Furtseva Ekaterina Alekseevna - this is perhaps the only woman in our country who is in the 2nd half of the 20th century. was able to climb to the top of power. A girl born in the Higher Volochka was the "mistress" of Moscow for several years in a row, and after that she took places on the party Olympus, being a member of the secretariat and the presidium of the ruling Central Committee of the CPSU. For fourteen years, Ekaterina Furtseva was the head of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR.
How to explain such an incredible career as an ordinary girl? Her outstanding personal qualities, occasion, luck or sympathy for the leaders? Of course, all this, no doubt, was present in her life. Nevertheless, Furtseva Ekaterina Alekseevna stubbornly pushed her way in a society that did not encourage a woman's rapid career. And in this regard, our heroine is an exception.
Weaver Career
12/07/1910 in the Upper Volochyok, which was at that time in the Tver province, Ekaterina Furtseva was born. Her biography was rather complicated. Catherine's father, Alexei Gavrilovich, was an ordinary metalworker. During the First World War, he was drafted into the royal army, where he died in the very first battles. Despite the fact that the future fate of Ekaterina Furtseva was, at first glance, very successful, she, having received psychological trauma in her early childhood from losing her father, was constantly afraid to be abandoned, abandoned and rejected. This woman was very dependent on friends and relatives, beloved men and girlfriends. She was scared to imagine that she could be left alone.
The mother of Ekaterina Furtseva, Matrena Nikolaevna, never married again. She alone raised her daughter and son to her feet. Matrena Nikolaevna was an illiterate woman. However, in her city she enjoyed great authority.
The ability to make decisions independently and internal strength were inherited from Ekaterina Furtseva's mother. Her biography later developed just like that thanks to the solid character, which, one might say, was inherited by the woman. However, despite this, Ekaterina Alekseevna carefully concealed the feeling of helplessness that accompanied her for the rest of her life.
After the seven-year plan, the girl entered the factory school, where she received the profession of weaver. The biography of Furtseva Catherine began with work at the machine. Subsequently, the future minister of culture will be assigned an offensive nickname for her “weaver”. At every opportunity, the highest political figures will arrogantly contemptuously recall her beginning of her career. Although there is nothing reprehensible in this. And the vital necessity that the girl had to start work early, causes not only respect, but also sympathy.
However, Catherine Furtseva stood behind the machine for a very short time. Her biography changed dramatically after joining the Komsomol.
Catherine was an athletic and well-developed girl, which fully met the expectations of the era. This was the period when Catherine was literally torn between the desire to meet a real man in her life and not yield to the stronger sex.
For sixteen months she worked as secretary of the Komsomol district committee in the village of Korenevo (present-day Kursk region). After this, Furtseva received a new appointment, and never returned to these parts. Local historians assure that the personal life of Ekaterina Furtseva in this period was subsequently carefully hidden by the future Minister of Culture. This concerns the fact that on August 25, 1931, the girl married a local carpenter. However, three months later this marriage broke up. The name of the first spouse of Furtseva local historians is kept secret.
Personal happiness
Furtseva Ekaterina Alekseevna was a very promising employee. That is why in 1931 she was transferred to the post of secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol in the city of Feodosia. Here, in Koktebel, her great passion for gliding came. And the girl made recommendations from the regional party committee for training at Aeroflot's Higher Academic Courses. After that, Furtseva came to Saratov, where she became an assistant to the head of the political department on Komsomol issues in an aviation technical school.
It was here that Catherine met her first great love. Her chosen one was the pilot Pyotr Ivanovich Bitkov. In the thirties of the last century, pilots enjoyed particular success with women due to the romantic halo surrounding them. And Pyotr Bitkov was an interesting and prominent man. He was fully consistent with the idea of ​​Catherine about a reliable life partner, who could become for her a real defense and support and give her what the girl was previously deprived of. The young people got married.
In 1936, Petr Bitkov was transferred to work in the political administration of civil aviation. In this regard, the young family moved to Moscow. In the capital, Furtseva began working as an instructor in the student youth department of the Komsomol Central Committee. She successfully coped with the duties assigned to her. And this, despite the fact that she did not have the highest education, and she never took part in student life.
In 1937, Furtseva was sent to study at the Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. Lomonosov. However, student Ekaterina Alekseevna was unimportant. Indeed, immediately after admission, she began to actively engage in public work, taking the post of secretary of the institute's party committee. Of course, she received a diploma of higher education. They gave her to her in 1941, on the eve of the war. That is why Ekaterina Alekseevna failed to start working on her specialty.
Family breakdown
The start of the war with fascist Germany was doubly tragic for a woman. Ekaterina Furtseva’s husband went to the front, and then announced that he was leaving the family. Together they no longer lived, although it was at this time that a long-awaited child was born to them.
Ekaterina Alekseevna always dreamed of having children. However, she was able to get pregnant only after eleven years of married life. Like many historical facts about Ekaterina Furtseva regarding her biography, the birth of a child has overgrown with myths and rumors. For example, there was talk that the girl’s father was not Peter Bitkov at all. That is why the offended husband left his family. However, there are other versions. Pyotr Ivanovich, being a young and prominent man, met another woman at the front. He fell in love with her and started a new family. It is worth saying that this scenario is more similar to the truth. After all, Svetlana Bitkov never refused. On the contrary, the daughter of Ekaterina Furtseva spoke warmly about him. She said that until the end of his life, Pyotr Ivanovich did not lose his fatherly feelings for her.
The birth of a daughter
The failed personal life of Ekaterina Furtseva left a deep scar in her soul. A woman could not forget her husband. Left alone and fearing uncertainty and loneliness, Furtseva was ready at some point to abandon the child. But she was supported in every way by her mother, who became a real support for her in these difficult times.
Even during pregnancy, Furtseva was evacuated to Kuibyshev (present-day Samara). The main foreign embassies and people's commissariats were located in this city. The birth was successful. Ekaterina Alekseevna recorded her daughter in her last name. However, Furtseva did not live long in Kuibyshev. She, a party worker, was summoned to Moscow.
Memorable years
Despite the difficult military in 1942, he became very significant for Ekaterina Furtseva. In addition to the birth of her daughter, she received a new appointment. Pyotr Vladimirovich Boguslavsky, who served as the first secretary of the Frunze district party committee, drew attention to a growing and very promising young worker. He invited Ekaterina Alekseevna to join his apparatus. With this, a very successful party career of a woman began, which after a while brought her to the very top of power. And it is likely that the turbulent beginning of the party career helped Furtseva survive the personal drama.
Ekaterina Alekseevna had a special relationship with Peter Vladimirovich Boguslavsky. The first secretary of the district committee praised her not only business, but also female qualities. Young Furtseva was pretty. Many men were attracted by her brightness, slender figure and stormy temperament. What the personal relations of Peter Vladimirovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna have developed is not known for certain. Such stories are not shared even with the closest people.
First Secretary
The basic rules for achieving success as a party worker were learned by Ekaterina Alekseevna pretty quickly. Soon Furtseva was replaced by Peter Vladimirovich at his post. She became the mistress of the whole metropolitan area. In order to prove the right to be called the first secretary of the district committee, Furtseva learned many of the manners and habits of male leaders. She had to learn not to be embarrassed by obscene jokes and not to be timid in the men's team. In addition, she could, if necessary, send a man to his mother and a decent drink.
However, Furtseva never forgot that she is a very attractive woman. And this gave her other means of influence on men.
Ekaterina Alekseevna was distinguished by exactingness, self-discipline and remarkable working capacity. In addition, she always kept her promises. Her talent for organizing mass events was also highly appreciated. And it doesn’t matter what orientation they had. It could be about “cleaning up” the district apparatus from people who came to Moscow from the Northern capital, which was required in the midst of the “Leningrad case”, or about providing a gloomy “case of doctors”. Ekaterina Alekseevna has always been ahead of her fellow secretaries.
Career progression
Major changes in the biography of Furtseva occurred during the period when Stalin nominated Khrushchev for the post of head of Moscow. Nikita Sergeyevich wanted to appoint a woman as one of the secretaries of the city committee. The choice fell on the business and energetic Furtseva.
Of course, a woman’s career in the party apparatus was advancing “with a creak”. There was an opinion that only men can cope with the duties placed on the shoulders of such an employee. Stalin himself during his conversation with the head of the oil industry of the USSR N.K. Baibakov expressed the opinion that the drug user first of all needs bull nerves, as well as optimism. However, the first Ekaterina Furtseva was clearly not enough, as she was an overly emotional person.
At the head of Moscow
A year after Stalin's death, May 26, 1954, Furtseva was appointed first secretary of the party’s metropolitan committee. Up to this point, not a single woman has led such a large party organization. Thus, Ekaterina Alekseevna entered the role of a full-fledged "mistress" of the big city.
There were no personal relations between Furtseva and Khrushchev. The head of state remained faithful to his wife, and with the ladies he had only business relations. In addition, he asked all Khrushchev alike, making no exceptions to anyone.
Marriage
Of course, Ekaterina Furtseva made a wonderful career. However, she still needed a family. The woman did not give up hope of meeting a strong and confident man. And finally she found personal happiness. While working in the party apparatus of the capital, Ekaterina Alekseevna fell in love with Nikolai Pavlovich Firyubin, her fellow secretary. He was two years older than her and was legally married.
Roman Firyubina and Furtseva became a subject of gossip in the capital. This was a time when divorce was not encouraged by society, and a woman was assigned the role of a dedicated mother and wife. The concept of "lover" evoked negative emotions. That is why Nikolai Pavlovich Firyubin was in no hurry to leave his family. Nevertheless, after some time, they still began to live together. It is worth saying that the stepdaughter and mother-in-law met a new member of the family extremely unkindly. It was the jealousy of Matrena Nikolaevna and Svetlana, who did not want to share a person close to them with anyone.
Husband's appointment
Big politics did not allow Furtseva to enjoy family happiness. In January 1954, Nikolai Firyubin was appointed ambassador to Czechoslovakia. A person in this position is usually accompanied by a wife who is involved in the work of the mission. It is her responsibility to organize receptions and establish friendly relations with diplomats from other states. However, Ekaterina Alekseevna did not sacrifice her career. It was not enough for her to feel just a wife, and with her husband she did not leave for Prague. The Central Committee of the party took this situation into account and allowed Firyubin to be in Czechoslovakia alone.
Of course, long separations do not benefit marriage. Furtseva did not want Firyubin to leave the country for a long time, however, it was impossible to refuse to be appointed ambassador.
Top of power
The 20th Party Congress played a special role in Furtseva’s life . By his decision, Ekaterina Alekseevna was raised to the top of power. On the recommendation of Khrushchev, she was appointed Secretary of the Central Committee and entered the list of candidates for the Presidium. The new position was very significant in the country. Without the consent of the secretariat of the Central Committee, no agency or ministry could do anything.
Nikita Sergeevich considered Ekaterina Alekseevna “his man”. This allowed her to become a member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on June 29, 1957. This appointment was very loud. It is worth saying that this has never happened before in the history of the USSR, and the next woman took a similar post only under Gorbachev.
Khrushchev made Furtseva a valuable gift. He returned her husband to his homeland, appointing him deputy foreign minister.
Vein dissection
At the top of power, Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva stayed for only three years. 05/04/1960, Khrushchev, unexpectedly for all, removed several people from the list of the secretariat. Among them was Ekaterina Alekseevna.
What caused the change in the lists of the highest echelons of state power? It is believed that this is the work of the Chekists. They kept records of free conversations of the secretaries of the Central Committee in the restrooms. There was no sedition in their speeches. However, they allowed themselves to be critical of Nikita Sergeyevich's behavior. However, there is another explanation for this fact. Khrushchev’s character was to raise the person he liked to dizzying heights, and then, disappointed in him, could easily part with his recent favorite and start promoting someone else.
For a little over a year, Furtseva continued to remain a representative of the highest echelon of power. However, the 21st Congress did not include it in the Presidium. This fact was a terrible blow for Ekaterina Alekseevna. And the woman even tried to commit suicide.
On the same day when she attended a meeting of the 21st Congress, Furtseva came home, lay down in the bath and opened her veins. However, at that moment she was not going to die at all. This fact is confirmed by the fact that Ekaterina Alekseevna did not cancel the meeting with her friend. It was on her that Furtseva assigned the role of the angel-savior. Girlfriend did everything possible. Ekaterina Alekseevna was saved. However, this “cry of the soul" did not provoke any reaction from Khrushchev. The very next day after the incident, he explained at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee that he should not even pay attention to this attempt to escape from life. These words were conveyed by Furtseva. And she became isolated and began to drink a lot. This fact was confirmed by the friends of Ekaterina Furtseva, one of whom was Lyudmila Zykina.
Minister post
A month later, a message came about the new appointment of Furtseva. The Minister of Culture of the USSR immediately received the nickname, which became the property of the whole country, - Catherine the Great. Her team included tens of thousands of workers in the art world, occupying positions in Moscow and the Moscow region. And she considered 3-4 million ordinary cult cults throughout the Soviet Union, museum scientists, cinema studios, theaters, etc. to be her “army”.
Culture Minister Furtseva Ekaterina Alekseevna was practically the only person from the leadership of the USSR who was sincerely interested in cultural exchange between the countries. On her initiative, our masters went on foreign tours, and the Soviet Union was visited by foreign artists, singers and musicians. They brought to our country and exhibitions of the best world museums.
The Minister of Culture of the USSR had considerable power. However, every decision made could carry a career hazard. This was facilitated by the ideological situation that prevailed in the country. It was accompanied by an atmosphere of prohibitions and put an end to what seemed to some to be a kind of deviation from the general line of the party. It was in Furtseva's interests, rather, not to give good than to permit. Indeed, for a successfully staged performance or a film made, praise went to the artists and the director. She had to answer for the “mistakes” made.
However, Furtseva sometimes went against censorship and took full responsibility on herself. In addition to the existing party attitudes, she was often guided by personal antipathies and sympathies.
Mother's death
The death of Matrena Nikolaevna in 1972 was a real tragedy for Furtseva. She was heavily dependent on her mother and needed her approval. The friends of Ekaterina Furtseva knew very well that her soul was very restless. She complained to them that no one needed and that no one understood her. How fair were these reproaches? The husband of Ekaterina Alekseevna, Nikolai Pavlovich, did not tell anything about his relationship with his wife.
Career ending
As Minister of Culture, Furtseva decided to start building her own summer house. At the same time, she asked for help in institutions under her jurisdiction. But one of the initiates on this issue wrote a denunciation to the minister. It said that Furtseva, violating party and state ethics, bought building materials from the Bolshoi Theater at discounted prices. Ekaterina Alekseevna had to turn in the cottage to the state. In exchange, she received compensation of 25 thousand rubles. Nevertheless, the country's leadership decided to send Furtsev retired. But in a conversation with her friend, she expressed her determination to die as a minister. And so it happened.
How did Ekaterina Furtseva die? This happened on the day when she became aware of the appointment of a pension and that Nikolai Pavlovich was leaving for another woman. Ekaterina Alekseevna could not withstand such a double blow. Indeed, ahead of her was waiting for the dreary life of a lonely pensioner. This turned out to be the worst for her.
Officially, the death of Ekaterina Furtseva occurred from acute heart failure. This happened on 10.24.1974. However, Moscow was soon filled with rumors that she still succeeded in the second suicide attempt. According to unofficial data, Furtseva was poisoned with potassium cyanide.
At the funeral of Ekaterina Alekseevna was attended by her first husband - Pyotr Ivanovich Bitkov. Then he told his daughter Svetlana that all her life he loved only her mother. By the way, he very briefly outlived his first wife.
Firyubin also agreed with Cleopatra Gogoleva, the widow of the former party secretary of the Moscow regional committee.
Where is Furtseva Ekaterina Alekseevna buried? At the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. Her grave is in the 14th row on the 3rd site. Next to her lies her daughter Svetlana, who died in 2005. A family monument was erected at this grave. Its authors are architect M.O. Barshch and sculptor P.E. Kerbel. This memorial consists of four vertical steles made of light marble. One of its side faces has the shape of a harp. In the upper part of the memorial is a relief image, on which is Ekaterina Furtseva herself. The years of life of the deceased are not indicated. Only names are engraved on the monument.