People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Political and party leadership 1
Affiliation

Most people

Any Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1

All 1 affiliations

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1
Position
Any Marxism and communism 1
Citizenship
Any Soviet Union 1
Background(set)
Any Russia 306 Ukraine 33 Belarus 13 Armenia 7 Georgia 7 Latvia 6 Azerbaijan 5 Poland 3 Uzbekistan 3 Finland 2 Kazakhstan 2 Kyrgyzstan 2 Lithuania 2 Turkmenistan 2 Estonia 1 Germany 1 Moldova 1 Tajikistan 1
Era(set)
Any

People of the Soviet Union

The revolutionary generation1917–1940 4 People of the Stalin era1929–1953 1 People of the thaw and the stagnation1953–1985 1 The last generation1985–1991 3

People of the wider world

The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 4
Background: Moldova People of the thaw and the stagnation 1953–1985 Clear all

Ivan Ivanovich Bodiul

Иван Иванович Бодюл
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism Soviet Union Moldova 1918–2013 ○ Natural causes

The republic first secretary who ruled Moldavia for nearly 20 years as Brezhnev's close ally

Of writer Ion Druță, forced to relocate to Moscow, Bodiul said publicly: 'If he returns home, I'll hang him on the first lamppost.'

He served nearly 20 years as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Moldavia, one of the longest-serving republican party chiefs in Soviet history. A close Brezhnev ally, he transformed agrarian Moldavia with new industries (machine-building, electronics, food processing) and built some of Europe's largest orchards and livestock complexes. Yet he also pursued aggressive Russification: suppressing Romanian, closing churches, and threatening writer Ion Druță with hanging. Elevated to Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers in 1980, his 2003 Order of the Republic award provoked eight Moldovan writers to renounce their own medals in protest.

Career timeline
  • 1937–1938Senior agronomist, collective farm
  • 1942–1946Veterinary officer, Red Army (127th Guards Artillery Regt → 59th Guards Rifle Div → 10th Guards Rifle Corps)
  • 1946–1951Agricultural aide and inspector, Moldavian SSR Council of Ministers
  • 1951–1956First Secretary, Chișinău / Volontirovka / Olănești District Party Committees
  • 1956–1959Higher Party School graduate; instructor, CC CPSU Org-Party Work Dept
  • 1959–1961Second Secretary, CC of the Communist Party of Moldavia
  • 1961–1980First Secretary, CC of the Communist Party of Moldavia
  • 1980–1985Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers