Grishin was born in
Serpukhov, in the
Moscow Governorate of the
Russian Empire. In his early years, he worked on the Moscovy railroad, as a spike driver who retrofitted its railway system. He served in the
Red Army from 1938 until 1940. In 1941, he was a Communist party functionary. He eventually rose to become leader of the
Communist party in the city of
Moscow from 1967 until 1985. He was renowned for his hardline stance. During the final months of
Konstantin Chernenko's life, Grishin had been considered as a possible contender to succeed Chernenko as
General Secretary, and as a possible alternative to
Mikhail Gorbachev. In an attempt to stress his closeness to Chernenko, he dragged the terminally ill Soviet leader out to vote in early 1985. This action by Grishin backfired and was almost universally viewed as a cruel act. After Chernenko's death in March 1985, he declined to put himself forward as a candidate for succession and instead offered his support, albeit lukewarm, to Gorbachev. Gorbachev was subsequently unanimously elected as the
General Secretary. In late-December 1985, Grishin was replaced by
Boris Yeltsin as the First Secretary of the Moscow party committee. On 18 February 1986, Grishin lost his position as a member of the
Politburo. In a 1991 interview with the conservative Russian newspaper
Molodaya Gvardiya, he claimed the only reason he lost was because
"younger Party leaders, such as Yegor Ligachev, supported Gorbachev because they feared that if I had become Party boss, they would lose their posts." == Death ==