Novocherkassk

   In June 1962 food riots occurred in the south Russian city of Novocherkassk. The local authorities were unable to quell the riots, which quickly took on a political character, as posters appeared denouncing the Communist Party and demanding meat, milk, and wage increases. One poster reportedly suggested turning party bosses into sausage. Following some clashes with local police, KGB and army troops fired into the crowd, killing 23 people and wounding more than a hundred. The KGB official responsible for repression was Petr Ivashutin, who later became chief of the GRU. The KGB managed the trials of the main Novocherkassk “conspirators,” which sentenced 10 dangerous state criminals to death and others to 10–15 years imprisonment. The riots at Novocherkassk were symptomatic of public anger with the failure of Nikita Khrushchev’s political and economic reforms in the early 1960s, and in several other cities the KGB and the army employed a very heavy hand to maintain order.