Kosygin became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1946, and a full member on 4 September 1948 (toward the end of Joseph Stalin's rule); he lost his seat in 1952.
He served as Minister of Finance in 1948, and as Minister of Light Industry from 1949 to 1953.

During the Soviet famine of 1946–47 Kosygin headed the foodstuff relief missions to the most suffering regions.

Kosygin's administrative skills led Stalin to take the younger man under his wing.
Stalin shared information with Kosygin, such as how much money the families of Vyacheslav Molotov, Anastas Mikoyan, and Lazar Kaganovich possessed, spent and paid their staff. (
A Politburo member earned a modest salary by Soviet standards but enjoyed unlimited access to consumer goods.)

Stalin sent Kosygin to each home to put their houses into "proper order".
Assignments such as these made Kosygin unpopular with certain members of the Soviet leadership.
Kosygin told his son-in-law Mikhail Gvishiani, an NKVD officer, of the accusations leveled against his co-worker Nikolai Voznesensky, then Chairman of the State Planning Committee (in office 1942–1949) and a First Deputy Premier (in office 1941–1946), because of his possession of firearms.
Gvishiani and Kosygin threw all their weapons into a lake and searched both their own houses for any listening devices.
They found one at Kosygin's house, but it might have been installed to spy on Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who had lived there before him.
According to his memoirs, Kosygin never left his home without reminding his wife what to do if he did not return from work.
After living two years in constant fear, the family reached the conclusion that Stalin would not harm them.

Kosygin, along with Alexey Kuznetsov and Voznesensky, formed a troika in the aftermath of World War II, with high-standing officials such as Stalin promoting all three up the Soviet hierarchy.
 Kosygin's life, which was connected to Kuznetsov through marriage, was hanging by a thread.
How or why Kosygin survived the show trials remains unknown, but, as some jokes say, he "must have drawn a lucky lottery ticket".
Nikita Khrushchev blamed Beria and Malenkov for the innocent deaths of Kuznetsov (1 October 1950) and Voznesensky (1 October 1950), and accused Malenkov in 1957 of having concocted a plot so that either Malenkov or Beria would succeed Stalin upon the latter's death.
Kosygin became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1946, and a full member on 4 September 1948 (toward the end of Joseph Stalin's rule); he lost his seat in 1952. He served as Minister of Finance in 1948, and as Minister of Light Industry from 1949 to 1953.
During the Soviet famine of 1946–47 Kosygin headed the foodstuff relief missions to the most suffering regions.
Kosygin's administrative skills led Stalin to take the younger man under his wing. Stalin shared information with Kosygin, such as how much money the families of Vyacheslav Molotov, Anastas Mikoyan, and Lazar Kaganovich possessed, spent and paid their staff. (A Politburo member earned a modest salary by Soviet standards but enjoyed unlimited access to consumer goods.)
Stalin sent Kosygin to each home to put their houses into "proper order". Assignments such as these made Kosygin unpopular with certain members of the Soviet leadership. Kosygin told his son-in-law Mikhail Gvishiani, an NKVD officer, of the accusations leveled against his co-worker Nikolai Voznesensky, then Chairman of the State Planning Committee (in office 1942–1949) and a First Deputy Premier (in office 1941–1946), because of his possession of firearms. Gvishiani and Kosygin threw all their weapons into a lake and searched both their own houses for any listening devices. They found one at Kosygin's house, but it might have been installed to spy on Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who had lived there before him. According to his memoirs, Kosygin never left his home without reminding his wife what to do if he did not return from work. After living two years in constant fear, the family reached the conclusion that Stalin would not harm them.
Kosygin, along with Alexey Kuznetsov and Voznesensky, formed a troika in the aftermath of World War II, with high-standing officials such as Stalin promoting all three up the Soviet hierarchy.  Kosygin's life, which was connected to Kuznetsov through marriage, was hanging by a thread. How or why Kosygin survived the show trials remains unknown, but, as some jokes say, he "must have drawn a lucky lottery ticket".Nikita Khrushchev blamed Beria and Malenkov for the innocent deaths of Kuznetsov (1 October 1950) and Voznesensky (1 October 1950), and accused Malenkov in 1957 of having concocted a plot so that either Malenkov or Beria would succeed Stalin upon the latter's death.
Alexei Kosygin