Andrei Gromyko

In What Is to Be Done? (1902), Vladimir Lenin argued that revolution in Russia could only come about at the instigation of a cadre of trained professionals or, as he called it, "the vanguard of the proletariat." To this end, the Soviet Communist Party devoted much time and energy to identifying and grooming prospective leaders in the struggle to "build socialism" throughout the Soviet Union, even after the Bolshevik Revolution had been won. This effort included preferential treatment for loyal young Communists in the form of admission to the best schools and generous stipends to support them while they studied.

Andrei Gromyko was the Soviet Union's minister of foreign affairs (in essence, the secretary of state) from 1957 to 1985. In this selection from his memoirs, he outlines how he rose in the ranks of the Communist Party beginning at age...