The Moscow party boss who rebuilt the postwar capital and fell in the succession struggle
On 16 December 1949 the CC plenum dismissed Popov as secretary and Moscow first secretary for 'suppression of criticism, absence of self-criticism, and an incorrect attitude toward cadres.' Khrushchev took his place.
After Shcherbakov's death, Popov became First Secretary of the Moscow city and oblast party committees (1945–1949), leading postwar reconstruction and the city's 800th-anniversary celebrations. Simultaneously elevated to CC Secretary (1946–1949), he was briefly discussed as a potential successor to Stalin. In December 1949 he was abruptly removed for 'suppression of criticism and incorrect cadre policy,' replaced by Khrushchev. He was then shunted through the ministries of Urban Construction and Agricultural Machinery, directed an aviation plant, served briefly as ambassador to Poland, and ended his career as a factory director in the provinces.
Career Timeline
- 1920sKomsomol work in Tambov province and Tatar ASSR
- 1926Joins the Bolshevik Party
- 1928–1938Works at the Central Institute of Labour, Moscow
- 1938Graduates from Industrial Academy (mechanical engineering), becomes CC instructor
- 1938–1945Second Secretary, Moscow City Party Committee
- 1941Member of the Military Council of the Reserve Front (July–October)
- 1944–1950Chairman, Moscow City Executive Committee (de facto mayor)
- 1945–1949First Secretary, Moscow City and Oblast Party Committees
- 1946–1949CC Secretary and Orgburo member
- 1949–1951Minister of Urban Construction → Minister of Agricultural Machinery
- 1951–1953Director, Frunze Aviation Plant, Kuibyshev
- 1953–1954Soviet Ambassador to Poland (recalled for interference)
- 1954–1965Aviation industry management, factory director in Vladimir (1959–), pensioned 1965
Related historical events
The Fall of December 1949
Popov's fall was the result of a political assault that accumulated over months. At the joint Moscow city and oblast party plenum in January 1949, a Khrushchev associate publicly attacked Popov for 'suppression of criticism' and clique politics. Then a Pravda article touting an electric combine harvester, built on Popov's orders as a gift for Stalin's 70th birthday, backfired when Stalin himself rebuked him for allowing the Moscow party committee to issue directives to union-level enterprises, bypassing the Council of Ministers. The decisive blow was an anonymous letter. Its author denounced Popov as being 'possessed by the mania of vozhdism,' planting loyalists in key posts, and claimed that at the 800th-anniversary banquet for Moscow a toast had been raised 'to the future leader of our party, Georgy Mikhailovich.' Stalin formed a commission of Malenkov, Beria, Kaganovich, and Suslov to investigate, and on 16 December 1949 the Central Committee removed Popov as CC Secretary and Moscow First Secretary. Khrushchev took his place. Unlike the victims of the Leningrad Affair, Popov was not arrested. But his political career was effectively over.