 Podgorny was born on 18 February [ O.S. 5 February ] 1903 in Karlovka , Russian Empire , to a Ukrainian working @-@ class family . Podgorny started work at the age of 17 as a student at the mechanical workshops in Karlovka . After the Russian Revolution Podgorny became one of the founders of the Karlovka Komsomol . He served as a Secretary of the Komsomol from 1921 to 1923 . In 1926 Podgorny graduated from a local workers ' school , and then from the Kiev Technological Institute of Food Industry in 1931 . In 1930 , Podgorny became a member of the All @-@ Union Communist Party ( bolsheviks ) . Following his graduation Podgorny started working in the sugar industry . He was promoted to deputy chief engineer of Vinnytsia in 1937 and was promoted in 1939 as the chief engineer of the Kamenetz @-@ <unk> Oblast sugar trusts . By the end of 1939 Podgorny had become Deputy People 's Commissar for Food Industry of the Ukrainian SSR . The next year Podgorny was appointed Deputy People 's Commissar for Food Industry of the Soviet Union . 
