A party cadre who moved from army organization to the late Soviet Politburo
In April 1991, while responsible secretary of the All-Army Party Committee, he joined the late Soviet Politburo.
Mikhail Semyonovich Surkov was a Soviet party organizer and politician whose career developed within the armed forces' political apparatus. After working in party-control posts in the army, he entered the Politburo shortly before the Soviet Union's dissolution, embodying the late system's reliance on institutional cadres amid crisis. He later carried that experience into the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the State Duma, and the Accounts Chamber.
Also known as: Mikhail Semenovich Surkov
Activities and affiliations
- 1965–1977 Military command · Soviet Union · Military and defence
Career Timeline
- 1960Began working as an apprentice fitter
- 1965–1977Served in the Soviet armed forces and graduated from the Lenin Military-Political Academy
- 1988–1990Head of the political department of a combined-arms army
- 1990–1991Secretary of the All-Army Party Committee and responsible secretary of the party commission under the Main Political Directorate
- 1991Member of the CPSU Central Committee and Politburo member
- 1995–1999State Duma deputy and deputy chair of the Defence Committee for the Communist faction
- 2000–2007Auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation
The Soviet Politburo
- Full member 1991.04–1991.08
served until the party ban of 1991.11
Related historical events
- 1985–1991Perestroika and GlasnostArmy party reorganization officialDuring perestroika, he was elected secretary of the All-Army Party Committee formed at the First All-Army Party Conference.
- 1991The August Coup and the Collapse of the USSRlate Politburo memberAs a Politburo member in 1991, he was in the party leadership during the coup.
The All-Army Party Committee and the last Politburo
Mikhail Surkov's All-Army Party Committee service coincides with the final reorganization of party organization inside the late Soviet armed forces. He enlisted in 1965, graduated from the Lenin Military-Political Academy in 1977, and served as a political officer in the Leningrad, Moscow, and Transcaucasus military districts; from 1988 he headed a combined-arms army's political department, and in November 1990 became responsible secretary of the party commission under the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy. Amid the military reforms of perestroika, a First All-Army Party Conference united the previously scattered party organizations of the services, and Surkov was elected secretary of the resulting All-Army Party Committee, the last leader of a party structure running through the entire armed forces.
From that platform Surkov was elected a USSR People's Deputy in 1989 by a district of the Armenian SSR, became a Central Committee member in July 1990, and on 25 April 1991 a member of the Politburo. His arrival brought the army's party-control apparatus a seat at the highest table, as Gorbachev's leadership surrendered a senior post to an army-party figure amid crisis. Surkov's Politburo membership ended with the failed coup and the suspension of party activity in August 1991; in his roughly four months there he witnessed the system's final days.