Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov (, Georgij Maksimilianovi? Malenkov; January 8, 1902? January 14, 1988) was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. He briefly became leader of the Soviet Union (from March to September 1953) after Stalin's death and was Premier of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1955. Despite many close calls, he was one of relatively few important members of Stalin's inner circle who died a natural death in old age.

Though not morbidly obese, Malenkov had a very full face that made him look heavier than he was, and Stalin sometimes ridiculed him for his weight. According to author Simon Sebag Montefiore, he was derisively nicknamed "Malanya" (Melanie) due to his feminine, protruding hips.

Named as candidate for the Politburo, Malenkov joined in 1946. Although Malenkov fell out of favour in place of his rivals Andrei Zhdanov and Lavrentiy Beria, he soon came back into Stalin's favour, especially because of Zhdanov's downfall. Beria soon joined Malenkov, and both of them saw all of Zhdanov's allies purged from the Party and sent to labour camps. In 1952, Malenkov became a Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (member of the party Secretariat). The death of Stalin, in 1953, briefly brought Malenkov to the highest position he would ever hold. With Beria's support, Malenkov became Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier), but he had to resign from the Secretariat on March 13th due to the opposition of other members of the Presidium. Nikita Khrushchev assumed the position of First Secretary in September ushering in a period of a Malenkov-Khrushchev duumvirate.

Malenkov retained the office of premier for two years. During these years, he was vocal about his opposition to nuclear armament, declaring "a nuclear war could lead to global destruction." He also advocated refocusing the economy on the production of consumer goods and away from heavy industry, something his successor Nikita Khrushchev (1955-1964) would escalate.

He was forced to resign, in February 1955, after he came under attack for his closeness to Beria (who was executed as a traitor in December 1953) and for the slow pace of reforms, particularly when it came to rehabilitating political prisoners. Malenkov remained in the Politburo's successor, the Presidium. However, in 1957, he was again forced to resign due to participation in a failed attempt together with Nikolai Bulganin, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Lazar Kaganovich (the so-called Anti-Party Group) to depose Khrushchev. Unlike the practice of Stalin, Khrushchev spared their lives and reduced their influence on Soviet politics. In 1961, he was expelled from the Communist Party and exiled within the Soviet Union. He became a manager of a hydroelectric plant in Kazakhstan. In the last years before his death, he had returned to the Russian Orthodox faith and was a singer in a church choir in Elokhovo Cathedral in Moscow. His death in 1988 was ignored by Soviet officials.

References

"Number 2 1/2", Time, Mar 20, 1950.

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