Lev Nikolayevich Saikov

Lev Nikolajewitsch Saikow ( Russian Лев Николаевич Зайков ; English: Lev Zaikov; born April 3, 1923 in Tula , † January 7, 2002 in Saint Petersburg ) was a Soviet manager and politician.

Life

Rise of the economist

Saikow trained as a lathe operator from 1940 . After the Second World War he attended the Leningrad Institute of Technology and Economics. Up until the mid-1970s, he gained a great reputation as a dynamic and effective manager and director of industrial companies, presumably in the armaments sector.

In 1976 he was a member of the Leningrad City Soviet , but did not hold any positions in the Communist Party ( CPSU ) of the USSR . Then, surprisingly, from 1983 to 1985 , he became First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee. He succeeded Grigory Romanov, who was appointed to the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and later Politburo member . His very steep rise as a man who was not the typical representative of the party continued. As part of the “Program-90” campaign, Saikov published a notable article in Pravda in 1984 that outlined his innovative goals for economic renewal.

At the center of power

He was called to Moscow by the General Secretary of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev . Gorbachev describes him as " one of the greatest experts in the field of industry and as a connoisseur of armaments production ", and "in character " as a " balanced, calm, disciplined man ." From July 1, 1985 to July 13, 1990 he was secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, responsible for the military-industrial complex. At the same time he was deputy chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR.

In 1986 he rose to the highest political body of the USSR, he became a full member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from March 6, 1986 to July 14, 1990. From 1987 to 1989 he was also First Secretary of the KP - Moscow City Committees. At Gorbachev's request, he temporarily replaced Boris Yeltsin in this role . He supported Gorbachev in his reform projects (keywords: glasnost and perestroika ) to reshape the Soviet Union, but left at his own request on the XXVIII. CPSU party congress of July 1990 from his offices.

literature

• Mikhail Gorbachev: Memories, Settlers, Berlin, 1995, ISBN 3-88680-524-7