The 'Great Mute' who presided as the party's gatekeeper of Soviet culture for 21 years
He stood by the record player, eyes fixed on the ceiling, listening to the final chords of a Haydn sonata. When the music stopped, he murmured 'a divine work' and invited his guests to sit.
For 21 years under Brezhnev, Vasily Shauro headed the CC CPSU Culture Department, the party apparatus that decided which literature, film, art, and music reached the Soviet public. A Belorussian teacher groomed in Agitprop, he used conservative support to drive Alexander Yakovlev out of the CC in 1973, delaying ideological reform until Gorbachev.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1930–1942Teacher and school director, Vitebsk region
- 1942–1947Instructor and sector head, Propaganda and Agitation Directorate, CC VKP(b)
- 1948–1956CC CP(b) Belorussia apparatus → First Secretary, Minsk Oblast Committee
- 1960–1965Secretary, CC CP Belorussia; Chairman, Supreme Soviet Presidium BSSR (1963–1965)
- 1965–1986Head, CC CPSU Culture Department
- 1986Retired on pension