Joined the Red Guard at the age of 16; received no formal education; served in the Red Army; worked for the VChK-OGPU (secret police) since 1921; joined the Russian Communist Party - RKP(b) in 1924; worked on party assignments in Central Asia (1930-1932); attended Marxism-Leninism courses; headed a party organization at the "Gosznak" plant in Leningrad; first secretary, Lenin district party committee, Leningrad (1936); assumed one of the key party posts in the Kuybyshev province. The 18th party congress elected him candidate member (1939-41) of the Central Committee, but he was dismissed in 1941 and moved to a secondary post in Oryol. He rose again to the party leadership in the Oryol province and was appointed first secretary of the party organization in the Krasnodar province in 1949. He was promoted to the full membership (1952-1966) on the Central Committee at the 19th party congress (1952). The Central Committee plenum elected him candidate member (16 Oct 1952 - 5 Mar 1953) of the party Presidium and secretary of the Central Committee (16 Oct 1952 - 5 Mar 1953), but a governmental shake-up on the eve of Stalin's decease resulted in his dismissal from these posts. In 1952-1953 Ignatov also was a minister for procurement of agricultural produce of the USSR. For a short time in 1953 Ignatov worked as a first secretary in the Leningrad municipal party organization and the second secretary in the Leningrad province party organization, but then was moved to the Voronezh province (1953) and then to the Gorky province (1955) where he served as chief party leader. His support of Nikita Khrushchev in June 1959 prompted his appointment as a full member of the Central Committee Presidium (29 Jun 1957 - 17 Oct 1961), when failed ousters of Khrushchev were expelled from top leadership. On 17 Dec 1957, Ignatov was also reinstated as the Central Committee secretary (17 Dec 1957 - 4 May 1960). He was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR on 16 Apr 1959, but had to resign the office (27 Nov 1959) as the party leadership ordered him to concentrate on his work in the Secretariat. In 1960 he was made deputy chairman of the USSR government (4 May 1960 - 26 Dec 1962) and simultaneously head of the State Committee for Procurement of Agricultural Produce, but he lost his seat in the Presidium as he was not re-elected to that body after the 22nd party congress (October 1961). He returned to the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR as its Presidium chairman (20 Dec 1962) and died in the office on 14 Nov 1966. Biography source: [5] |
