Longest-serving Minister of Communications who ran front-line signals at the Battle of Moscow and built Soviet telecom for 27 years
On 2 September 1945, Stalin singled out 'the signal troops under Colonel-General Psurtsev' in his order marking victory over Japan. Three years later Stalin himself proposed him as Minister of Communications.
Nikolai Psurtsev was the longest-serving Minister of Communications in Soviet history, heading the ministry from 1948 to 1975 and overseeing telephone, telegraph, postal, and broadcasting infrastructure from post-war reconstruction through the Brezhnev years. Born into a Russian peasant family in Kiev, he began as a teenage telegraphist and handled signals for the 9th and 12th Armies during the Civil War. As chief of signals of the Western Front, he kept command communications running through Belarus, Smolensk, and the Battle of Moscow, later directing signals for the high command in the 1945 war against Japan. As minister he built the Moscow–Vladivostok cable trunk line, created the world's first satellite TV network 'Orbita', and initiated the Intersputnik international satellite organization.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1918–1921Red Army telegraphist, commissar of signals for 9th and 12th Armies
- 1924Graduated Higher Military Signal School; Dep. Chief of Signals, Siberian MD
- 1927–1930Commander and commissar, 10th Independent Signal Regiment
- 1934Graduated Military Electrotechnical Academy; Asst. to Red Army Signals Directorate
- 1936–1937Chief, communications centre, People's Commissariat of Defence
- 1937–1939Head of long-distance telephone-telegraph directorate, then plenipotentiary for Far East, People's Commissariat of Communications
- 1939–1940Soviet-Finnish War: Chief of Signals, Northwestern Front
- 1940–1941Deputy Chief, Red Army Signals Directorate
- 1941–1944Chief of Signals, Western Direction & Western Front (Belarus, Smolensk, Moscow, Rzhev)
- 1944–1946First Deputy Chief, Main Signals Directorate, Red Army
- 1945War vs. Japan: Chief of Signals, HQ of Soviet Forces in the Far East
- 1946–1948Chief of Communications, General Staff
- 1947–1948First Deputy Minister of Communications, USSR
- 1948–1975Minister of Communications, USSR (longest tenure: 27 years)
- 1961–1976Candidate member, CPSU Central Committee
- 1975–1980Personal pensioner of union significance
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionRed Army signalman
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarNorthwestern Front chief of signalsHe served as chief of signals of the Northwestern Front in the Soviet-Finnish War.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarChief of Signals, Western Front; Chief of Signals, Far East CommandAppointed Chief of Signals of the Western Front on 3 July 1941, he reported to S.K. Timoshenko at the Gnezdovo command post west of Smolensk and took up his duties. He maintained command communications through the Battle of Moscow, and in 1945 directed signals for the Soviet Far East Command in the war against Japan. For his wartime service he received the Order of Suvorov 2nd Class, the Order of Kutuzov 1st and 2nd Class, and four Orders of the Red Banner; Stalin singled out his signal troops in the victory order of 2 September 1945.
Building the post-war communications network as minister
Psurtsev was appointed Minister of Communications of the USSR on 30 March 1948 on Stalin's proposal and held the post until September 1975. After the war it was not enough to restore the communications facilities destroyed in the fighting; a broadly branched network of cable and radio-relay trunk lines had to be built anew. In 1963, on the proposal of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Communications, work began on the Unified Automated Communications Network (EASS), which was to bind the country's communications into a single system; a Party and Council of Ministers decision assigned its operation to the Ministry of Communications, under which an interdepartmental coordination council chaired by Psurtsev was established. During his tenure an automatic telephone network and satellite communications were introduced, the longest cable trunk line, from Moscow to Vladivostok, was laid, and an all-union radio and television transmitting station was built. The communications satellites Molniya-1 and Molniya-2 were launched, and Orbita, the world's first satellite network for distributing television programmes via fixed and mobile ground receiving stations, was created. He was also the initiator of the founding of Intersputnik. On 3 February 1975 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labour for his services in developing communications, radio broadcasting and television.