List of leaders of the Soviet Union
During its sixty-nine-year history, the Soviet Union usually had a de facto leader who would not necessarily be head of state, but would lead while holding an office such as Premier or General Secretary. Under the 1977 Constitution, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, was the head of government and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state. The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president. In the ideology of Vladimir Lenin, the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of the vanguard party.
Following Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the 1920s, the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party became synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union, because the post controlled both the Communist Party and the Soviet government both indirectly via party membership and via the tradition of a single person holding two highest posts in the party and in the government. The post of the General Secretary was abolished in 1952 under Stalin and later re-established by Nikita Khrushchev under the name of First Secretary. In 1966, Leonid Brezhnev reverted the office title to its former name. Being the head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the office of the General Secretary was the highest in the Soviet Union until 1990. The post of General Secretary lacked clear guidelines of succession, so after the death or removal of a Soviet leader the successor usually needed the support of the Politburo, the Central Committee, or another government or party apparatus to both take and stay in power. The President of the Soviet Union, an office created in March 1990, replaced the General Secretary as the highest Soviet political office.
Contemporaneously to 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. Upon death, resignation, or removal from office of an incumbent President, the Vice President of the Soviet Union would assume the office, though the Soviet Union dissolved before this was actually tested. After the failed August 1991 coup, the Vice President was replaced by an elected member of the State Council of the Soviet Union.
Summary
was voted the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union on 30 December 1922 by the Congress of Soviets. At the age of 53, his health declined from effects of two bullet wounds, later aggravated by three strokes which culminated with his death in 1924. Irrespective of his health status in his final days, Lenin was already losing much of his power to Joseph Stalin. Alexei Rykov succeeded Lenin as Chairman of the Sovnarkom and although he was de jure the most powerful person in the country, but 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 industry and the collectivisation of private plots created under Lenin's New Economic Policy. 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. Nazi German troops invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, 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. Stalin died in March 1953 and his death triggered a power struggle in which Nikita Khrushchev after several years emerged victorious against Georgy Malenkov.
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 destabilising. A group known as Anti-Party Group tried to oust Khrushchev from office in 1957, but it failed. As Khrushchev grew older, his erratic behavior became worse, usually making decisions without discussing or confirming them with the Politburo. Leonid Brezhnev, a close companion of Khrushchev, was elected 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. The Soviet Union in the post-Khrushchev 1960s was governed by a collective leadership. Henry A. 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. 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. Yuri Andropov succeeded Brezhnev in his post as General Secretary in 1982. In 1983, Andropov was hospitalised 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. 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.
At the age of 54, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the General Secretariat by the Politburo on 11 March 1985. 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 a warming of relationships with the West. These twin policies were known as perestroika and glasnost, respectively. 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.
List of leaders
The 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 | Portrait | Period | Congress | Notes | Political office | Policies |
| Vladimir Lenin | 30 December 1922 ↓ 21 January 1924† | Ever since the Bolsheviks' inception, Lenin had served as their de facto leader. After the Russian Revolution, Lenin became leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1922 until his death. | Chairman of Sovnarkom | Leninism• Red Terror | ||
| Joseph Stalin | 21 January 1924 ↓ 5 March 1953† | Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled as part of a troika alongside Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. 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. | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Stalinism • Socialism in one country • Collectivization | ||
| Joseph Stalin | 21 January 1924 ↓ 5 March 1953† |
| Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled as part of a troika alongside Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. 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. | Chairman of theCouncil of Ministers | Stalinism • Socialism in one country • Collectivization | |
| Georgy Malenkov | 5 March 1953 ↓ 14 September 1953 | — | After Stalin's death, Malenkov succeeded him in all his titles but was forced to resign most of them within a month by the Politburo. Shortly thereafter, he found himself locked in a power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev that led to his removal in 1955, as Premier in 1955. | Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Stalinism • Socialism in one country • Collectivization | |
| Nikita Khrushchev | 14 September 1953 ↓ 14 October 1964 | In September 1953, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as leader of the Soviet Union upon becoming the First Secretary of the Communist Party. He consolidated his power further after becoming Chairman of the Council of Ministers on 27 March 1958. While he was vacationing in Abkhazia, Khrushchev was called by Leonid Brezhnev to return to Moscow for a special meeting of the Presidium to be held on 13 October 1964. At the most fiery session since the so-called "anti-party group" crisis of 1957, he was fired from all his posts. | First Secretary of theCommunist Party | Khrushchev Thaw • De-Stalinization | ||
| Leonid Brezhnev | On October 1964, Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party. Despite being the head of the nation's ruling Party, he initially led the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongside Premier Alexei Kosygin and Presidium Chairman Nikolai Podgorny. However, by the 1970s, Brezhnev consolidated power to become the regime's undisputed leader. In 1977, Brezhnev officially replaced Podgorny as Chairman of the Presidium. At his death in 1982, he received a state funeral. | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Era of Stagnation• Collective leadership • Kosygin reforms | |||
| Yuri Andropov | 10 November 1982 ↓ 9 February 1984† | — | General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984. | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Era of Stagnation • Collective leadership • Kosygin reforms | |
| Konstantin Chernenko | 9 February 1984 ↓ 10 March 1985† | — | General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985. | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Era of Stagnation • Collective leadership • Kosygin reforms | |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | 10 March 1985 ↓ 25 December 1991 |
| Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985 and resigned on 24 August 1991, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990 and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. The day following Gorbachev's resignation as President, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Perestroika• Glasnost • Uskoreniye • Democratization • New political thinking • 500 Days program | |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | 10 March 1985 ↓ 25 December 1991 |
| Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985 and resigned on 24 August 1991, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990 and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. The day following Gorbachev's resignation as President, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. | President | Perestroika • Glasnost • Uskoreniye • Democratization • New political thinking • 500 Days program |
List of troikas
On four occasionsthe 2–3 year period between Vladimir Lenin's incapacitation and Joseph Stalin's leadership; the three months following Stalin's death; the interval between Nikita Khrushchev's fall and Leonid Brezhnev's consolidation of power; and the ailing Konstantin Chernenko's tenure as General Secretarya form of oligarchy known as a governed the Soviet Union, with no individual holding complete control over its policies.Statistics
The youngest leader of the USSR in 1924 was Joseph Stalin. The oldest at the time of taking office was Konstantin Chernenko. The oldest at the time of the loss of power is Leonid Brezhnev. The shortest life was lived by Vladimir Lenin. Mikhail Gorbachev lived the longest. Stalin ruled the longest. Georgy Malenkov spent the shortest time in power.| No. | Leaders | Date of birth | Age at ascension | Time in office | Age at retirement | Date of death | Longevity |
| 1 | Vladimir Lenin | April 22, 1870 | 52 years, 252 days | 1 year, 22 days | 53 years, 274 days | January 21, 1924 | 53 years, 274 days |
| 2 | Joseph Stalin | December 18, 1878 | 45 years, 34 days | 29 years, 43 days | 74 years, 77 days | March 5, 1953 | 74 years, 77 days |
| 3 | Georgy Malenkov | December 6, 1901 | 51 years, 89 days | 183 days | 51 years, 282 days | January 14, 1988 | 86 years, 6 days |
| 4 | Nikita Khrushchev | April 15, 1894 | 59 years, 143 days | 11 years, 39 days | 70 years, 182 days | September 11, 1971 | 77 years, 149 days |
| 5 | Leonid Brezhnev | December 19, 1906 | 57 years, 300 days | 18 years, 27 days | 75 years, 326 days | November 10, 1982 | 75 years, 326 days |
| 6 | Yuri Andropov | June 15, 1914 | 68 years, 150 days | 1 year, 89 days | 69 years, 239 days | February 9, 1984 | 69 years, 239 days |
| 7 | Konstantin Chernenko | September 24, 1911 | 72 years, 142 days | 1 year, 26 days | 73 years, 167 days | March 10, 1985 | 73 years, 167 days |
| 8 | Mikhail Gorbachev | March 2, 1931 | 54 years, 9 days | 6 years, 287 days | 60 years, 298 days | Living |