The RSFSR premier who rose in the Leningrad Affair's wake and fell at the 19th Party Congress
In October 1952, immediately after the 19th Party Congress, Chernousov was removed from the Orgburo and the RSFSR premiership. His next job was director of the Moscow Searchlight Plant.
A technocratic party official born in Syzran to a railway worker, Chernousov began in Komsomol and graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. From 1939 to 1948 he served as Second Secretary of the Moscow Oblast Committee under Alexander Shcherbakov, then was appointed RSFSR premier in March 1949 after Mikhail Rodionov was purged in the Leningrad Affair. Immediately after the 19th Party Congress in October 1952 he was stripped of all party posts and demoted to director of the Moscow Searchlight Plant; only after Stalin's death was he brought back as Deputy Minister of the Automobile Industry, ending his career quietly in Gosplan and Comecon.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1949–1952Chairman, RSFSR Council of Ministers
- 1949–1952Member, Orgburo of the CC VKP(b)
- 1948–1949Head, Dept. of Party, Trade Union & Komsomol Organs, CC VKP(b)
- 1939–19482nd Secretary, Moscow Oblast Committee VKP(b)
- 1939–1952Candidate member, CC VKP(b)
- 1938–19391st Secretary, Stalinsky District Committee, Moscow
- 1955–1957Deputy Minister, Automobile Industry USSR
- 1952–1955Director, Moscow Searchlight Plant
From the Party center to government, and the career after his demotion
After serving as Second Secretary of the Moscow Regional Party Committee from 1939 to 1948, Chernousov headed the Central Committee department for party, trade-union, and Komsomol organizations in 1948–49. On 10 March 1949 he became chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, a post he held until 1952. During this period he was a candidate member of the Party Central Committee and a member of its Orgburo. In 1952 he lost his Party and government posts and was transferred to direct the Moscow Searchlight Plant. He returned to government after Stalin's death, serving as deputy minister of the USSR automobile industry in 1955–57, then working in the State Planning Committee and the Councils of National Economy from 1957. From 1964 he was an adviser in the USSR permanent mission to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.