Nina Andreyeva

Nina Aleksandrovna Andreyeva (Russian: Нина Александровна Андреева, born 12 October 1938) is a Russian chemist, teacher, author, political activist, and social critic.[1] A supporter of classical Soviet principles, she wrote an essay that defended many aspects of the traditional Soviet system, and criticized General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his closest supporters for not being real communists.

Career in chemistry

She was born in Leningrad, and was a chemistry lecturer at the Leningrad Technological Institute. She joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1966.

"I Cannot Forsake My Principles"

Her essay "I Cannot Forsake My Principles" (I Cannot Waive Principles) was published in the newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya on March 13, 1988, at a time when Gorbachev and Alexander Yakovlev were abroad, and cited an anti-Gorbachev report by the secretary of the Party's Central Committee, Yegor Ligachev.

Anti-perestroika party officials welcomed the essay, whereas supporters of Gorbachev and Yeltsin feared that it represented a major defeat for them. Gorbachev subsequently revealed that many members of the Politburo seemed to share Andreyeva's views, and that he had to coerce them into approving the publication of an official rejoinder. The published response appeared in Pravda on 5 April 1988,[2] and was not nearly as forceful as its authors have claimed. In the aftermath of this discussion, the General Secretary at least temporarily tightened his own control over the Secretariat of the Central Committee. The entire episode may have contributed to his decision to reform the Secretariat in the autumn of 1988.

Subsequent career

Andreyeva subsequently played a leadership role in the formation of communist organisations. She headed the organising committee of the Bolshevik Platform of the CPSU that "expelled" Gorbachev from the party in September 1991. In November 1991, she became the general secretary of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In October 1993, the party was temporarily suspended along with fifteen other organisations after President Yeltsin's repression of the attempted coup against his regime. In May 1995 she was stripped of her post as the head of the St. Petersburg Central Committee of the party for "lack of revolutionary activity." [3]

Works

References

  1. ↑ James R. Millar, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Russian history. Detroit: Thomson Gale. pp. v. 1, p. 60. ISBN 0028659074.
  2. ↑ Brown, Archie (2009). The Rise and Fall of Communism. New York City: Ecco. pp. 504–506. ISBN 978-0-06-113879-9.
  3. ↑ James R. Millar, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Russian history. Detroit: Thomson Gale. pp. v. 1, p. 61. ISBN 0028659074.

External links