Corruption in the USSR: How officials took bribes and promoted their children

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Exclaiming, they say "Stalin is not on you!" most are convinced that there was no corruption in the USSR. And if there was, then somewhere in the outback, "away from Stalin" and the party elite. Meanwhile, even the official data show that corruption was not only blooming, but flourishing, however, as always in Russia. Superfluous evidence of this is the OBKHSS, which was supposed to keep this issue under control and not allow bribe-takers of all stripes to relax too much.

The forms of corruption in the USSR were certainly different from those of today. At least the fact that money did not play a key role in them. However, corruption in other forms remains corruption. In addition, it was precisely the nomenklatura relations created by Stalin that contributed to the flourishing of corruption, nepotism and cronyism. Under Stalin, a system of bonuses was created for party members in higher positions - official cars, apartments and even summer cottages, and the higher the position, the higher the class of privileges provided.

By today's standards, such privileges are pure corruption, when a party worker, a civil servant uses his official position to improve his material well-being. The sign of equality between power and a high level of well-being at that time was so entrenched in the mind that it still lives on. Even the possession of the slightest power is perceived in such a context, they say, the position opens up huge opportunities for enrichment and implementation of corruption and fraudulent schemes.

Under the veil of secrecy

It is not surprising that this topic is one of the most closed, especially during the reign of Joseph Stalin. He himself was traditionally represented as an ascetic who is not attached to things at all and has no interest in money. Of course, why should Stalin, who lives on full state support, and builds one dacha after another with the people's money? Although his salary was the highest in the country, and after his death, no savings were found (or made public). This suggests that either Stalin himself found a use for them, or the officers who carried out the inventory and inspection of the place of the leader's death were worried about the fate of cash.

It is quite difficult to find out for certain how the representatives of the party elite lived, how they led their life and what they considered a luxury, to what way of life they gravitated. However, there was a party control commission that monitored corruption cases. It was created for a reason; most of the cases of corruption settled in it, which it was decided not to give way to. For such a violation, they could well have limited themselves to a party penalty, apparently not forgetting that the hand washes the hand. Simply put, it was this body that decided how correct it would be to make this or that case public and how it would affect the reputation of the entire party and state.

The main form of corruption in the 1940s was based on the principle of distribution of supplies. Those who were at the top of the supply chain and had initial access to a scarce commodity and were more likely to get it. Further on the residual principle. However, this model worked at all stages of distribution of goods to enterprises and shops. In conditions of a shortage, bribes were given with food, furniture, utensils, building materials - whatever, the main thing is that one side has this benefit, and the other does not even have to need it. For in a country in which money plays a nominal role, any marketable commodity can be exchanged, "pushed", negotiated on barter.

Another form of corruption, popular in the USSR, and even today, is more likely to be related to Russian traditions, intertwined with hospitality. But any inspector who arrives at the site becomes the most dear guest who is served a rich table. In the conditions of the Soviet deficit, this was a "task with an asterisk." Even in the post-war period, when the country had not yet risen from the ruins, there were caviar, hazel grouse, and pastries on the officials' tables. While the country simply did not have enough food, for example, according to official data, immediately after the war, one person (resident of the Sverdlovsk region) accounted for half of one egg per month! Nominally, in 1945, the government banned banquets, they say, "not to fat", they themselves regularly violated this decree.

Corruption? No, you don’t understand, this is different

Would Stalin really have tolerated this? But there was an explanation for that. The Great October Revolution has already taken place, the people have come to power. The whole country is not a people and ruling classes, but a single system in which there is a people and a state, as the number of the most talented and capable people from the people. Previously, the state was assembled from capitalists and thieves, and the Soviet government was something conceptually new and perfect. After all, they are from the people, nominated by the people and the only thing that worries them is the well-being of their big country.

For this simple reason, corruption as such could not exist in the USSR (in the opinion of Stalin and the ruling elite). At that time, corruption was generally understood to be something different. Since the highest value in the USSR was a sense of collectivism, then corruption, first of all, meant that a person puts his own interests above those of the state. That is, a corrupt official was a representative of the bourgeois past, and since all elements were etched out and destroyed, then a corrupt official who suddenly appeared in the Soviet system was perceived as a person who suddenly caught a virus. Let it be bourgeois. And if this virus is not in the country, then it is likely that it appeared due to foreign influence.

The fight against this was carried out in a more systemic way, that is, it is not the corrupt official who is to blame, that he is a thief and a grabber, but the system has malfunctioned somewhere. Simply put, any corruption case, which would be given a course, would testify to the fact that some parasites were replaced by others, and the people are still starving. This could not be allowed, the party leadership could not show its people that this ruling elite is now and then tempted by the riches and benefits to which it has access. In such a situation, there would be no question of any socialism and its construction.

In response to yet another corruption attempt, the screws were tightened more in order to completely suppress harmful communication and any interaction with the bourgeoisie of the capitalist countries. After all, it is their example that corrupts and pulls the Soviet leadership and people into the abyss. Thus, rather cleverly, the reason for corruption was found outside the party itself, and its members again waged an irreconcilable struggle with the bourgeois elements.

As for the arrangement of their children, in the USSR a rather actively working scheme for promoting their children up the career ladder was debugged. Let's say that Ivanov is a big boss in the road sector, and Sidorov is in the fish industry. If Ivanov's children begin to actively promote in the area where their father works, it will be at least ugly. But if you come to an agreement with Sidorov and help each other, then everything will turn out smoothly and without questions. So, the children of the conditional Ivanov made a successful career in the fish industry, thanks to Sidorov. Whose children, in turn, excelled in the road sector under the wing of Ivanov.

The loudest corruption cases in the USSR

Despite the fact that more and more often it was "sewn covered", it was impossible to hide everything, several high-profile cases still managed to become public property.

One of the most high-profile cases of corruption took place in Leningrad, almost immediately after the war. The city has not even had time to recover from the blockade, but has already begun to choke in a wave of crime. Various types of criminals who flooded the city deftly evaded the bans on entry and registration of citizens, moreover, they began to completely control its life.

Karnakov is the leader of the group, who posed as a district prosecutor, he and his accomplices, had huge appetites, there was no area in which they would not try to cash in. For a certain reward, they could help with registration, release, demobilization, knock out benefits. Of course, it was a huge network, which included people working in various structures and departments, including the police. After the scheme was opened, more than 300 people passed through it, among them were employees of the prosecutor's office, the police, and the court, and the passport office.

The list with all the names and surnames of the service was put on the table to the first secretary of the city party committee. He lived in a huge mansion, which had two dozen rooms, and was in no hurry to change anything in the working criminal scheme. "Scorpions" - this is how the case went in the police reports, they were too high-ranking people and there were too many of them to just take and stir up their nest. But the head of the State Security Department of Leningrad personally reported to Stalin and achieved his goal, personnel purges followed one after another, as well as arrests and confiscations of property.

Mikhail Isaev, who headed the supply department of Rosglavkhleb, also could not resist enriching himself and created a criminal scheme, which, however, by modern standards, seems touching in its naivety. It's simple, he wrote off scarce goods to trusts - sugar, flour. They thanked him in whatever way they could. With each such "order" he did not forget to pour himself 50 kg of sugar and flour. Well, who will notice the loss of the bag when it came to tens of tons?

So his scheme worked for a year and a half, and then he was taken out to clean water, all property was confiscated, and he himself was sent to jail for 25 years.

But another schemer created a much more sophisticated scheme. The deputy head of Glavvino, Mirzoyants, first placed “his” people in key positions, and then began to implement the criminal scheme. He produced fake wine, and in concentrated form, it even burned. Then it was diluted and sold further according to the scheme. Their group was discovered and sent to prisons, but after Stalin died, most of them were rehabilitated.

In the post-war years, the people were in dire need of clothes and this area also turned out to be very corrupt. Someone Tavshunsky, who headed the regional office, contributed to the creation of artels in which deliberate marriage was made - short shirts, narrow pillowcases. This product was made from the finest fabrics and was immediately sold out as soon as it entered the stores. The scheme was revealed in 1947, and its organizers went to jail.

After Stalin's death, corruption cases became louder and more cynical, these were no longer narrow pillowcases and not diluted wine spilled after a shift at the factory. The high-profile Azerbaijani case thundered throughout the Union. The head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, contributed to the dismissal from the post of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR Veli Akhundov. The purges of the ranks began, and then it was revealed that it was possible to get a position at the party level for a very specific amount.

For example, for 200 thousand rubles one could become the first secretary of the district party committee, the post of minister cost about 150 thousand, and the head of the police department could become for 50 thousand. Apparently this was only the tip of the iceberg, because the positions were bought in order to make it more convenient to turn further, larger-scale operations in this area.

The so-called caviar business was perhaps one of the most widespread in this area. It all started with the fact that a certain Feldman and Fishman, directors of a company and a shop selling fish and seafood, exported huge amounts of money from the country and kept in foreign accounts. The investigation found out that the legs are still growing from the USSR Ministry of Fisheries. It turned out that black caviar was exported from the country in herring banks. The losses were millions.

Further more. As a result of the exposure of this criminal scheme, a total of 5 thousand officials lost their posts, and one and a half thousand received a criminal record. The main accused was the Deputy Minister of Fisheries Rytov, cash was found at his house, and he himself was sentenced to death. But Brezhnev himself stood up for the minister and was quietly escorted into retirement.

Nikolai Shchelkov, also from among the Brezhnev team, he was in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was familiar with him even before the start of the war. Investigators got to him after the general secretary and his main protector were gone. The audit revealed a huge number of violations, and in 1983 he was expelled from the Central Committee of the CPSU, deprived of all awards, leaving only military ones. Later, the man shot himself, leaving a note stating that he did not break the law and did not take anything from the state.

However, the investigation found that Shchelkov appropriated cars that were presented for the Olympics, paintings by famous artists, expensive antiques. He did not hesitate to get his hands on household items that were completely accessible to him. And yet, the servant who worked in his house also had the positions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, his stove-maker was a police major.

The cotton or Uzbek case was investigated for almost 10 years, 800 criminal cases were united under it, more than 4 thousand people fell under the articles. This took place in Uzbekistan, where Soviet cotton was grown. But judging by the documents and reports, local producers received it in some unrealistically huge quantities. This drew the attention of the regulatory authorities to postscripts and distortion of facts in documents.

The Central Committee of the CPSU has created a special group in order to investigate the cotton business. However, the leaders of the group will later be accused of working incorrectly, in violation of or bypassing the law. In this case, there were high-profile proceedings, many received real terms.

Until now, the opinion persists that Stalin was the leader who did not allow the manifestation of lawlessness. Although many of his actions themselves barely fit into the framework of legality, not to mention morality. Many heads of state considered themselves the chosen ones and had oddities that often did not even fit into the moral framework..