For the Soviet epidemiologist, see Viktor Zhdanov. For the Russian footballer, see Andrei Zhdanov (footballer).
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Aleksandrovich and the family name is Zhdanov.
Andrei Zhdanov
Андрей Жданов
Zhdanov in 1945
Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office 21 March 1939 – 31 August 1948
Preceded by
Lazar Kaganovich
Succeeded by
Georgy Malenkov
Head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee
In office 21 March 1939 – 6 September 1940
Preceded by
Post established
Succeeded by
Georgy Aleksandrov
Additional positions
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR
In office 15 July 1938 – 20 June 1947
Preceded by
Mikhail Kalinin
Succeeded by
Aleksei Badayev
First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Soviet Union
In office 15 December 1934 – 17 January 1945
Preceded by
Sergei Kirov
Succeeded by
Alexey Kuznetsov
Personal details
Born
(1896-02-26)26 February 1896 Mariupol, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
Died
31 August 1948(1948-08-31) (aged 52) Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place
Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Political party
RSDLP(b) (1915–1918) VKP(b) (1918–1948)
Children
Yuri
Occupation
Civil servant
Central institution membership
1939–1948: Full member, 18th Politburo
1934–1948: Member, 17th & 18th Secretariat
1934-1948: Member, 17th & 18th Orgburo
1934–1939: Candidate member, 17th Politburo
1939–1948: Full member, 17th and 18th Central Committee
Other political offices held
1946–1947: Chairman, Soviet of the Union
1944-1947: Director, Allied Control Commission
Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov (Russian: Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Жда́нов, IPA:[ɐnˈdrʲejɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑˈʐdanəf]ⓘ; 26 February [O.S. 14 February] 1896 – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician and ideologue. He has been described as the Soviet Union's "propagandist-in-chief" in the 1940s,[1] and was responsible for developing the Soviet cultural policy, the Zhdanov Doctrine, which remained in effect until the death of Joseph Stalin. Zhdanov was considered Stalin's most likely successor but died before him.
Born in Mariupol, Russian Empire, which is in modern-day Ukraine, Zhdanov joined the Bolsheviks in 1915 and quickly rose through the party ranks. A close associate of Stalin, he became a secretary of the Central Committee in 1934, and later that year he was promoted to Leningrad party chief following the assassination of Sergei Kirov. He would go on to play a major role during the Great Purge. In 1939, he was promoted to full membership of the Politburo, Second Secretary of the Communist Party and head of the Central Committee Propaganda Department. Zhdanov's political standing was considerably undermined at the start of the Second World War, due to his association with the Soviet–Finnish War and the failure of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Nevertheless, he oversaw the Soviet takeover of Estonia, and took a leading role in the defense of Leningrad.
Zhdanov's fortunes greatly improved after the war. He played an instrumental role in formulating an aggressive foreign policy, and oversaw the creation of the Cominform in 1947. He was also tasked with directing the Soviet Union's cultural policy. His campaign, known as the Zhdanov Doctrine or Zhdanovshchina, was strictly enforced and led to the denouncement of supposedly non-conformist artists such as Anna Akhmatova and Dmitri Shostakovich. Initially considered the successor-in-waiting to Stalin, Zhdanov suffered from ill health and fell out of favour as a result of the Tito–Stalin split. He died in 1948 of heart failure and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
^V. M. Zubok and Konstantin Pleshakov. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: from Stalin to Khrushchev. Harvard: Harvard UP, 1996, p.119
doctrine developed by Central Committee secretary AndreiZhdanov in 1946. The main principle of the Zhdanov Doctrine was often summarized by the phrase "The...
son of Soviet politician AndreiZhdanov and a former husband of Joseph Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva. Yuri Zhdanov was born on August 20, 1919...
Andrey Vyshinsky, Soviet politician AndreiZhdanov, Russian politician Andrei Zhelyabov, Russian revolutionary Andrei (surname), a surname This page or...
coastal resort on the Sea of Azov. In 1948, Mariupol was renamed Zhdanov after AndreiZhdanov, a native of the city who had become a high-ranking official...
areas to the Soviet Union. The treaty was signed by Vyacheslav Molotov, AndreiZhdanov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky for the Soviet Union, and Risto Ryti, Juho...
Andrey Vyshinsky, Soviet politician AndreiZhdanov, Russian politician Andrei Zhelyabov, Russian revolutionary Andrei (surname), a surname This page or...
Committee) during the German-Soviet War of 1941–1945. A protégé of AndreiZhdanov, Voznesensky was appointed Deputy Premier in May 1940. He became directly...
in the post-war years. On 26 November 1946, Suslov sent a letter to AndreiZhdanov, accusing the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of spying. Suslov's letter...
committee) making him second in command of the Leningrad province, under AndreiZhdanov. On 19 November 1937, speaking at a public meeting in Volkhovsky District...
War to begin in June 1950. A protégé of the influential politician AndreiZhdanov, General Shtykov served as a political commissar during World War II...
communist ideology developed during the Second World War by AndreiZhdanov. It emerged from Zhdanov's debates inside the party hierarchy opposing Malenkov's...
by the Finnish Communist Party or Soviet Communist Party secretary AndreiZhdanov in the beginning of November, because the main secretary of the Finnish...
served as a colonel during World War II. In 1948, while working for AndreiZhdanov, a very close ally of Stalin, he and his deputy were accused of being...
November 29. Materials in the private archives of Soviet party leader AndreiZhdanov show that the incident was orchestrated to paint Finland as an aggressor...
second marriage was arranged for her to Yuri Zhdanov, the son of Stalin's right-hand man AndreiZhdanov and himself one of Stalin's close associates....
Control Commission for controlling the Moscow Armistice in Helsinki, AndreiZhdanov. Finland was originally obliged to pay $300,000,000 in gold to be paid...
culture control. Stalin appointed AndreiZhdanov in 1946 to carry out this return to the policies of the 1930s. Zhdanovism meant a reemphasis on socialist...
Viktor Yerofeyev and Yevgeny Popov in punishment for self-publishing. AndreiZhdanov gave the opening address to the first Soviet Writers' Congress in August...
amongst his entourage dominated Soviet politics. At the end of the war, AndreiZhdanov, who had served as the Communist Party leader in Leningrad (now Saint...
Factory [ru]. The first series guns were presented for personal inspection to AndreiZhdanov and Leonid Govorov in the same month. The full-scale production began...
the poem for the Stalin Prize in 1946 were unsuccessful. Ideologist AndreiZhdanov, Stalin's "propagandist in chief", prevented this, calling the poem...
many other composers, was again denounced for formalism in the Zhdanov decree. AndreiZhdanov, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, accused the composers...
1987 Personal Services Lionel Partition General Flood 1988 Testimony AndreiZhdanov 1989 How to Get Ahead in Advertising Psychiatrist 1995 Two Deaths Cinca...
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