Arkady Volsky is a famous Soviet and Russian public figure. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, and a people's deputy of the Soviet Union. Also known as a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, from 1990 to 2005 he headed the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
Childhood and youth
Arkady Volsky was born in 1932. He was born in the small town of Dobrush, which is now located in the Gomel region.
His parents were teachers. Mother was called Anna Semenovna, and father was Ivan Pavlovich. Both were from Belarus. Before the Great Patriotic War, the Volsky lived in Grodno, in 1941 Ivan Pavlovich was called to the front. He was repeatedly wounded, in 1944 he was demobilized.
After the war, Arkady Volsky moved with his parents to the Bryansk region, where his father was appointed director of the school. Anna Semenovna taught history there. By the way, during the war, the mother of the hero of our article did not remain aloof from the hostilities. She took part in the partisan movement in the vicinity of the Soviet capital. When the war ended, she also worked in the department of public education, and held the post of instructor.
The biography of Arkady Volsky at the very beginning of the war was not easy: he turned out to be an orphanage. Young Arkady was sent to the Saratov region, in the town of Khvalynsk. Only at the end of the war was the family able to reunite.
In his youth he was fond of sports, in particular he was engaged in fencing and boxing.
Education
Arkady Volsky went to Moscow to graduate. He studied at the Institute of Steel and Alloys, which in 1955 he graduated with honors. On graduation, he received the specialty of a metallurgical engineer.
Arkady Ivanovich Volsky began his career in the same year 1955 at the Likhachev Automobile Plant in Moscow. Immediately after the institute, he was appointed assistant to the master, gradually he went all the way to the head of the foundry, and after that he became the secretary of the ZIL party committee. He worked at this plant until 1969.
Production success
In the biography of Arkady Ivanovich Volsky there are many bright pages related to industrial production. It was he who initiated a number of fundamentally important technical innovations that were successfully applied at the plant. His talent and hard work were appreciated, in 1970 Volsky was awarded the USSR State Prize.
Work in the Central Committee of the CPSU
In 1969, the hero of our article transferred from the factory to work in the central committee of the Communist Party. There he leads the automotive sector in the mechanical engineering department. This was an expected appointment, as he felt the best in the industry.
Over time, he managed to successfully prove himself in this field, he was appointed deputy head of the engineering department. In 1985, Volsky headed the engineering department of the central committee.
The main merit of the hero of our article is to actively participate in the creation of the main giants of the Soviet automobile industry. This is KAMAZ and VAZ.
Assistant Secretary General
Volsky’s career was very successful. In 1983, he was appointed Assistant Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee. This post at that time was occupied by Yuri Andropov, the hero of our article oversaw the issues of the economic bloc. When Konstantin Chernenko came to the post of Secretary General, Volsky kept his post, helping this leader in economic matters.
He stayed in this post until 1985.
The Chernobyl accident
The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on April 26, 1986, was a strong blow to the entire party leadership. Volsky was among those who personally took part in the elimination of the consequences of this accident. In addition, among his most affected Soviet republics was his native Belarus, so that he experienced the tragedy especially badly.
Volsky spent three whole months in Chernobyl, being one of the direct leaders who sought to eliminate and minimize the consequences of the accident at a nuclear power plant.
National issue
With the advent of Mikhail Gorbachev to power, the experienced Volsky remained in the cage, his experience and knowledge remained extremely popular. In 1988, the Secretary General sends the hero of our article to one of the hottest spots in the Soviet Union at that time. This is Nagorno-Karabakh.
Volsky heads the Special Management Committee of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. This is a region in which the national question has long been acute. There has been a long-standing confrontation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Volsky, who was a man from the outside, managed to distance himself from local clans and groups, began to conduct a reasonable and informed policy. Locals appreciated it. In 1989, he won the election of deputies of the Soviet Union, received the support of 92% of the population. This was one of those rare cases when Azerbaijanis and Armenians spoke at the same time. And they both wanted to see him as their representative in the highest echelons of power.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union
After the well-known August events of 1991, Volsky was appointed head of the Committee on the operational management of the national economy in the Soviet Union. The country was in a difficult economic situation, urgent and effective measures were required to stabilize the situation. In his new position, Volsky oversaw some of the most important areas - the defense complex and industry.
And in democratic Russia, they did not dismiss the talent and experience of the hero of our article. In 1995, he made another attempt to resolve the national issue in the North Caucasus. This time he was sent to the Chechen Republic, which was actually on the eve of the war against the federal center.
Volsky was appointed deputy head of the delegation, which was to solve the issues of peaceful settlement of the conflict. This time, as you know, this mission did not end with success.
The creation of the RSPP
In modern Russia, Volsky for 15 years led the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. It was created in 1990 under the name of the Scientific and Industrial Union. In addition to Volsky, the initiator of the creation of such a structure was Yevgeny Velikhov, who represented the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.
It is noteworthy that Volsky himself was not engaged in business. But he proved himself useful in this post, for which he was noted by a large number of Soviet and Russian awards and orders.
The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is a large public organization that is called upon to represent the interests of business circles throughout the country. It received its current name in 1992, and before that it was called the Scientific and Industrial Union, performing similar functions. In fact, it was created by a clear analogy with the Union of Industrial and Trade Enterprises of the Russian Empire, which existed at the beginning of the 20th century. He played a large role in the systematic development of the economy and industry of the entire state.
Among the main goals that Volsky adhered to were the unification of efforts of entrepreneurs and industrialists of the country, which would be aimed at improving the business environment in Russia, as well as raising the status of domestic business on the world stage. The Union was originally intended to contribute to the systematic modernization of the economy.
At present, it consists of more than a hundred regional and industry associations, most of which were created and officially formalized during the leadership of the Volsky Union. At the same time, they represent key sectors of the economy, which include engineering, the fuel and energy complex, construction, the military-industrial complex, food and light industry, the service sector, and banks.
After Volsky resigned as president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in 2005, Alexander Shokhin, who still leads the Union, took his place.
At one time, the influence of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs increased significantly after large businessmen began to actively enter it. Since the mid-90s, a thousand enterprises a year entered the Union annually, of which more than half were state-owned. Over time, joint-stock companies and private enterprises have become much larger.
The head of the RSPP himself repeatedly met with big business, urging him to join the Union. Arkady Volsky in Samara talked with Oleg Deripaska, who acquired aviation and metallurgical plants in this city, in Norilsk with Vladimir Potanin, who became the owner of Norilsk Nickel, and in Yekaterinburg, with Kakha Bendukidze, who became the head of the Uralmash plant.
