How to take bribes under Stalin. From the history of the fight against corruption in Russia
New turn in the "Leningrad case"After the war, Stalin was facing a new war - against corruption. So it was not just because of fear of losing power, as some historians suggest, that Stalin began to “tighten the screws” after the Great Patriotic War. Yes it is not news for the world stories - that after destructive wars, everywhere and at all times, the restoration of the country begins with the strengthening of power (right up to the introduction of a state of emergency and even dictatorship) in order to stop the discord and disintegration of the system of economic management and society that occurred during the war. By the way, because of the use of official position for personal purposes, even the main commander, Marshal Zhukov, was brought to justice. And only the trophies handed over to him by the state from marauding activities in Germany saved him from severe criminal punishment, although they did not save him from a serious drop in the party and state lines. However, the “Leningrad case” became the most serious - the case of nepotism in the governing bodies of the party and the state, which was a direct way to the origin and flourishing of corruption. Its top is the abuse of official position in personal interests, which began with privileges and privileges, and ended with bribes and the transformation of the state pocket into its own ...
No, I was not mistaken. The “Leningrad case” in reality is a case of corruption, first of all in the leading environment from top to bottom ... At first, like everyone, I did not know this and did not understand it. But now, having familiarized myself with a number of party documents, I come to the conclusion that purely political accusations, perhaps, were fabricated, but the corruption aspect of the case has definitely taken place! In any case, the actions committed by the accused clearly created the conditions for corruption. (I say this on the basis of party documents, and not on the basis of materials from the investigation, which have never been properly trusted anywhere in the world. Party documents appeared in an atmosphere of free clarification of relations, and long before the institution of the investigation file.)
But ... at first, such a seemingly completely harmless example. Agree, one thing when it comes to the allocation of money, say, to improve conditions in a kindergarten, and quite another when money is required to restore a burned-out orphanage, whose pupils, unlike children who have a roof over their heads, have no place to go. It seems it goes without saying that first of all it is necessary to help homeless children. However, due to cronyism, the chief often allocates funds not to an orphanage, but to a kindergarten, because his beloved grandson goes there ... It seems that nothing special, but corruption, which is eating away like rust, the whole state begins with such harmless facts.
Catch dealers on such crimes is difficult, but possible. In order to exclude the possibility of nepotism or bribery among inspectors, in Stalin times several independent commissions were appointed to inspect the same case. They did not submit the materials of inspections to any one main person, but, let's say, to each member of the Politburo. This almost excluded the possibility of hiding the results of inspections and in many areas (due to publicity) guaranteed the use of well-deserved measures. If someone managed to neutralize all these commissions, then in that case (after establishing the fact of collusion) no one could wait for mercy, because organized crime was punished much more severely and ... unconditionally! It was a kind of party court, which did not know the statute of limitations, as is the case today. For example, with Mavrodi, an international swindler on a particularly large scale, who, if not brought to justice before such a date, then, according to the law, he will no longer be able to attract him ...
The Leningrad Affair began with the Decision of the 15 Politburo of February 1949 in connection with the irresponsible amateur activities undertaken to hold the All-Union Wholesale Fair in Leningrad (from 10 to 20 in January of 1949). Nothing was really calculated, and instead of the sale of goods, they were damaged and ... a loss of 4 billion rubles. And this is in the midst of a terrible post-war industrial and food famine. Plus, the significant loss of significant travel funds for a trip to the northern capital of leaders from across the country was revealed. Simply put, many have just gone "to break away from business" and gulnut in a big way ... That is, even in this corruption was viewed. Further more!
The Resolution noted: “On the basis of the audit carried out, it was established that the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR was Comrade. Rodionov M.I. together with the Leningrad leading comrades with the assistance of a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Comrade. Kuznetsova A.A. arbitrarily and illegally organized the All-Union Wholesale Fair with an invitation to participate in it trade organizations of the edges and regions of the RSFSR, including the most remote, up to the Sakhalin region, as well as representatives of trade organizations of all union republics. At the fair, goods worth about 9 billion rubles, including goods distributed by the Allied Government according to a national plan, were lent to sale, which led to squandering of state commodity funds and infringing the interests of a number of territories, regions and republics (And this is corruption ... and more which one! - NAD.) In addition, the fair caused damage to the state due to the large and unjustified expenditures of public funds for organizing the fair and for moving participants from remote areas to Leningrad and back. (And this is also corruption!)
The Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) considers the main culprits of this anti-state action of the candidates for the members of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) to be Rodionov and Popkov and a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. A. Kuznetsov, who violated the elementary foundations of state and party discipline ...
The Politburo believes that the above mentioned anti-state actions were the result of the fact that Kuznetsova AA, Rodionova, Popkova has an unhealthy bias, expressed in flirting with the Leningrad organization, in attempts to present themselves as special defenders of the interests of Leningrad, in attempts to create a mediastinum (that is, an obstacle preventing direct relations. - NAD) between the Central Committee and Leningrad organization ...
In this regard, it should be noted that Comrade Popkov, being the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the city committee, is not trying to ensure communication of the Leningrad party organization with the Central Committee, does not inform the Party Central Committee about the situation in Leningrad and, instead of putting questions and proposals directly into The Central Committee, embarks on the path of bypassing the Central Committee of the Party, on the path of dubious backstage, and sometimes rumble combinations, conducted through various self-styled "chefs" of Leningrad, such as Kuznetsova, Rodionova and others.
In this light, it is necessary to consider the proposal to “patronize” Leningrad, which only now became known to the Central Committee from Vol. Voznesensky, which Comrade Popkov addressed in Vol. 1948 to Vol. N. Voznesensky, as well as Comrade Popkov’s inappropriate behavior. of the Leningrad party organization with the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) is trying to replace personal ties with the so-called boss t. Kuznetsov A.A.
The Politburo believes that such methods are an expression of group society ... "(The decree is given in abbreviated form.)
The more carefully I re-read this Resolution, the more thoroughly the following conclusion arises: in such a situation, conditions for the emergence and development of relations according to the principle of “you - me, I - you!”, “Well, how can you not please the dear little man?” Are inevitably created? corruption!!!
By the way, Kuznetsov, using the post of head of the Central Committee for cadres, set "his people" - "Leningraders" to senior positions throughout the country. This explains the fact that the repressions in connection with the "Leningrad affair" were not limited to Leningrad, but swept across the Union. Corruption was then cut down at the root, in order to avoid metastases, grabbing still often uninfected places that are close by. True, it was already an overlap of local leaders on the principle of "as if something did not work out," or even the usual settling of accounts. However, then all this, too, had to answer!
Attention should be paid to such an extremely important fact, namely: February 21 1949 at the Plenum of the Leningrad Regional Committee in connection with this Decree a thorough conversation took place. And, it should be noted, when clarifying relations at the PS Plenum. Popkov did not make excuses, but bluntly said, “that the absolute number of questions that came from the regional and city party committees went to the Central Committee through Kuznetsov. I considered this formulation correct. I saw Kuznetsov’s desire to lead the Leningrad organization ... Here are some facts. Comrade Kuznetsov once called me and shouted at me with indignation (I had to inform the Party Central Committee in one shout): “What are you building the road to Terioki? In order to make it easier for you to go to the country? ”I said:“ The resort area is for rent, we need a road. There is a solution to the session of the Lensovet and the city committee of the party. ” “This is all you have come up with. Such questions need to be coordinated with the Central Committee ... ”Now I understand that by demanding coordination of such issues with the Central Committee, under the Central Committee he understood himself.
Verbitsky arrives and says: “I visited Alexei Alexandrovich Kuznetsov, who asked me on what grounds do you want to remove the tram traffic from Engels Prospect?” Verbitsky then said: Kuznetsov needs to coordinate such questions ... ”(I quote in abbreviated form.)
Notice! All this would be tolerable if the Central Committee Kuznetsov were entrusted with the responsibility for the situation in Leningrad, but he did it without permission, being the head of the Central Committee personnel department. Moreover, he exerted pressure, using his influence in the selection, replacement and promotion of people. Moreover, he was not only engaged in his own business, but also sought to resolve all issues individually, hiding it from the Central Committee and acting in the way it was beneficial primarily to him: first from the point of view of a common cause, and then from the point of view of his personal career and personal well-being ... And this also led to all-encompassing corruption, because if something is possible for the boss, then it is also possible for the subordinates! Of course, in relation to their subordinates.
This conclusion is well traced by the example of the second secretary of the Leningrad city committee, Ya.F. Kapustin, who, as if nothing had happened, was telling: “In our system it was like this: just like a trip, you must go (in Moscow to Kuznetsov. - NAD). The last time when I came with a delegation to greet the Moscow Party Conference, I again did not fail to come to him. Why did you come? Why? ”To which Malenkov quite rightly replied:“ The point is not that you went or did not go to Comrade Kuznetsov — he was the secretary of the Central Committee: why not go in? But the fact is that the Central Committee did not know what you were talking about with Kuznetsov, what instructions Kuznetsov gave. All this has closed in the group ... The Central Committee has a Secretariat, a bureau, a Politburo, and depending on the importance of the issue is decided by the Secretariat, the bureau or the Politburo. You support another order - the sole decision of the issue, the sole instructions. That's what this is about. ” (I quote in the abbreviation.)
Malenkov is right, because it is with such unofficial conversations that corruption begins. And who does not understand this, he will never defeat corruption.
Historical fact
Natives of Leningrad (for example, in the person of N.A. Voznesensky) and in the USSR State Planning Committee did not really follow the rule: friendship is friendship, but service is service! As a result, “it turned out that the chairman of the State Planning Committee of Voznesensky systematically underestimated the plan to some ministries and overestimated others. Accordingly, those he loved had good performance, bonuses and other amenities. ” But the rest - it is better not to remember ...
How difficult for the country such “Leningrad traditions” are, the people are experiencing themselves to this day!
It was
All the proceedings on the “Leningrad Case” took place in a purely public order and did not concern that part of the “case” that the authorities brought in six months, starting a criminal investigation for political inclinations aimed at creating a new party (RCP) and formalizing the RSFSR on this basis ... so to speak, a full-fledged republic. That is, the “Leningraders” were tried for the political plans that ultimately presumed what Yeltsin did in 1980 – 1990, namely: declaring Russia independent in the USSR, Yeltsin thereby destroyed the Soviet Union and, therefore, committed an act that was to be prosecuted under the article “Treason to the Motherland” by destroying the constitutional foundations of the USSR, expressed in changing or overthrowing the social system.
In other words, they tried and sentenced the “Lendela” for trying to create what 40 years later still created Yeltsin and his allies in the form of the Communist Party of the Polozkov-Zyuganov and the notorious Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), from which the peoples of the former Soviet republics could not come in yourself so far. However, it was a completely different and more terrifying story, which even relegated to the second plan the issues of corruption discussed above.
In addition to the corruption component of the “Leningrad case”, revealed at the highest party and state level, in the same years a whole series of “affairs” of the economic order was revealed in the sphere of ministries, main departments and enterprises directly producing products of increased and daily demand. First of all, it is “Bread Case”, “Weaving Case”, “Wine Business”, “Musical Affairs” and “Money Business”, which were purely corruption in nature throughout the country. By the way, the famous Soviet detective Fedor Semenovich Nevzorov became the main hero of these “cases” who revealed the machinations of parasitic elements ...
"Grain business"
No matter how secretly the “tops” did something, the “bottoms” immediately (!) Begin to repeat this. Because while the “tops” are still getting ready, the rich imagination of the observant “bottoms” already draws what they have been doing for a long time ... Indeed: if it is possible for the “tops” in relation to their subordinates, then why cannot these subordinates in relation to their "nizam"? Corruption - like electricity - instantly spreads through all the channels of power! And if someone gets in her way, she immediately turns him into “her own” or throws him out (!) From her system — she simply destroys those who are particularly disobedient. Therefore, I call corruption a cancer of society ...
However, this tumor can arise on any level of power, when the power has somehow weakened or when society has been completely without power, as is the case after natural disasters, and especially after social upheavals occurring in the process of wars and revolutions.
It was such a hard trouble after the Great Patriotic War that fell on the victorious but hungry Soviet Union. And the first of the cases for which corruption took up, naturally, was the “bread business”. Because hungry people for bread were ready to give their last savings!
The identification of “parasites”, which really sucked the remaining juices from the people, began with the study by Nevzorov of documents according to which, during 1945, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR isolated the baking industry flour, sugar, condensed milk, butter, saccharin, raisins, jam, canned meat and other products of special importance to quickly restore the necessary set of vitamins in people weakened during the war years.
The Rosglavkhleb distribution system headed by Mikhail Isayev, the head of the supply department, became the incubator and distributor of corruption in the food industry in Russia. The extensive network of his criminal group (except for deputy head of department Shulkin B.N., chief accountant of department Rozenbaum D.A. and director of the Moscow interregional base Glavka Bukhman E.M.) included officials from poorly controlled Altai and Tatarstan trusts, and Arkhangelskaya , Bryansk, Ivanovo, Moscow, Orenburg and Rostov regions. There were at least 20 people ...
The attention of Nevzorov and his comrades in the special services was attracted by pretty young women, who were disarmed by Isaev's handsome men who changed hands like gloves. No wonder: when some people shook from hunger, these people in restaurants and country houses were full of dishes and drinks, which made it possible to organize almost a competitive selection among the weaker sex. It got to the point that Isaeva's wife found out about her husband's “chorus orgies” and ... hanged herself. Isaev and his companions for an easy life, in order to hide the true causes of death, buried her as having died from a sudden heart attack ...
The question was: what money and where did all this come from?
The answer was very simple: with the world on a thread - a shirt to the body. Indeed, due to the fact that all deficits were allocated to these trusts without delay, or even more than expected, their bosses “rolled back” to the Moscow authorities in the following way.
For example, a bakery or a confectionery factory ordered out a thousand kg of flour or sugar, however, let us say, only 950 kg of sugar, leaving Isaev as a “pullback” 50 kilo. To cover this shortage (and even cash in on the resulting deficit), during the manufacture of, say, cookies, sugar was underdeveloped: instead of 1000, 900 kg went into production ... calculated on the fact that it doesn't taste how much sugar is in a kilogram of cookies - 90 r or xnumx! This could be done only in the laboratory.
Or take the pastries 100 ths. Buns, each of which instead of 10 pieces. raisins went 8 and instead of 30 grams of sugar - 25, etc., etc.
Direct embezzlement was also practiced due to incomplete posting of incoming food, which in the post-war conditions was easily explained both by unidentified missing from wrecked cars and obvious robberies when unloading "freelancers" by members of numerous gangs who were hired as decent people, but suddenly disappeared in an unknown direction and, of course, not empty-handed. As a result, materially responsible persons were forced to draw up acts on the damage caused. Of course, in the current situation, many of them stole themselves, and blamed everything on the bandits.
"Saved" in this way products quickly came true in the markets and through a commercial chain of stores.
Whatever it was, but the detective Fedor Nevzorov and his comrades in the special services managed to bring to the clear water not only the already named Moscow Food and Criminal Center M.I. Isaev, but also high-ranking provincial lovers associated with Isaev, to arrange a "sweet life" at the expense of bitter tears of ordinary citizens.
According to agent data
I list corrupt criminals and their “deeds” according to documents of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. So:
“LEIDERMAN L.G., a representative of the Rostov Trust, on a criminal conspiracy with Isaev and other employees of the Central Base and the Supply Department of“ Rosglavkhleb ”received for enterprises of the baking industry of different products worth 123,7 thousand rubles, but in the mountains. Rostov did not deliver them. He (by agreement with the chief accountant of the supply department of Glavka Rosenbaum) transferred cash from the Moscow State Labor Bank Savings Bank for some of the stolen products. Part of the goods were written off for individual bakeries for production as allegedly spent on the manufacture of bakery products.
AE Frolov, working as a manager of the Arkhangelsk Bakery Industry Trust, in 1945 – 46. I received food products worth 86 928 rubles from the Rosglavkhleb base, of which I failed to deliver them to 66 569 rubles and stole them.
In a similar way, foodstuffs obtained and stole:
representatives of the Tatarsky bread-baking trust forwarder Kurochkin-Savoderov FN and Tsanin Y.T. - in the amount of 183 thousand rubles (of which Kurochkin-Savoderov - on 136 thousand rubles);
the chief engineer of Altai, and then the manager of the Bryansk trust "Rosglavkhleb" Dashkovsky M.I. - in the amount of 10 600 rubles;
freight forwarder of the Buzuluk bakery of the Orenburg region Spe-
vak S.M. - in the amount of 94 thousand rubles, etc.
Furthermore the investigation in the case established that Isaev M.I. by order of the USSR Ministry of Food Industry No. 104 from 18.03.46, he received vehicles from the Moscow Pecheniye 30 trust to be sent to a number of trusts of the Russian Federation. According to the criminal agreement with the manager of the transport office of the Moscow trust Melamed G.Ya. for sending cars to trusts they received bribes from their representatives at the rate of 7 thousand rubles per car. In total, they received about 200 thousand rubles. For example, the same Leiderman for 10 vehicles gave Melamed a bribe of 70 thousand rubles. Documented, Leiderman reported that he allegedly spent this amount on car repairs, which he carried out at Moscow enterprises in private. Bogus documents for a fee were forwarded to him by the forwarder of the Rosgalkhleb Central Base Rabinovich I.Z. For vacation cars Buzuluksky bakery with his representative Spevaka Isaev received 60 kg of saccharin, which he had to deliver to his bakery. As a result, in order to hide the shortage, the saccharin stolen in this way was written off into production ...
A part of the illegally obtained money was spent on a loose lifestyle, in particular, on drinking in restaurants and on reveling with women of easy virtue. Another part was spent on the purchase of jewelry and household items. A bearer savings book worth 100 thousand rubles was seized from Isaev and an expensive summer cottage was described in the Moscow Region, where a whole warehouse of foodstuffs was found and seized, including sacks of sugar and flour, a large amount of canned meat and milk. bottles of expensive wines, vodka and sausages for tens of thousands of rubles, and so on.
Isaev’s criminal group for the period from April 14 1945 to 1946 inclusively stole: sugar - 1670 kg, flour - 8500 kg, saccharin - 670 kg, raisin - 310 kg, butter - 414 kg, condensed milk - 1553 kg , jam and jam - 2605 kg, etc. - total retail prices (according to the Order of the Ministry of Trade of the USSR No. 550 from 14.12.1947) for the amount of 1 139 230 rub. 18 cop
Moscow City Court 31 May 1949. Sentenced:
Isaev and Rosenbaum by 25 years of imprisonment each with a subsequent defeat in suffrage for five years;
their accomplices: Kurochkin-Savoderova - by 15 years of imprisonment;
Melamed, Spevak and Zanin - to 10 years in prison;
Buchman, Leiderman, Frolov and others - also for long periods of imprisonment;
all - with the full confiscation of the property of their relatives. "
Isaev and Rosenbaum by 25 years of imprisonment each with a subsequent defeat in suffrage for five years;
their accomplices: Kurochkin-Savoderova - by 15 years of imprisonment;
Melamed, Spevak and Zanin - to 10 years in prison;
Buchman, Leiderman, Frolov and others - also for long periods of imprisonment;
all - with the full confiscation of the property of their relatives. "
Thus, the damage caused by criminals to the state was fully repaid. Today one should not even dream of such results ...
Information