Pyotr Masherov
Pyotr Mironovich Masherov (né Mashero; – 4 October 1980) was a Soviet partisan, statesman, and one of the leaders of the Belarusian resistance during World War II who governed the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia from 1965 until his death in 1980. Under Masherov's rule, Belarus was transformed from an agrarian, undeveloped nation which had not yet recovered from the Second World War into an industrial powerhouse; Minsk, the capital and largest city of Belarus, became one of the fastest-growing cities on the planet. Masherov ruled until his sudden  death in 1980, after his vehicle was hit by a potato truck. Born to a peasant family in what is today the Vitebsk Region during the early stages of the Russian Civil War, Masherov was a teacher in mathematics and physics in his youth. Following his father's arrest and death during the Great Purge, Masherov joined the Red Army following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, and rose to the rank of major general. With the end of the Second World War, Masherov turned to politics, becoming First Secretary of the Brest Regional Committee in 1955, and First Secretary of  the Communist Party of Byelorussia ten years later. Masherov was known for his down-to-earth demeanour and for his humility, separating him from much of the rest of the upper echelons of Soviet government during the Era of Stagnation, a time period in which corruption and resistance to reform ran rampant. Masherov was closely affiliated with reformists in the Soviet Union, such as Alexei Kosygin, and was, prior to his death, considered a possible successor to Yuri Andropov in the case that he were to succeed Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . Masherov remains very popular in Belarus to this day, owing to the rapid growth of the economy under his rule. Early life and career. Birth. Pyotr Mironovich Mashero was born on 26 February 1919 in the village of Sirki, Sennensky Uyezd, Western Oblast, in what was then the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. According to family legend, his great-grandfather was a soldier in the army of Napoleon who settled in modern-day Belarus, rather than returning home. Pyotr's father was Miron Vasilievich Mashero, and his mother was Daria Petrovna Lyakhovskaya. Pyotr had seven siblings, of whom four survived  to adulthood. Education. Masherov's education was troublesome; though he graduated primary school, he at first only received a partial secondary education. He had to walk 18 kilometres (roughly 11 miles) to and from school, on homemade skis during the winter. During weekends, Masherov, as well as his father, Miron, and his brother, Pavel, worked part-time jobs loading logs into railway cars. According to the memoirs of Masherov's sister, Olga, during the early 1930s, the family lived hand-to-mouth, both due to harsh weather conditions and incompetency on the recently-formed kolkhoz. The Mashero family was assisted  by Pyotr's sister, Matryona, who lived in Vitebsk and transferred bread and sugar to Shirki.In 1933, Masherov moved to Dvorishche, in Rasony District, where his older brother, Pavel, was a teacher in history and geography. Returning to school, he completed secondary education in 1934, and went to the Vitebsk State University, where he studied to be a teacher in physics and mathematics. He was very active in sports during his studies, participating in both skiing and skating. Masherov graduated in 1939, and became a teacher the same year. Tragedy struck the family in 1937 when, during the Great  Purge, Miron was arrested on charges of "anti-Soviet agitation" and sentenced to ten years of corrective labour. Shortly afterwards, he died. He would later be rehabilitated for lack of evidence, but Pyotr and Pavel were forced to become the family's breadwinners. From 1939 until 1941, Masherov worked as a teacher of physics and mathematics at the secondary school in Rasony. He proved to be popular among the students, and was respected in the area. Masherov also supervised the work of the school's drama circle, and would even star in some plays, such as Alexander Ostrovsky's "The  Forest". Second World War. In 1941, with the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, Masherov volunteered to join the Red Army. Shortly afterwards, in August of 1941, he was captured during fighting near Nevel. He was taken aboard a prisoner train, along with his mother, but escaped captivity after jumping out of the train while it was moving through Rasony district, suffering bruises and scratches. He walked to Rasony, where he left his mother. Following his escape, Masherov began forming the Komsomol underground in Rasony, an early part of what would later grow into the Belarusian resistance during World War II. From  December 1941 to March 1942, he continued his work on the kolkhoz, as well as his teaching activities, while at the same time organising the partisans in Rasony. In this time period, the partisans recruited supporters and gathered equipment. One of their caches was at the office of the dentist in Rasony: Polina Galanova, who would later become Masherov's wife. Using the "nom-de-guerre" of Dubnyak, Masherov was one of the leaders of the Belarusian partisan movement. Starting in April of 1942, Masherov was commander of the N. A. Shchors partisan detachment. He was at first elected as  leader by the partisans, and this was later agreed to by the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement. As commander, he declared one of his former students the detachment's chief of staff. In the first battle involving the detachment, Masherov was wounded, and chose to recuperate in Rasony, in the apartment of one of his former students, despite the objections of his fellow soldiers. He would be wounded another time, and became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in summer of 1943, while at the front. Around the same time, he was promoted to commissar  of the Konstantin Rokossovsky Partisan Brigade, and led the brigade as it relocated to Vileyka. In September 1943, Masherov was promoted yet again, this time to the position of First Secretary of the Vileyka Underground Regional Committee of the Komsomol. In 1944, Masherov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his services as the "first organiser of the partisan movement in the Rasony district of the Vitebsk region, which later grew into a popular uprising and created a huge partisan land of 10 thousand square kilometres". Post-war activities. Following the end of the war, Masherov  turned to politics within the Komsomol; from July 1944 he served as First Secretary of both the Molodechno and Minsk regions, and in October 1947, Masherov was declared First Secretary of the Komsomol of the Byelorussian SSR. According to the memoirs of Vladimir Velichko, who served as personal assistant to Masherov in the 1970s, Masherov participated both in the reconstruction of Molodechno and in campaigns against the cursed soldiers of the Polish Home Army. It was not long before Masherov turned from the Komsomol to the CPB. The shift was allegedly the suggestion of then-First Secretary of the CPB  Nikolai Patolichev, who was impressed by Masherov's activities as head of the Komsomol in Belarus. On 1 August 1955, Masherov was elected as First Secretary of the Brest Regional Committee of the CPB. In Brest, Masherov's activities were similar to what he would later do as First Secretary of the CPB; money was invested into the advancement of mechanical engineering, and both a museum and memorial complex were created to memorialise the defence of Brest Fortress. Development in Brest rapidly accelerated, and great attention was paid to traditional Belarusian culture, with funds being invested in the purchase of  Belarusian musical instruments and literature. In Brest, Masherov lived in what had formerly been the house of a deputy of the Polish Sejm, and usually walked to his office without security. Belarusian cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk recalled that Masherov was held in high regard in the Brest region while he served as First Secretary of the Regional Committee. First Secretary of the CPB (1965–1980). Masherov had been Second Secretary of the CPB under Kirill Mazurov since 1962. Therefore, when Mazurov retired from his position as First Secretary to become First Deputy Premier in 1965, it was logical for Masherov to succeed  him. However, the Soviet government originally sought to put forward Tikhon Kiselyov as their candidate. This effort fell flat, however, when Masherov's allies within the CPB, most of whom were former partisans, backed him up, and he was appointed as First Secretary on 30 March, 1965. Industrialisation. Masherov's primary policy as First Secretary of the CPB was expansion of Belarusian industry. Coming into office the same year as the 1965 Soviet economic reform (popularly known as the Kosygin reform), Masherov established himself as one of its supporters, and enacted it in Byelorussia. Unique among the SSRs, there were  frequently open discussions on the economic situation in Byelorussia, including openly stating issues with the economy. While Masherov was in power, numerous enterprises came into existence, including Grodno Azot, as well as chemical plants in Novopolotsk and Gomel. One of the most well-known hallmarks of Masherov's time as First Secretary was the construction of the Minsk Metro; Gosplan originally intended to build a metro in Novosibirsk (plans which would eventually come to fruition). However, Masherov wrote to Brezhnev (or, alternatively, Kosygin), and eventually got him to support the construction of a metro in Minsk, working with Kiselyov, his  former rival. Masherov did much as First Secretary to modernise Minsk, the nation's capital. He pursued a rapid modernisation of the city, destroying much of the original town which had survived the Second World War; he would later state that he regretted doing this and wished that it had been possible to create something similar to Warsaw Old Town on Niamiha Street. The Minsk Sports Palace was built, and Dinamo Stadium was reconstructed for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Vileyka-Minsk water system was built, as well, providing running water to most of Minsk. Agricultural reforms. Under Masherov's  rule, the Belarusian agricultural industries, which had typically been at the forefront of the economy, expanded further beyond its original. Masherov took power with the ambitious goal of expanding the Belarusian grain harvest from the 2.3 million tons it had been producing to 9-10 million tons, stating that Byelorussia would need to feed itself, as well as other republics within the Soviet Union. His efforts proved, for the most part, successful; by 1977, grain harvest had increased to 7.3 million tons. Masherov raised eyebrows in 1974 when he appointed biologist Viktor Shevelukha as secretary of agriculture in the Central  Committee of the CPB. Though Shevelukha was known at the time as a devoted socialist, and was a member of the CPSU, he was not a politician, as many appointments were at the time, but a professional in the agricultural field. Many of Masherov's other appointments in regards to such matters were also professionals, rather than politicians. This happened largely due to the enthusiastic support of Fyodor Kulakov, who was Secretary of the Central Committee's Agricultural Department; the agreement of the Central Committee was required for any appointments who were not already party officials. Educational policy. With a  background as a teacher, Masherov was immensely interested in the education of Belarusians, especially in sciences. Masherov worked with scientists from across the USSR, including Nikolai Borisevich, President of the Academy of Scientists of the Byelorussian SSR, as well as Mstislav Keldysh, Anatoly Alexandrov, Borys Paton, Alexander Prokhorov, Nikolay Basov, and Nikita Moiseyev, among others. Masherov worked tirelessly to get up-to-date equipment for institutes, including notably purchasing the first echocardiography machine in the BSSR, for the Cardiography Research Institute. Masherov also promoted the expansion of educational institutions; the Brest State Technical University, the Pavel Sukhoi State Technical University  of Gomel, the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, and Polotsk State University were all constructed by Masherov's government. In regards to vocational education, he brought in comprehensive measures to both improve the quality of education and decrease juvenile delinquency, and took inspiration from Anton Makarenko in expanding education at youth detention centres. Masherov also supported increased teaching of foreign languages, as well as education on Belarusian culture. Masherov retained good relations with the Komsomol as First Secretary; it was on his initiative that the BSSR's Komsomol school was opened, as one of the first in the  Soviet Union. However, on the other hand, he also strongly criticised the widespread practise of many Belarusians (up to 100,000 annually) leaving the BSSR to work on Komsomol construction projects; many of these workers would not return, resulting in what Masherov termed a "demographic crisis". War memorialisation. As First Secretary and as a former partisan leader, Masherov supported a policy of memorialisation of the Second World War and the Belarusian partisans. Under Masherov's rule, numerous monuments to the partisans were constructed, such as the Mound of Glory, the memorial to the Khatyn massacre, and the Breakthrough monument. According to  Zair Azgur, Masherov himself drafted the first design of the Mound of Glory. Masherov was also responsible for making the Belarusian contributions to the Soviet war effort more well-known across the Soviet Union. He successfully pushed for Brest Fortress and Minsk to be awarded the title of Hero City, despite reservations from Soviet leadership. Consideration for promotion. Masherov was mentioned as a possible candidate for multiple positions. Prior to his death, he was a candidate member of the Politburo; it has been stated by some, such as the "Washington Post" that he was intended to become Premier following the  death of his mentor, Kosygin. More radically, it has been suggested by "Moskovskij Komsomolets" that Masherov was intended to be a possible successor to Brezhnev as General Secretary of the CPSU, backed up by a reformist "Komsomol Group" which also included Mikhail Zimyanin. The alleged group was opposed to the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia, Brezhnev's clique within the CPSU. However, others dispute this, including Masherov's sister, Olga, saying that Brezhnev and Masherov maintained an amicable relationship, both politically and personally. Conflicts with Soviet leadership. An independent thinker, Masherov set himself apart from many others within the CPSU at the time . While many of his compatriots chose to closely follow the orders of the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, Masherov instead pursued his own course, developing Byelorussia and frequently acting without seeking guidance from Moscow. Masherov's relationship with Brezhnev has been subject to wildly varying accounts, with some, such as Olga Masherova, stating that Brezhnev was hopeful that Masherov would achieve higher office. Others, such as Viktor Shevelukha, claim that the vain Brezhnev was jealous of Masherov, who was genuinely loved by the Belarusian people, something Brezhnev could not replicate on a national level. In particular, Mikhail Suslov, Second Secretary of  the CPSU and the party's primary ideologue, was on poor terms with Masherov. Suslov allegedly sabotaged Masherov's attempts to move upwards by inviting him to the 24th Congress of the CPSU in 1971 and requesting that he give a speech criticising Eurocommunism. This was despite the attendance of Eurocommunist politicians, including Georges Marchais and Dolores Ibárruri, head of the French Communist Party and honorary president of the Spanish Communist Party, respectively. Masherov had no choice but to agree, as Suslov was of higher rank than him, and caused a serious "faux pas". The incident further damaged ties between  Western European communist parties and the CPSU, shortly after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. As this speech had been unplanned prior to the Congress, and unknown to anyone save for Suslov and Masherov, Masherov was harshly criticised by the upper echelons of the CPSU for his unexpected statement, which was considered to be an improper assertion of autonomy on the part of the CPB. The incident dealt a serious blow to any possibility of Masherov becoming a member of the Central Committee. Death. On the evening of 4 October 1980, Masherov left the building of the Central Committee of  the Communist Party of Byelorussia, going to Zhodzina. Due to flaws which had been found in the ZIL which Masherov typically rode in, he instead elected to ride in the GAZ-13 which had been the vehicle driven previously. Masherov was sitting in the front passenger seat, and a security officer was sitting in the back seat. Near Smalyavichy, Masherov's vehicle suffered a head-on collision with a potato truck. Everyone in the vehicle was instantly killed, while the truck driver suffered severe injuries and was taken to the hospital. The Procurator General of the Soviet Union and the KGB  conducted an investigation into the accident, and found it to be an accident; the driver of the potato truck, Nikolai Pustovit, was declared guilty of a traffic safety violation resulting in the deaths of two or more people, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour. However, in 1982, Pustovit's sentence was reduced as part of a general amnesty, and in 1985, he was released. Masherov's funeral was held on 8 October 1980, in Minsk. Tens of thousands of Minsk residents were in attendance, but Mikhail Zimyanin and Petras Griškevičius were the only high-ranking Soviet officials present  following an instruction from the government banning any members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from attending. Conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories exist as to the responsibility for Masherov's death. According to these theories, Masherov was killed on the orders of the higher echelons of Soviet power, out of fear of him rising in the ranks. The organiser of the conspiracy often varies, but Yuri Andropov is most commonly accused. Multiple members of the Belarusian democracy movement, including former Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich, whose political rise was supported by Masherov, and Natalia Masherova, Masherov's daughter, have both  stated their belief that Masherov was assassinated. Legacy. Masherov's legacy has been profoundly felt in Belarus, owing to the economic reforms done under his leadership, as well as recognition of the Second World War's impact on Belarusian society. Masherov was responsible for the construction of the monument to the Khatyn massacre, as well as the Mound of Glory and the Minsk Metro. Masherov supported the production of Elem Klimov's film Come and See, allowing filming to begin. Following Masherov's death, Masherov Avenue in Minsk was named in his honour, but was changed in 2005 to its  current name, Victors Avenue. In 2018, the Belarusian Left Party "A Just World" proposed renaming the Minsk Metro in Masherov's honour, explaining that it was due to his persistence that the metro was constructed. In a poll conducted in June 2012, Masherov was ranked as Belarusians' ideal leader, with 23.2% of the vote; shortly behind him was President Alexander Lukashenko, with 20.6%, and President of Russia Vladimir Putin, with 19.2%. In similar polls going further back, Masherov has also had a great amount of support; in 2008, he was third behind Lukashenko and Putin, at 23.5%. In 2004, he  was second only to Putin, with 32.7%. In 1996, he was overwhelmingly considered to be the most popular leader to Belarusians, with 45.2% of people polled considering him to be an ideal leader. Family and personal life. Masherov was known for his welcoming demeanour and willingness to help others; western diplomats who had met him described him as "urbane and intelligent". He enjoyed ballet and theatre, and often visited performances. He also enjoyed reading, banya, and association football; he interrupted his vacation on the Black Sea to watch the 1980 Summer Olympics' qualifying matches for football, which were held in  Minsk. Masherov was known to visit Białowieża Forest frequently, and fond of flying; he flew 104 times in 1978 alone. Flights with Masherov began very early in the morning, typically around 4:00, and would last the entire day, with many stops. During the late 1970s, Masherov required a kidney removed. It was originally desired that the operation be carried out in Minsk, but at the insistence of his wife, it was carried out in Moscow instead, as she felt that it would be safer there. According to his personal physician, Nikolai Manak, Masherov did not drink, but frequently smoked often , and suffered from high blood pressure due to stress. Masherov's older brother, Pavel, became a major general during the Second World War and was part of Soviet forces during the Allied occupation of Austria. Masherov's eldest daughter, Natalia, later entered politics in independent Belarus, serving as a member of the House of Representatives. Masherova also ran in the 2001 Belarusian presidential election and placed well in polls, but withdrew following a tirade against her by incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko, saying that she did not intend for her campaign to become confrontational.