Georgy Malenkov

Georgy Malenkov
Георгий Маленков
Official portrait, 1953
5th Premier of the Soviet Union
In office 6 March 1953 – 8 February 1955
President	Nikolay Shvernik Kliment Voroshilov
First Deputies	Vyacheslav Molotov Nikolai Bulganin Lavrentiy Beria Lazar Kaganovich
Preceded by	Joseph Stalin
Succeeded by	Nikolai Bulganin
Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union
In office 9 February 1955 – 29 June 1957
Premier	Nikolai Bulganin
In office 2 August 1946 – 5 March 1953
Premier	Joseph Stalin
In office 15 May 1944 – 15 March 1946
Premier	Joseph Stalin
Additional positions Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union In office 31 August 1948 – 16 October 1952 Preceded by Andrei Zhdanov Succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev (de facto) Senior Secretary of Cadres of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union In office 18 March 1946 – 6 May 1946 Preceded by Andrey Andreyev Succeeded by Alexey Kuznetsov (de facto)
Personal details
Born	Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov (1902-01-08)8 January 1902 Orenburg, Russian Empire
Died	14 January 1988(1988-01-14) (aged 86) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow
Citizenship	Soviet
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Stalinists, 1956–1957) (1920–1961)
Domestic partner	Valeriya Golubtsova (1920–1987)
Children	3
Alma mater	Moscow Highest Technical School
Profession	Engineer politician
Religion	Atheist convert to Russian Orthodox
Central institution membership 1946–1957: Full member, 18th, 19th, 20th Presidium July 1948 – March 1953: Member, 18th, 19th Secretariat 1941–1946: Candidate member, 18th Politburo March 1939 – May 1946: Member, 18th Secretariat 1939–1952: Member, 18th Orgburo Leader of the Soviet Union[a] ← Stalin Khrushchev →

Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov^[b] (8 January 1902 [O.S. 26 December 1901]^[1] – 14 January 1988)^[2] was a Soviet politician who briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union after his death in March 1953. After one week, Malenkov was forced to give up control of the party apparatus, but continued to serve as premier. He then entered a power struggle with party leader Nikita Khrushchev, who surpassed Malenkov in the country's leadership by late 1953 before securing Malenkov's removal as premier in 1955.

Malenkov served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War and joined the Communist Party in 1920. From 1925, he served in the staff of the party's Organizational Bureau (Orgburo), where he was entrusted with overseeing member records; this role led to his heavy involvement in facilitating Stalin's purges of the party in the 1930s. From 1939, Malenkov was a member of the party Secretariat, and during World War II was made a member of the State Defense Committee, where his primary responsibilities were aircraft and missile production. In 1946, he became a full member of the Politburo, where his rivals for succession to Stalin were Andrei Zhdanov and Lavrentiy Beria; Malenkov rose in stature after Zhdanov's death in 1948.

Following Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, Malenkov temporarily emerged as his undisputed successor by replacing him as both Chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) and as the highest-ranking member of the Secretariat. However, nine days later the Politburo (then known as the Presidium) forced him to give up the latter position to First Secretary Khrushchev, but allowed Malenkov to retain the premiership. Malenkov initially governed in a troika with Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov until Beria's downfall that June. In policy, he pursued a strategy of peaceful coexistence with the United States, and advocated an economic focus on consumer goods at the expense of heavy industry. Khrushchev prevailed in the power struggle, securing Malenkov's resignation as premier in 1955. After participating in a failed palace coup against Khrushchev in 1957, Malenkov was expelled from the Presidium and demoted to managing a hydroelectric power plant in the Kazakh SSR. Malenkov was later expelled from the party in 1961, and thereafter lived in obscurity.

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