Zhdanov's GlavPUR chief who survived the Leningrad Affair: political commissar of the postwar Red Army
As political officer for the 'Road of Life' across frozen Lake Ladoga during the siege of Leningrad, Shikin personally inspected convoys crossing the ice to ensure supplies reached the starving city.
A Zhdanov protégé who rose through the political commissar ranks, Shikin oversaw political work on the 'Road of Life' during the Siege of Leningrad and served as head of the Red Army's Main Political Directorate (GlavPUR) from 1945 to 1949, the chief political-ideological officer of the Soviet armed forces in the critical postwar transition. He succeeded Shcherbakov in the post but was swept out by the Leningrad Affair in 1949; unlike most leading Zhdanovites he escaped arrest, though he was demoted to head the Lenin Military-Political Academy. He later served in the Party-State Control Committee and was appointed Soviet ambassador to Albania in 1960, only to be recalled amid the Albanian-Soviet split.
Career Timeline
- 1927–1939Joins VKP(b) 1927; graduates Krupskaya Communist University (1931); works at Gorky Automobile Plant, then secretary of Avtozavodsky district party committee, Gorky
- 1939–1941Transfers to Red Army political work; head of political department, Military Electrotechnical Academy (1939); deputy head of Political Propaganda Directorate, Leningrad Military District (1940–1941)
- 1941–1942Member of Military Council, Northern Front; head of Political Directorate, Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts — responsible for political supervision of the 'Road of Life'
- 1942–1945Head of Propaganda and Agitation Directorate, deputy head of GlavPUR under Shcherbakov; directs wartime army political work
- 1945–1949Head of GlavPUR (Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Armed Forces); promoted Colonel-General Sept 1945; concurrently Member of Military Council, High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East
- 1949–1950Dismissed in the Leningrad Affair; demoted to head of the Lenin Military-Political Academy
- 1950–1960Inspector, deputy head, 1st deputy head of CC Party Organs Department for Union Republics; member of Central Auditing Commission from 1956
- 1960–1973Soviet Ambassador to Albania (1960–1961), recalled amid Albanian-Soviet split; 1st Deputy Chairman, Party-State Control Committee (1962–1965); 1st Deputy Chairman, People's Control Committee (1965–1973)