CC department head who directed the Soviet chemical industry
"Without the chemical industry, not a single national task can be solved at an optimal level," he declared in his 1973 book, justifying full-spectrum chemicalization as a party line.
A graduate of the Moscow Institute of Chemical Machine Building, Bushuyev rose from Gosplan engineer to a figure who straddled central planning and party supervision of the Soviet chemical industry. As head of the Chemical Industry Department of the CPSU Central Committee from 1965 to 1976, he directed from the party line the Kosygin-era modernization drive: a massive expansion of synthetic rubber, plastics, mineral fertilizers, and petrochemicals. He simultaneously served on the Central Auditing Commission (1966–1981), overseeing party finances and documentation, and was a three-term deputy to the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. His 1973 book The Chemical Industry in Light of the Decisions of the 24th Party Congress became a standard party reference for chemical-industry policy under Brezhnev.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1941Graduated Moscow Institute of Chemical Machine Building
- 1942–1950sEngineer → senior engineer, State Planning Commission (Gosplan)
- 1947Joined the VKP(b)
- 1950s–1965Sector head → deputy department head, Gosplan under the USSR Council of Ministers
- 1965–1976Head of the Chemical Industry Department, CPSU Central Committee
- 1966–1981Member of the Central Auditing Commission, CPSU
- 1967–1980Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (7th, 8th, 9th convocations)
Related historical events
From Gosplan to the CPSU Central Committee’s Chemical Industry Department
From 1942 to 1976, Bushuyev worked as an engineer and sector chief in the State Planning Commission (Gosplan), became a deputy head of a department of the State Planning Commission under the USSR Council of Ministers, and then headed the Chemical Industry Department of the CPSU Central Committee. His career shows chemical-industry policy being handled both by state economic-planning bodies and by the party’s central apparatus. He headed the Central Committee department from 1965 to 1976 and served on the CPSU Central Auditing Commission from 1966 to 1981. He was also elected to the 7th, 8th, and 9th convocations of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet. His 1973 book, The Chemical Industry in Light of the Decisions of the 24th Congress of the CPSU, addressed this policy field.