Skip to content

← Home

Pavlo Tytov

Brief summary: Soviet party figure, First Secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee of the VKP(b)/CPU (1949–1954), led the region in the period after the "Leningrad-Crimean Affair" and was removed in late 1953 due to a conflict with Dmytro Polyanskyy and the collapse of the agricultural sector.

Overview

Pavlo Ivanovych Tytov (1907–1990) served as First Secretary of the Crimean Regional Party Committee (Obkom) in 1949–1954. His appointment took place amid mass repressions following the execution of the "Leningrad-Crimean Affair" of 1949. Under his leadership, the party and Soviet apparatus of Crimea fell into a demoralized state, unable to resolve the problems of the decline of agriculture, water supply, and municipal services. In late 1953, at a plenum of the Obkom, he was subjected to devastating criticism and removed from office by his deputy Dmytro Polyanskyy.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Leadership of the Obkom after the 1949 repressions: He headed the Obkom during a period of deep crisis and demoralization of the party apparatus. Under his tenure, the economy of Crimea was in a state of prolonged stagnation.
  • Classified correspondence on the decline of industry and housing: In February 1953, Tytov sent a classified letter to G. Malenkov complaining about the USSR Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy over the disruption of the reconstruction of the Kerch Metallurgical Combine named after Voikov, and in April 1953, together with the Black Sea Fleet commander S. Gorshkov, he complained about the chronic failure of housing and school reconstruction in Sevastopol.
  • The plenum in late 1953: Concerned about the critical state of agriculture, the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev initiated an extraordinary plenum of the Crimean Obkom.
  • Removal from office: At the plenum, the chairman of the regional executive committee (Oblvikonkom) Dmytro Polyanskyy, who supervised the agricultural sector under Tytov's leadership, shifted all the blame for the catastrophe onto his boss. This led to Tytov's dismissal in January 1954 (on the eve of the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine) and the transfer of the post to Polyanskyy.