Plot synopsis

1960, according to Svanidze, was the year of a fantastic deception, in which the entire Soviet party and economic bureaucracy was involved. N.S. Khrushchev's call to "Catch up and overtake America in the production of meat, milk and butter!", according to our chronicler, served as an impetus for the final collapse of Soviet agriculture. Accordingly, the hero of 1960 for Svanidze was the First Secretary of the Ryazan Regional Committee of the CPSU, Alexei Larionov. Having taken upon himself the social obligation to produce “three plans” (150 thousand tons of meat) in 1960, Larionov completely slaughtered all the young animals in the collective farms under his jurisdiction, forcibly confiscated all the cattle and poultry from the personal subsidiary farms of villagers and residents of small towns in the region, and then began secretly buying up meat in neighboring regions and even in another union republic, Kazakhstan. As a result, Larionov became the first Persian to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his exploits. However, he was subsequently exposed, removed from his post, took to drink and committed suicide – exactly at the time when Khrushchev was banging his shoe on the UN podium.

commentaries

Text of a radio program by Nikolaï Svanidze on the same theme as the film, 2016

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

Images

Alekseï LARIONOV (Алексей Николаевич ЛАРИОНОВ) 1907-1960