KOZLOV, FROL ROMANOVICH

(1908–1965), top Communist party leader during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Frol Kozlov's path to power was typical for party leaders of his generation of Soviet. Born in a village in Ryazan Province, Kozlov became a worker and assistant foreman at a textile plant where he also served as Communist Youth League secretary. After studying at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and working as an engineer, he rose through the ranks: secretary of the Izhevsk city party committee (1940–1941), second secretary of Kuibyshev Province (1947–1949), a party leader of Leningrad (1949–1957), candidate member of the Central Committee's Presidium (1957), and a Central Committee secretary in 1960.

Presidium colleague Alexander Shelepin later described Kozlov as a "very limited man." Anastas Mikoyan labeled him an "unintelligent, pro-Stalinist reactionary and careerist." Yet Kozlov backed Khrushchev in his battle with the Antiparty Group in 1957, and according to Khrushchev, he seemed knowledgeable about economic matters, and "firm, not someone who can be easily swayed."

By 1963, when Kozlov was de facto second secretary of the Soviet Communist party, he seemed to Western Kremlinologists to be leading conservative resistance to Khrushchev's reforms. In all probability, however, there was no organized opposition, and in fact, Kozlov soon began to irritate Khrushchev, for example, when he allowed the Soviet Communist Party's ritual May Day 1963 greetings to other Communist parties to imply an unauthorized change of line on Yugoslavia. Shortly after Khrushchev berated Kozlov for this mistake (but not necessarily because of Khrushchev's tirade), Kozlov suffered a stroke, which removed him from participation in the Presidium, although he formally remained a member until Khrushchev's ouster in October 1964.

See also: khrushchev, nikita sergeyevich

bibliography

Khrushchev, Sergei. (1990). Khrushchev on Khrushchev, tr. and ed. William Taubman. Boston: Little, Brown.

Tatu, Michel. (1969). Power in the Kremlin: From Khrushchev to Kosygin, tr. Helen Katel. New York: Viking Press.

William Taubman