Ivan Kalin
- Early Life and Education
- Political Career
- Presidency and Premiership
- Diplomatic Career
- Return to Politics
- Retirement and Legacy
- Honors and Recognition
Early Life and Education
Ivan P. Kalin was a Soviet and Moldovan statesman born into a peasant family in a village in Moldova. As a native Moldovan, his mother tongue was Moldovan. After completing his primary education at a local school, he pursued a degree in viticulture and winemaking at the Chisinau Viticulture and Winemaking College, graduating with honors in 1955. Kalin became a member of the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) in 1949 and later joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1955.
Political Career
In 1960, Kalin graduated with a degree in agriculture from the M.V. Frunze Chisinau Agricultural Institute, where he also served as chairman of the student union from 1958 to 1960. Subsequently, he worked as a deputy chairman of a collective farm and secretary of the farm's party organization from 1960 to 1963. In 1963, he was appointed First Secretary of the Călărași District Committee of the CPSU, a position he held until 1970.
From 1967 to 1969, Kalin took a break from active party work to study at the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU, graduating in 1969. In 1970, he was appointed Head of the Department of Agriculture and Food Industry of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova (CPM). In 1976, he became Secretary of the CPM Central Committee and a member of its Politburo.
Presidency and Premiership
On April 10, 1980, Kalin was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR, simultaneously serving as Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from June 24, 1980, to June 17, 1986. In this capacity, he was a deputy to Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, and Andrei Gromyko. From 1980 to 1990, he was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
On December 24, 1985, Kalin became Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR. As per the Constitution of the USSR, he automatically also became a member of the Government of the USSR. He was dismissed from all party and state posts on January 10, 1990.
Diplomatic Career
Following his dismissal, Kalin completed a year-long course at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in 1990. He subsequently worked as an Advisor-Envoy (Minister-Counselor) at the Soviet, and later Russian, Embassy in Romania from 1990 to 1995.
Return to Politics
Kalib remained a member of the Republic's highest legislative body for over 35 years, serving in the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR (1967-1990) and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (1998-2010). He was also elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1980-1992). In February 2008, he published a book entitled "Years of Struggle and Creation," which chronicled recent events in Moldovan history.
On August 28, 2009, Kalin presided over the first meeting of the newly elected Parliament as the oldest member. The meeting intended to elect the Parliament's Speaker, but the Communist Party faction, which held only 48 of the required 101 votes to pass the motion, sought to obstruct the vote. Kalin, a member of the Communist Party, declared a recess without putting the decision to a vote, which the parliamentary majority deemed unjustified. Consequently, Kalin and other communist deputies left the meeting, and the four factions with a 53-member majority continued the session independently.
Retirement and Legacy
Due to a prolonged illness, Kalin declined to run for parliament in 2010. As a result, Vladimir Voronin, the leader of the Communist Party, became the oldest member of the Moldovan parliament. Kalin passed away on January 2, 2012, in a Chisinau hospital. An official obituary was drafted and released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova, and a state funeral was held for him on January 4 at the House of the Army. Kalin was buried in the Central Cemetery of Moldova.
Honors and Recognition
Ivan Kalin received the folgenden honors and recognitions:- Order of the Republic
- Order of Lenin
- Order of the October Revolution
- Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
- Seven medals of the USSR
