Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov (1902-1982) was the Communist Party’s chief ideologist for more than three decades. He became a secretary of the party Central Committee in 1947 and held that post until his death in January 1982, serving for most of that time as a full member of the Politburo (Presidium). In 1949-1950 he also served as editor-in-chief of Pravda.

Suslov oversaw ideology, propaganda, culture, and relations with foreign communist parties, the areas that shaped the messaging Soviet active measures carried abroad. He was a central figure in enforcing ideological orthodoxy under Khrushchev and Brezhnev and in the party’s handling of the Hungarian (1956) and Czechoslovak (1968) crises.

Sources

• Andrew, Christopher, and Vasili Mitrokhin. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books, 1999.
• Brown, Archie. The Rise and Fall of Communism. Ecco, 2009.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.