About people like Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin, in Soviet times they said: a strong business executive, a good performer, a faithful Leninist. But these qualities are clearly not enough to be a leader in the full sense of the word. In all likelihood, it was the lack of personal charisma and party foresight that caused the fact that G.V. Kolbin's tenure as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan was problematic and ended too quickly.
Career Stages and Track record
Kolbin Gennady Vasilievich, whose biography could be considered quite ordinary and unremarkable outside his tenure as head of Kazakhstan, was born on May 7, 1927 in Nizhny Tagil. In his hometown, he went from being a tailor apprentice in tailoring to the head of the workshop, and later became deputy chief engineer of a metallurgical plant.
G.V. Kolbin was advancing along the party line. First, he headed the party cell of his enterprise, then he was elected first secretary of the district branch of the CPSU, then continued to work in the same position in the city Central Committee of the Nizhny Tagil Communist Party. In 1970, Kolbin became the second secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, and in 1975 he was transferred to a similar post in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.
The year 1983 can be called a turning point in the career of Gennady Vasilyevich. The party leader who had previously played a secondary role was appointed the first secretary of the Ulyanovsk regional committee of the CPSU, that is, the head of the region, albeit not a large but completely independent one. Here he worked for about three years, exactly until the cardinal changes began in the country.
The hostage of Gorbachev’s ambitions
In December 1986, at the direction of the then head of the USSR and “steering perestroika” M. S. Gorbachev, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan dismissed Dinmukhamed Akhmedovich Kunaev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Republic, and appointed G. V. Kolbin to this post. For people of the younger generation, one probably needs to clarify: at that time the position of the First Secretary of the Central Committee was the equivalent of an almost sovereign head of the region, akin to the current republican presidents or regional governors.
The appointment of Kolbin caused a shock not only among the party elite in Kazakhstan, but also among ordinary citizens. In the then capital of the republic, the city of Alma-Ata, Gennady Vasilyevich was received more than coldly. His promotion to such a high post was one of the main reasons for the December unrest of youth in the squares and streets of the Kazakh capital.
Why, according to Gorbachev, it was Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin who should have stood at the helm of the third largest population and the second largest in the republic of the USSR? History is silent about the true reasons for this decision. But the fact that it was erroneous is recognized by both witnesses of the Gorbachev changes and modern researchers. For the sake of his ambitions, Mikhail Sergeyevich broke not only the fate of people from close and distant surroundings. He managed in one fell swoop to demolish a huge country called the Soviet Union from the world map.
Miscalculations in national politics
Both Gorbachev and Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin themselves could not understand that such a step would be perceived ambiguously. But the first, feeling his boundless power, did not care too much about political ethics, and the second was really a good performer. Violation of party discipline would inevitably put an end to a career, which Gennady Vasilievich, of course, did not want.
Today various versions of the reasons are voiced that did not allow Kolbin to stay on as head of Kazakhstan. First of all, they call the tradition that existed then to nominate people of indigenous nationality to the highest posts in the republics. The second important point: Kolbin Gennady Vasilyevich - a figure of too small scale for such a huge republic as Kazakhstan.
But it seems that the first two reasons fade before the most important argument - he was a stranger. In the mid-80s, the population of the Kazakh SSR was about 150 million people. In addition to the Kazakhs, many Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Uighurs, Koreans, Tatars lived here.
The republic had its own famous scientists, prominent politicians, successful directors of plants and factories, skillful chairmen of agricultural enterprises. If a respected person having merits in front of his people were appointed to the highest party post, his candidacy would surely be accepted favorably, regardless of nationality.
The fight against corruption and drunkenness
According to the testimonies of political figures, who at that time constituted the party elite of the republic, Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin zealously took up cleaning ranks from bribe takers and robbers of socialist property. About 30% of the total number of senior employees were removed from their posts. But there were suspicions that only those party members who express disagreement with Gorbachev’s policies fall under the millstone. Gennady Vasilievich was a devoted communist and was very responsible for the implementation of instructions coming from Moscow.
The fight against drunkenness, which at that time was carried out on the scale of the entire Soviet Union, took on a monstrous scale in Kazakhstan. Vineyards were cut down, wineries and distilleries were closed , huge lines lined up in stores for alcoholic drinks, and it was forbidden to sell alcohol even in restaurants.
Economic incidents
Former members of the government of Kazakhstan today with a smile recall how Gennady Vasilyevich, speaking at a meeting of a party activist, put forward the idea of selling cow and sheep carcasses to the population along with the skin. According to the head of the republic, this measure would bring additional income to the treasury.
There were other, no less “valuable” initiatives. For example, in order to fulfill the plan for the production of meat, Kolbin proposed starting a mass shooting of wild waterfowl. Specialists managed to moderate the ardor of the party functionary, explaining that cattle skins are the necessary raw materials for the leather industry, and the destruction of birds will damage the environment.
In general, as eyewitnesses of those events noted, Kolbin Gennady Vasilyevich did neither good nor bad for the republic. He only strictly followed the instructions from above, implementing the plans of Gorbachev. In 1989, Gennady Vasilyevich was recalled to Moscow, proposing the post of Chairman of the USSR National Control Committee.
The post-perestroika life and death of Gennady Kolbin
The former leader of Kazakhstan did not work in his new position for long, in 1990 he was retired with honor. Even before the official abolition of the CPSU, Gennady Vasilyevich voluntarily left the party. He lived unassumingly and modestly in his Moscow apartment, finding solace in communication with his daughter and grandson. In mid-January 1998, on a visit to his family, he died in a subway car from a heart attack.
No one was looking for him, so the body of an unknown man was about to be buried at public expense. Fortunately, one of the police officers identified him as a senior official. Kolbin Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery. At the farewell ceremony there were only the closest people. There were no official speeches, as is customary in such cases, on the grave. None of the party’s former colleagues and associates came to honor his memory.
That is how the faithful Leninist and principled party member Kolbin Gennady Vasilyevich passed quietly and imperceptibly. Rewards for services to the motherland are kept in the family of the deceased. Over the years of state and political activity, he was twice awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, as well as the Orders of Lenin, the October Revolution and the Badge of Honor.