The last GlavPUR chief who stood to defend the military political organs through perestroika
He declared: "My principles are not changed like banknotes. I will not be the gravedigger of the political organs" — choosing resignation over the liquidation of the military political apparatus.
A career political officer who spent his entire working life in the Soviet armed forces' political apparatus, Lizichev was chosen by Gorbachev in 1985 to succeed Alexei Yepishev as Chief of the Main Political Directorate and lead perestroika in the military. He initially pursued renewal of the political organs, but when reform veered toward anti-army propaganda and the liquidation of the political officer system itself, he broke openly with the General Secretary. Declaring "My principles are not changed like banknotes — I will not be the gravedigger of the political organs," he chose resignation over complicity, becoming the last GlavPUR chief to defend the institution of party control over the armed forces before the Soviet collapse.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1949Graduated Cherepovets Infantry School, began Komsomol political work
- 1957Graduated Lenin Military-Political Academy (correspondence)
- 1960–1965Assistant to GlavPUR Chief for Komsomol work (Colonel)
- 1965–1971Political Dept Chief, 13th Guards Army Corps → First Deputy Chief, Moscow MD Political Directorate (Major General)
- 1971–1980First Deputy Chief, GSVG Political Directorate → Chief, Transbaikal MD Political Directorate (Lt General)
- 1980–1985Deputy Chief of GlavPUR (Colonel General) → Chief of Political Directorate, GSVG
- 1985–1990Chief of GlavPUR, Soviet Army and Navy (Army General, 1986)
- 1990–1992Group of General Inspectors, Ministry of Defence; retired
Related historical events
As GlavPUR Chief: Perestroika and the Defense of the Political Organs
In July 1985 Lizichev, at 57, was named to succeed Alexei Yepishev, who had headed the Main Political Directorate (GlavPUR) for 23 years. The post ranked second only to the Minister of Defence in the armed forces, and its holder was appointed and removed not by the minister's order but by decision of the CPSU Central Committee. Immediately on taking office he set the political organs a course of 'renewal' aligned with Gorbachev's perestroika, and in 1986 he was promoted to Army General and elected to the Central Committee. Around this time he set out his own reform agenda in the book Path of Change, Time for Action (1989), on restructuring party-political work in the army and navy.
As reform deepened, however, and criticism aimed at the army and at the political-officer system itself grew louder in the press and among parts of the intelligentsia, Lizichev was pulled between renewal and defense. He submitted a memorandum to the Central Committee and to Gorbachev personally urging a halt to anti-army propaganda and to the attacks on the political organs, but found no support. According to the recollections of his successors, as leader of an army of about a million Communists in uniform he repeatedly sought a personal audience with Gorbachev, yet was never granted one. The First All-Army Officers' Assembly in December 1989 became a watershed of military reform: its delegates endorsed perestroika in principle while sharply rejecting what they saw as unjustified media attacks on the armed forces, and voiced anger that the Supreme Commander, Gorbachev, ignored the assembly.
When the pressure to liquidate the political organs came to a head, Lizichev refused to yield. 'My principles are not changed like banknotes. I will not be the gravedigger of the political organs,' he declared, and submitted his resignation. Facing the mood demanding the dismantling of the political-officer system, he chose to step down himself, leaving the GlavPUR chief's post in July 1990. Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov later recalled him as 'a strong-willed man of firm convictions' in the period before the Soviet collapse, judging that Lizichev was better informed about the country's situation than other senior commanders and proposed workable measures to strengthen the morale and political condition of the troops, but that the party leadership no longer wished to hear him. Having failed to save the political organs, he served in the Group of General Inspectors and the reserve officers' association 'Megapir', then withdrew from public work through illness, publishing two volumes of poetry in his last years.