Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin

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Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin was a Soviet-Russian statesman during the Cold War era. Born in Saint Petersburg in 1904 to a Russian working-class family, he was conscripted into the labour army during the Russian Civil War and later worked as an industrial manager in Siberia after the Red Army's demobilisation in 1921. Kosygin returned to Leningrad in the early 1930s and rose through the Soviet hierarchy. During World War II, he was a member of the State Defence Committee tasked with relocating Soviet industry from territories soon to be overrun by German forces. He served as Minister of Finance for one year before becoming Minister of Light Industry, then Minister of Light and Food Industry. Stalin removed Kosygin from the Politburo in 1953, weakening his position within the Soviet hierarchy. Following Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader, and on March 20, 1959, Kosygin was appointed Chairman of the State Planning Committee (Gosplan), a post he held for less than a year. He then became First Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. When Khrushchev was replaced in 1964, Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev took on the roles of Premier and First Secretary respectively. As part of the collective leadership, Kosygin, along with Brezhnev and Nikolai Podgorny, became one of the two major power players within the Soviet hierarchy. Kosygin played a significant role in initiating the failed 1965 economic reform, known as the Kosygin reform, which aimed to modernize the Soviet economy. His more open stance on resolving the Prague Spring (1968) further solidified his reputation as a liberal leader within the top leadership. While some conservative members of the top leadership saw his policies as too radical, they were unable to remove him from office, despite his and Brezhnev's mutual dislike. By the 1970s, Brezhnev had gained enough power to halt any attempts by Kosygin to introduce further reforms. Kosygin retired from office in 1980 due to poor health, passing away two months later on December 18, 1980.