In the life of every person,
ancestry line plays a major role.
We are all connected with our ancestors.
Every person’s fate is largely programmed
by their ancestry.
That’s why it is so important for one to know
what is stored in their ancestry’s memory.
Chapter 1
My grandson Ilia has a splendid son Andrey, who is growing up. He is very young at the moment, but one day he will most definitely ask his father the following:
“Dad, please tell me about the history of our family, where are they from, who were my grandparents and great-grandparents, what was their life like?”
This book is for him and everybody else in the family.
My name is Anatoliy Grigoryevich Zhukov. I was born on October 24, 1927 in the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo. My father, Grigoriy Ivanovich Zhukov, was originally from the village Strelovka in the Kaluga region. In this very same village, Georgiy Konstantinovich Zhukov, the great military commander of the Soviet Union was born. My Mother, Anna Timofeevna Zhukova (maiden name a Fomicheva), was from the city of Petushki, of Vladimir Region.
My father was a truly amazing man. His mother died when he was 7 years old. His dad remarried. Apparently, one more hungry mouth to feed was not on the family’s priority list, and his dad told him:
“Grigoriy, you must leave our family. Pack up and go to Moscow.”
And so he left. He got to Moscow by train, and at the very same train-station, he befriended a guy, who took him to his work at the machine-shop. The man in charge at the machine shop skeptically gave my father a task to complete. My dad performed the job so well, that he was hired on the spot. Thus, his life in Moscow was started. He worked as a mechanic for a long time, but then, due to a multitude of reasons moved to the city of Pokrov, of Vladimir Region. There, he met Anna, his wife, and my mother-to-be. Soon after, my older brother Mikhail was born.
My father got drafted into navy. He served as a ship mechanic in port city of Kronshtadt. Due to his skill and diligence, he received a plethora of navy accolades.
He was wounded during one of revolutionary demonstrations. My mother read in a newspaper about the event, and hurried her way to Petrograd, where the demonstration took place. She needed to get to Kronshdadt, but it was a guarded military objects with no visitors allowed from outside. And so she gave her gold ring to one of the guards, and he hid her inside the ship, which sailed to Kronshdadt. However, once she got there, she learned that my father’s name was not in the survivors’ list. The guard took her to the ship’s dock, where the deadwere kept. Among the bodies, she found my father, who was seriously wounded, but was still breathing.
My parents lived in Petrograd for several months until my father got better, and after that, they moved back to Pokrov. My father was given a leave from the navy, and soon after, the civil war was over. My father was discharged.
My dad’s older brother, Fedor Ivanovich, offered him to go back to Orehovo-Zuevo to work as a mechanic at a local government plant. He accepted.
My family lived for a long time in Orehovo-Zuevo. When my mother’s sister died, my parents adopted her son Kolya. Altogether, there were 9 children in our family: Mikhail, Kolya, Valentina, Aleksey, Klavdia, Anatoliy, Yulia, Tamara, Slava, along with my parents, and my grandmother, Varvara Andreevna Uhova.
My grandmother was an exceptionally energetic person. She owned several businesses during the NEP Policy (New Economic Policy, which once again allowed private businesses). She was also a very kind woman. When I was little, we sometimes took a stroll along the village Perepechno, where our neighbors were always around. At that time, I couldn’t understand why everyone was so open and friendly towards us. It turns out that our grandmother was a really generous and respected figure in the village. She helped people build their own houses for free. She lived until she was 105.
My father worked as a mechanic at a peat manufacturing plant. He worked his way up to headmaster, managing a group of mechanics.
My brother Mikhail served in the Russian army, eventually achieving the rank of a tank commander. He was deployed to the Finland war, and after it was over, deployed again to the front of World War 2. In one of the battles, his tank got hit and engulfed into flames. He managed to jump out from the burning tank, but got captured by Nazis as a POW. He was extensively tortured and questions due to his rank as a tank commander. He was beaten, his hands were cut, one day from one side, another day from another side; at night he was thrown into a damp cellar. Somehow, he managed to escape, and joined a guerrilla squad in Belarus’. They fought until the end of the war. He received many accolades and medals, including two Lenin Orders, and an order of the Red Banner. He told me how he earned his honors, but I was little, and don’t remember the circumstances exactly. When the war was over, an organization by the name of “K.E.CH” interrogated him, as a common soviet practice to everybody who was captured by the enemy. A young investigator tried to humiliate him:
-”You are a traitor, you betrayed the country, by allowing yourself to get captured”
-”You don’t know the smell of gunpowder, young man” He replied.
-”What did you just tell me” The investigator got furious.
-”I fought with honor, take a look at my hands”
-”Quiet! You’re going to prison camp for 10 years!”
And so Mikhail was sent to a prison camp in the Gorkovskaya region to chop wood for 10 years.
One time, during an inmate meeting with the camp officials, he nonchalantly drew a portrait of the prison’s boss. Everyone amusingly recognized the picture, and the chief asked:
-”Who drew my portrait?”
-”I did” – Replied Mikhail
- “Step forward. Who are you?”
-”I am an artist, I used to draw the banners at the plant where I worked”
-”Alright then, organize all the visual stuff for me here then. We’re currently in need of such person”
Mikhail took up upon the task, and until his release he drew pictures of camp’s coordinators and visualizations of camp’s production quotas. Upon his release, he worked as an electrician at a peat
My second brother Aleksey also served in the army. In 1942 the infamous battle of Stalingrad was at its crucial phase. During one of the attacks, Aleksey who was charging at the enemy, stepped on a grenade, and all his fingers on one foot were blown off. He spent the whole year in a hospital in the city of Biysk, but even after hospitalization and treatment, he was limp for the rest of his life. He was a qualified specialist who worked as an electrician, mechanic and even a welder, so he was “jack of all trades”, so to speak. When new, complex equipment was sent to the plant, nobody could figure out how to use it except for, well you guessed it, Aleksey Zhukov. He lived to the age of 75 and died from a heart attack.
My stepbrother Kolya also fought in the World War 2. When he returned, he was diagnosed with diabetes. He married a good woman, but they didn’t have any children. He was constantly ill. At that time, diabetes could not be treated, and Kolya left us at the age of 50.
Valentina, our sister, graduated from college with a degree in education. She worked as a kindergarden teacher. She fell in low with a young officer Viktor Sergeevich Abramov, who was an army commander. He came from the city of Magadan and they got married. Viktor took her with him back to Magadan. At the age of 85 she fell and broke her hip bone. Once hospitalized, she got better, and even started walking again. One weekend, nurses were helping her take a bath. Valentina wanted to walk on her own, but the nurses didn’t let her. They grabbed her by her feet and hands and threw her into a wheelchair. She cried with pain, as her hip bone was broken again. She lived in suffering for another month before passing away.
Klavdia also graduated from college with a degree in education, as did Valentina. During those times, when one would graduate from college, they would be sent off to work in their specialization field for 3 years. She was sent to a city in the Dmitrovskiy region of Moscow County. During World War 2, Germans forces were advancing towards Moscow. All of us were really worried about Klavdia, we wanted her to come back to Orekhono-Zuevo. Finally, she was allowed to evacuate, and upon evacuation, she started working at a kindergarten. She died when she was 86.
Yulia currently lives in Moscow. She worked as a drafter, was a really good project manager. Her marriage was successful. She has a sweet daughter Olya and son Viktor.
Our youngest sister Tamara graduated from a peat college and worked as an engineer at an Orekhovskoe plant. She is currently retired. She has two great boys, Sergey and Aleksandr.
Viacheslav, the youngest brother, was born in June of 1941, right at the beginning of WW2. He was a man of good character. He graduated from Kalininskiy Industrial Institute, and lived in the city of Kalinin. He was as an engineer at the local government infrastructure office. He died due to a heart disease at the age of 53.
At the beginning of WW2 I was only 14 years old. Upon completing 7 grades I was admitted to Orekhovskiy Peat College. It wasn’t easy to study there. We had to be on the watch out on top of roofs during nighttime, as Nazis were constantly bombarding our city. Despite all this, I graduated with honors and had the right to be admitted to an institute without qualifying exams.
During that time I met a wonderful woman Nina Rasskaznova. We lived in Orekhovo-Zuevo in one small room inside army barracks. Nina Rasskaznova lived on the 2nd floor with her mom, brother, and sister, while I lived on the first floor.
Her mother worked at a laundry. Nina worked at a clothing factory. We met at a dance event. To supplement my income, I played accordion at weddings and parties, so I was always well- dressed.
One time during a local dance event I was invited to played accordion. Our city is famous for our accordion players, and as a matter of fact all of my brother were also proficient in playing this instrument. With a sound of a song popular during those times, I saw a beautiful girl dancing. I fell in love with her.
Valentia was the organizer of this event, and so I asked her:
-”Who is this pretty girl with dark eyes?”
She replied:
“This is Nina Rasskaznova. She lives one story higher then you. Would you like me to
introduce you to her?”
I went to her apartment. We had a great connection right off the start. Nina was really shy. Her family was poor. Her father worked at a factory, but died at a young age. Her brother died during the last days of the War, and her sister worked as an accountant.
We dated for three years and then got married. Soon, our first child, daughter Galina was born. My wife Nina was a wonderful person. She worked at a factory for two shifts straight, and was always very supportive in everything that I did.
When I was faced with the choice of either continuing my education or working to support my family, Nina told me:
“Tolya, go back to school”
As the top graduate, and an active member of the Komsomol organization, I was sent to study at the Moscow Peat Institute. I left for Moscow to study for 5 years. The whole situation was difficult. I would come home every week. Nina and I supported each other during those difficult times.
At the Institute I was the secretary of the Komsomol organization. Once I received my mechanic-engineer diploma, I, as a young and promising professional, was sent to Orekhovo- Zuevo’s peat plant, where my father was also working. I worked first as a technician, and then as principal engineer for over a year.
Chapter 2
1953. During that year, the September government’s meeting took place, where a decision was made to send 30,000 young professionals to villages to boost development of the Soviet farming industry.
I went to the city council. At that time, I was already a candidate to be a member of the party. I was proposed to go to Inanovskaya region, to work as a principal engineer at a mechanical tractor plant in a remote village. Of course, I accepted.
Once I arrived, I found out that the director of the plant had left, and so I had to take on the task of being not only as principal engineer, but also as director.
I was full of energy and desire to work and already had some experience in this field. In the village of Porzdni, there was absolutely nothing, no place to live and no electricity, and no roads for 50 kilometer radius. The only way to get anywhere was by tractor.
Life was hard. All the machine shops were broken down and non-operational, there were no spare parts, and all the specialists were sitting home with no jobs. There was no money to remodel, but my main task was to reach the local government goal of planting wheat. Machines would break down right on the fields and on country roads. Acquiring fuel was even more of a problem. However, despite all that, I had no choice but to complete my goals before deadline.
I sat down and started thinking hard and deep.
I had a coworker with me, a man by the name of Etin Benetsian Grigoryevich who was around 65 years old. Once night we were sitting in my cabinet, it was very cold with lots of snowfall outside. I came to my frozen window, wiped the glass, and said to him:
“Look, there is a forest outside!”
“So what?”- He said
“What do you mean, “so what”? We will chop it down and sell it. Then we will use the
profits to fix our machines. This is our only way out!”
Next day I went to make a report to the commission. I explained my plans, and asked for permission to cut down wood. The permission was given. Now, we had to find the right tools to cut down the trees. Once I arrived back to the village, I wrote a letter to the commissioner of USSR industry in which I asked to receive the wood cutting equipment. My associate took this letter, and went off to Moscow.
In Moscow, things went well, and we were given a due bill for the equipment. My associate then left for Ural. There, one of the local plants provided the needed tools, they was sent by railroad to our destination.
The next dilemma I faced was how to install the equipment. I went to the local wood exporting agency, which was 30 kilometers away from our village. I met the agency’s director, and asked him if he could help me out. It was wintertime. At first, we had to thaw the earth by burning fires, which took 5 days to complete. Next, we built the foundation. Once we received the equipment, we installed it on the foundation. All of the specialists that were sitting jobless in the village were finally back to work. I had to be the organizer: I took 10 tractors, saws, axes, and we started cutting down trees. Once we used the equipment on the first log, my eyes got full of tears, because I realized how hard it was to get this far. And so we started cutting down and processing wood.
The next problem was searching for potential buyers. Once again I sent my associate to Moscow. There, he found an organization called Group of the Deaf and Mute. They agreed to buy the wood.
Right away we received 300,000 rubles on our business account. As soon as we got the money, we started fixing the equipment. It only took 10 days before 15 tractors were fixed and running.
However, the pace of our work got more and more intense. The local commission was very surprised to find out that we got 45 tractors fixed in one month. They sent an investigator to check up on us. However, their suspicions were quelled, and we were given green light to proceed. That’s how I completed my initial major project.
Life in the village changed right away. People were finally back at work. We built several houses, brand new dorm, food court, and a new bathhouse positioned right by riverside. Saturday was mens’ day, and Sundays were for women. No need to say, people were content.
Our wood supply was plentiful. We started building extra storage lots to store and repair equipment. We installed electricity in the village, and got all the houses hooked up. Electricity would run until 11pm. I built a house and my wife and daughter moved to the village. Our second daughter Svetlana was born. Life was finally getting on track.
The village Porzdni was big, with over 3000 population count. When I first arrived, there were no fruit trees, it was impossible to buy apples or pears. I purchased fruit trees from the city of Voronezh and planted them in Porzdni.
Every family received 5 apple trees, 3 pears trees, and 2-3 cherry trees. They were directed to plant them near their houses. After a few years, we had an abundant supply of fruit available. It was an especially beautiful sight during spring time, when the fruit trees blossomed.
We also planted a large garden. Every village worker was supposed to take care of at least two trees there. The quality of life was getting better and better.
I turned 25 at that time. Numerous hardships were still present, but we were overcoming all of them.
Due to my achievements and my status as one of top specialists, I was offered to go to Moscow for the national soviet farmer production congression. It took place in a huge hall in Moscow. There were representatives from every part of the country. People started giving speeches.
I also made a speech. I spoke about who we were, and how things were going for us. Then I asked the minister for some extra equipment that we needed. The minister thanked me for my efforts and promised that he would help out.
The minister was a man of his word, and once I arrived back at the village we received the promised equipment. We used it to install steam heating in the machine shops. Before, we used old conventional ovens, which didn’t work well, and it was very cold during wintertime.
Machine shops were nice and warm. The quality of work got better. I worked at this village for 4 years as the principal engineer, and then became director.
Chapter 3
One time, the secretary of the government’ party Ivan Vasilyevich Kapitonov gave us a visit. I was invited to the conference, where I was elected as the secretary of my local regions’ ruling party. I worked at this position for 2 years. I was called to visit to the county’s party committee, which was located in the city of Ivanovo. The trip was all night long, and we actually almost drowned on our way there, as our car had to be pulled out by a tractor from the river. There were no normal roads in the county. This problem was age long in Russia, even commonly described in Russian art and literature throughout centuries. Nothing was really done about it. The condition of Russian roads was terrible, and frankly speaking, there were no roads at all. Because of that, agriculture was suffering huge losses. There were such places in the region, where 200-300 cars would get stuck overnight. They had to be towed out by tractors.
When I arrived at Ivanovo, Ivan Vasilyevich asked me:
-”How was your trip here?”
-”It was difficult, Ivan Vasilyevich.” I replied. “We left at 10pm and arrived in Ivanovo only by 8am. Our roads are in terrible condition. There is nobody to fix them. – I replied.
-”Do you know why we asked for you to come here? The county’s council saw in you a leadership figure of governmental proportions, one who understands problems, and has the desire to solve them. You possess dedication, and ability to finish those ordeals which you start. That’s why we decided to assign the task of building roads precisely to you.”
-”But I am not an expert in this field” – I replied.
-”Don’t worry, you will figure it out. We trust you”.
The very next day at 5am I left to Moscow for the final decision on my candidacy for the road constructing task. At first, I got turned down, as the committee needed someone professional and experienced in road construction. However, the minister had the final say and supported me. That’s how I became the chief of road construction of the Ivanovo County.
When I was receiving my congratulations from the minister, a radio was turned on. At that moment, Yuri Gagarin flew to space, the first human being to have done so. The minister smiled:
-”You see, how well things are starting off for you?”
Next day, we went to the red square for sight-seeing, and after the excursion, I made my way back to Ivanovo.
Next morning I went to the county’s road department. It was in the state of complete mess, as the management was being rearranged. As I already stated, there were practically no roads in the county, no required material, no specialists, there was basically no organization at all. The whole department of road construction in the county’s region was represented as one small room. The staff consisted of the local head of road reconstruction, an accountant, and one mechanic. The mechanic would stay at home, but when needed, he would go to clear the roads with his tractor. There were also a few carpenters, who mainly fixed wooden bridges.
This is the kind of organization that I took upon. Nonetheless, I had no choice, I had to make a web of all-encompassing freeways which could be used at any time of the day and year.
After the victory in the Great War, U.S.S.R. lay in ruins. Main effort was directed towards rebuilding agriculture in those regions that were particularly ravished by Nazis. During War period, the number of automobiles in the country went up significantly due to increase in domestic production, enemy vehicles captured as war trophies, and also due to aid from the U.S.
After the war, in accordance with Government orders to repair roads and bridges and elimination of impassable and hard to reach locations, numerous brigades were created in all of the county’s regions. Such brigades would collect stone, and transport it by horse carriages to road manufacturing workshops.
Manual labor was used to create all sorts of roads and passages.
Roads are complex engineering structures. They cross rivers, creeks, railroads, and other obstacles. Only qualified organizations can create roads by using modern technology and employing qualified specialists. Numerous government agencies would dedicate money to funds set up for the construction of roads, that’s how we had the financial means to operate.
Nonetheless, it’s impossible to build roads without good manufacturing facilities. That’s why we started building manufacturing facilities in every region. In order to increase production, the decision was made to create two more road building departments.
On December 15th, I left to Moscow to visit two concrete-steel construction plants. The territory of the plants was filled with pipes, plates and other productions. These supplies were not demanded due to lack of funds in Moscow’ building organizations. We purchased a huge amount of concrete-steel and immediately started building workshops and storages in all road construction subdivisions of the region. Similar situation arose with our ministry, due to lack of funds it was unable to purchase 30 dirt diggers from Kostroma heavy industry manufacturing plant. The director of the plant and I called A. Nikolaev, the minister of USSR automotive road department, and he gave us permission to purchase those dirt diggers. That’s how we took care of our problems with machinery.
Chapter 4
In order to construct 120 km of asphalt-concrete roads we needed 350 thousand kilometers of crushed stone yearly. We had no funds to get the crushed stone. We had to find natural sources of stone materials in the region and build plants to produce crushed stone. In the south region, Legovskoe source was found. It was decided to develop this source into production. In order for it to happen, we needed dirt-diggers, bulldozers, jackhammers, and other equipment; however, we had none of it. In Moscow, there was a trust fund, which was under our Ministry’s control. The trust had the directive of increase the production of crushed stone.
I contacted the head of the trust and asked for help in developing our source. We reached an agreement. Based on the agreement, contract was written, in which was stated that our local government had to construct conveyers, electrical equipment, and other required tools at their expense. The trust was responsible to supply dirt diggers, jackhammers, sorting conveyers and other technical equipment. The plant was built and began operations in two years. Every year it would produce 200k of cubic meters of crushed stone. After that 3 more plants were constructed, which produced 100k of crushed stone yearly. Because the Ministry would not provide us with technical equipment to built the roads, we had to come up with our own ways to acquire the needed equipment. We were forced to buy used and salvage machines from various organizations. We had to disassemble 3 tractors in order to construct one that would work.
As stated, our plants worked day and night. They wouldn’t be shut down even when it was -40c outside. The yearly production of 400k cubic meters of crushed stone was a truly heroic Accomplished deed of Ivanovskiy workers.
However, due to the nature of local materials, the quality of the manufactured crushed stone were not that great. Due to this, we had to search for alternate locations in the remote region of Kareliya. However, the shipping of the material proved to be a rather difficult task.
We had to transport the stone by water. Most of the cargo ships that traveled from Kareliya never reached our destination. Following Moscow’ orders, the ships were unloaded in Moscow’s docks. We had to transport unrefined stone of 100-150mm fraction from Karelia.
On the right side of Volga River, at the edge of the city Kinishmi, we conducted deep level work of rivers’ bed, with the idea in mind that large scales cargo ships would be able to dock there, so that we could unload the stone. We installed two crush-sorting machines on the shore, so that stone could right away be refined into suitable coating for the roads’ layers.
Due to this practice, the lasting times of such layers were extended 10-15 times. Moreover, this type of lair would grip better with car wheels, which in turn reduced the risks of accidents.
Five excavations were opened. I united them all into one. The management was located in Ivanovo and operated from there. This is how we solved another problem with crushed stone.
At that time, the construction of water canal took place which was supposed to provide water for the state of Uzbekistan. Nikita Sergeevych Hruschev provided good equipment to the Uzbeks.
However, they couldn’t and didn’t have the desire to take care of mechanical problems and repairs.
Whenever the slightest problem would arise, they wouldn’t fix the equipment, so we get it off of them, fix it, and put it back to operation.
As the result, we amassed a huge lot of machine equipment. 2500 of machines, great amount of dirt digger, it all helped us in taking the lead in road construction in RSSR regions. We collected all the awards.
In the first years on working on new spots, 24 road manufacturing establishments, two road construction control centers, and one control center of technological assembly. Control and discipline were instilled. All duties were written out, everybody had their segment of work they were supposed to take care of.
We had a special folder with instructions for the general manager, principal engineer, and other employees. Everybody had clear instruction of what they were responsible for in their branch.
Every week we would have a two hour meeting, during which everyone reported about the status of their work. If there were any problems or questions, we would set up time frames, during which the problem had to be resolved.
Everything was in order. I never yelled or punished my workers, but for some reason I was still feared. Everyone would feel relieved when I would leave.
It took time for me to not be nervous at work. At first, I was really nervous and stressed, as I would take on others’ responsibilities to make sure the job was done correctly. I tried to do everything myself, but I suffered a heart attack. I was sent to a hospital, and my supervisors were going to send me to retirement. At the next meeting I asked for an opportunity to work for a bit longer. Then I changed my style of work. I allowed others to do their duties, and everything became immensely easier. I put a poster in my cabinet which said “calm, calm, calm”.
When people reported back to me, I always tried to congratulate them first and raise their spirits. It became a lot easier and enjoyable to work both for me and my employees.
One person can’t be responsible for everything. Everybody needs to perform their own assigned duties.
Our management was constantly the winner of socialistic competition among other road constructing organizations in the whole Russian Federation. Our work ran like a clock. If one gear would not function properly, then the whole mechanism would stop. Nonetheless, everybody knew what they were doing.
From 1966 to 1985 we completed a tremendous amount of work in the field of road constructions.
We acquired and remodeled 23 asphalt plants with the total power output of 434,000 tons of asphalt per season.
We constructed 28 repair shops with combined area of 9km sq., and more than 500 m sq. of fuel stations for road construction equipment; we created 4 road material manufacturing plants with 400,000 MT sq. outputs of road materials. On top of that we set up the conditions for continuous opportunities of improvement for both quantity and quality in the whole road construction field.
Once we finally set up the manufacturing process, we had to direct our attention to construction of housing. In the future, precisely this factor instilled the phase for the development and construction of roads and bridges.
One day I was visited by the principal engineer who complained about not having his own residence. He told me that he is 62 years old and that he and his wife live in terrible condition. Their bathroom was located outside of their home, 30 meters away from their front door.
We had to solve the problem with housing. Local housing committee had a project to construct an 80 unit apartment building. However, they had no funding. I gave my associate the task to find an organization that had funding, but lacked a project. We found such organization, and housing was built. How did I make it happen?
We looked for a project and began construction. Before New Year’s, once about 4 stories were already constructed, I went to the Ministry.
The situation was all too familiar. Once the year had started, all the plants and production facilities were asking the Ministry for money. At the end of the year, problems would arise – one facility didn’t complete documentation, the other didn’t deliver the materials on time and so forth.
In my case, I would present the Ministry an almost completed building, and would receive the funds for the whole amount. When I would finish one house, I would begin the construction of a new one, since I had the funds already. Everyone would receive housing.
All the denizens of the city Ivanovo finally had a place to live. When we were constructing the last 500 unit apartments, I was even faced with the challenge of who would live there.
In total we built 3500 apartment units in the city of Ivanovo. In the city of Shui we built two 80 apartment units. In the city of Kineshma we constructed a 100 unit and a 60 unit apartment complex.
When young specialists would arrive, they were housed right away in in brand new apartments.
We had a whole lot of interns without diplomas. I decided to create a faculty along the existing construction institute. I contacted the education minister of Russian Soviet Republic. At that time many institutions were cut funding, but the minister listened to our concerns and decided to help us. At first we opened one faculty at the architecture and construction academy, after that another one, then the third one. Soon we formed the faculty of “road and airport construction”.
All our specialists went through evening courses and earned their degrees and diplomas. It was easier to work with them from that point on. The quality of our workforce significantly improved, it even became more prestigious to be in the road construction industry. The quality of road construction and maintenance kept increasing. Before all this, specialists would come from other cities, worked for 1-2 years, received their apartments, and then would take off. In order to keep qualified workforce in our cities, we had to train our own specialists, so that they would stay. This is how we solved the problem with human resources.
Chapter 5
In order to accomplish something in life, one must first create a goal to achieve. Once the goal has been set, all of the efforts should be directed towards accomplishing it. No relaxation or veering of the path, give it all or nothing. Do everything to solve all the problems.
We, for example, solved our problems with building ingredients, with machine shops, and by properly utilizing our workforce.
Once we produced building materials in great quantities, we had to figure out how to transport it all. It wasn’t easy, such as shipping something like potatoes; we had to get special equipment for transportation.
I called the Ministry, they agreed to provide me with a 15-ton transporting station. It was not enough. I had to contact the control centers in Leningrad (St. Petersburg nowadays) and ask for the project of transportation cisterns. Local plant agreed to help us out. We sent an engineer to Leningrad and he came back with a project of 10-ton cistern. I took the template and went straight to the local industrial plant. I asked the director to build 40 transportation stations for our production. He refused at first. I had to remind him that all the manufacturing facilities in the county had to assist with road building. I told him:
-”Here is the most remote Sokolskiy region, make sure you build 5km of roads there. If you don’t complete this task, you will be systematically fined”.
The director asked me:
-”What do you need?”
I replied:
-”I need 20 cisterns of 10-tonn capacity each”
Every day we started exporting 100 tons of building ingredients. Everything was under way, plants were functioning, and production was being exported. To accomplish all this, every problem had to be taken care of with great amount of detail and attention.
We had great relationships with most people. We tried to be helpful and help solve people’s problems.
Our control committee had sound authority both in the region and in the ministry. We regularly received awards, bonuses, and earned medals for our work; however I never took advantage of my privileges.
There was one particular episode in my life. One region committee’s secretary, Vladislav Nikolayevich Tihomirov, who I used to help out a lot, was to Komsomolskiy Region, where there were absolutely no roads. He was appointed as the local region’s committee secretar.
At that time, we were building the road to the city of Yaroslavl’. We had to complete 20 more kilometers of roads. Vlasdislav Tihomirov addressed me with a plea:
-”Anatoliy Grigoryevich, please help build the road to Komsomol’sk.’
I answered him:
-”When we will complete our road to Yaroslavl’, I promise to help you build 22km of roads in one year”.
He was begging me:
-”Please, put aside your work. Please help me, I really need it right now”.
In the end I decided to help him. We build the road in one year. Once the job was done, we had a big celebration, an orchestra was playing, and I was offered a pair of shoes as a gift, which I refused to take.
After Komsomol’sk, Tihomirov was transported to Gavrilo-Posadskiy region. There were also no roads there. He begged me once more to help him.
That region needed a lot of work, besides roads we also had to build a large bridge over the river Nerl’-Klyazminskaya. I decided to help him once again. I proposed to hold a meeting with all general managers of automotive control centers and ask them for help. I addressed them with the following:
-”Help us build the roads. We need your help in recycles crushed stone and sand.”
They agreed to help us. There was enough transportation and work got underway. In this manner I helped this man a quite a few times. However, when he became chairman of the county’s action committee, some problems arose between us.
I was already 70 years old, and decided to retire. When I came to him with the declaration, he called for an audit and investigation committee to check all of my work. Once the committee had gathered and looked at my files, this man, who I helped so much, said:
-”Mr.Zhukov must certainly have violations, we need to find something on him”
At that time I was the acting director of a local monetary fund. The fund was huge, with billions of rubles of capital. Money was collected from all around the region. We counted all the money ourselves, and never hired any accountants. District attorney’s office decided to look into our fund. They didn’t find any problems or violations. All of my employees were questioned and investigated, to no results. I decided to act as my own lawyer. I asked to be seen by the district’s attorney.
The attorney told me:
-”This case is a serious one and can be considered criminal. The prosecutor’s office found out that some of your funds’ money is missing.
I explained to him:
-”One time, the chairman of local directing committee, Anatoliy Fyodorovich Laptev, called me and told me that some employees of a local enterprise have not been paid and don’t have enough funds to live. He asked for 100 million rubles to pay those employees. I agreed to help him. We signed an agreement, which stated that we will let the enterprise borrow the money, but for each late payment the fee will be 2%”
The prosecutor’s office saw a violation in this agreement. I was convicted with unlawful distribution of money. However, I presented legal documents, which showed that I gave out 100 million rubles, but received back 182 million. It was commonly decided that I didn’t conduct any violation.
Nonetheless, my investigations didn’t stop at that point. Prosecutors went once again to the county’s control office, and once again started looking through my papers. Once again they didn’t find anything wrong. I had to go to the prosecutor’s office and said the following:
-”Dear comrades, in this act hereby, all of my expenditures are laid out complete and clear to the last penny.
-I am not the type of person that would steal money. I would like to provide two examples:
-First example: during three years I didn’t receive 20% of my pay. These 20% I contributed to road construction by my own free will. It wasn’t just me who acted in this manner, but all of my employees did it as well.
The second example: I am a member of the Country’s automotive road Ministry. By law, I am supposed to receive salary in the amount of 17 minimal salaries. When I was in Moscow for a conference, an accountant offered me 500,000 rubles. I never accepted this money. Everybody was surprised why I didn’t take the money, and what were they supposed to do with it all. I told them to distribute the money among themselves as they wished. I had legal documentation to support these claims.”
Members of Prosecutor’s office called the Ministry and made sure that I told the truth. At the end I asked:
-”So what am I guilty of?”
In response they gave me document signed by County General Prosecutor. It stated:
-”Zhukov Anatoliy Grigor’yevich is not guily of any crime. No violations were detected in his case.”
After this event I stopped saying hello to Tihomirov. I helped him so much when he needed it and in return that’s how he repaid me. However, I knew the reason why he had acted that way.
Chapter 6
There was an insurance agency in our county. The chairwoman of that agency was Lyubov Fyodorovna Kruglova. She was friends with mr.Tihomirov. When he would visit the insurance agency, Lyubov Fyudorovna often treated him with some cognac. Once he would drink, she’d tell him:
-”Mr.Tihomirov, do you know what Mr.Zhukov is saying about you behind your back?”
And so she would lie to him that I talked behind his back. In reality, I never said a bad word about
The reason for all this was simple. One time, Lyubov Fyodorovna needed a person who could organize remodeling for the insurance building. She asked me to find such person. I recommended my daughter Galina. Galina was an excellent organizer, and successfully completed any task. In a construction institute, where she worked, Galina had great reputation. She had strong leadership qualities. Luydmila Fyodorovna agreed to hire Galina.
My daughter completed the remodeling project. People respected her. Whenever any problems or concerns would arise, they went to Galina to sort it out.
Lyubov Fyodorovna felt that Galina presented competition towards her, since nobody wanted to do business with her any longer. She decided to fire Galina. She my daughter to her office and said:
-”I no longer need you; there is no more work for you. I release you from your position”
Insurance agency’s main office was located in the city of Vladimir, Ivanovo’s office was only a franchise. Galina called the main office in Vladimir and told the director that she was being fired.
Representatives were sent from the main office to check up on the situation, but Lyubov Fyudorovna would not budge:
-”I decided that she is to be fired, and that’s the end of it!”
In response to that, the head management from Vladimir organized another franchise, and appointed Galina as its general manager. All of the workers left Lyubov for Galina. After this, Lyubov literally grew with hatred towards Galina, but she decided to act out her revenge towards me, by any means necessary. However, I took it calmly, as life is unpredictable, and anything could happen.
My work was always reviewed in high standing. Due to big contribution towards the development of county’s road construction, I was awarded with two orders of Working Red Banner, order of Recognition, medal of “Valiant Work”, mark of “Honorary builder of Russia”, and received the honorary title of “Accomplished builder of Russian Soviet Federation”
In the city of Ivanovo the general party’s committee meeting took place, and before the meeting, the first secretary of County Committee of the Communistic Party Vladimir Grigoryevich Klyuev said:
-”Comrades, we are here for the big event. For the first time, one of our leaders is to receive the title of “Accomplished builder of Russia”. I impart this order to Anatoliy Grigoryevich Zhukov.”
Klyuev attached the order to my jacket and declared:
-”This man deserves this award. Anatoliy Grigoryevich built all the roads for us!”
Everybody started applauding. I felt very grateful and distinguished.
The county’s road web at that time consisted of 3411 km, out of which 3334 km were of hard layer. I applied maximum effort towards development of roads, and infrastructure. By leading the fund of county’s road construction, I took upon responsibility for collection and accounting for financial means. I pushed for the yearly investment of those funds towards construction of housing for employees, and purchases of new, modern technology.
I only built roads, but without them, nothing could function. All the fabrics, plants, building organizations, everybody needed roads. I was never, not even once, criticized or yelled at, at any meeting or conference. Only one time I made a mistake.
The first secretary asked for me and said:
-”How come we never hear from you during our party bureau’s meetings? Others have constant problems and complaints, they fail to meet deadlines and get work done. You, on the other hand, throughout 35 years of your labor, never had any problems for us to hear. Write a five year plan, and show, where you will build roads.”
After this, the resolution of County Committee of Communistic Party was taken, in which the whole 5 year plan of road construction and exploitation was laid out.
There is an Ilyinskiy region in our county; it’s located very far from the county’s center.
We had to construct a road there in 5 year time frame.
At that same time, construction of Pelugovskiy ceramic plant took place in our region. It was visited by Andrey Vasilyevich Lavrov, the minister of melioration and vice chairman or county’s acting committee. The construction was moving along intensively, but there was a lot of dirt around.
Huge trucks barely made their way through, getting stuck in dirt.
I was told “Look what’s going on! We need to construct roads here!”
I explained to Andrey Vasilyevich that we couldn’t do this out of schedule task, because we had another 5 year plan that we had attend to.
I was told not to worry, that this problem was to be taken care of by Klyuev. I agreed to those conditions.
We summed up everything that was needed for construction, how much sand, crushed stone and etc.
We completed the task by our deadline. Our county was visited by the head of Moscow’s military district, a man by the last name of Govrov. Once he arrived with his military personnel for a revision, we organized, as it is accustomed, a nice welcome, followed by hunting afterwards. And so they were sitting after a nice hunt, with a wild boar as their trophy, grilling kebabs and drinking. They started talking about me. It was discovered that I couldn’t’ finish the construction of roads by the deadline, because I was forced to take upon another construction of roads to the village of Ilyinskoe.
I had problems due to this. I was investigated by the people’s control division. I tried to explain that it was not my initiative, that I was givens the directives by Andrey Vasilyevich Lavrov.
At that time another government party general meeting took place, which was attended by many people. First Secretary Klyuev came back from Moscow and told that Leonid Brezhnev, the country’s leader at that time, strongly criticized one minister and took action against him. Our county decided to act by Moscow’s example. They had to find a scapegoat. The scapegoat had to hold a high position. Unluckily, I became this scapegoat.
A report was written in which it was stated that comrade Zhukov does not carry out orders of the county’s party bureau, and acts as his own boss, that he doesn’t listen to anyone. The report stated precisely the following:
-”We have such comrades that think really highly of themselves. They think that they can do anything that they’d like.”
My name was listed in the report. However, these words were not said during the meeting.
Instead, the secretary of region’s committee Gurkin said:
-”Comrade Zhukov does his job well; he just made a mistake this time. We think that he will draw correct conclusions and act accordingly.”
I was obviously very hurt and disappointed. I was even ready to resign. However, I was explained that I was simply blamed as a scapegoat. I was asked for forgiveness, told not to worry about it, and that everything will be ok” After this event I suffered another heart attack. I was sent to hospital where I stayed for over a year. After treatment, I was going to be sent to retirement, but I ask for an opportunity to work some more. After this I started taking things even more calmly and wasn’t nervous about my work.
Chapter 7
I am used to taking care of business in my life. I always liked to partake in concrete task rather than just manage. However, head management always appointed large, county-scaled tasks for me.
Throughout all of my work I was supported by my wonderful wife Nina. She passed away 18 years ago. Now I live by myself, but my family and those close to me support me. Both of my daughters
Galina and Svetlana grew up as wonderful, goal-driven and collected people. They both received higher education, as they graduated from a textile university.
Both got married. I have two great son-in-laws – Nikolay Zavialov and Valeriy Gnatyuk.
Galina and Valeriy have two wonderful sons – Aleksey and Alexander. Both are wonderful children who also went on to receive higher education.
Svetlana and Nikolay had two sons as well. Their names are Ilya and Anton. Ilya lives in the U.S.; he has a wonderful son Andryusha, and beautiful wife Anastasia. Anton lives in Canada, and has plans of getting married soon.
We always get together for the holidays, and help each other out.
I was blessed to meet good people in my life. Besides wonderful family, I also made very good friends. One of them was Vladimir Ivanovich Kiselev. We met at one of collective Soviet farms.
At that time I worked as a director, and he was a judge. We started talking and I proposed to him:
-”Why don’t you come to us and work as the secretary of our Party organization”
Vladimir Ivanovich agreed, finished his ordeals with the court, and moved to our organization.
Our workers built him a house. We were friends for a long time. Then he worked at Career Control Center as a deputy. He was my best friend. I also had other friends, but none as close as
Vladimir Ivanovich.
I was also friends with all the chiefs of local county offices and went to their meetings. We gathered in large halls, presented reports, drew conclusions to our projects and set up new tasks.
During these meetings we thanked people for their jobs, gave them nice presents, honorary certificates, and at the end we usually had concerts. I created a strong and able professional control team named “Ivavtodor”, which functioned for over 20 years. It consisted of my deputies V.A. Popov, G.M.Ivanov, head mechanic V.L.Gorinov, division managers G.L.Pavlov, G.V.Hromova, and director of road construction N.G. Kondrat’yeva.
My life didn’t only consist of work. I traveled with my family, visited Kavkaz and Crimea. It was hard for me to last through those 20 days of doing nothing. I was used to constant working, I wasn’t fond of the climate, and even the air seemed different. Sometimes we would come back to Moscow without finishing our vacation. It was fall in Moscow at that time, and the air was terrific. I love my Motherland.
Also, I visited Moldavia, visited Ural many times, went to visit friends in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk. In general those were work-related trips. We exchanged experience with people, checked out plants and roads. There was a great deal of communication which was very useful for me.
During 35 years of my work we created reliant web of automotive roads. The web connected county’s centers to each other – Vladimiskaya to Ivanovskaya, Kostromskaya to Gor’kovskaya. It connected all major cities, all towns, and villages with roads.
Once all the roads were completed, I felt very happy. Now, in those places, where cars would drown in dirt, where people would get stuck at nighttime, cars darted their way through on new roads and bridges.
My last bridge was constructed over the Volga River. It was a 2km long bridge, which connected Kostromskaya and Ivanovskaya County. People were happy and thanked us. Transportation moved along smoothly and quickly.
When the results were concluded at large scale meetings, we received many thanks. Those were the best days of my life.
I always thought that it was imperative to do your job in good faith, so that the others could see and justly rate your work. Everyone has their own destiny. Not everyone can be a leader, but if you are the one, who ends up doing it, make sure to remember about all the responsibilities. Add your part to the collective business.
Every person draws conclusions from their life – how they lived and worked. I compare nowadays’ quality of life and work to that of my time, paying special attention to the youth. In my opinion, Russian youth is fantastic. They try to get education and give their best at work. That’s why our country is getting better; our quality of life is improving. People are eating and dressing better than before.
Birth rate has gone up in Russia, but now there is a lack of kindergartens. Many people leave to go west due to dissatisfactions. We must make sure that our country will become appealing for our youth, so that people would move to us, and not away from us.
Now the situation is changing, many of those who left come back to Russia. These people find work in many different fields. When one’s work is valued, then the desire to work is greater and harder.
I think that the key to national success lies in everyone working collectively for the national economy, in striving to do everything to improve people’s lives, in providing opportunities to make strong families, in making sure that birth rates are stable and increasing, gardens are planted, and affluence is present.
This is what’s most important.
I am very happy to have written this book. I’ve done an important deed for my relatives, children, and grandchildren.
With Respect,
Anatoliy Zhukov