The fate of the Komsomol leaders in the history of the “Leningrad case”

The phenomenon of the “Leningrad case” between 1949 and the early 1950s seems to be one of the most resonant phenomena of the late Stalin era. It is ascertained that as a result of the repressive policy dozens of the Leningrad Komsomol Organization officials of various levels - city, regional, district and primary - suffered. Among the disgraced leaders of the Leningrad Komsomol Organization were Vsevolod Ivanov, Vsevolod Chernetsov, Anatoly Sitnikov, Mikhail Vaskovsky, Galina Egorova, Tatyana Nikiforovskaya and others. The documentary basis of the publication was comprised of the materials of the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI) declassified in 2018. The study of documents on the history of the “Leningrad case” makes it possible to affirm the unity of its scenario, the synchronization of repressive actions, and the use of the same methods towards the party and Komsomol leaders of Leningrad, accused of being involved in the “anti-party group”. The declared reason for the “major shortcomings” in the Komsomol was the copying of the methods and work style of the former party leadership. It is noted that the personal affairs of the former leaders were dealt with by the trustees of the Party Control Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party and a group of officers from the Investigation Unit for Especially Important cases of the USSR’s Ministry of State Security (MGB). Attention is drawn to the participation of the future KGB chairmen A. N. Shelepin and V. E. Semichastny, at that time the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, in the Leningrad events.