Viktor Grishin

Who was Viktor Grishin?

Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin was a Soviet politician. He was a Candidate and Full Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Grishin was born in Serpukhov, Moscow Oblast. He served in the Red Army from 1938 until 1940. In 1941, he was a Communist Party functionary. He eventually rose to be the leader of the Communist Party in the city of Moscow from 1967 until 1985. He was renowned for his hardline stance.

During the final months of Konstantin Chernenko's life, Grishin had been considered as a possible contender to succeed Chernenko as the General Secretary and as a possible alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev. In an attempt to stress his closeness to Chernenko, he dragged the terminally ill Soviet leader out to vote in early 1985. This action by Grishin backfired and was almost universally viewed as a cruel act. After Chernenko's death in March 1985, he declined to put himself forward as a candidate for succession and instead offered his support, albeit lukewarm, to Gorbachev. Gorbachev was subsequently unanimously elected as the General Secretary.