Brezhnev-era chief of all Soviet publishing and censorship
Rebuking publishers who dared print positive reviews of Bulgakov's work, he declared: 'I don't understand why we should publish a writer who never accepted Soviet power.'
As chairman of Goskomizdat for twelve years under Brezhnev, he controlled the entire Soviet publishing apparatus, all books, newspapers, and magazines, making him the de facto chief of censorship. A journalist by training, he rose from regional newspaper editor to deputy editor of Pravda before taking the helm of the State Committee for Publishing in 1970. Under his watch, the USSR led the world in per-capita book production and undertook ambitious projects like the 200-volume Library of World Literature, yet he remained an ideological hardliner who publicly attacked publishers for issuing positive reviews of Bulgakov, a writer who 'never accepted Soviet power.' After Andropov came to power, he was promoted to head of the CC Propaganda Department, but Gorbachev sidelined him to the ambassadorship in Hungary.
Career Timeline
- 1940–1941Literary contributor, district newspaper Novaya Zhizn, Voronezh Oblast
- 1942–1946Radio specialist, Western and 2nd Belorussian Fronts; entered Berlin
- 1948–1960Editor of district and regional newspapers, culminating as editor of Voronezh Oblast party organ Kommuna
- 1960–1963Instructor and sector head for press, radio, and TV, CC Propaganda Department for the RSFSR
- 1963–1965Chairman, RSFSR Council of Ministers State Committee for Publishing
- 1965–1970Deputy editor, then first deputy editor, Pravda
- 1970–1982Chairman, USSR State Committee for Publishing, Printing and the Book Trade (Goskomizdat)
- 1982–1985Head, CC Propaganda Department
- 1985–1990Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary