Guardian of state material supply in the Gorbachev era
When Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov was hospitalized with a heart attack in late December 1990, Voronin stepped in as acting Chairman of the Council of Ministers, running the day-to-day operations of the Soviet government until Valentin Pavlov was elected Prime Minister on 14 January 1991.
As chairman of Gossnab (1985–1989), the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply, he oversaw the entire material-allocation apparatus of the late Soviet planned economy and defended the state supply system amid the dislocations of perestroika. Promoted to First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers under Nikolai Ryzhkov (1989–1991), he coordinated economic administration and briefly served as acting premier when Ryzhkov was hospitalized with a heart attack in late 1990.
Career Timeline
- 1949–1959Master → Shop Chief, Plant No. 356, Sverdlovsk
- 1959–1963Chief Engineer, defense enterprises in Kamensk-Uralsky and Sverdlovsk
- 1963–1965Head of Radio-Technical & Electronics Industry Directorate, Middle Urals Sovnarkhoz
- 1965–1968Director, Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, Ministry of Defense Industry
- 1968–1979Directorate Chief → Main Planning-Production Directorate → Deputy Minister of Defense Industry
- 1979–1980First Deputy Minister of Defense Industry, USSR
- 1980–1985First Deputy Chairman, Gosplan USSR
- 1985–1989Deputy Chairman, Council of Ministers & Chairman, Gossnab USSR
- 1989–1991First Deputy Chairman, Council of Ministers · acting Premier during Ryzhkov's hospitalization, Dec 1990
- 1991Permanent Representative of the USSR to the European Communities
Related historical events
The Gosplan Years: Early Economic Reform Initiatives (1983–1985)
Appointed First Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee (Gosplan) in 1980, Voronin served as one of two first deputies under Chairman Nikolai Baibakov, alongside Yuri Maslyukov. Voronin was responsible for planning the civilian sectors of the Soviet economy, while Maslyukov oversaw the military-industrial and heavy-industry portfolios. Both men were regarded as allies of Mikhail Gorbachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov.
In February 1983, shortly after General Secretary Yuri Andropov told the November 1982 Central Committee plenum that the time had come to move 'from words to deeds' on economic reform, Voronin proposed granting enterprises greater autonomy from central government control. This initiative was formalized in the July 14, 1983 CPSU Central Committee–Council of Ministers resolution No. 659, 'On Additional Measures to Expand the Rights of Industrial Production Associations (Enterprises) in Planning and Economic Activity and to Strengthen Their Responsibility for Work Results.' The 'large-scale economic experiment' began on January 1, 1984 across five industrial branches, and Voronin chaired the Council of Ministers commission that oversaw its implementation.
Voronin possessed a clear-eyed understanding of the Soviet planned economy's structural weaknesses. In 1984 he wrote to Council of Ministers Chairman Nikolai Tikhonov, warning that the overcreation of jobs generated by extensive growth was harming labor productivity, a diagnosis consistent with the reform logic that would later underpin perestroika.
When Baibakov was dismissed in October 1985 and replaced by Nikolai Talyzin, Voronin moved in November from Gosplan to become Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply (Gossnab). The Gosplan-to-Gossnab career path was a well-worn one: his predecessor Veniamin Dymshits had followed the same trajectory.