View source for Mikhail Suslov

{{Short description|Soviet-era statesman (1902–1982)}}
{{family name hatnote|Andreyevich|Suslov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Cleanup rewrite|date=November 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| native_name         = {{Nobold|Михаил Суслов}}
| native_name_lang    = ru
| image               = Михаил Суслов (1948) (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Portrait of Suslov in 1948
| nationality         = [[Soviet people|Soviet]]
| office              = [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union#Deputy General Secretary|Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
| 1blankname        = Gensek {{efn|i.e. [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]}}
| 1namedata          = [[Leonid Brezhnev]]
| 1blankname1       = Premiers
| 1namedata1        = [[Alexei Kosygin]]<br>[[Nikolai Tikhonov]]
| term_start          = 1965
| term_end            = 1982
| successor1          = [[Andrei Kirilenko (politician)|Andrei Kirilenko]]
| office2             = Senior Secretary of Ideology of the <br>Communist Party of the Soviet Union
| term_start2         = 31 August 1948
| term_end2           = 25 January 1982
| predecessor2        = [[Andrei Zhdanov]]
| successor2          = [[Konstantin Chernenko]] (acting)
| office3             = First Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee
| term_start3         = 1939
| term_end3           = November 1944
| successor3          = [[Aleksandr Orlov (politician)|Aleksandr Orlov]]
| predecessor3        = [[Dmitry Goncharov (politician)|Dmitry Goncharov]]
| birth_name          = Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1902|11|21|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Shakhovskoye, Ulyanovsk Oblast|Shakhovskoye]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1982|1|25|1902|11|21|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], Soviet Union
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| residence           = [[Kutuzovsky Prospekt]]
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]] (1921–1982)
| spouse              = {{marriage|Yelizaveta Alexandrovna||1972|end=d}}
| children            = 2
| profession          = {{hlist|Civil servant|economist}}
| signature           =
| alma_mater          = [[Plekhanov Russian University of Economics]]
| awards              = [[Hero of Socialist Labor]] (twice)
| allegiance          = Soviet Union
| branch              = [[Soviet partisans]]
| serviceyears        = 1941–1945
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* World War II
** [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
*** [[Battle of the Caucasus]]
* [[Guerrilla war in the Baltic states|Baltic guerrilla war]]
* [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Uprising]]
{{tree list/end}}
| footnotes           = {{collapsible list
|titlestyle= background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title=Central institution membership
|bullets=on
| 1952–1953 & 1955–1982: Full, [[19th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|19th]], [[20th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th–21st]], [[22nd Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd]], [[23rd Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|23rd]], [[24th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|24th]], [[25th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], [[26th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]]
| 1947–1982: Member, [[18th Secretariat of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|18th]], [[19th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|19th]], [[20th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th–21st]], [[22nd Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd]], [[23rd Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|23rd]], [[24th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|24th]], [[25th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], [[26th Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]]
| 1946–1952: [[18th Orgburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|18th]] [[Orgburo]]
| 1939–1984: Full member, [[Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|18th]], [[Central Committee of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|19th]], [[Central Committee of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th]], [[22nd Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd]], [[23rd Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|23rd]], [[24th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|24th]], [[25th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|25th]], & [[26th Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|26th]] Central Committee
}}
----
{{Collapsible list
|titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title         = Other political offices held
|bullets       = on
|1949–1952: Head of the [[Agitprop|Propaganda Department]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]
|1949–1950: Editor-in-chief of ''[[Pravda]]''
|1947–1948: Head of the [[Agitprop|Agitation & Propaganda Department]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]
|1946–1949 & 1953–1954: Head of the [[International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|International Department of the Central Committee]]
}}
}}

'''Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Михаи́л Андре́евич Су́слов}}; {{OldStyleDate|21 November|1902|8 November}}{{spaced ndash}}25 January 1982) was a [[Soviet people|Soviet]] politician during the [[Cold War]]. In addition to serving as the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee's]] longtime Secretary of Ideology,{{sfn|Medvedev|Medvedev|2004|p=60}} he held office as [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union#Secretariat|Second Secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] from 1965 until his death in 1982.

Born in rural Russia in 1902, Suslov became a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1921 and studied economics for much of the 1920s. He left his job as a teacher in 1931 to pursue politics full-time, becoming one of the many Soviet politicians who took part in the mass repression begun by [[Joseph Stalin]]'s regime. He was made First Secretary of [[Stavropol Krai]] [[Federal subjects of Russia|administrative area]] in 1939. During World War II, Suslov headed the local [[Stavropol]] guerrilla movement.

After the war, Suslov became a member of the [[Orgburo|Organisational Bureau]] (Orgburo) of the Central Committee in 1946. In June 1950, he was elected to the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]]. From 16 October 1952 onwards, he was a full member of the [[19th Presidium of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|19th Presidium]] of the CPSU. In the ensuing shuffle of the Soviet leadership following Stalin's death, Suslov lost much of the recognition and influence he had previously earned. However, by the late 1950s, he had risen to become the leader of the party opposition to First Secretary [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. When Khrushchev was ousted in 1964, Suslov supported the establishment of a [[Collective leadership in the Soviet Union|collective leadership]]. He also supported inner-party democracy and opposed the reestablishment of the one-man rule as seen during the Stalin and Khrushchev eras. During the Brezhnev era, Suslov was considered to be the party's chief ideologue and second-in-command.<ref name="second">{{Cite web | author= | date=22 January 2002 | script-title=ru:После тяжелой и продолжительной работы |trans-title= After hard and long work | language = ru | publisher=Kommersant.ru | url= https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/306624 | access-date= 30 October 2025 }}</ref> His death on 25 January 1982 is viewed as starting the battle to succeed [[Leonid Brezhnev]] as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|general secretary]].

==Early years and career==
Suslov was born in [[Shakhovskoye, Ulyanovsk Oblast|Shakhovskoye]], [[Khvalynsky Uyezd]], [[Saratov Governorate]] (today, a rural locality in [[Pavlovsky District, Ulyanovsk Oblast]]), [[Russian Empire]] on 21 November 1902. Suslov began work in the local [[Komsomol]] organisation in [[Saratov]] in 1918, eventually becoming a member of the Poverty Relief Committee. After working in the Komsomol for nearly three years, Suslov became a member of the [[All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks)|All-Union Communist Party (the Bolsheviks)]] in 1921. After graduating from the ''[[rabfak]]'', he studied economics at the [[Plekhanov Institute of National Economy]] between 1924 and 1928. In the summer of 1928, after graduating from the Plekhanov institute, he became a graduate student (research fellow) in economics at the [[Institute of Red Professors]],<ref name="reallyshortbio"/> teaching at [[Moscow State University]]{{sfn|Law|1975|p=224}} and at the Industrial Academy.<ref name="reallyshortbio">{{Cite web | author= | script-title=ru:Суслов, Михаил Андреевич |trans-title=Suslov, Mikhail Andreyevich | language = ru | publisher=WarHeroes.ru | url = http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=9120 | access-date =15 February 2011 }}</ref>

In 1931, he abandoned teaching in favour of the party apparatus. He became an inspector on the Communist Party's [[Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party Control Commission]] and on the [[People's Commissariat]] of the [[Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate]].<ref name="reallyshortbio"/> His main task there was to adjudicate large numbers of "personal cases", breaches of discipline, and appeals against expulsion from the party.

In 1933 and 1934, Suslov directed a commission charged with purging the party in the [[Ural (region)|Ural]] and [[Chernigov]] provinces. The purge was organised by [[Lazar Kaganovich]], then Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission. Author [[Yuri Druzhnikov]] contends that Suslov was involved with setting up several [[show trial]]s,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Druzhnikov|first=Yuri|author-link=Yuri Druzhnikov|year=1997|title=Informer 001: The Myth of Pavlik Morozov|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |isbn=978-1-56000-283-3| page = 62}}</ref> and contributed to the Party by expelling all members deviating from the [[Party line (politics)|Party line]], meaning [[Trotskyist]]s, [[Zinovievist]]s, and other left-wing deviationists.<ref name="reallyshortbio"/>

From 1936 to 1937, Suslov studied at the Postgraduate Course of the Economic [[Institute of Red Professors]]. He gained a reputation as an unsociable, modest, and serious student who carefully studied and memorized the works and speeches of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin and became known for keeping a complete record of their statements on economic and political issues in boxes of cards and file cabinets in his tiny room in a communal apartment. Somehow, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] urgently needed Lenin's opinion on one narrow economic issue and dispatched his secretary [[Lev Mekhlis]] to locate the answer. Mekhlis, Suslov's classmate at the institute, approached him and instantly found the necessary quote. An amazed Stalin asked how he managed to find the quote so quickly, upon which Mekhlis introduced Stalin to Suslov.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thelman|first=Joseph|date=December 2012|title=The Man in Galoshes|url=https://jew-observer.com/istoriya/chelovek-v-galoshax/|access-date=28 February 2021|website=Jew Observer}}</ref> Stalin immediately had Suslov promoted to a secretary of the [[Rostov Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Rostov Regional Committee]] in 1937.<ref name="times1982">{{Cite news |date=1982-01-27 |title=MIKHAIL SUSLOV, CHIEF IDEOLOGIST, IS DEAD IN SOVIET |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/27/obituaries/mikhail-suslov-chief-ideologist-is-dead-in-soviet.html |access-date=2023-03-02 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mikhail Andreevich Suslov |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100544260 |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}</ref>{{sfn|Law|1975|p=224}} Suslov has been linked to political repression in [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]] as part of the [[Great Purge]] in 1938,{{Sfn|Petroff|1988|p=42}}{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=642n}} however writer [[Roy Medvedev]] has questioned this, stating that "we have no evidence of his personal involvement in the repressive campaigns of 1937–1938, though they certainly paved the way for his rapid rise."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Medvedev |first=Roy Aleksandrovich |title=All Stalin's men |date=1984 |publisher=Anchor Press/Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-18388-8 |location=Garden City, N.Y |page=67 |language=}}</ref> Suslov was made First Secretary of the [[Stavropol Krai]] Committee in 1939.{{sfn|Law|1975|p=224}}

===Wartime activities (1941–1945)===
[[File:Михаил Андреевич Суслов.jpg|thumb|206px|left|Suslov in 1941]]
On the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] in World War II, Suslov was a member of Military Council of the [[North Caucasian Front]]<ref name="reallyshortbio"/> and led the Stavropol Krai Headquarters of the Partisan Divisions (the local guerrilla movement) after the Germans occupied the area.{{sfn|Law|1975|p=224}} Suslov spent much of his time mobilising workers to fight against the German invaders. The guerrilla movement he led was operated by the regional party cells; Suslov for his part maintained close contact with the [[Red Army]].<ref name="reallyshortbio"/>

According to Soviet historiography, Suslov's years as a guerrilla fighter were highly successful; however, testimonies from participants differ from the official account. These participants claim that there were a number of organizational problems which reduced their effectiveness on the battlefield. Suslov also suffered badly from tuberculosis, which he had contracted in his youth, that was further exacerbated in the dense partisan forests and hampered his ability as an effective combatant. Fearing further relapses, for the rest of his life, he continued to wear galoshes on his shoes as well as a hat and raincoat at all times, even in the hot summer weather, which made him the subject of jokes among his colleagues in Brezhnev's Politburo.<ref name="Skvortsova">{{Cite web|last=Skvortsova|first=Elena|date=7 December 2021|title=Unknown history. The "Gray Eminence" of the Soviet system Mikhail Suslov|url=https://sobesednik.ru/obshchestvo/20211207-neizvestnaya-istoriya-seryi-kardinal-so|access-date=22 February 2022|website=sobesednik}}</ref>

Suslov later purged the Baltic region in the aftermath of the Great Patriotic War.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=560n}} From 1944 to 1946, he chaired the Central Committee Bureau for [[Lithuania]]n Affairs. Anti-Soviet [[samizdat]] literature from the height of his power in the 1970s would accuse him of being personally responsible for the deportation and killings of nationalist Lithuanians who became political opponents of the Soviets during the course of Soviet re-entry into the [[Baltic states]] on their drive to Berlin in 1944.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Spring 1978 |title=Samizdat document on Suslov's role in Lithuania |url=http://www.lituanus.org/1978/78_1_06.htm |url-status=dead |journal=[[Lituanus]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |issn=0024-5089 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217100335/http://www.lituanus.org/1978/78_1_06.htm |archive-date=17 December 2010 |access-date=27 April 2006}}</ref>

===Rise to the Soviet leadership===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S99311, Berlin, III. SED-Parteitag.jpg|thumb|right|Suslov (standing, front row, furthest to the right) at the 3rd Party Congress of East Germany's ruling [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]], 1950]]
In 1946, Suslov was made a member of the [[Orgburo]] and immediately became the Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Central Committee. Within a year, Suslov was appointed Head of the Central Committee Department for [[Agitprop|Agitation and Propaganda]]. He also became a harsh critic of the [[Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee]] in the post-war years.<ref>{{Cite book|year=1995|volume=1|author1=Redlich, Simon |author2=Anderson, Kirill Mikhaĭlovich |author3=Altman, I. |title=War, Holocaust and Stalinism: A Documented Study of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in the USSR|publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-3-7186-5739-1| pages = 69–70 }}</ref> On 26 November 1946, Suslov sent a letter to [[Andrei Zhdanov]], accusing the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of spying. Suslov's letter, which was well-received among Soviet leadership, would serve as the basis for prosecution of the committee during the [[anti-cosmopolitan campaign]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pain|first=Emil|date=29 April 2020|title=Antisemitism Deferred|url=https://mbk-news.appspot.com/sences/otlozhennyj-antisemitizm/|access-date=28 February 2021|website=MBK News}}</ref> After becoming head of the Agitprop, at the height of the anti-cosmopolitan campaign, Suslov also purged Jews from media and public institutions.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mlechin|first=Leonid|date=7 July 2019|title="You Give us Little Hawks, Give us Little Hawks!": Why Identifying Jews Became the Most Important Problem in the Post-War USSR|url=https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/07/07/81159-vy-nam-rusachkov-rusachkov-davayte|access-date=28 February 2021|website=[[Novaya Gazeta]]}}</ref>

In 1947, Suslov was transferred to Moscow and elected to the [[Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee|Central Committee Secretariat]]{{sfn|Law|1975|p=224}} In January 1948, Stalin entrusted him with the task of speaking on behalf of the Central Committee before a solemn meeting on the twenty-fourth anniversary of [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s death.{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=62}} Upon Zhdanov's death in August 1948, Suslov succeeded him as CC Secretary of Ideology.{{Sfnm|1a1=Kenez|1y=2017|1p=181|2a1=Medvedev|2a2=Medvedev|2y=2004|2p=60}} From September 1949 to 1950, he was editor-in-chief of the central Party daily ''[[Pravda]]''.<ref name="reallyshortbio"/>

In 1949, Suslov became a member, along with [[Georgy Malenkov]], [[Lavrentiy Beria]], and Lazar Kaganovich, of a commission created to investigate charges levied against Moscow's local Communist Party First Secretary, Georgy Popov.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=218}} Russian historian [[Roy Medvedev]] speculates in his book, ''Neizvestnyi Stalin'', that Stalin had made Suslov his "secret heir".{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=642n}} [[Lavrentiy Beria]], who hated Suslov, evidently felt so threatened by him that after his arrest, documents were found in Beria's safe labeling Suslov as the No. 1 person he wanted to "eliminate".<ref name="Skvortsova"/>

In June 1950, Suslov was elected to the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]]. He was promoted to the CPSU [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Presidium]] (later known as the Politburo) in 1952 following the [[19th Congress of the CPSU|19th Party Congress]]. He suffered a temporary reversal when Stalin died and was dismissed from the Presidium in 1953. He continued to work in the Supreme Soviet, even becoming Chairman of the Commission of Foreign Affairs in the years immediately following Stalin's death.{{sfn|Law|1975|pp=224–225}}

==Khrushchev era==
[[File:Nikita Khrusjtsjov.jpg|thumb|[[Nikita Khrushchev]], leader of the Soviet Union (1954–1964)]]
Suslov recovered his authority in 1955 and was elected to a seat in the Presidium, bypassing the customary candidate membership.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=218}} In the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th Party Congress]] of 1956, Khrushchev delivered the famous [[Secret Speech]] about Stalin's [[cult of personality]]. In Suslov's ideological report on 16 February, he updated his criticism of Stalin and his personality cult:{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=84}}

{{Blockquote|"(They) caused considerable harm to both organisational and ideological party work. They belittled the role of the masses and the role of the Party, disparaged collective leadership, undermined inner-party democracy, suppressed the activeness of party members, their initiative and enterprise, led to lack of control, irresponsibility, and even arbitrariness in the work of individuals, prevented the development of criticism and self-criticism, and gave rise to one-sided and at times mistaken decisions."|Suslov|statement at the 20th Congress of the CPSU}}

During the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]], Suslov, along with [[Anastas Mikoyan]], operated in close proximity to [[Budapest]] in order to direct the activities of the Soviet troops and to lend assistance to the new Hungarian leadership. Suslov and Mikoyan attended the Politburo meeting of the [[Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party]] which elected [[János Kádár]] to the office of General Secretary. In a telegram to the Soviet leadership, Suslov and Mikoyan acknowledged that the situation had become more dire, but both were content with the dismissal of [[Ernő Gerő]] as General Secretary and the choice of Kádár as his successor.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=282}}

The [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] criticised Suslov's and Mikoyan's concessions to the new government in the [[People's Republic of Hungary]].{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=283}} Despite his initial reservations, Suslov eventually supported the Presidium's decision to intervene in Hungary militarily and replace the government's leadership there.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=285}}

In June 1957, Suslov backed Khrushchev during his struggle with the [[Anti-Party Group]] led by [[Georgy Malenkov]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[Lazar Kaganovich]], and [[Dmitry Shepilov]].{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=246}} Mikoyan later wrote in his memoirs that he convinced Suslov to support Khrushchev by telling him that Khrushchev would emerge the winner even if he did not have enough support in the Presidium.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=247}}

The following October Suslov accused [[Georgy Zhukov]], the [[Minister of Defense (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence]], of "Bonapartism" at the Central Committee plenum that removed him from all party and government posts. The removal of Zhukov had the effect of firmly subordinating the armed forces to party control.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=246}}

In a speech on 22 January 1958, Khrushchev officially proposed to dissolve the [[Machine and Tractor Station]]s (MTS), state organizations that owned and maintained the farm machinery used by [[kolkhoz]]y. This reform had a particular significance in Soviet ideology. In Marxist-Leninist doctrine, cooperative ownership of property was considered a "lower" form of public ownership than state ownership. Khrushchev's proposal to expand cooperative ownership ran contrary to the [[Marxism|Marxist]] theory as interpreted by Stalin.

Suslov, who supported Stalin's economic policy, regarded Khrushchev's proposal as unacceptable on ideological grounds. In an election speech to the Supreme Soviet in March 1958, Suslov refused to recognise the ideological significance of Khrushchev's reform, preferring instead to focus on the reform's practical benefits in improving productivity. Unlike other Party leaders, Suslov avoided mentioning Khrushchev as the MTS reform's initiator.{{sfn|Petroff|1988|pp=111–112}}

The [[21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|21st Party Congress]] convened in January 1959. Khrushchev wanted to consider the draft of a new Seven-Year plan. Suslov cautiously demonstrated against Khrushchev's statement that the country had developed from the [[Socialism (marxism)|socialist state of development]] to the higher state of communist development. He saw Khrushchev's view as flawed, and countered that his view had not been approved by the Party. To discredit Khrushchev's assertion further, Suslov invoked [[Karl Marx]] and [[Vladimir Lenin]]:{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=115}}

{{Blockquote|"Marx and Lenin teach us that communism doesn't appear suddenly, but comes into existence, matures, develops, passes in its development through definite stages or phases.... The new period in the development of Soviet society will be marked by the gradual drawing together of two forms of socialist property – state and kolkhoz... The process of these social changes will be long, and understandably, cannot end in the course of a seven-year period."|Suslov|statement at the 21st Congress of the CPSU}}

Suslov was becoming progressively more critical of Khrushchev's policies,{{sfn|Law|1975|p=225}} his political intransigence, and his campaign to eliminate what was left of the [[Stalinism|Stalinist old guard]].{{sfn|Law|1975|p=209}} There were also deep-seated divergences in foreign and domestic policy between Suslov and Khrushchev. Suslov opposed the idea of improving [[Soviet Union–United States relations]]{{sfn|Law|1975|p=225}} and was against Khrushchev's attempts at rapprochement with [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]].<ref>{{Cite book | author=Khrushchev, Nikita | title = Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Reformer, 1945–1964 | volume = 2 | publisher=Pennsylvania State Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-271-02861-3 | page = 511 | author-link = Nikita Khrushchev }}</ref> Domestically, Suslov opposed Khrushchev's policy of [[de-Stalinisation]] and his [[Supreme Soviet of the National Economy|economic decentralisation scheme]].{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=117}}

Suslov visited the United Kingdom in 1959 as a parliamentarian for the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]]. The visit was a success, and [[Hugh Gaitskell]], the [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]], travelled to the Soviet Union later that year as a guest.<ref>
{{Cite book|year=1991|author=Oudenaren, John Van|title=Détente in Europe: The Soviet Union and the West since 1953|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8223-1141-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/detenteineuropes0000vano/page/118 118]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/detenteineuropes0000vano/page/118}}</ref>

[[File:1963 Press Photo Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov.png|thumb|left|Suslov in 1963.]]
[[Sino–Soviet relations]] had long been strained and, as Suslov told the Central Committee in one of his reports, "The crux of the matter is that the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of China|Leadership of the CCP]] has recently developed tendencies to exaggerate the degree of maturity of socialist relations in China... There are elements of conceit and haughtiness. [These shortcomings] are largely explained by the atmosphere of the [[cult of personality]] of comrade [[Mao Zedong]]... who, by all accounts, himself has come to believe in his own infallibility."<ref>
{{Cite book|year=2001|author1=Feldman, Ofer |author2=Valenty, Linda O. |title=Profiling Political Leaders: Cross-cultural Studies of Personality and Behavior|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-275-97036-9| page = 126 }}</ref> Suslov compared Mao's growing personality cult with that seen under Joseph Stalin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leffler|first=Melvyn P.|title=The Cambridge History of the Cold War|volume=1|year=2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-83719-4|page=369}}</ref>

Suslov was highly critical of Maoist China, as he led the [[Sino-Soviet Split|Sino-Soviet Dispute]] and criticized [[Maoism]] in various ways under the Khrushchev administration, particularly its split from the Soviet leadership in the [[Eastern Bloc|Socialist Camp]], the rejection of the theory of [[Peaceful Coexistence]], and Mao's support of anti-Soviet rival communist militant groups globally. In a report made on [[Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union#Plenums|14 February 1964 at a plenary meeting]] of the Central Committee, Suslov compared Mao's China to [[Trotskyism]], and denounced the Chinese leadership as [[Bourgeois nationalism|petty-bourgeois nationalists]] and [[Deviationism|left-deviationists]]:

{{Blockquote|text=[...] the entire range of the CPC leadership's theoretical and political views are in many ways a rehash of Trotskyism [...] an examination of the sources of the present anti-Leninist dissentive policy of the CPC leadership leads up to the conclusion that the world communist movement faces a tangible danger of petty‐bourgeois nationalist deviation that disguises itself with "Left" phrase-mongering.|author=Suslov|title=''Struggle of the CPSU for Unity of the International Communist Movement''<ref>{{Cite book |last=T͡SK KPSS |url=https://dai.mun.ca/PDFs/radical/StruggleoftheCPSUforUnityoftheInternationalCommunistMovement.pdf#page=86 |title=Struggle of the CPSU for Unity of the International Communist Movement|publisher=Novosti Press Agency Publishing House |year=1964 |location=Moscow |pages=84, 95}}</ref>}}

In the years following the failure of the Anti-Party Group, Suslov became the leader of the faction in the Central Committee opposed to Khrushchev's leadership, known as the "Moscow faction".{{sfn|Law|1975|p=160}} Khrushchev was able to hold on to power by conceding to various opposition demands in times of crisis, such as during the [[1960 U-2 incident]] and the 1962 [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]. In the aftermath of the U-2 Crisis Suslov was able to remove, and replace, several of Khrushchev's appointees in the Politburo with new anti-Khrushchev members. Khrushchev's position was greatly weakened further after the failure of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Suslov's power greatly increased.

A campaign to oust Khrushchev from office was initiated in 1964. Although leader of the opposition, Suslov had fallen seriously ill during his trip to the People's Republic of China the previous year; instead, [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and [[Alexei Kosygin]] led the opposition.{{sfn|Law|1975|p=210}}

==Brezhnev era==

===Gatekeeper of Marxist-Leninist Dogma===
In October 1964, Mikhail Suslov played a central role in having Khrushchev removed from power. Thereafter, a [[Triumvirate#Soviet Union|triumvirate]] or ''troika'' assumed power in the Kremlin consisting of Leonid Brezhnev as [[First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|First Secretary]], Alexei Kosygin as [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Premier]], and CC Secretary [[Nikolai Podgorny]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Borrero|1y=2006|1pp=35-38,37|2a1=Bacon|2y=2002|2p=13|3a1=Daniels|3y=1998|3p=36}} Likewise, Suslov emerged as one of the most powerful figures in the Soviet leadership, ranking fourth in the Politburo hierarchy behind the members of the ruling troika.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v13/d170|title=170. Memorandum From the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon |date=10 April 1971 |publisher=history.state.gov | access-date=6 March 2018}}</ref> By 1965, he was promoted to [[Central Committee#Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Second Secretary]], the most senior official within the party apparatus beneath the First Secretary. {{Sfnm|1a1=Crump|1y=2014|1p=83|2a1=Diller|2y=1990|2p=241|3a1=Hough|3a2=Fainsod|3y=1979|3pp=417-418}} For the next 10 years, Suslov was one of only four people who had both a seat in the Secretariat and the Politburo alongside Brezhnev, [[Andrei Kirilenko (politician)|Andrei Kirilenko]] and [[Fyodor Kulakov]].{{sfn|Law|1975|p=231}}

From the beginning, Suslov was a vocal critic of one-man rule such as that seen under Joseph Stalin and Khrushchev.. A strong supporter of [[democratic centralism]], Suslov prevented Brezhnev from taking over Kosygin's post as head of government in 1970.{{sfn|Schmidt-Häuer|1986|p=77}}

[[File:RIAN_archive_91137_Awarding_the_Order_of_Lenin_(cropped).jpg|thumb|299x299px|Suslov (right) in October 1968, with Brezhnev (left) and Kosygin (second from right)]]
It was during the Brezhnev era that Mikhail Suslov was given the unofficial title "Chief Ideologue of the Communist Party". He devoted much of his time memorializing the legacies of [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]. Suslov also grew increasingly concerned that the Soviet Union would lose its leading role in the communist movement. Consequently, he became an outspoke opponent of political reform throughout the communist world. According to Christian Schmidt-Häuer, Suslov was regarded as the "pope" among orthodox communist officials in the Eastern Bloc. {{sfn|Schmidt-Häuer|1986|p=78}}

In the midst of following the party line set by Moscow, Suslov supported a retreat from some core beliefs of [[Marxism-Leninism]], including the end of single, Party-approved natural science versions of [[biology]], [[chemistry]] and [[physics]].{{sfn|Service|2009|pp=418–419}} On the other hand, there still existed tight ideological control over literature. This included not only literature critical of Soviet rule, but much of Lenin's work.{{sfn|Service|2009|p=419}}

===Later life and death===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0411-156, Berlin, X. SED-Parteitag.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Suslov (standing second from left in front row) at the 10th Party Congress of East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party, 1981]]
At the beginning of the 1980s, the political and economic turmoil in the [[Polish People's Republic]] had seriously eroded the authority of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]]. Suslov's position on this matter carried particular weight as he chaired a Politburo Commission, established on 25 August 1980, on how to deal with the [[Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–1981|Polish crisis]]. Members of the commission included such high-ranking Soviets as [[List of chairmen of the KGB|KGB Chairman]] [[Yuri Andropov]], [[Minister of Defense (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence]] [[Dmitry Ustinov]], [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Andrei Gromyko]], and Brezhnev's long-time associate [[Konstantin Chernenko]].

[[File:DSC-0094-kremlin-wall-necropolis-suslov-tomb-july-2016.jpg|200px|thumb|Suslov's tomb in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]]]
On 28 August, the Commission considered Soviet military intervention to stabilize the region.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=430}} [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]], First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, was able to persuade the Commission that a Soviet military intervention would only aggravate the situation. Suslov agreed with Jaruzelski's argument, stating that "if troops are introduced, that will mean a catastrophe. I think that we all share the unanimous opinion here that there can be no discussion of any introduction of troops".{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=435}} Suslov was able to persuade Jaruzelski and the Polish leadership to establish [[martial law in Poland]].{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=197}}
In January 1982, Andropov revealed to Suslov that [[Semyon Tsvigun]], the First Deputy Chairman of the [[KGB]], had shielded [[Galina Brezhneva|Galina]] and [[Yuri Brezhnev|Yuri]], Brezhnev's children, from corruption investigations. When these facts were revealed to him, Suslov challenged Tsvigun to make a statement on the matter. Suslov even threatened Tsvigun with expulsion from the Communist Party, but Tsvigun died on 19 January 1982 before he could challenge Suslov's statement.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

Two days later, Suslov had a [[coronary thrombosis]], and died on 25 January of [[arteriosclerosis]] and [[diabetes]] at 16:05.{{sfn|Schmidt-Häuer|1986|p=73}} His death is viewed as starting the battle to succeed Brezhnev. Thereafter, Andropov assumed Suslov's place in the [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]] before eventually sidelining Kirilenko and Chernenko during the final months of Brezhnev's rule.{{sfn|Schmidt-Häuer|1986|p=78}}{{additional citation needed|date=October 2025}}

Suslov was buried on 29 January at the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], in one of the twelve individual tombs located between the [[Lenin Mausoleum]] and the [[Kremlin wall]]. Brezhnev expressed great sadness at Suslov's passing.{{sfn|Schmidt-Häuer|1986|p=74}}

==Recognition==
Suslov was awarded several decorations and medals during his life; among them were two [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] awards, five [[Orders of Lenin]], one [[Order of the October Revolution]], and one first degree [[Order of the Patriotic War]]. The [[USSR Academy of Sciences]] awarded Suslov the Gold Medal of Karl Marx. Suslov was awarded the highest state awards of the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]], the [[Mongolian People's Republic]], and the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]].<ref name="reallyshortbio"/>

;Soviet Union
{| 
|[[File:Order of Lenin Ribbon Bar.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of Lenin]], five times (16 March 1940, 20 November 1952, 20 November 1962, 2 December 1971, 20 November 1972)
|-
|[[File:SU Medal To a Partisan of the Patriotic War 1st class ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "To a Partisan of the Patriotic War"]], 1st class (1943)
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For the Defence of the Caucasus ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"]] (1944)
|-
|[[File:SU Order of the Patriotic War 1st class ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of the Patriotic War]], 1st class (24 March 1945)
|-
|[[File:SU Medal For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]] (1945)
|-
|[[File:Order of Glory Ribbon Bar.svg|60px]]
|[[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]] (1945)
|-
|[[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|20px]] [[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|20px]]
|[[Hero of Socialist Labor]], twice (20 November 1962, 20 November 1972)
|-
|[[File:SU Order of the October Revolution ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[Order of the October Revolution]] (18 November 1977)
|-
|[[File:Badge 50 years in the CPSU.png|40px]]
|Badge "50 Years in the CPSU" (1981)
|-
|}

;Foreign
{|
|-
|[[File:Hero of Socialist Labor medal.png|20px]]
|Hero of Socialist Labor ([[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]])
|-
|[[File:Пластина на орден „Георги Димитров“.gif|60px]]
|[[Order of Georgi Dimitrov]] (Bulgaria, 1977)
|-
|[[File:Cs2okg.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Klement Gottwald]] ([[Czechoslovakia]], 1977)
|-
|
|[[Order of Karl Marx]] ([[East Germany]], 1978)<ref>{{cite web |title=Neues Deutschland vom 12.01.1978 |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/ausgabe/1978-01-12 |website=ND-Archiv |access-date=13 August 2024 |language=de}}</ref>
|-
|[[File:OrdenSuheBator.png|60px]]
|[[Order of Sukhbaatar]] ([[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]])
|-
|[[File:Vietnam Gold Star ribbon.png|60px]]
|[[Gold Star Order]] ([[Vietnam]])
|}

==Personal life==
Suslov married Yelizaveta Alexandrovna (1903–1972), who worked as the Director of the Moscow Institute for Stomatology. In her life, she badly suffered from internal diseases, especially [[diabetes]] in a severe form, but ignored her physician's recommendations.

[[Bernard Lown]], a Lithuanian-born American [[M.D.]], was once requested to see her in the [[Moscow Central Clinical Hospital]]; it was one of the few cases where a renowned foreign doctor was invited to visit the Kremlin Hospital. Suslov expressed his gratitude for Lown's work, but avoided meeting Lown in person because he was a representative of an "imperialistic" country.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Zyankovich, Mikalai Alyaksandravich |author2=Zenkovich, Nicholas | page = 416 | title = Самые секретные родственники |trans-title=Most Secret Family | publisher = Olma Media Group | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-5-94850-408-7}}</ref>

Yelizaveta and Suslov had two children, Revoly (born 1929), named after the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]], and his second child, Maya (born 1939), named after [[International Workers' Day|May Day]].{{sfn|Petroff|1988|p=73}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book |last=Bacon |first=Edwin |date=2002 |editor-last1=Bacon |editor-first1=Edwin |editor-last2=Sandle |editor-first2=Mark |title=Brezhnev Reconsidered |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan Ltd. |pages=1–21 |chapter=Reconsidering Brezhnev |isbn=978-0-333-79463-0}}
*{{cite book |last1=Borrero  |first1=Mauricio |date=2006 |editor-last=Coppa |editor-first=Frank J. |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Dictators:From Napoleon to the Present |publisher=Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. |orig-date= |pages= |chapter=Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich 1906-1982 |chapter-url= |isbn=0-8204-5010-3 }}
* {{Cite book | author=Brown, Archie |author-link= Archie Brown (historian)| title = The Rise & Fall of Communism | location = London | publisher=[[Bodley Head]] | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0-224-07879-5 | ref = CITEREFBrown2009}}
*{{cite book |last=Crump |first=Thomas |date=2014 |title=Brezhnev and the Decline of the Soviet Union |url= |location= |publisher=Routledge |page=|isbn=978-0-415-69073-7 |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=Robert Vincent |title=Russia's Transformation: Snapshots of a Crumbling System |date=1998 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0-8476-8709-0}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Diller |editor-first=Daniel C. |date=1990 |title=The Soviet Union |ref= |url= |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Congressional Quartlery |page= |isbn=0-87187-574-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Hough |first1=Jerry F. |last2=Fainsod |first2=Merle |date=1979 |title=How the Soviet Union is Governed |url= |location= |publisher=Harvard University Press |page= |isbn=0-674-41030-0 |access-date=}}
*{{cite book |last=Kenez |first=Peter |date=2017 |title=A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to Its Legacy |url= |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page= |isbn=978-1-107-14105-6  |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book | last = Law  | first = David A. | title = Russian Civilization | publisher=Ardent Media | location=New York | year = 1975 | isbn = 978-0-8422-0529-0 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Medvedev |first1=Roy |last2=Medvedev |first2=Zhores |date=2004 |title=The Unknown Stalin: His Life, Death and Legacy |url= |location= |publisher=The Overlook Press |page= |isbn=1-58567-502-4 |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book | author=Petroff, Serge | title = The Red Eminence: A Biography of Mikhail A. Suslov | publisher=Kingston Press |location=Cliffton, New Jersey | year = 1988| isbn = 978-0-940670-13-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iO9oAAAAMAAJ | ref = CITEREFPetroff1988 }}
* {{Cite book | author=Schmidt-Häuer, Christian | title = Gorbachev: The Path to Power | publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]] | year = 1986 | location = London | isbn = 978-1-85043-015-5 | ref = CITEREFSchmidt-Häuer1986 }}
* {{Cite book | author=Sebag-Montefiore, Simon | title = Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar | location = New York | publisher=[[Vintage Books]] | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-1-4000-7678-9 | ref = CITEREFMontefiore2005 | author-link = Simon Sebag-Montefiore }}
* {{Cite book | author=Service, Robert | title = History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century | ref = CITEREFService2009 | publisher=[[Penguin Books Ltd]] | location=London | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0-14-103797-4 | author-link = Robert Service (historian) }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Archie |date=2020 |title=The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Human_Factor/6iXTDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |page= |isbn=978-0-19-874870-0 |access-date=}}
*{{cite book |last=Hough |first=Jerry F. |date=1997 |title=Democratization and Revolution in the USSR, 1985-1991 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Democratization_and_Revolution_in_the_US/BzaaFXMpvMkC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |location= |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |page= |isbn=0-8157-3748-3 |access-date=}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Kavanagh |editor-first=Dennis |date=1998 |chapter=Suslov, Mikhail Andreevich |title=A Dictionary of Political Biography |url= |location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |page= |isbn=0-19-280035-3 |access-date=}}
*{{cite book |last=Kelley |first=Donald R. |author-link= |date=1987 |title=Soviet Politics from Brezhnev to Gorbachev |url=https://archive.org/details/sovietpoliticsfr0000kell |location= |publisher=Praeger Publishers |isbn=0-275-92522-6}}

== External links ==
* ''[https://archive.org/details/SuslovSelectedWritingsSpeeches Selected Writings and Speeches]'' published in 1980 by [[Pergamon Press]].

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Nikolai Podgorny]]<br>{{not verified in body|date=November 2025}}}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]|years=1965–1982}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andrei Kirilenko]]<br>{{not verified in body|date=November 2025}}}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Vahan Grigoryan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of [[International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Department for Relations with Foreign Communist Parties]]|years=1953–1954}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Boris Ponomarev]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Dmitri Shepilov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the [[Agitprop|Propaganda Department]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]|years=20 July 1949–27 October 1952}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Nikolai Mikhailov (politician)|Nikolai Mikhailov]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pyotr Pospelov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Editor-in-chief of ''[[Pravda]]''|years=1949–1950}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leonid Ilyichev (politician)|Leonid Ilyichev]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Andrei Zhdanov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Senior Secretary of Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|years=1948–1982}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Konstantin Chernenko]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Andrei Zhdanov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the [[Agitprop|Propaganda and Agitation Department]] of the Central Committee|years=17 September 1947–10 July 1948}}
{{s-aft|after=''Post abolished (merged into the Propaganda Department)''}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Georgi Dimitrov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Head of the International Department of the Central Committee]]|years=13 April 1946―12 March 1949}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Vahan Grigoryan]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Dmitry Goncharov (politician)|Dmitry Goncharov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=First Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee|years=1939–1944}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Aleksandr Orlov (politician)|Aleksandr Orlov]]}}
{{s-end}}

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