page_title: Georgy Malenkov
section_title: Executions of competitors and Leningrad affair
hierarchical_section_title: Georgy Malenkov / Executions of competitors and Leningrad affair
caption_attribution_description: English: Georgy Malenkov
context_page_description: Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the absolute leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he ceded control over the party apparatus in exchange for remaining Premier and first among equals within the collective leadership. He then became embroiled in a power struggle with Nikita Khrushchev that culminated in his removal from the premiership in 1955 as well as the Presidium in 1957.
  Throughout his political career, Malenkov's personal connections with Vladimir Lenin significantly facilitated his ascent within the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union. By 1925, he was entrusted with overseeing the party's records. This brought him into contact with Stalin who had by then successfully consolidated power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to become the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. As a result of this association, Malenkov became heavily involved in Stalin's purges before later being given sole responsibility over the Soviet missile program during World War II.
context_section_description: During the late 1940s and early 1950s Malenkov gained more favor with Stalin than any other top Soviet communist. Malenkov's main competition were the leaders of Leningrad whose glory had been earned in resistance to Hitler's attacks during World War II. After the Siege of Leningrad the Mayor Kuznetsov and his deputies earned much fame and support all over the USSR. Malenkov followed Stalin's policy of suppressing that glory in order to maintain Moscow's image as the USSR's only center of power. In 1949, Malenkov personally came to Leningrad leading a regiment of armed men from Moscow MGB special forces and swiftly removed and arrested the city leaders. After a series of secret trials, 23 men, including the Mayor and deputies, were executed and buried in an unmarked pit on the outskirts of the city. At the same time, over two thousand top managers and intellectuals were uprooted and exiled from Leningrad to Siberia, their property was confiscated, and their positions were filled by communists loyal to Stalin.
  During the same years, Malenkov also exterminated the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Many members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee were killed in the Night of the Murdered Poets. On August 12, 1952, thirteen Jewish writers were executed by gunshots in the basement of Lubyanka Prison. The antisemitic pogrom was approved by Stalin and supervised by Malenkov.
  Malenkov's loyalty to Stalin was proven by executions of political competition and the Leningrad affair and catapulted Malenkov to become the only successor of Stalin.
  1952 and 1953 Time magazine covers indicate that Malenkov was generally considered to be Stalin's apprentice and successor.
caption: Georgy Malenkov on Time magazine cover, 23 March 1953
exif: {}