Appeals and Memos of the Kirov Plant Artillery Designer I.A. Makhanov to the CPSU(b)’s Central Committee Secretary A.A. Zhdanov in 1937–1938

Abstract

The fate of Ivan Abramovich Makhanov, the artillery designer and the head of the Kirov Plant bureau was ignored by Soviet historiography. Moreover, for a long time it was believed that the designer was repressed and killed in the late 30s. However, after spending 16 years in prison, I.A. Makhanov survived, lived a long life and left behind voluminous handwritten memoirs published in 2022. In addition, in the recently declassified funds of the archives of Saint Petersburg, separate documents of Makhanov’s authorship, as well as those dedicated to his activities, are found. The complex of new sources forces us to revise the established views on the history of the national artillery and military industry of Leningrad. At the same time, the ambiguous role of Makhanov as a designer and administrator in the history of domestic artillery systems creation and production is manifested. This publication is devoted to the correspondence of Makhanov with the CPSU(b)’s Central Committee Secretary A.A. Zhdanov in 1937–1938. From the above documents, in addition to clarifying important technical issues, one can glean an amount of valuable information about both the personality of Makhanov and the structure of the relationship between the “technical intelligentsia” and the supreme party leadership of the USSR in the late 30s of the 20th century.