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Oleksiy Kyrychenko

Oleksiy Ilarionovych Kyrychenko (25 February 1908 — 9 August 1975) — Soviet party and state figure, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (1953–1957). The first ethnic Ukrainian to head the Communist Party of Ukraine during the Soviet period.

Overview

Oleksiy Kyrychenko played an important role in the processes of transferring the Crimean Oblast to the Ukrainian SSR and its subsequent economic reconstruction in 1953–1954. In January 1954, a detailed memorandum on the catastrophic state of agriculture, horticulture, and viticulture in Crimea was submitted to him, which formed the basis of the Ukrainian SSR's state decisions regarding the restoration of the peninsula's agrarian sector.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Leadership of the Central Committee of the CPU (1953–1957): Headed the Communist Party of Ukraine in June 1953 after the removal of Leonid Melnikov. Made a significant contribution to the mobilization of Ukrainian personnel and resources for the development of Crimea.
  • Memoranda on Crimea (1954): In January 1954, an archival reference/memorandum on the catastrophic state of agriculture in the Crimean Oblast was prepared addressed to Kyrychenko. The document exposed the degradation of horticulture and viticulture, the thinning out of plantations, and falsifications in the statistical reporting of 1952–1953.
  • Reconstruction initiatives: On 7 April 1954, together with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR Nykyfor Kalchenko, he appealed to the central leadership of the USSR with a proposal to allocate 10,000 hectares of land to the Crimean Wine Trust and to approve a program for the development of horticulture and viticulture.