Mikhail Sergeevich Smirtyukov (September 13, 1909[1] – December 26, 2004) was a Soviet statesman.

Mikhail Smirtyukov
Михаил Смиртюков
6th Managing Director of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
In office
December 18, 1964 – July 17, 1989
Prime MinisterAlexey Kosygin
Nikolay Tikhonov
Nikolay Ryzhkov
Preceded byGeorgy Stepanov
Succeeded byMikhail Shkabardnya
Personal details
BornSeptember 13, 1909
Govorenki Village, Likhvinsky District, Kaluga Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedDecember 26, 2004 (aged 95)
Moscow, Russia
Resting placeNovodevichy Cemetery
Political partyAll–Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) since 1940
EducationMoscow State University (1931)
ProfessionLawyer
Awards
Military service
Battles/warsGreat Patriotic War

He became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1940, a member of the Central Committee (1981–1990, candidate since 1976), a member of the Central Audit Commission (1971–1976), and a member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union (1966–1989).

Biography edit

 
Grave of Smirtyukov at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow

Smirtyukov was born into a peasant family, and after Lenin's death, joined the Communist Youth League in response to the Lenin Enrolment.

Between 1924 and 1927, he became the secretary of the village council, the secretary of the village cooperative, and the head of the club. In the spring of 1927, he graduated from high school.

He graduated from the faculty of Soviet Law of Moscow State University, where he studied in 1927–1931.

In October 1930, he worked in the apparatus of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, where he started out as a senior assistant, consultant, head of sector, and Assistant Secretary of the Economic Council. He eventually became Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union and assistant to the authorized State Defense Committee for the Supply of the Red Army Anastas Mikoyan in 1941. Smirtyukov continued to climb his way up, becoming the Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in March 1946.

Smirtyukov became the Deputy Manager of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union in 1953 and the managing director of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union in December 1964.

Among the members of the Political Bureau, he was the only one who was sent the most confidential orders of the highest governing body in the country, and the secretaries and heads of departments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were asked to coordinate the most important plans and resolutions with him.[2]

From July 1989, he was a personal pensioner of national importance; in 1989–1990, he was an adviser to the manager of affairs of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Mikhail Shkabardnya.[3]

He is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery (3rd section, 1st row).[citation needed]

Family edit

Wife – Smirtyukova Vera Fedorovna (1908–1980), Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Awards and commemoration edit

 
A plaque on the house of Mikhail Smirtyukov

Compositions edit

  • Soviet State Administration Apparatus: Questions of the Organization and Activity of Central Bodies – 2nd Edition, Revised and Enlarged – Moscow: Publishing House of Political Literature, 1984 – 287 Pages

References edit

Sources edit

  • Smirtyukov, Mikhail Sergeevich. Site "Heroes of the Country"
  • Smirtyukov Mikhail Sergeevich – article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  • Biographies
  • Moscow Graves. Mikhail Smirtyukov, Photography, Smirtyukov Mikhail Sergeevich (1909–2004)
  • Zhirnov, Evgeny (2011). "The State is Him: The Life Story of Mikhail Smirtyukov – a Man Who Worked 60 years in the Kremlin, Told by Himself". Коммерсантъ. 33 (937). Kommersant Power.