Pyotr Masherov

Pyotr Masherov
Пётр Машэраў
Masherov as shown on a 1996 stamp of Belarus
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia
In office 30 March 1965 – 4 October 1980
Preceded by	Kirill Mazurov
Succeeded by	Tikhon Kiselyov
Candidate member of the 23rd, 24th, 25th Politburo
In office 8 April 1966 – 4 October 1980
Personal details
Born	Piatro Mironavič Mašera (1919-02-26)26 February 1919 Shirki, Western Oblast, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (now Belarus)
Died	4 October 1980(1980-10-04) (aged 61) Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus)
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1943–1980)
Other political affiliations	Communist Party of Byelorussia
Spouse	Polina Andreyevna
Relations	3 sisters 1 brother
Children	Natalia, Yelena
Profession	Teacher, civil servant
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Branch/service	Red Army Soviet partisans
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Major general
Battles/wars	World War II Belarusian partisan movement
Pyotr Masherov's voice Masherov at the Second All-Union Conference of Peace Champions Recorded 1952

Pyotr Mironovich Masherov^[a] (né Mashero^[b]; 26 February [O.S. 13 February] 1919 – 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.^[1] 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.^[2] Following his father's arrest and death during the Great Purge,^[3] Masherov joined the Red Army following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, and rose to the rank of major general.^[2] 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.^[4]

Masherov was known for his down-to-earth demeanour and for his humility,^[4] 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,^[4] 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.^[5] Masherov remains very popular in Belarus to this day, owing to the rapid growth of the economy under his rule.^[1]

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