| Leader of the Soviet Union | |
|---|---|
| Лидер Советского Союза (Russian) | |
| Type | |
| Term length | Life tenure |
| Formation | 30 December 1922; 102 years ago (1922-12-30) |
| First holder | Vladimir Lenin |
| Final holder | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Abolished | 26 December 1991; 33 years ago (1991-12-26) |
| Politics of the Soviet Union |
|---|
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 Soviet Union portal |
Duringits 69-year history, theSoviet Union usually had ade facto leader who would not always necessarily behead of state or evenhead of government but almost always held office asCommunist Party General Secretary.[a][2] The office of the chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to aprime minister in theFirst World[1] whereas the office of the chairman of the Presidium was comparable to apresident.[2] According toMarxist-Leninist ideology, the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of thevanguard party (as described in Lenin'sWhat Is to Be Done?).
FollowingJoseph Stalin'sconsolidation of power in the late 1920s,[3] the post of the general secretary of theCentral Committee of the Communist Party became synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union,[4] because the post controlled both theCommunist Party[5] and (via party membership) theSoviet government.[3] Often the general secretary also held high positions in the government.[6] Since the post of general secretary lacked clear guidelines of succession, the office's successor needed the support of thePolitical Bureau (Politburo), the Central Committee, or another government or party apparatus to consolidate power. ThePresident of the Soviet Union, an office created in March 1990, replaced the general secretary as the highest Soviet political office.[7]
Contemporaneously to the establishment of the office of the president, representatives of theCongress of People's Deputies voted to removeArticle 6 from theSoviet constitution which stated that the Soviet Union was aone-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 andits people.[8] Upon the departure of an incumbent president from office, theVice President of the Soviet Union would assume the office, though theSoviet Union dissolved before this was actually tested.[9] After thefailed coup in August 1991, the vice president was replaced by an elected member of theState Council of the Soviet Union.[10]
Lenin was electedchairman of theCouncil of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union (Sovnarkom) on 30 December 1922 by theCongress of Soviets.[11] At the age of 53, his health declined from the effects of two bullet wounds, later aggravated by threestrokes which culminated with his death in 1924.[12] Irrespective of his health status in his final days, Lenin was already losing much of his power toJoseph Stalin.[13]Alexei Rykov succeeded Lenin as chairman of the Sovnarkom, and although he wasde 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 rapidindustrialisation,nationalisation of private industry[14] and thecollectivisation of private plots created under Lenin'sNew Economic Policy.[15] As leader of the Politburo, Stalin consolidated near-absolute power by 1938 after theGreat Purge, a series of campaigns of political murder, repression and persecution.[16] On 22 June 1941Nazi Germanyinvaded the Soviet Union,[17] but by December theSoviet 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.[18] Stalin died in March 1953[19] and his death triggered a power struggle in whichNikita Khrushchev ultimately emerged victorious overGeorgy Malenkov.[20]
Khrushchev denounced Stalin on two occasions,first in 1956 and then in 1962. His policy ofde-Stalinisation earned him many enemies within the party, especially from oldStalinist appointees. Many saw this approach as destructive and destabilizing. A group known asAnti-Party Group tried to oust Khrushchev from office in 1957, but it failed.[21] As Khrushchev grew older, his erratic behaviour became worse, usually making decisions without discussing or confirming them with the Politburo.[22]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, andAnastas Mikoyan kept his office as chairman of thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet. On the orders of the Politburo, Mikoyan was forced to retire in 1965, andNikolai Podgorny took over the office of chairman of the Presidium.[23] The Soviet Union in the post-Khrushchev 1960s was governed by acollective leadership.[24]Henry Kissinger, the AmericanNational 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 1967Glassboro Summit Conference.[25] The "Era of Stagnation", a derogatory term coined byMikhail Gorbachev, was a period marked by low socio-economic efficiency in the country and agerontocracy ruling the country.[26]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.[27] Following Andropov's death fifteen months after his appointment, an even older leader, 72-year-oldKonstantin 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.[28]
At the age of 54, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the general secretariat by Politburo on 11 March 1985.[29] 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 dismantledcentral 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 asperestroika (literally meaning "reconstruction", though it varies) andglasnost ("openness" and "transparency"), respectively.[30] The dismantling of the principal defining features ofSoviet communism in 1988 and 1989 in the Soviet Union led to the unintended consequence of theSoviet Union breaking up after the failedAugust 1991 coup led byGennady Yanayev.[31]
The following list includes those who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from itsfounding in 1922 until its1991 dissolution. † denotes leaders who died in office.
| Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Period | Duration | Congress(es) | Political office | Premier(s) | President(s) | Policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)[32] | 30 December 1922[32] ↓ 21 January 1924†[13] | 1 year, 22 days | Chairman ofSovnarkom | Himself | Mikhail Kalinin | Leninism •Russian Civil War(1917–23) •War communism(1918–21) •New Economic Policy(1921–28) | |
| After theRussian Revolution, Lenin became leader of theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1917 and leader of theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. He remained in power until his death.[33] | ||||||||
_(cropped)_(b).jpg) | Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)[13] | 21 January 1924[13] ↓ 5 March 1953†[34] | 29 years, 43 days | General Secretary of theCommunist Party (1922–1952) Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1941–1953) | Alexei Rykov Vyacheslav Molotov Himself | Mikhail Kalinin Nikolay Shvernik | Stalinism •Socialism in one country •Collectivization(1928–40) •Rapid industrialization(1929–41) •Great Purge(1936–38) | |
| Following the death of Lenin, Stalin initially ruled the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongsideGrigory Zinoviev andLev Kamenev.[35][34] 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 theMinister of Defence from 19 July 1941 to 3 March 1947 and chaired theState Defense Committee duringWorld War II.[36] | ||||||||
 | Georgy Malenkov (1902–1988)[37] | 5 March 1953[38][39] ↓ 22 January 1955[40] | 1 year, 323 days | — | Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Himself | Nikolay Shvernik Kliment Voroshilov | |
| After Joseph Stalin's death, Georgy Malenkov ruled the Soviet Union as part of a troika alongsideLavrentiy Beria andVyacheslav Molotov.[41] Despite initially succeeding Stalin in all his titles and positions, he was forced to relinquish most of them within a month by the Politburo.[42] The troika would ultimately break down when Beria was arrested later that year.[43] Shortly thereafter, Malenkov found himself locked in a power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev that led to his removal as Chairman of theCentral Committee Presidium and Premier of the Soviet Union in 1955.[44][40] | ||||||||
.jpg) | Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)[43] | 22 January 1955[40] ↓ 14 October 1964[45] | 11 years, 37 days | 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) | |
| Following Georgy Malenkov's removal from theSecretariat on 14 March 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the acting head of the party apparatus.[39] Later on 7 September 1953, Khrushchev was formally namedFirst Secretary and began openly vying against Malenkov for supremacy within the Kremlin.[46][47] By 1955, he emerged asfirst among equals in the Soviet leadership upon forcing Malenkov to step down as Premier and Chairman of the Presidium.[40] 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 andbrinksmanship on the world stage, he was fired from all his posts at a special meeting of the Presidium on 13 October 1964. | ||||||||
 | Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982)[45] | 14 October 1964[45] ↓ 10 November 1982†[48] | 18 years, 27 days | 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 Wardétente(1969–79) •1973 economic reform •1979 economic reform | |
| In October 1964, Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Communist Party. Despite being thede 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 andChairman 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.[23] At his death in 1982, he received astate funeral. | ||||||||
.jpg) | Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)[49] | 10 November 1982[49] ↓ 9 February 1984†[50] | 1 year, 91 days | — | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Nikolai Tikhonov | Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Himself | |
| General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party[25] and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984.[51] | ||||||||
_(cropped)(b).jpg) | Konstantin Chernenko (1911–1985)[52] | 9 February 1984[52] ↓ 10 March 1985† | 1 year, 29 days | — | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Nikolai Tikhonov | Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Himself | |
| General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party[53] and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985.[54] 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 alongsideAndrei Gromyko andDmitry Ustinov. | ||||||||
.jpg) | Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022)[55] | 10 March 1985[22] ↓ 25 December 1991[56] | 6 years, 290 days | President (1990–1991) General Secretary of the Communist Party | Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev | Vasily Kuznetsov (acting) Andrei Gromyko Himself | Perestroika •Glasnost •Uskoreniye •Democratization •New political thinking •500 Days program(planned) | |
| Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985[54] and resigned on 24 August 1991,[57][c] Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October[53] 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990[54] andPresident of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990[58] to 25 December 1991. Deposed on 19 August 1991, reinstated on 22 August.[59][56] The day following Gorbachev's resignation as president, theSoviet Union was formally dissolved.[60] Gorbachev was the only head of the USSR to have been born during its existence. | ||||||||
Over the course of the Soviet Union's existence, there were four intervals where the country was ruled not by one figure but atroika (i.e."triumvirate")[61] comprising three leading figures within thePolitburo. Such instances included: (1) the 2- to 3-year period betweenLenin's incapacitation and the rise ofJoseph Stalin; (2) the 3 months immediately following Stalin's death;[39] (3) the years betweenNikita Khrushchev's fall andLeonid Brezhnev's consolidation of power;[23] and (4) the ailingKonstantin Chernenko's tenure asde jure leader of the Soviet Union.[62]
| Members (lifespan) | Tenure | Duration | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(b).jpg) | _(b).jpg) | (2).jpg) | May 1922[63] ↓ April 1925[64] | 2 years, 11 months | WhenLenin suffered his firststroke in May 1922, a troika was formed to temporarily rule in his place consisting ofDeputy PremierLev Kamenev,General SecretaryJoseph Stalin andComintern ChairmanGrigory Zinoviev. In March 1923, the three assumed permanent control over the country after Lenin suffered another stroke leaving him unable to govern.[65][66][67] 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 becomedictator of the Soviet Union by the 1930s, Kamenev and Zinoviev were ultimately murdered in theGreat Purge. |
| Lev Kamenev (1883–1936)[68] | Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)[13] | Grigory Zinoviev (1883–1936)[69] | |||
 | .jpg) | (b).jpg) | 13 March 1953[39] ↓ 26 June 1953[70] | 105 days | After Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, a troika assumed power consisting ofCouncil of Ministers ChairmanGeorgy Malenkov,Minister of Internal AffairsLavrentiy Beria andForeign MinisterVyacheslav Molotov.[41][71][72] It dissolved after Beria was arrested and dismissed from the leadership on 26 June 1953.[43] Thereafter, a power struggle ensued between Malenkov and theFirst Secretary of the Communist Party,Nikita Khrushchev, that ended decisively in the latter's favor by 1955. |
| Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953)[39] | Georgy Malenkov (1902–1988)[37] | Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986)[39] | |||
| _-_53Fi3436_(cropped)(c).jpg) |  | 14 October 1964[45] ↓ 16 June 1977[23] | 12 years, 245 days | After Khrushchev's ousting in 1964, he was replaced by a troika comprisingLeonid Brezhnev asFirst/General Secretary, Alexei Kosygin asPremier andCCSecretaryNikolai Podgorny who went on to becomeChairman of thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1965.[73][74][75] However, as Brezhnev increasingly consolidated power within the Soviet leadership, the troika's effectiveness as a guarantor ofcollective leadership steadily declined.[76] It was ultimately dissolved in 1977 after Brezhnev took Podgorny's place ashead of state.[23] |
| Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982)[45] | Alexei Kosygin (1904–1980)[45] | Nikolai Podgorny (1903–1983)[45] | |||
_(cropped)(b)(2).jpg) | _(b).jpg) | .jpg) | 13 February 1984[77] ↓ 20 December 1984 | 311 days | Despite succeeding Andropov as thede jure leader of the Soviet Union, Chernenko was unable to concentrate policymaking in his hands due to his poor health[78][79] and lack of popularity among the party elite.[80][81] This compelled him to lead the country as part of a troika alongsideForeign MinisterAndrei Gromyko andDefense MinisterDmitry Ustinov.[62][82][83] This arrangement lasted until Ustinov's death in December 1984 which made way forMikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in March 1985.[82] |
| Konstantin Chernenko (1911–1985)[52] | Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989)[84] | Dmitry Ustinov (1908–1984)[85] | |||
