According to historian Evan Mawdsley, Patolichev "...recovered from this 'exile' in 1950, with another surprise appointment. In one of the intervals of a Supreme Soviet meeting Stalin called him in and asked him if he wanted to be first secretary of the Belorussian SSR; Patolichev agreed ('Gotov, tovarishch Stalin – otvetil ia'). In the late Stalin years it was not unusual to appoint ethnic Russians to leading posts in the non-Russian republics; Patolichev's task was to raise local agricultural production." Patolichev succeeded Nikolai Gusarov as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia on 31 May 1950. In October 1952, Patolichev delivered one of the main speeches at the 19th Party Congress and was re-elected to the Central Committee as a full member.