Viktor Grishin

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Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin (

Biography

Grishin was born in Serpukhov, in the Moscow Governorate of the Russian Empire. In his early years, he worked on the Moscovy railroad, as a spike driver who retrofitted its railway system. He served in the Red Army from 1938 until 1940. In 1941, he was a Communist party functionary. He eventually rose to become 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 General Secretary, and as a possible alternative to Mikhail Gorbachev.^[1] 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.

In late-December 1985, Grishin was replaced by

External links

• Archie Brown, The Gorbachev Factor.
  ISBN 978-0-19-288052-9
• Viktor Grishin, Ex-Moscow Party Chief, Dies at 77.
  New York Times
  , 27 May 1992. Accessed 14 December 2009.

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Party political offices
Preceded by Nikolay Yegorychev	First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party 4 October 1967 - 23 December 1985	Succeeded by Boris Yeltsin