Nikolai Belyaev

Nikolay Ilyich Belyaev
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan
In office 26 December 1956 – 16 January 1960
Preceded by	Ivan Yakovlev
Succeeded by	Dinmukhamed Konayev
First Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Communist Party
In office 28 January – 25 June 1960
Preceded by	Ivan Lebedev
Succeeded by	Fyodor Kulakov
Full member of the 20th Presidium
In office 29 July 1957 – 4 May 1960
Member of the 19th, 20th Secretariat
In office 12 July 1955 – 12 November 1958
Personal details
Born	1 February [O.S. 19 January] 1903 Ufa Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	28 October 1966 (aged 63) Moscow, Soviet Union
Nationality	Soviet
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Profession	Civil servant

Nikolay Ilyich Belyaev (Russian: Никола́й Ильи́ч Беля́ев; 19 January(1 February) 1903 – 28 October 1966) was a Soviet politician. Between 1955 and 1958 he was a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.^[1]

Biography

Belyaev was born in the village Kuterem of Ufa Governorate in Siberia in a family of a Russian peasant. While studying in a secondary school he began his political career as a komsomol activist. In 1925 he graduated from the Plekhanov Russian Economic University in Moscow and returned to Siberia where he served as a Communist Party functionary for the next 30 years. His efforts in the expansion of agriculture in Siberia were noticed by Nikita Khrushchev. As a result, in 1955 Belyaev became one of the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. During the 1957 attempt by Malenkov, Molotov and Kaganovich to demote Khrushchev, Belyaev defended the party leader, for which he was elected to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and became the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. His was dismissed from both positions in 1960 due to the decline in agriculture and, more importantly, due to the poor handling of the 1959 riots in Temirtau that resulted in more than 10 people shot dead and several dozens prosecuted. He was sent to Stavropol Krai where he worked with Mikhail Gorbachev. According to Gorbachev, after the demotion Belyaev lost all enthusiasm; he retired from active duties in 1960 and died in 1966. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.^[1]

References

1. Микалай Аляксандравич Зянькович (2002). Самые закрытые люди: Энциклопедия биографий. Olma Media Group. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-5-94850-035-5. Retrieved 6 August 2012.