— Ch. 1 · Working Class Origins —
Kliment Voroshilov.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Kliment Voroshilov was born on the 4th of February 1881 in Verkhnyeye, a small settlement within the Bakhmut uyezd of the Russian Empire. His father worked as both a railway employee and a miner while facing periods of unemployment throughout his life. The young Kliment began working at the age of six or seven to help support his family. He received frequent beatings from wealthy peasants during these early years. These experiences created a lifelong hatred toward kulaks, the class of wealthier peasants. Voroshilov grew up illiterate until he enrolled in a village school at twelve years old. He attended classes for only two years before entering factory work. In 1896, he started employment at a factory near his home village. He led a strike there in 1899 that demonstrated his early organizing abilities. By 1903, he had joined the Bolshevik party while working at a German-owned factory in Luhansk. During the revolution of 1905, he acted as a strike leader in that same industrial city. He traveled to Stockholm in April 1906 under the pseudonym Volodya Antimekov. There he shared a room with Josif Dzhugashvili, who would later become known as Stalin.
Rise To Military Supremacy
Voroshilov served as chairman of the town soviet in Luhansk after returning from Petrograd during the February Revolution. His military career officially began in early 1918 when he commanded the Fifth Ukrainian Army. This force consisted of scattered units driven out of Ukraine by advancing German armies. After a hazardous retreat, his group reached Tsaritsyn where Stalin was posted in summer 1918. Voroshilov received command of the Tenth Army and helped lead the Red Army defense of that city. They sponsored the creation of the first Red Cavalry unit under Semyon Budyonny. The cavalrymen were mostly peasants from southern Russia. In October 1918, Voroshilov clashed with Leon Trotsky over discipline issues. Trotsky threatened him with court-martial for being undisciplined. Voroshilov transferred to Ukraine as commander of the Kharkiv military district. He became People's Commissar for War in the Ukraine soviet republic. He sided with the Military Opposition which opposed centralized army formation. During the Polish-Soviet War, he served as political commissar alongside Budyonny's First Cavalry. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1921. In April 1921, he became commander of the North Caucasus military district. By March 1924, he led the Moscow military district. Following Mikhail Frunze's death in 1925, Voroshilov took over as People's Commissar for Military and Navy Affairs. He held this post until 1934 while also chairing the Revolutionary Military Council. He moved key Soviet war industries east of the Urals during this period. This strategic relocation allowed the Soviet Union to retreat while keeping manufacturing capabilities intact. Voroshilov became a full member of the Politburo in 1926. He remained there until 1960 despite occasional exclusion from inner leadership decisions.