'Grigory the Builder': led Soviet Armenia for 16 years under Stalin, driving industrialization and a national cultural revival
When urged to seek treatment abroad, he refused: 'If I go to Czechoslovakia for treatment, who will build our Jermuk?' He waded through mud himself to stake out the resort site — today Jermuk is Armenia's premier spa town.
Appointed First Secretary of the CP of Armenia in 1937 during the Great Purge, he led the republic for 16 years, driving heavy industry, the modern urban design of Yerevan, and a cultural revival centered on the 1,000th anniversary of the David of Sasun epic. Dismissed in 1953, he worked on a state farm and lived out his remaining years quietly.
Career Timeline
- 1921–1922Head of Propaganda, then Secretary, Telavi Uyezd Committee, CP(b) Georgia
- 1922–1924Student, Marx Institute of National Economy, Moscow (did not graduate)
- 1927–1930Rural work curator, Central Committee, CP(b) Georgia
- 1931–1934Head of Organizational Dept, member of Secretariat, CP(b) Georgia
- 1934–1937Secretary (First, then Second), Tiflis City Committee
- 1937–1953First Secretary, Central Committee, CP(b) Armenia
- 1941–1945Member, Military Council of the Transcaucasian Front
- 1953–1955Chairman, sovkhoz near Yerevan
Related historical events
Cultural Nation-Building and Protecting Intellectuals During the Great Purge
Arutinov arrived in Armenia in 1937 as a Georgian-raised Armenian who did not even speak the language, yet over 16 years he became the republic's foremost patron of cultural revival. His first major initiative was the 1,000th anniversary celebration of the national epic David of Sasun, followed by the triumphant 1939 Dekada of Armenian Art in Moscow, which established Armenia's reputation across the USSR as a 'land of high culture.' Arutinov personally commissioned Aram Khachaturian to write a ballet, founded the State Symphony Orchestra, and created ensembles for folk song (Altunyan), gusan music (Sahakyan), the Komitas Quartet, and a jazz orchestra under Ayvazyan.
His real test, however, came in shielding cultural figures from the NKVD at the height of the Great Purge. When People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Khvorostyan pressed for the arrest of poet Avetik Isahakyan over past Dashnak ties, Arutinov pushed back: 'Doesn't Isahakyan's very return to Soviet Armenia speak for itself?' He protected painter Martiros Saryan in the same manner. Isahakyan later lived in a villa Arutinov had built for him on Baghramyan Avenue and coined Arutinov's nickname 'Grisha-Shinarar' (Grigory the Builder). When the NKVD moved to close the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Arutinov insisted on Moscow's approval, stalling until a carefully worded phone call with Stalin allowed him to withdraw the proposal and save the monastery.
During the war, in 1943, he secured Stalin's approval to establish the Armenian Academy of Sciences, recruiting Iosif Orbeli as its first president and Viktor Ambartsumian as vice-president. The vision for Yerevan's Matenadaran manuscript repository was also his. Arutinov's era captures a distinctive late-Soviet moment: a figure who could serve simultaneously as a loyal executor of the Stalinist system and a guardian of national culture.
Cultural Revival: Epic Millennium and the Moscow Arts Decade
Upon arriving in Armenia, Arutinov immediately launched preparations for the 1,000th anniversary of the national epic David of Sasun. In 1939, commemorative editions were published in multiple languages and a monumental equestrian statue was erected at Yerevan's railway station square; leading cultural figures from across the Soviet Union were invited to the celebrations. That same year, he spearheaded the "Decade of Armenian Art" in Moscow, a showcase of national culture on the union stage. He proposed that Aram Khachaturian compose a ballet and brought Ruben Simonov, Melik-Pashayev, and other prominent artists onto the preparatory commission. Under his patronage, the Komitas Quartet, the gusan ensemble, and a jazz orchestra were founded, and the Moscow performances were a resounding success.
Even amid the Great Purge, Arutinov shielded leading cultural figures, including painter Martiros Saryan and poet Avetik Isahakyan, from NKVD arrest. During his tenure the Armenian Academy of Sciences (1943) and the Matenadaran manuscript institute were established, and scholars such as Viktor Ambartsumian were recruited to the republic. This cultural revival stands as a distinctive case of Armenian national identity being reconstructed within the Soviet framework.