ABSTRACT
From December 1955, when Dmitrii Yakovlev was appointed as the second secretary in Azerbaijan, until the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were 84 appointments of second secretaries to the central committees of the republics’ communist parties. An analysis of the statistical data on the appointment of second secretaries reveals that their average stay in a republic was about five years. This points to their rather high turnover: five years can be cited as one term in many democratic countries. Experienced in industrial production and party leadership, second secretaries took an active interest not only in ‘party building’ but also in economic expansion and social development. The biographical details of the second secretaries seem to indicate that they might have been supporters and patrons of the directors of heavy industrial plants. The leaders of these enterprises wanted to expand the plants they were in charge of by securing larger investments and permits to enlarge production premises.
