Governing the Soviet Union's National Republics by Saulius Grybkauskas

Author:Saulius Grybkauskas [Grybkauskas, Saulius]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, International Relations, General, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, Regional Studies, Young Adult Fiction, Politics & Government
ISBN: 9780429749285
Google: eKYGEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-11-29T05:05:30+00:00

Transcripts of the meetings of the LaCP CC bureau in neighbouring Latvia also clearly demonstrate the second secretaries’ in-depth knowledge of industrial matters, and their familiarity and understanding of the situation in the major industrial enterprises. The transcripts suggest that the second secretaries relished demonstrating their knowledge of local conditions to their Latvian colleagues as if trying to prove that they were not merely temporary guests. For instance, Nikolai Belukha, who was the LaCP CC second secretary from 1963 to 1978, was a prominent and exemplary party figure who did not just perform the tasks delegated to him from Moscow. He undertook a deep analysis of the situation in the republic, visited its cities, and, since he had experience in industrial production, took an interest in industrial matters. Belukha was concerned not only about implementing Moscow’s decisions but also about the economic performance of the republic. Speaking in sports terminology, he was ‘a fan’ of the republic and aimed to contribute to its development as he saw fit.

Interestingly, he was one of the first party leaders in Latvia after national communists in the 1950s to raise the issue of shortages in the labour force. A representative of the centre and a broad thinker, Belukha did not support Peteris Strautmanis, deputy chairman of the Latvian Council of Ministers, and other representatives of the titular nomenklatura who reiterated their opposition to the import of labour force at the LaCP CC bureau. Belukha saw Latvia in the All-Union context and he along with the majority of Russian-Latvians in the power circles of Latvia, were not concerned that the import of labour would reduce the proportion of ethnic Latvians in the republic.

In the mid-1960s, the ethnic situation in Latvia was rather different from that in neighbouring Lithuania. On 30 March 1964, the LiCP CC adopted a resolution on restrictions to the growth of the republic’s major cities – Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai, Klaipėda, and Panevėžys – through the development of regional industrial centres. Meanwhile, the nomenklatura of Soviet Latvia decided to bring in as much labour as necessary for the republic’s industrial sector, regardless of nationality. Belukha supported the import of labour to Latvia, yet the interesting thing was that when talking about industrial growth and the need for a labour force he did not use such ideological concepts as internationalism, friendship of nations, and the like. He approached the situation from the point of view of a representative of industry who thought more in terms of economic rationality than ideology. Belukha disliked the All-Union tendency to develop agriculture and the campaign of land reclamation that began in the mid-1960s because he saw the danger of disproportionate economic development. As a representative of the centre, he had to dive headlong into the promotion and dissemination of the land reclamation campaign, yet he had reservations about it even if he did not dare to openly criticise Moscow’s decisions.

Nikolai Belukha had a significant impact and contribution to the economic specialisation of Soviet Latvia by developing electronic and electrotechnical industries.

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