Editing Lazar Kaganovich (section)

=="Iron Lazar"==
From 1935 to 1937, Kaganovich worked as Narkom (Minister) for the railways. Even before the start of the [[Great Purge]], he organized the arrests of thousands of railway administrators and managers as supposed "saboteurs".

From 1937 to 1939, Kaganovich served as Narkom for Heavy Industry. During 1939–1940, he served as Narkom for the Oil Industry. Each of his assignments was associated with arrests in order to improve discipline and compliance with Stalin's policies.

In all Party conferences of the later 1930s, he made speeches demanding increased efforts in the search for and prosecution of "foreign spies" and "saboteurs". For his ruthlessness in the execution of Stalin's orders, he was nicknamed "Iron Lazar". During the period of the Great Terror starting in 1936 Kaganovich's signature appears on 188 
out of 357 documented execution lists.<sup>[6]</sup>

One of many who perished during these years was Lazar's brother, Mikhail Kaganovich, who was people's commisar (Narkom) of the Aviation Industry. On January 10th,1940 Mikhail was demoted to director of aviation plant 124 in Kazan<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup>. In February 1941, during the 18th Conference of the Communist Party, Mikhail was warned that if the plant missed its quotas he would be eliminated from the Party<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup>.
On June 1st, 1941 Stalin mentioned to Lazar that he had heard that Mikhail was "associating with the right wing". Lazar reportedly did not speak in the defence of his brother to Stalin, but did notify him by
telephone. The same day Mikhail committed suicide.<sup>[7]</sup>

During [[World War II]] (known as the Great Patriotic War in the USSR), Kaganovich was Commissar (Member of the Military Council) of the North Caucasian and Transcaucasian Fronts. During 1943–1944, he was again the Narkom for the railways. In 1943, he was presented with the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. From 1944 to 1947, Kaganovich was the Minister for Building Materials. In 1947, he became the First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party. From 1948 to 1952, he served as the Chairman of Gossnab (State Committee for Material-Technical Supply, charged with the 
primary responsibility for the allocation of producer goods to enterprises, a critical state function in the absence of markets), and from 1952 to 1957, as the First Vice-Premier of the Council of Ministers. He was also the first Chairman of Goskomtrud (State Committee for Labour and Wages, charged with introducing the 
minimum wage, with other wage policy, and with improving the old-age pension system)<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup>.

Until 1957, Kaganovich was a voting member of the Politburo as well as the Presidium. He was also an early mentor of the eventual First Secretary of the Communist Party [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who first became important as Kaganovich's Moscow City deputy during the 1930s. In 1947, when Khrushchev was dismissed as the Party secretary of Ukraine (he remained in the somewhat lesser "chief of government" position), Stalin dispatched Kaganovich to replace him until Khrushchev was reinstated later that year.