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Birthday anniversary of Kliment Ye. Voroshilov, statesman and military figure, Marshal of the Soviet Union
23 January (4 February), 1881 in the village of Verkhneye, Bakhmut uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Province (now Luhansk Region), into the family of a railway worker was born Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, statesman and military figure, Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Socialist Labor.
From the age of 7 Kliment Voroshilov worked as a shepherd, then miner. In 1893-1895 he successfully studied in a Zemstvo school, and in 1896 started working at the Yuriev Metallurgic Plant in Alchevsk. There Voroshilov joined the Social Democratic circle, participated in the strike, was arrested, fired, and wandered in the south of Russia.
In 1903 Kliment returned to Lugansk, got a job at the Hartmann locomotive plant and joined the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP.
Until 1917, Voroshilov was engaged in revolutionary activities, was repeatedly arrested and exiled. During the advance of German troops he organized the 1st Lugansk squad that was defending the approaches to Kharkov.
During the February Revolution of 1917, Voroshilov was elected to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. He later headed the Bolshevik Committee in Luhansk, was chairman of the City Council. In October 1917 he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee, and in November became commissar of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, participated in the creation of the VCheka.
In the summer of 1918, Kliment Voroshilov was in command of the forces in the defense of Tsaritsyn, where he met and became friendly with J. V. Stalin.
In August - September 1918, Voroshilov was a member of the Military Council of the North Caucasian Military District, in September - October 1918 a member of the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) and the assistant commander of the Southern Front. In October - December 1918 he commanded the 10th Army. From January 1919, Voroshilov was the People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. He organized a punitive operation to eliminate the detachments of Ataman Grigoriev. In March 1919, Kliment was a member of the "military opposition", demanding to drive all the military experts from the Army and to arrange the Red Army solely on the basis of the militia, subordinated to the "revolutionary discipline".
In June and July 1919, Voroshilov commanded the 14th Army and the internal Ukrainian Front in force against the Ukrainian national detachments. In November 1919, in joint effort with S. M. Budyonny, Kliment contributed to the organization of the 1st Cavalry.
In 1921, at the head of a group of delegates of the X Congress of the RCP (b) (Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks) Voroshilov was involved in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion. In 1921-1924 he was a member of the South-East Bureau of the RCP (b), the commander of the North Caucasus Military District. From 1924 he- commanded the troops of the Moscow Military District, and in June 1924 - December 1925 Voroshilov was a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
After the death of M. V. Frunze, Voroshilov became head of the USSR Defense Ministry, which he led for 15 years: from November 6, 1925 to June 20, 1934 he was People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, and in 1934-1940 - People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR.
In November 1935 Kliment Voroshilov, along with the other four leading Soviet military leaders, was granted the military rank of the "Marshal of the Soviet Union."
In 1940, after the Soviet-Finnish War, Voroshilov lost his post as People’s Commissar of Defense (it was S. K. Timoshenko who replaced him in this post) and was appointed to the posts of Deputy Chairman of the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR and Chairman of the Defense Committee under the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR.
During the Great Patriotic War Voroshilov was a member of the State Defense Committee, Commander in Chief of the armies of North-West sector (up to September 5, 1941), representative of the Headquarters for the formation of the troops (September 1941 - February 1942), representative of the General Headquarters at the Volkhov front (February-September 1942). In September-November 1942 he served as chief of the guerrilla movement. In January 1943, Voroshilov coordinated the actions of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts in breaking the siege of Leningrad. In 1943 he accompanied Stalin to the Tehran Conference. In December 1943, Kliment was sent to a separate Coastal Army to participate in the elaboration of an offensive for the liberation of the Crimea and the organization of the interaction of ground forces with the fleet.
In March 1953, Voroshilov became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In 1960's Voroshilov withdrew from political activity, and lived at the dacha outside Moscow.
December 2, 1969 at the age of 88, Kliment Voroshilov died and was buried in the Red Square near the Kremlin wall.
Marshal Voroshilov was awarded with 8 Orders of Lenin, 6 orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov, 1st class, the Order of the Red Banner of the Uzbek SSR, the Order of the Red Banner of the Tajik SSR, the Order of the Red Banner of the ZSFSR, as well as foreign orders and medals, and an honorary weapon bearing the State Emblem of the USSR.
Lit.: Акшинский В. С. Ворошилов. М., 1974; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/bio/akschinskiy/index.html; Ворошилов К. Е. Оборона СССР. М., 1927; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://militera.lib.ru/science/voroshilov_ke/index.html; Ворошилов К. Е. Рассказы о жизни (Воспоминания). Кн. 1. М., 1968; Кардашов В. И. Ворошилов. М., 1976.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: