Khrushchev's civilian interior minister who tried and failed to dismantle the informant system
In 1959 Dudorov signed an order to phase out the militsiya's informant and agent-provocateur system — a nearly unique attempt in Soviet police history. It was blocked almost immediately and buried when he was dismissed the following year.
A civilian interior minister appointed by Khrushchev to displace the Stalin-era NKVD veterans, serving as head of the MVD from 1956 to 1960. A chemical engineer by training, he rose through construction and industrial bureaucracy before leading the CPSU Central Committee's Construction Department in 1954. As minister, he attempted to reorganize the Gulag into smaller correctional colonies and, in 1959, sought to phase out agent-provocateur and informant methods in the militsiya, an effort that failed. His tenure coincided with the rapid decline of the MVD's standing after the KGB split, and he left office when the all-union MVD was abolished in 1960.
Career Timeline
- 1922–1929Apprentice then master at the Kalinin Crystal Factory, Moscow
- 1929–1934Student at Moscow Chemical-Technological Institute (Mendeleev Institute)
- 1934–1937Head of the Triplex shop at the Avtosteklo factory, Moscow
- 1937–1949Production, party committee, and administrative posts in the heavy industry and construction materials commissariats
- 1950–1952Head of Construction Department, Moscow City Party Committee; then Deputy Chairman of Moscow City Executive Committee
- 1954–1956Head of Construction Department, CPSU Central Committee
- 1956–1960USSR Minister of Internal Affairs (MVD): Gulag reorganisation, attempt to abolish militsiya informant system
- 1960–1972General Commissioner for the 1967 World Exhibition; then head of Glavmospromstroymaterialy
The 1959 Attempt to Abolish the Militsiya Informant System
In 1959, Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Dudorov signed an order that was nearly unprecedented in Soviet history: a directive to phase out the network of secret informants and agent-provocateurs (агентурная работа) operated by the militsiya, the ordinary police force. Throughout the Stalin era and well into Khrushchev's tenure, the militsiya maintained an extensive web of civilian informants, serving as the grassroots surveillance apparatus for both crime prevention and social control.
Dudorov's reasoning rested on the fact that the KGB was now solely responsible for political investigations, rendering the militsiya's secret informant surveillance of ordinary citizens unnecessary. But the initiative collided with fierce resistance from within the Party and the KGB. While Khrushchev's de-Stalinization had curtailed the political police, the idea of fully dismantling the militsiya's informant network was seen as a threat to systemic stability.
The reform was blocked almost as soon as it was launched, and in May 1960 Dudorov was dismissed as interior minister. The all-union MVD itself was abolished and devolved to republican-level interior ministries. His informant reform remained a taboo untouched in Soviet law enforcement until the perestroika era of the late 1980s.