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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
- Becky Little
- Vladimir Lenin (1922-1924) Vladimir Lenin was the founder of the Russian Communist Party and the first Soviet head of state. Following the February Revolution that ousted the Russian monarchy and ended the Russian Empire in 1917, Lenin helped lead the October Revolution (or Bolshevik Revolution) that established a new Soviet government.
- Joseph Stalin (1924-1953) Joseph Stalin (at left) seated with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. During World War II, the three leaders formed an uneasy alliance.
- Georgy Malenkov (1953-1953) The first to take control of the Soviet Union was Stalin’s heir apparent Georgy Malenkov, who had helped facilitate Stalin’s purges in the 1930s.
- Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964) Nikita Khrushchev became first secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party and, in 1958, its premier. His rule was characterized by his attempts at de-Stalinization and improving the Soviet Union’s international relationships.
The Presidency was the highest state office, and was the most important office in the Soviet Union by influence and recognition, eclipsing that of Premier and, with the deletion of Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution, General Secretary.
No. [note 1]PortraitName (birth–death)Term(took Office)1Mikhail Kalinin (1875–1946) [13]30 December 192212 January 19381Mikhail Kalinin (1875–1946) [13]17 January 193819 March 19462Nikolai Shvernik (1888–1970) [14]19 March 194615 March 19533Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) [15]15 March 19537 May 1960During its 69-year history, the Soviet Union usually had a de facto leader who would not necessarily be head of state or even head of government but would lead while holding an office such as Communist Party General Secretary.
Jun 25, 2024 · Soviet Union, former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22–1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (S.S.R.’s): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now ...
Jan 26, 2023 · The leader of an authoritarian regime has a distinct power to shape that country's present and future. Therefore, it is important to know who the leaders of the Soviet Union (USSR) were to comprehend why they enacted particular policies and to understand why certain shifts in the country's trajectory occurred.
Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union and the leader of the Bolsheviks. Leon Trotsky, founder of the Red Army and a key figure in the October Revolution. Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the 1825 Decembrist revolt.
