Kliment Voroshilov

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Kliment Voroshilov (In Russian: Климент Ефремович Ворошилов, 1881-1969) was one of the first military marshals in Soviet Union (1935) and Soviet Defense Minister in 1934–40.

In 1906, he was a delegate to the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP, in Russian: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия, РСДРП) in Stockholm, where he met with Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. During the Russian Civil War Voroshilov engaged in the formation of the Red Army, commanded its military units, and participated in the Battle for Tsaritsyn. Since 1919 he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs and in this position he organized a punitive operation to eliminate the Ukrainian national armed forces. As a leader of a group of delegates to the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) held in March 1921, Voroshilov was involved in the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion, a major uprising of the sailors at the naval base against the Bolsheviks that started halfway through the Congress.[1] In the 1921-1924 he was commander of the North Caucasus Military District and supervised the destruction of the rebels in the Caucasus. In the conflicts within party he always tried to take Stalin's side and supported him in his struggle for power in the party and state. In 1926, Voroshilov was elected to become a member of the Politburo and in 1934 he was appointed Soviet Defense Minister. After the Soviet-Finnish Winter War (November 1939-March 1940) that disclosed fundamental weaknesses of the poor-performing Red Army that was ill-equipped for winter conditions and command structure suffered from rigidity in terms of decision making hindered by political commissars, Voroshilov was removed from the post.[2]

References

  1. Endnotes for V. I. Lenin: Speech At The Opening Of The Congress, March 8, Part I: Tenth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.). Retrieved on October 17, 2013. “Commissar of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky, gave orders to Red Army units under M. N. Tukhachevsky to storm Kronstadt. With participation of over 300 delegates of the Tenth Party Congress who had military experience, led by K. Y. Voroshilov, The Red Army was able to crush the revolt on March 18. There was no dissension by any faction or tendency of the 10th Congress in this discision.”
  2. Климент Ефремович Ворошилов. Биографическая справка (Kliment Voroshilov, Biographical information). RIA.ru (February 2, 2011). Retrieved on October 17, 2013.