Viktor Krupyna

Oleksandr Liashko (1916-2002) was a prominent politician and statesman of the Ukrainian SSR. He began his career as an engineer in 1945 and later served as the secretary of both the Kramatorsk City Committee and the Donetsk Oblast Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. He eventually rose to the position of second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and later became the head of the government of the Ukrainian SSR from 1972 to 1987. After a distinguished career and with a deep understanding of the system, Liashko began writing his memoirs upon retiring in 1987, which he published as a trilogy in 1997. Drawing from a variety...

On 12 February 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine issued a resolution canceling the temporary financial allowances that had been in place since 1948. At first glance, this measure seemed aimed at addressing social inequities and equalizing compensation among various categories of party officials. The resolution’s title (“On the Cancellation of the Payment...”), its rationale (“excessive gap”), and its directive (“to completely cancel”) suggest a democratic gesture, in line with the spirit of the Khrushchev era, which sought to improve social standards. However, the actual details of the resolution, including the new salary levels for the privileged nomenklatura listed in two appendices, undermine the impression that this was a...

After Stalin's death, the “collective leadership” of his associates, who shared power, sought to prevent the concentration of authority in a single individual. One outcome of this was the end of “hybrid” resolutions for determining the compensation of the nomenklatura. Instead, the party and the government began introducing new measures separately but in parallel, with the party maintaining its dominant role. On March 16, 1956, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers each adopted resolutions—identical in content—that altered the procedures for calculating temporary financial support. On April 13, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine adopted its own decision on financial privileges, and on April 20, it approved...

On August 12, 1952, the Soviet government issued a resolution titled “On Temporary Financial Allowances,” which was subsequently adopted by the Ukrainian government and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on August 25. Although the all-Union decree was only passed by the government without the Central Committee of the CPSU's direct involvement, this distinction was negligible as both bodies were led by J. Stalin. Unlike the earlier 1948 resolution, the title of this did not directly address the essence of the changes; instead, it subtly indicated a worsening of the financial conditions for the ruling elite. The resolution included a justification for the reduction of temporary allowances, citing “a serious...

In January 1948, after the introduction of temporary allowances, a privileged subset of staff within central, regional, and oblast government centers emerged, leading to greater internal differentiation. Despite some secrecy surrounding the arrangement, information about the financial privileges leaked, causing frustration among other party members. Upon discovering the significant disparities in salaries, a group of apparatchiks from the Kharkiv Oblast Committee of the CP(b)U appealed to the Party Control Commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a body seen as a fair arbiter within the party. Interestingly, the appeal was directed to Moscow, bypassing Kyiv, where such a complaint should have been addressed according to the established hierarchy. This choice suggests that...