List of leaders
editThe following list includes persons who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1922 until its 1991 dissolution.
Note: that † denotes leaders who died in office.
Name (Lifespan) |
Portrait | Period | Congress(es) | Political office | Premier | President | Policies |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)[1] |
30 December 1922[1] ↓ 21 January 1924†[2] |
Chairman of Sovnarkom | Himself | Mikhail Kalinin | Leninism • Russian Civil War (1917–23) • War communism (1918–21) • New Economic Policy (1921–28) | ||
Ever since the Bolsheviks' inception, Lenin had served as their de facto leader since November 7, 1917.[1] After the Russian Revolution, Lenin became leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from 1917 and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 until his death.[3] | |||||||
Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)[2] |
21 January 1924[2] ↓ 5 March 1953†[4] |
General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922–1952) Chairman of the Council of Ministers |
Alexei Rykov Vyacheslav Molotov Himself |
Mikhail Kalinin Nikolay Shvernik |
Stalinism • Socialism in one country • Collectivization (1928–40) • Forced industrialization (1929–41) • Great Terror (1936–38) | ||
Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled as part of a troika alongside Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. [5][4] However, by April 1925, this arrangement broke down as Stalin consolidated power to become the Soviet Union's absolute dictator. He also held the post of the Minister of Defence from 19 July 1941 to 3 March 1947 and chaired the State Defense Committee during World War II.[6] | |||||||
Georgy Malenkov (1902–1988)[7] |
5 March 1953[8][9] ↓ 22 January 1955[10] |
— | Chairman of the Council of Ministers |
Himself | Nikolay Shvernik Kliment Voroshilov | ||
After Stalin's death, Malenkov ruled as part of a troika alongside Lavrentiy Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov,[11] Despite initially succeeding Stalin in all his titles and positions, he was forced to relinquish most of them within a month by the Politburo.[12] The troika would ultimately break down when Beria was arrested later that year. [13] Shortly thereafter, he found himself locked in a power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev that led to his removal as Premier in 1955.[14] | |||||||
Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)[13] |
22 January 1955[10] ↓ 11 September 1971†[15] |
First Secretary of the Communist Party |
Georgy Malenkov Nikolai Bulganin Himself |
Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan |
Khrushchev Thaw • De-Stalinization (1956–64) • Anti-religious campaign (1958–64) • Sino-Soviet split (1956–66) | ||
In January 1955, Khrushchev emerged as first among equals within the Presidium of the Central Committee by securing Malenkov's removal as its chairman and Premier of the Soviet Union. After nearly being ousted in 1957 by the "anti-party group", he consolidated his power even further by naming himself Premier on 27 March 1958. Ultimately, after alienating colleagues through disruptive shake-ups of the country's infrastructure and brinksmanship on the world stage, he was fired from all his posts at a special meeting of the Presidium on 13 October 1964. | |||||||
Alexei Kosygin (1904–1980)[15] |
11 September 1971[15] ↓ 10 November 1978[16] |
General Secretary of the Communist Party | Alexei Kosygin Nikolai Tikhonov |
Anastas Mikoyan Nikolai Podgorny Himself |
Era of Stagnation • Collective leadership • Kosygin reforms (1965–70) • Brezhnev Doctrine (1968–81) • Cold War détente (1969–79) • 1973 economic reform • 1979 economic reform | ||
In October 1964, Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party. Despite being the de jure head of the party, he was initially forced to govern the country as part of a troika alongside the Soviet Union's Premier, Alexei Kosygin and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet's Presidium, Nikolai Podgorny. However, by the 1970s, Brezhnev consolidated power to become the regime's undisputed leader. In 1977, Brezhnev officially replaced Podgorny as head of state.[17] At his death in 1982, he received a state funeral. | |||||||
Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)[18] |
10 November 1978[18] ↓ 9 February 1984†[19] |
— | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Nikolai Tikhonov | Himself | ||
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party[20] and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984.[21] | |||||||
Konstantin Chernenko (1911–1985)[22] |
9 February 1984[22] ↓ 10 March 1985† |
— | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Nikolai Tikhonov | Himself | ||
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party[23] and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985.[24] However, due to his health and lack of support within the regime, he governed the country for most of his tenure as part of a troika alongside Andrei Gromyko and Dmitry Ustinov. | |||||||
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022)[25] |
10 March 1985[26] ↓ 25 December 1991[27] |
President (1990–1991) General Secretary of the Communist Party |
Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev |
Andrei Gromyko Himself |
Perestroika • Glasnost • Uskoreniye • Democratization • New political thinking • 500 Days program (planned) | ||
Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985[24] and resigned on 24 August 1991,[28][b] Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October[23] 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990[24] and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990[29] to 25 December 1991. Deposed on 19 August 1991, reinstated on 22 August.[30][27] The day following Gorbachev's resignation as president, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.[31] Gorbachev was the only head of the USSR to have been born during its existence. |
- ^ a b c Brown 2009, p. 53.
- ^ a b c Brown 2009, p. 59.
- ^ Sakwa 1999, pp. 140–143.
- ^ a b Service 2009, p. 323.
- ^ Service 2009, pp. 231–32.
- ^ Green & Reeves 1993, p. 196.
- ^ "Georgi Malenkov Dies at 86; Stalin Successor". The New York Times. 1988-02-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 331.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 332.
- ^ a b Fursenko, A.A; Naftali, Timothy J. (2006). Khrushchev's Cold War : The Inside Story of an American Adversary. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-393-05809-3.
- ^ Marlowe 2005, p. 140.
- ^ Cook 2001, p. 163.
- ^ a b Taubman 2003, p. 258.
- ^ Hill 1993, p. 61.
- ^ a b c Service 2009, p. 377.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 426.
- ^ Brown 2009, p. 402.
- ^ a b Service 2009, p. 428.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 433.
- ^ Brown 2009, p. 403.
- ^ Paxton 2004, p. 234.
- ^ a b Service 2009, p. 434.
- ^ a b Europa Publications Limited 2004, p. 302.
- ^ a b c Paxton 2004, p. 235.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 435.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 378.
- ^ a b Paxton 2004, p. 237.
- ^ Service 2009, p. 503.
- ^ Paxton 2004, p. 236.
- ^ "Указ Президента СССР от 25.12.1991 N УП-3162 "О сложении Президентом СССР полномочий Верховного Главнокомандующего Вооруженными Силами СССР и упразднении Совета обороны при Президенте СССР"".
- ^ Gorbachev 1996, p. 771.
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