The KGB Campaign against Corruption in Moscow, 1982–1987The 1980s brought a whirlwind of change to Communist Party politics and the Soviet Republic. By mid-decade, Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost had opened the door to democratic reform. Later, mounting public unrest over the failed economy and calls for independence among many republics ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Often overlooked in these events, yet monumental to breaking the Communist Party's institutional stranglehold, were the KGB anticorruption campaigns of 1982 to 1987.In this original study, Luc Duhamel examines the KGB at its pinnacle of power. The appointment of former KGB director Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party in 1982 marked the height of KGB influence. For the first time since Stalin, Beria, and the NKVD, there was now an unquestioned authority to pursue violators of Soviet law, including members of the Communist Party. Duhamel focuses on the KGB's investigation into Moscow's two largest trade organizations: the Chief Administration of Trade and the Administration of the Moscow Fruit and Vegetable Office. Like many of their Soviet counterparts, these state-controlled institutions were built on a foundation of bribery and favoritism among Communist Party members, workers, and their bosses. This book analyzes the multifarious networks of influence peddling, appointments, and clientelism that pervaded these trade organizations and maintained their ties to party officials.Through firsthand research into the archives of the Andropov-era KGB and the prosecutor general's office, Duhamel uncovers the indictment of thousands of trade organization employees, the reprimand of Communist Party members, and the radical change in political ideology manifested by these proceedings. He further reveals that despite aggressive prosecutions, the KGB's power would soon wither, as the agency came under intense scrutiny because of its violent methods and the ghosts of the NKVD. The reinstatement of Moscow city government control over the trade organizations, the death of Andropov, and the rising tide of democratic reform would effectively end the reign of the KGB and its anticorruption campaigns. |
Contents
| 1 | |
The KGBs Anticorruption War | 43 |
3 Who How Many and How Much? Corruption in the Moscow Trade Organizations | 100 |
4 The War the KBG Lost | 140 |
Changes in the Moscow Trade Organizations | 201 |
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Common terms and phrases
accused Ambartsumyan Andropov anticorruption brigade anticorruption campaign apparatchiks appointed arrest Babushkin bosses Brezhnev bribe-takers bribery bribes charges Cheka colleagues committed Communist Party crackdown criminal denounced Deputy director district Dzerzhinski kontora echelons economic crimes Embezzlement Eremeev evidence favor Filippov fruit and vegetable GARF Glavka Glavtorg Gorbachev Grishin Grishinist grocery store head high-ranking officials Ibid illegal influence KGB agents KGB’s knew Kremlin law enforcement agencies Ministry Mkhitara Moscow Party Committee Moscow soviet Moscow trade network Moscow trade organizations neopatrimonial NKVD nomenklatura OBKhSS Oleinik Party officials perestroika Petrikov police Politburo political position Prokuratura RSFSR Prosecutor General's Prosecutor General’s Office prosecutors received repression Roganov rubles Russian sector security force sentence shadow economy Shchelokov social capital society Sokolov Soviet system Soviet Union Stalin store directors store managers suspects testimony tion trade employees trade executives trade leaders trade staff Tregubov Tveritinov ugolovnye dela Vegetable Offices wrongdoing Yeltsin