church, in some places the roofs of Borodin's huts, in some places solid masses of soldiers, in some places green boxes, cannons. And it all moved, or seemed to move, because the mist and smoke stretched all over this space. Both in this locality, the lower parts near Borodino, covered with fog, and outside it, higher and especially to the left along the entire line, through the forests, through the fields, in the lower parts, on the tops of the elevations, were constantly born of themselves, out of nothing, cannon-shaped, then lonely, now lumpy, now rare, now frequent clouds of smoke, which, swelling, growing, swirling, merging, were visible throughout this space.
These gunshot smokes and, strange to say, their sounds produced the main beauty of the spectacle.
Puff! - suddenly one could see round, dense smoke playing with purple, gray and milky white colors, and boom! - the sound of this smoke was heard in a second.
"Poof poof" - two smokes rose, pushing and merging; and "boom boom" - confirmed the sounds that the eye saw.
Pierre looked back at the first smoke that he had left in a rounded dense ball, and already in its place were balls of smoke stretching to the side, and poof ... (with a stop) poof poof - three more, four more, and for each, with the same constellations, boom ... boom boom boom - answered beautiful, solid, true sounds. It seemed that these smokes were running, that they were standing, and forests, fields and shiny bayonets were running past them. On the left side, over the fields and bushes, these large smokes with their solemn echoes were constantly born, and closer still, along the lower levels and forests, small gun smokes, which did not have time to round off, flared up and gave their small echoes in the same way. Fuck ta ta tah - the guns crackled, although often, but incorrectly and poorly in comparison with gun shots.
Pierre wanted to be where these smokes were, these shiny bayonets and cannons, this movement, these sounds. He looked back at Kutuzov and at his retinue in order to check his impression with others. Everyone was exactly the same as he was, and, as it seemed to him, they looked forward to the battlefield with the same feeling. All faces now shone with that hidden warmth (chaleur latente) of feeling that Pierre noticed yesterday and which he fully understood after his conversation with Prince Andrei.
“Go, my dear, go, Christ is with you,” said Kutuzov, without taking his eyes off the battlefield, to the general standing next to him.
Having listened to the order, this general walked past Pierre, to the exit from the mound.
- To the crossing! - the general said coldly and sternly in response to the question of one of the staff, where he was going. “And I, and I,” thought Pierre and went in the direction of the general.
The general mounted a horse, which was given to him by a Cossack. Pierre went up to his bereytor, who was holding the horses. Asking which one was quieter, Pierre mounted the horse, grabbed the mane, pressed the heels of his twisted legs against the horse’s stomach, and, feeling that his glasses were falling off and that he was unable to take his hands off the mane and reins, he galloped after the general, arousing the smiles of the staff, from the barrow looking at him.

The general, behind whom Pierre rode, went downhill, turned sharply to the left, and Pierre, losing sight of him, jumped into the ranks of the infantry soldiers walking ahead of him. He tried to get out of them first to the right, then to the left; but everywhere there were soldiers, with equally preoccupied faces, busy with some invisible, but obviously important business. Everyone was looking with the same dissatisfied questioning look at this fat man in a white hat, for some unknown reason, trampling them with his horse.
- Why does he ride in the middle of the battalion! one shouted at him. Another pushed his horse with the butt, and Pierre, clinging to the pommel and barely holding the shy horse, jumped forward the soldier, where it was more spacious.
There was a bridge ahead of him, and other soldiers were standing by the bridge, firing. Pierre rode up to them. Without knowing it himself, Pierre drove to the bridge over the Kolocha, which was between Gorki and Borodino and which, in the first action of the battle (taking Borodino), was attacked by the French. Pierre saw that there was a bridge ahead of him, and that on both sides of the bridge and in the meadow, in those rows of hay that he noticed yesterday, soldiers were doing something in the smoke; but, in spite of the incessant shooting that took place in this place, he did not think that this was the battlefield. He did not hear the sounds of bullets squealing from all sides, and the shells flying over him, did not see the enemy who was on the other side of the river, and for a long time did not see the dead and wounded, although many fell not far from him. With a smile that never left his face, he looked around him.
- What does this one drive in front of the line? Someone shouted at him again.
“Take the left, take the right,” they shouted to him. Pierre took to the right and unexpectedly moved in with the adjutant of General Raevsky, whom he knew. This adjutant looked angrily at Pierre, obviously intending to shout at him too, but, recognizing him, nodded his head to him.
– How are you here? he said and rode on.
Pierre, feeling out of place and idle, afraid to interfere with someone again, galloped after the adjutant.
- It's here, right? May I come with you? he asked.
“Now, now,” the adjutant answered and, jumping up to the fat colonel who was standing in the meadow, handed something to him and then turned to Pierre.
“Why did you come here, Count?” he told him with a smile. Are you all curious?
“Yes, yes,” said Pierre. But the adjutant, turning his horse, rode on.
“Here, thank God,” said the adjutant, “but on Bagration’s left flank there is a terrible frying going on.
– Really? Pierre asked. – Where is it?
- Yes, let's go with me to the mound, you can see from us. And it’s still tolerable with us on the battery, ”said the adjutant. - Well, are you going?
“Yes, I am with you,” said Pierre, looking around him and looking for his bereator with his eyes. Here, only for the first time, Pierre saw the wounded, wandering on foot and carried on a stretcher. On the same meadow with fragrant rows of hay, through which he had passed yesterday, across the rows, awkwardly turning his head, lay motionless one soldier with a fallen shako. Why didn't they bring it up? - Pierre began; but, seeing the stern face of the adjutant, who looked back in the same direction, he fell silent.
Pierre did not find his bereytor and, together with the adjutant, rode down the hollow to the Raevsky barrow. Pierre's horse lagged behind the adjutant and shook him evenly.
- You, apparently, are not used to riding, count? the adjutant asked.
“No, nothing, but she jumps a lot,” Pierre said in bewilderment.
- Eh! .. yes, she was wounded, - said the adjutant, - right front, above the knee. Bullet must be. Congratulations, Count,” he said, “le bapteme de feu [baptism by fire].
Passing through the smoke along the sixth corps, behind the artillery, which, pushed forward, fired, deafening with its shots, they arrived at a small forest. The forest was cool, quiet and smelled of autumn. Pierre and the adjutant dismounted from their horses and walked up the mountain.
Is the general here? asked the adjutant, approaching the mound.
“We were just now, let’s go here,” they answered him, pointing to the right.
The adjutant looked back at Pierre, as if not knowing what to do with him now.
"Don't worry," said Pierre. - I'll go to the mound, can I?
- Yes, go, everything is visible from there and not so dangerous. And I'll pick you up.
Pierre went to the battery, and the adjutant rode on. They did not see each other again, and much later Pierre learned that this adjutant's arm had been torn off that day.
The barrow that Pierre entered was that famous one (later known to the Russians under the name of the kurgan battery, or Rayevsky battery, and to the French under the name la grande redoute, la fatale redoute, la redoute du center [large redoubt, fatal redoubt, central redoubt ] a place around which tens of thousands of people were laid and which the French considered the most important point of the position.
This redoubt consisted of a mound, on which ditches were dug on three sides. In a place dug in by ditches stood ten firing cannons protruding through the openings of the ramparts.
Cannons stood in line with the mound on both sides, also firing incessantly. A little behind the cannons were infantry troops. Entering this mound, Pierre never thought that this place dug in with small ditches, on which several cannons stood and fired, was the most important place in the battle.
Pierre, on the contrary, it seemed that this place (precisely because he was on it) was one of the most insignificant places of the battle.
Entering the mound, Pierre sat down at the end of the ditch surrounding the battery, and with an unconsciously joyful smile looked at what was happening around him. Occasionally, Pierre would get up with the same smile and, trying not to interfere with the soldiers loading and rolling the guns, who constantly ran past him with bags and charges, walked around the battery. The cannons from this battery continuously fired one after another, deafening with their sounds and covering the whole neighborhood with gunpowder smoke.
In contrast to the eerie feeling between the infantry soldiers of the covering, here, on the battery, where a small number of people engaged in business are white limited, separated from others by a ditch - here one felt the same and common to all, as if family animation.
The appearance of the non-military figure of Pierre in a white hat first struck these people unpleasantly. The soldiers, passing by him, looked with surprise and even fear at his figure. Senior artillery officer, tall, with long legs, a pockmarked man, as if in order to look at the action of the last weapon, went up to Pierre and looked at him curiously.
A young, round-faced officer, still a perfect child, obviously just released from the corps, disposing of the two guns entrusted to him very diligently, turned sternly to Pierre.
“Sir, let me ask you out of the way,” he said to him, “it’s not allowed here.
The soldiers shook their heads disapprovingly, looking at Pierre. But when everyone was convinced that this man in a white hat not only did nothing wrong, but either sat quietly on the slope of the rampart, or with a shy smile, courteously avoiding the soldiers, walked along the battery under the shots as calmly as along the boulevard, then little by little, a feeling of unfriendly bewilderment towards him began to turn into affectionate and playful participation, like that, which soldiers have for their animals: dogs, roosters, goats, and in general animals living with military teams. These soldiers immediately mentally accepted Pierre into their family, appropriated and gave him a nickname. “Our master” they called him and they affectionately laughed about him among themselves.
One core blew up the ground a stone's throw from Pierre. He, cleaning the earth sprinkled with a cannonball from his dress, looked around him with a smile.
- And how are you not afraid, master, really! - the red-faced broad soldier turned to Pierre, baring his strong white teeth.
– Are you afraid? Pierre asked.
– But how? answered the soldier. “Because she won’t have mercy. She slams, so the guts out. You can't help but be afraid," he said, laughing.
Several soldiers with cheerful and affectionate faces stopped near Pierre. They did not seem to expect him to speak like everyone else, and this discovery delighted them.
“Our business is soldiery. But the sir, so amazing. That's the barin!
- In places! - shouted a young officer at the soldiers gathered around Pierre. This young officer, apparently, performed his position for the first or second time, and therefore treated both the soldiers and the commander with particular distinctness and uniformity.
The erratic firing of cannons and rifles intensified throughout the field, especially to the left, where Bagration's flashes were, but because of the smoke of shots from the place where Pierre was, it was almost impossible to see anything. Moreover, observations of how, as it were, a family (separated from all others) circle of people who were on the battery, absorbed all the attention of Pierre. His first unconsciously joyful excitement, produced by the sight and sounds of the battlefield, was now replaced, especially after the sight of this lonely soldier lying in the meadow, by another feeling. Sitting now on the slope of the ditch, he watched the faces around him.
By ten o'clock, twenty people had already been carried away from the battery; two guns were broken, more and more shells hit the battery and flew, buzzing and whistling, long-range bullets. But the people who were on the battery did not seem to notice this; cheerful conversation and jokes were heard from all sides.
- Chinenko! - the soldier shouted at the approaching, whistling grenade. - Not here! To the infantry! - another added with a laugh, noticing that the grenade flew over and hit the ranks of the cover.
- What, friend? - laughed another soldier at the crouching peasant under the flying cannonball.
Several soldiers gathered at the rampart, looking at what was happening ahead.
“And they took off the chain, you see, they went back,” they said, pointing over the shaft.
“Look at your business,” the old non-commissioned officer shouted at them. - They went back, which means there is work back. - And the non-commissioned officer, taking one of the soldiers by the shoulder, pushed him with his knee. Laughter was heard.
- Roll on to the fifth gun! shouted from one side.
“Together, more amicably, in burlatski,” the cheerful cries of those who changed the gun were heard.
“Ay, I almost knocked off our master’s hat,” the red-faced joker laughed at Pierre, showing his teeth. “Oh, clumsy,” he added reproachfully to the ball that had fallen into the wheel and leg of a man.
- Well, you foxes! another laughed at the squirming militiamen who were entering the battery for the wounded.
- Al is not tasty porridge? Ah, crows, swayed! - they shouted at the militia, who hesitated in front of a soldier with a severed leg.
“Something like that, little one,” the peasants mimicked. - They don't like passion.
Pierre noticed how after each shot that hit, after each loss, a general revival flared up more and more.
As from an advancing thundercloud, more and more often, brighter and brighter flashed on the faces of all these people (as if in repulse to what was happening) lightning bolts of hidden, flaring fire.
Pierre did not look ahead on the battlefield and was not interested in knowing what was happening there: he was completely absorbed in contemplating this, more and more burning fire, which in the same way (he felt) flared up in his soul.
At ten o'clock the infantry soldiers, who were ahead of the battery in the bushes and along the Kamenka River, retreated. From the battery it was visible how they ran back past it, carrying the wounded on their guns. Some general with his retinue entered the mound and, after talking with the colonel, looking angrily at Pierre, went down again, ordering the infantry cover, which was standing behind the battery, to lie down so as to be less exposed to shots. Following this, in the ranks of the infantry, to the right of the battery, a drum was heard, shouts of command, and from the battery it was clear how the ranks of the infantry moved forward.
Pierre looked over the shaft. One face in particular caught his eye. It was an officer who, with a pale young face, was walking backwards, carrying a lowered sword, and looking around uneasily.
The ranks of infantry soldiers disappeared into the smoke, their long-drawn cry and frequent firing of guns were heard. A few minutes later, crowds of wounded and stretchers passed from there. Shells began to hit the battery even more often. Several people lay uncleaned. Near the cannons, the soldiers moved busier and more lively. No one paid any attention to Pierre anymore. Once or twice he was angrily shouted at for being on the road. The senior officer, with a frown on his face, moved with large, quick steps from one gun to another. The young officer, flushed even more, commanded the soldiers even more diligently. Soldiers fired, turned, loaded and did their job with intense panache. They bounced along the way, as if on springs.
A thundercloud moved in, and that fire burned brightly in all faces, the flaring up of which Pierre watched. He stood beside the senior officer. A young officer ran up, with his hand to his shako, to the older one.
- I have the honor to report, Mr. Colonel, there are only eight charges, will you order to continue firing? - he asked.
- Buckshot! - Without answering, shouted the senior officer, who was looking through the rampart.
Suddenly something happened; the officer gasped and, curled up, sat down on the ground like a bird shot in the air. Everything became strange, unclear and cloudy in Pierre's eyes.
One after another, the cannonballs whistled and beat at the parapet, at the soldiers, at the cannons. Pierre, who had not heard these sounds before, now only heard these sounds alone. On the side of the battery, on the right, with a cry of “Hurrah,” the soldiers ran not forward, but backward, as it seemed to Pierre.
The core hit the very edge of the shaft in front of which Pierre was standing, poured the earth, and a black ball flashed in his eyes, and at the same instant slapped into something. The militia, who had entered the battery, ran back.
- All buckshot! the officer shouted.
The non-commissioned officer ran up to the senior officer and in a frightened whisper (as the butler reports to the owner at dinner that there is no more required wine) said that there were no more charges.
- Robbers, what are they doing! the officer shouted, turning to Pierre. The senior officer's face was red and sweaty, and his frowning eyes shone. - Run to the reserves, bring the boxes! he shouted, angrily looking around Pierre and turning to his soldier.
“I will go,” said Pierre. The officer, without answering him, walked with long strides in the other direction.
- Do not shoot ... Wait! he shouted.
The soldier, who was ordered to go for the charges, collided with Pierre.
“Oh, master, you don’t belong here,” he said and ran downstairs. Pierre ran after the soldier, bypassing the place where the young officer was sitting.
One, another, a third shot flew over him, hit in front, from the sides, behind. Pierre ran downstairs. "Where am I?" he suddenly remembered, already running up to the green boxes. He stopped, undecided whether to go back or forward. Suddenly a terrible jolt threw him back to the ground. At the same moment, the brilliance of a great fire illuminated him, and at the same moment there was a deafening thunder, crackling and whistling that rang in the ears.
Pierre, waking up, was sitting on his back, leaning his hands on the ground; the box he was near was not there; only green burnt boards and rags were lying on the scorched grass, and the horse, waving the fragments of the shaft, galloped away from him, and the other, like Pierre himself, lay on the ground and squealed piercingly, lingeringly.

Pierre, beside himself with fear, jumped up and ran back to the battery, as to the only refuge from all the horrors that surrounded him.
While Pierre was entering the trench, he noticed that no shots were heard on the battery, but some people were doing something there. Pierre did not have time to understand what kind of people they were. He saw a senior colonel lying on the rampart behind him, as if examining something below, and he saw one soldier he noticed, who, breaking forward from the people holding his hand, shouted: “Brothers!” - and saw something else strange.
But he had not yet had time to realize that the colonel had been killed, that shouting "brothers!" was a prisoner that in his eyes another soldier was bayoneted in the back. As soon as he ran into the trench, a thin, yellow man with a sweaty face in a blue uniform, with a sword in his hand, ran up to him, shouting something. Pierre, instinctively defending himself from a push, since they, without seeing them, ran up against each other, put out his hands and grabbed this man (it was a French officer) with one hand by the shoulder, with the other proudly. The officer, releasing his sword, grabbed Pierre by the collar.