Lazer
Kaganovich, the son of Jewish
parents, was
born in Kabany, on 10th November, 1893. He worked as a shoemaker and
joined the the Social Democratic
Labour Party in 1911. A member of the Bolshevik
faction, he took part in the October
Revolution and afterwards became leader of the Communist Party in
the Ukraine.
With the
support of Joseph
Stalin Kaganovich rose quickly in the party hierarchy and by 1930
was a full member of the Politburo. As Stalin's loyal servant,
Kaganovich played a significant role in the collectivization programme
and joined with Vyacheslav
Molotov to oppose suggestions made by Sergey
Kirov to free those imprisoned for political offences. Kaganovich
was also involved in the great purses (1936-38) that removed all of
Stalin's opponents from power.
Kaganovich
held a series of posts as people's commissar including transport
(1935-37), heavy industry (1937-39) and the fuel industry
(1939).
In the Second World War
Malenkov was part of the five-man defence council which managed the
Soviet Union's war effort.
Kaganovich
lost power on the death of Joseph
Stalin in 1953. He opposed the de-Stalinization policies and in the
summer of 1957 he joined with Nikolai
Bulganin, Vyacheslav
Molotov, Georgy
Malenkov in an attempt to oust Nikita
Khrushchev. This was unsuccessful and Kaganovich lost all his
government posts and was expelled from the Communist Party. Lazer
Kaganovich died in Moscow on 25th July, 1991.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
