Russian historian and politician Yuri Afanasyev

In the era of great changes that ended the seventy-year history of the Soviet Union, there were a number of key figures that became a symbol of this time. Yuri Afanasyev - a Russian politician, scientist and public figure is one of them. He left this world on September 14, 2015. What is one more reason to look more attentively at the personality of this extraordinary person.

Biography Facts

The future Russian politician Yuri Afanasyev was born on September 5, 1934 in the small Volga village of Main. Little is known about the young years of the future "superintendent of perestroika." But attention deserves the fact that after graduating from high school, he went to the capital and entered the most prestigious university in the Soviet Union. After studying at the Faculty of History, Moscow State University was sent by Komsomol order to distant Siberia for the construction of the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station.

At this shock construction Yuri Afanasyev spent about nine years. His duties as a Komsomol functionary included the reception and accommodation of young people sent to construction from all regions of the USSR. In 1966, Yuri Afanasyev, whose biography was quite ordinary at the first stage, returned to Moscow. Great things awaited him ahead of him.

Scientific work

After returning to the capital, the career of the Komsomol worker went up. However, the nomenklatura service in the Party and Komsomol bodies, he decided to change to scientific activities. In 1971, Yuri Afanasyev graduated from the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee. After that he starts to conduct active scientific and administrative activities. Twice he leaves for an internship in France at the famous Sorbonne University. His publications are recognized in the scientific world, which ensures the successful promotion of the career ladder at the Institute of General History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

He becomes a doctor of historical sciences, a professor, elected an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1983, Yuri Afanasyev became a member of the editorial board of the journal Kommunist. He conducts active public work, speaks in mass media.

Care in politics

In the second half of the eighties, radical changes took place in the social and political life of the Soviet Union. At the forefront of the political scene are new people, among whom was Yuri Afanasyev. His biography makes a turn together with the whole country. Of course, this was not an accident. By the turning point in the history of the country, Yuri Afanasyev came as an authoritative public figure, to whose opinion it was accepted to listen. This reputation was due to his publications on acute social and historical topics. Articles Afanasyev in the "New World" and "Ogonek" enjoyed attention and often caused heated discussions among the thinking part of the Soviet society.

Far from everyone agreed with the historian, but his ideas about the need for fundamental changes in all spheres of social and economic life of Soviet society fell into prepared soil and sprouted. In 1989, Yuri Afanasyev was elected People's Deputy of the USSR. At the famous first congress, he takes part in the Interregional Deputies Group.

"The foreman of perestroika"

In the late eighties, Yuri Afanasyev, whose photo could often be seen on the front pages of periodicals, becomes one of those with whom public opinion links the changes taking place in the country. Someone from journalists has thought up for them a slightly ironic definition - "superintendents of perestroika". But Yuri Afanasyev himself preferred to distance himself from such a title. Subsequently, he repeatedly stressed that he had always been critical of both Mikhail Gorbachev and the direction in which the socio-political system of the Soviet Union was being reformed.

But anyway, it was Yuri Afanasyev who became the author of the famous definition of "aggressively obedient majority", which he described as a conservative part of the deputies of the first congress. This apt expression has become firmly embedded in the modern political lexicon.

Last years

In the two thousand years, Yuri Afanasyev moved away from active political activity. To the results of what happened in the country of change was treated without enthusiasm. He often spoke in the media with criticism of the course of the current political leadership of the country and expressed support for the leaders of the non-systemic opposition. But his statements did not cause a significant public outcry . The authority and influence of the politician are in the past.

Nevertheless, we can not say that they forgot about it. This is evidenced by the number of people who came September 17, 2015 for a civil funeral service to the Sakharov Center. Yuri Afanasyev was buried at the Ostashkovsky cemetery in the city of Mytischi in the Moscow region.