Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev

Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev (Андре́й Андре́евич Андре́ев; 30 October 1895 – 5 December 1971) was a Soviet Communist politician who rose to power during the rule of Joseph Stalin, joining the Politburo as a candidate member in 1926 and as a full member in 1932. Andreyev also headed the powerful Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1930 to 1931 and then again from 1939 until 1952.

After the death of Stalin, Andreyev was removed from the Politburo and placed in a largely ceremonial position as a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

Early years
Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev was born to a peasant family. Andreyev left the village to work as an industrial worker, assuming a position in a munitions factory during World War I.

Andreyev was married to Dora Khazan (1894-1961), who was a student along with Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, at an industrial academy. Together the couple had two children, a son named Vladimir (born 1919) and a daughter named Olga (born 1921).

Political career
Andreyev joined the Bolshevik Party in 1914.

He was a member of the Politburo from 1932 until 1952. Andreyev was a Chairman of the Soviet of the Union from 1938 until 1946 and directed the party's powerful Control Commission during 1930-1931 and again from 1939 until 1952.

In 1949 he was briefly People's Commissar for Agriculture. This was also the year of the Leningrad case for which Andreyev built up a case against Nikolai Voznesensky, accusing him of losing 526 documents from Gosplan.

Andreyev was dismissed from Politburo in 1952, although he remained a vice-premier of the Soviet government. Andreyev fell from grace in 1953 following the Central Committee Plenary Meeting, convened immediately after Lavrentiy Beria's dismissal. After 1953 Andreyev was made a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, a largely ceremonial position.

Death and legacy
Andrey Andreyev died 5 December 1971. Despite his historical importance and decades of tenure in the top ranks of Soviet government officials, Andreyev's funeral was not attended by either Leonid Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the CPSU, or Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Andreyev is remembered for having loved the music of Tchaikovsky, mountaineering, and nature photography.

During his life Andreyev was four times awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and other awards. He is the namesake of the AA-20 locomotive, which he is credited for sponsoring as the head of the Soviet railway system from 1931 to 1935.