List of leaders of the Soviet Union

Template:Short description Template:Featured list Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox official post Template:Soviet Union sidebar During its 69-year history, the Soviet Union usually had a de facto leader who would not always necessarily be head of state or even head of government but almost always held office as Communist Party General Secretary.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn The office of the chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First WorldTemplate:Sfn whereas the office of the chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president.Template:Sfn According to Marxist–Leninist ideology, the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of the vanguard party (as described in Lenin's What Is to Be Done?).

Following Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the late 1920s,Template:Sfn the post of the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party became synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union,Template:Sfn because the post controlled both the Communist PartyTemplate:Sfn and (via party membership) the Soviet government.Template:Sfn Often the general secretary also held high positions in the government.Template:Sfn Since the post of general secretary lacked clear guidelines of succession, the office's successor needed the support of the Political Bureau (Politburo), the Central Committee, or another government or party apparatus to consolidate power. The President of the Soviet Union, an office created in March 1990, replaced the general secretary as the highest Soviet political office.Template:Sfn

Contemporaneously to the establishment of the office of the president, representatives of the Congress of People's Deputies voted to remove Article 6 from the Soviet constitution which stated that the Soviet Union was a one-party state controlled by the Communist Party which in turn played the leading role in society. This vote weakened the party and its hegemony over the Soviet Union and its people.Template:Sfn Upon the departure of an incumbent president from office, the Vice President of the Soviet Union would assume the office, though the Soviet Union dissolved before this was actually tested.Template:Sfn After the failed coup in August 1991, the vice president was replaced by an elected member of the State Council of the Soviet Union.

Summary

Lenin was elected chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union (Sovnarkom) on 30 December 1922 by the Congress of Soviets.Template:Sfn At the age of 53, his health declined from the effects of two bullet wounds, later aggravated by three strokes which culminated with his death in 1924.Template:Sfn Irrespective of his health status in his final days, Lenin was already losing much of his power to Joseph Stalin.Template:Sfn Alexei Rykov succeeded Lenin as chairman of the Sovnarkom, and although he was de jure the most powerful person in the country, in fact, all power was concentrated in the hands of the "troika" – the union of three influential party figures: Grigory Zinoviev, Joseph Stalin, and Lev Kamenev. Stalin continued to increase his influence in the party, and by the end of the 1920s, he became the sole dictator of the USSR, defeating all his political opponents. The post of general secretary of the party, which was held by Stalin, became the most important post in the Soviet hierarchy.

Stalin's early policies pushed for rapid industrialisation, nationalisation of private industryTemplate:Sfn and the collectivisation of private plots created under Lenin's New Economic Policy.Template:Sfn As leader of the Politburo, Stalin consolidated near-absolute power by 1938 after the Great Purge, a series of campaigns of political murder, repression and persecution.Template:Sfn On 22 June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union,Template:Sfn but by December the Soviet Army managed to stop the attack just shy of Moscow. On Stalin's orders, the Soviet Union launched a counter-attack on Nazi Germany, which finally succeeded in 1945.Template:Sfn Stalin died in March 1953Template:Sfn and his death triggered a power struggle in which Nikita Khrushchev ultimately emerged victorious over Georgy Malenkov.Template:Sfn

Khrushchev denounced Stalin on two occasions, first in 1956 and then in 1962. His policy of de-Stalinisation earned him many enemies within the party, especially from old Stalinist appointees. Many saw this approach as destructive and destabilizing. A group known as Anti-Party Group tried to oust Khrushchev from office in 1957, but it failed.Template:Sfn As Khrushchev grew older, his erratic behaviour became worse, usually making decisions without discussing or confirming them with the Politburo.Template:Sfn Leonid Brezhnev, a close companion of Khrushchev, was elected the first secretary the same day of Khrushchev's removal from power. Alexei Kosygin became the new premier, and Anastas Mikoyan kept his office as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. On the orders of the Politburo, Mikoyan was forced to retire in 1965, and Nikolai Podgorny took over the office of chairman of the Presidium.Template:Sfn The Soviet Union in the post-Khrushchev 1960s was governed by a collective leadership.Template:Sfn Henry Kissinger, the American National Security Advisor, mistakenly believed that Kosygin was the leader of the Soviet Union and that he was at the helm of Soviet foreign policy because he represented the Soviet Union at the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference.Template:Sfn The "Era of Stagnation", a derogatory term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev, was a period marked by low socio-economic efficiency in the country and a gerontocracy ruling the country.Template:Sfn Yuri Andropov (aged 68 at the time) succeeded Brezhnev in his post as general secretary in 1982. In 1983, Andropov was hospitalized and rarely met up at work to chair the politburo meetings due to his declining health. Nikolai Tikhonov usually chaired the meetings in his place.Template:Sfn Following Andropov's death fifteen months after his appointment, an even older leader, 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko, was elected to the general secretariat. His rule lasted for little more than a year until his death thirteen months later on 10 March 1985.Template:Sfn

At the age of 54, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the general secretariat by Politburo on 11 March 1985.Template:Sfn In May 1985, Gorbachev publicly admitted the slowing down of the economic development and inadequate living standards, being the first Soviet leader to do so while also beginning a series of fundamental reforms. From 1986 to around 1988, he dismantled central planning, allowed state enterprises to set their own outputs, enabled private investment in businesses not previously permitted to be privately owned, and allowed foreign investment, among other measures. He also opened up the management of and decision-making within the Soviet Union and allowed greater public discussion and criticism, along with the warming of relationships with the West. These twin policies were known as perestroika (literally meaning "reconstruction", though it varies) and glasnost ("openness" and "transparency"), respectively.Template:Sfn The dismantling of the principal defining features of Soviet communism in 1988 and 1989 in the Soviet Union led to the unintended consequence of the Soviet Union breaking up after the failed August 1991 coup led by Gennady Yanayev.Template:Sfn

List of leaders

The following list includes those who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1922 until its 1991 dissolution. † denotes leaders who died in office.

Portrait	Name Template:Small	Period	Duration	Congress(es)	Political office	Premier(s)	President(s)	Policies
File:Lenin in 1920 (cropped).jpg	Vladimir Lenin Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	30 December 1922Template:Sfn ↓ 21 January 1924†Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	1st–10thTemplate:Efn 11th 12th	Chairman of Sovnarkom	Himself	Mikhail Kalinin	Leninism • Template:Small
		After the Russian Revolution, Lenin became leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1917 and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. He remained in power until his death.Template:Sfn
File:Joseph Stalin in 1932 (4) (cropped) (b).jpg	Joseph Stalin Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	21 January 1924Template:Sfn ↓ 5 March 1953†Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th	General Secretary of the Communist Party Template:Small Chairman of the Council of Ministers Template:Small	Alexei Rykov Vyacheslav Molotov Himself	Mikhail Kalinin Nikolay Shvernik	Stalinism • Template:Small
		Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongside Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, by April 1925, this arrangement broke down as Stalin consolidated power to become the country'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.Template:Sfn
File:Georgy Malenkov 1953.jpg	Georgy Malenkov Template:Small	5 March 1953Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn ↓ 22 January 1955	Template:Ayd	—	Chairman of the Council of Ministers	Himself	Nikolay Shvernik Kliment Voroshilov	New Course •Template:Small
		After Joseph Stalin's death, Georgy Malenkov ruled the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongside Lavrentiy Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov.Template:Sfn Despite initially succeeding Stalin in all his titles and positions, he was forced to relinquish most of them within a month by the Politburo.Template:Sfn The troika would ultimately break down when Beria was arrested later that year.Template:Sfn Shortly thereafter, Malenkov found himself locked in a power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev that led to his removal as Chairman of the Central Committee Presidium and Premier of the Soviet Union in 1955.Template:Sfn
File:1956 Press Photo Communist Party Secretary Nikita S. Khrushchev in Moscow (cropped).jpg	Nikita Khrushchev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	22 January 1955 ↓ 14 October 1964Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	20th 21st 22nd	First Secretary of the Communist Party	Georgy Malenkov Nikolai Bulganin Himself	Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan	Khrushchev Thaw • Template:Small
		Following Georgy Malenkov's removal from the Secretariat on 14 March 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the acting head of the party apparatus.Template:Sfn Later on 7 September 1953, Khrushchev was formally named First Secretary and began openly vying against Malenkov for supremacy within the Kremlin.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn By 1955, he emerged as first among equals in the Soviet leadership upon forcing Malenkov to step down as Premier and Chairman of the Presidium. After foiling an attempted coup in 1957 by the "anti-party group", Khrushchev consolidated power even further by becoming 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.
File:Leonid Brezjnev, leider van de Sovjet-Unie, Bestanddeelnr 925-6564.jpg	Leonid Brezhnev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	14 October 1964Template:Sfn ↓ 10 November 1982†Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	23rd 24th 25th 26th	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Alexei Kosygin Nikolai Tikhonov	Anastas Mikoyan Nikolai Podgorny Himself	Era of Stagnation • Template:Small
		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.Template:Sfn At his death in 1982, he received a state funeral.
File:Yuri Andropov (cropped).jpg	Yuri Andropov Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	10 November 1982Template:Sfn ↓ 9 February 1984†Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	—	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov	Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Himself
		General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist PartyTemplate:Sfn and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984.Template:Sfn
File:Константин Черненко (28-05-1984) (cropped)(b).jpg	Konstantin Chernenko Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	9 February 1984Template:Sfn ↓ 10 March 1985†	Template:Ayd	—	General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov	Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Himself
		General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist PartyTemplate:Sfn and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985.Template:Sfn However, due to his poor health and lack of support within the party, he governed the country for most of his tenure as part of a troika alongside Andrei Gromyko and Dmitry Ustinov.
File:RIAN archive 850809 General Secretary of the CPSU CC M. Gorbachev (crop).jpg	Mikhail Gorbachev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	10 March 1985Template:Sfn ↓ 25 December 1991Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	27th 28th	President Template:Small General Secretary of the Communist Party	Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev	Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Andrei Gromyko Himself	Perestroika • Template:Small • Template:Small • Template:Small • Template:Small • Template:Small
		Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985Template:Sfn and resigned on 24 August 1991,Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 OctoberTemplate:Sfn 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990Template:Sfn and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990Template:Sfn to 25 December 1991. Deposed on 19 August 1991, reinstated on 22 August.Template:Sfn The day following Gorbachev's resignation as president, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.Template:Sfn Gorbachev was the only head of the USSR to have been born during its existence.

Timeline

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List of troikas

Template:Further Over the course of the Soviet Union's existence, there were four intervals where the country was ruled not by one figure but a troika (i.e."triumvirate")Template:Sfn comprising three leading figures within the Politburo. Such instances included: (1) the 2- to 3-year period between Lenin's incapacitation and the rise of Joseph Stalin; (2) the 3 months immediately following Stalin's death;Template:Sfn (3) the years between Nikita Khrushchev's fall and Leonid Brezhnev's consolidation of power;Template:Sfn and (4) the ailing Konstantin Chernenko's tenure as de jure leader of the Soviet Union.

Members Template:Small			Tenure	Duration	Notes
File:Lev Kamenev 1920s (cropped)(b).jpg	File:Lenin stalin gorky-02 (cropped) (b).jpg	File:Grigorii Zinovieff 1920 (cropped)(2).jpg	May 1922Template:Sfn ↓ April 1925Template:Sfn	Template:Age in years and months	When Lenin suffered his first stroke in May 1922, a troika was formed to temporarily rule in his place consisting of Deputy Premier Lev Kamenev, General Secretary Joseph Stalin and Comintern Chairman Grigory Zinoviev. In March 1923, the three assumed permanent control over the country after Lenin suffered another stroke leaving him unable to govern.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, by April 1925, the triumvirate broke up due to Kamenev's and Zinoviev's opposition to Stalin's "Socialism in One Country" policy. After Stalin had consolidated power to become dictator of the Soviet Union by the 1930s, Kamenev and Zinoviev were ultimately murdered in the Great Purge.
Lev Kamenev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Joseph Stalin Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Grigory Zinoviev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn
File:Lavrentiy Beria portrait 2.jpg	File:Georgy Malenkov 1953 (cropped).jpg	File:Vyacheslav Molotov Anefo2 (cropped)(b).jpg	13 March 1953Template:Sfn ↓ 26 June 1953Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	Template:AnchorAfter Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, a troika assumed power consisting of Council of Ministers Chairman Georgy Malenkov, Minister of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It dissolved after Beria was arrested and dismissed from the leadership on 26 June 1953.Template:Sfn Thereafter, a power struggle ensued between Malenkov and the First Secretary of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev, that ended decisively in the latter's favor by 1955.
Lavrentiy Beria Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Georgy Malenkov Template:Small	Vyacheslav Molotov Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn
File:Leonid Brezjnev, leider van de Sovjet-Unie, Bestanddeelnr 925-6564.jpg	File:05.11.1966. Kossiguine à Toulouse. (1966) - 53Fi3436 (cropped)(c).jpg	File:Nikolai Podgorny Bundesarchiv cropped-2.jpg	14 October 1964Template:Sfn ↓ 16 June 1977Template:Sfn	Template:Ayd	After Khrushchev's ousting in 1964, he was replaced by a troika comprising Leonid Brezhnev as First/General Secretary, Alexei Kosygin as Premier and CC Secretary Nikolai Podgorny who went on to become Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1965.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, as Brezhnev increasingly consolidated power within the Soviet leadership, the troika's effectiveness as a guarantor of collective leadership steadily declined.Template:Sfn It was ultimately dissolved in 1977 after Brezhnev took Podgorny's place as head of state.Template:Sfn
Leonid Brezhnev Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Alexei Kosygin Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Nikolai Podgorny Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn
File:Константин Черненко (28-05-1984) (cropped)(b)(2).jpg	File:Andrei Gromyko 1972 (cropped) (b).jpg	File:Dmitry Ustinov colorized full cropped (b).jpg	13 February 1984Template:Sfn ↓ 20 December 1984	Template:Ayd	Despite succeeding Andropov as the de jure leader of the Soviet Union, Chernenko was unable to concentrate policymaking in his hands due to his poor health and lack of popularity among the party elite. This compelled him to lead the country as part of a troika alongside Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov.Template:Sfn This arrangement lasted until Ustinov's death in December 1984 which made way for Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in March 1985.
Konstantin Chernenko Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Andrei Gromyko Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn	Dmitry Ustinov Template:SmallTemplate:Sfn

See also

• List of heads of state of the Soviet Union
• List of presidents of the Russian Federation
• Premier of the Soviet Union
• President of Russia

External links

• Succession of Power in the USSR from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
• Heads of State and Government of the Soviet Union (1922–1991)