Konstantin Vasilievich Ukhanov ( Russian: Константин Васильевич Уханов; 1891, Kazan – 26 October 1937, Moscow) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

politician and statesman.

Biography

Ukhanov was born into the family of a poor fisherman. He became a worker in 1906 and joined the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

in February 1907. He was involved in party activities in the Ivanovo-Voznesensk,

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...

Kostroma Kostroma ( rus, Кострома́, p=kəstrɐˈma) is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian cities, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Volga and Kostroma. Popul ...

, St. Petersburg,

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

province. From 1915 he was in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and worked at the Dynamo plant. He was arrested and exiled for his revolutionary activity. After the February Revolution of 1917, he became a deputy of the Moscow City Council, was a member of its Presidium, then chairman of the Simonovsky District Council of Moscow. In the early days of

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, he became a member of the Moscow

Military Revolutionary Committee The Military Revolutionary Committee (russian: Военно-революционный комитет, ) was the name for military organs created by the Bolsheviks under the soviets in preparation for the October Revolution (October 1917 – Marc ...

. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

he was Chairman of the Rogozhsko-Simonovsky District Council of Moscow and a member of the Presidium of the Moscow City Council. Then he worked at the Dynamo plant first as a locksmith, then as a “red director”. As a capable organizer of production, he was nominated to the post of chairman of the board of the State Electrotechnical Trust. At the 12th Party Congress he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (b). From 17 May 1926 to 23 September 1929 Ukhanov was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow Council of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies and from 23 September 1929 to 28 February 1931 Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow Regional Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Deputies. He was in charge of the economy of the capital in the final period of the NEP and at the beginning of the industrialization of the country. Under his leadership, a large-scale reconstruction of the capital's industry was launched, including such factories as Dynamo, an automobile plant, Hammer and Sickle, named after Vladimir Ilyich. New industrial giants were created such as Electrozavod, Fraser, GPZ-1 and others. Along with the real achievements during the years of Ukhanov's leadership, the massive destruction of historical monuments began. In 1927, the Red Gate was dismantled. Closing of churches and their re-equipment for economic needs took place, there was a liquidation of private cooperative enterprises. He was repeatedly elected a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the

Central Executive Committee of the USSR The All-Union Central Executive Committee (russian: Всесоюзный Центральный исполнительный комитет, Vsesoyuznyy Tsentral'nyy ispolnitel'nyy komitet) was the most authoritative governing body of the USSR d ...

and was a member of their Presidium. From 1923 to 1937 he was a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b). Candidate member of the Central Committee Organizing Bureau from 1926 to 1930. From 1932, Ukhanov worked as Deputy People's Commissar for Supply of the USSR. From 1934 he was appointed

People's Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English language, English transliteration of the Russian language, Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the pol ...

of Local Industry of the RSFSR. He was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

for overfulfilment of the production plan of 1935 by the People's Commissariat of Local Industry of the RSFSR and the successes achieved in organizing production and mastering technology. On 21 May 1937 he was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. On 22 May 1937 he was removed from the Central Committee of the VKP (b) by a poll. Convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on 26 October 1937 to be executed, shot on the same day. He was buried in the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow. Ukhanov was rehabilitated on 27 August 1955, and posthumously reinstated in the party on 4 October 1955.

References