Political elite of the Karelo-Finnish SSR in the period of late Stalinism

Echo of the “Leningrad case” in the Karelo-Finnish SSR is highlighted, revealing the tragic aspect of the functioning mechanism of the party system in the USSR in the period of late Stalinism. The post-war period is personified through the experience of political survival in conditions of the Stalinist model of political power at its apogee. It is shown that an important part of the formation of the system of supreme power was the nomination of young leaders who made a dizzying career. Among them were the leading political figures of Karelia - G. N. Kupriyanov and Yu. V. Andropov. The author’s position related to the study of relationships in the leadership of Karelia is based on the view of this problem through the prism of confrontation and struggle of the factions in the party system of the late Stalinist period. Both party leaders of the republic were schoolers of the same Stalinist system, who by the twist of fate found themselves in different political groups. Yu. V. Andropov turned out to be a representative of the party elite, headed by G. M. Malenkov, who opposed Leningrad, which was headed by A. A. Zhdanov - its representative was Kupriyanov. Participants of different party groups were nominees and simultaneously hostages of the unified political system; frequently they became its victims.