People of the Revolution and the USSR

Turdakun Usubalievich Usubaliev

Турдакун Усубалиевич Усубалиев
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism Soviet Union Kyrgyzstan 1919–2015 ○ Natural causes

The builder who transformed Kirghizia from an agrarian to an industrial republic across the Khrushchev-Brezhnev era

In his later memoirs, he wrote of the project that was both his greatest legacy and his heaviest burden: "The Toktogul Hydroelectric Station — my pride and my pain."

Born to a poor peasant family and beginning as a schoolteacher, this Kyrgyz politician spent ten years (1945–1955) as an instructor at the CPSU Central Committee in Moscow, gaining the all-Union party apprenticeship that would define his career. As First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kirghizia from 1961 to 1985, he oversaw the construction of 150 large industrial facilities, including the Naryn hydroelectric cascade, Toktogul HPP, and Manas International Airport, and delivered over 510,000 new apartments. Gross industrial output rose fivefold and electricity generation twelvefold, transforming the republic from agrarian to industrial. A full member of the CPSU Central Committee (1961–1986), he also served in the parliament of independent Kyrgyzstan (1993–2005) after retirement.

Career timeline
  • 1937–1939Teacher and head of studies, Kochkor secondary school
  • 1941–1942Deputy head, Propaganda and Agitation Dept., Kochkor District Party Committee
  • 1942–1943Instructor, Propaganda and Agitation Dept., CC CP of Kirghizia
  • 1945–1955Instructor, CPSU Central Committee (Moscow)
  • 1955–1956Editor-in-chief, republican daily Sovettik Kyrgyzstan
  • 1956–1958Head, Propaganda and Agitation Dept., CC CP of Kirghizia
  • 1958–1961First Secretary, Frunze City Party Committee
  • 1959–1961Chairman, Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR
  • 1961–1985First Secretary, CC CP of Kirghizia
  • 1961–1986Member, CPSU Central Committee
  • 1993–2005Deputy, Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of the Kyrgyz Republic

Absamat Masaliyevich Masaliyev

Абсамат Масалы уулу Масалиев
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism Soviet Union Kyrgyz 1933–2004 ○ Natural causes

Party leader of late Soviet Kyrgyzstan

At the presidential selection in the Supreme Soviet on 25 October 1990, neither he nor Apas Jumagulov won a majority, and Akayev was chosen first president on 27 October. In the 1995 election he lost to Akayev, 71.6 to 24.4 percent.

Kyrgyz Soviet party and state leader, born on 10 April 1933 in Alysh, Osh oblast, died on 31 July 2004 in Bishkek. A mining engineer trained at Kyzyl-Kiya and in Moscow, he began work in 1956 at the Kyzyl-Kiya coal administration and rose through party bodies. Elected first secretary of the Communist Party of Kirghizia on 2 November 1985, he held the post to 6 April 1991, was a member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1986 to 1991 and of the CPSU Politburo from 14 July 1990 to 25 April 1991. Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR in 1990, he lost the presidential selection to Akayev and the 1995 election. From September 1992 until 2004 he led the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan. Sources differ on the death date, 31 July or 1 August.

Career timeline
  • 1956–1961Assistant chief engineer at the Komsomolskaya mine of the Kyzyl-Kiya coal administration, then assistant chief engineer of the Kirghizugol trust
  • 1961–1973Instructor of the Osh regional party committee, student at the Alma-Ata higher party school, party-state control posts, head of the Osh regional party department for industry and transport, deputy head of a Central Committee department, first secretary of the Tash-Kumyr city party committee
  • 1972–1974Chairman of the Frunze City Executive Committee
  • 1974–1979Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kirghizia
  • 1979–1985First Secretary of the Issyk-Kul Regional Party Committee
  • 1985–1991First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kirghizia (elected 2 November 1985 at the 21st plenum; released 6 April 1991 to move to the CPSU Central Committee apparatus). Member of the CPSU Central Committee 1986–1991 and of the CPSU Politburo from 14 July 1990 to 25 April 1991
  • 1990Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR (elected 10 April 1990 at the first session of the 12th-convocation Supreme Soviet, released at his own request on 10 December 1990)
  • 1991Consultant to the ideological department of the CPSU Central Committee (April–August 1991)
  • 1992–2004Leader of the Party of Communists of Kyrgyzstan from September 1992; chairman of its central control commission and a member and deputy chairman of the executive council of the Union of Communist Parties–CPSU
  • 1993–1996Director of the State Inspectorate for industrial safety and mining supervision (January 1993–June 1996)
  • 1994–2004Chairman of the I. Razzakov Foundation from 1994
  • 1995–2004Deputy of the Assembly of People's Representatives of the Zhogorku Kenesh (elected April 1995, re-elected April 2000); from 2000 a deputy of the Legislative Assembly

Askar Akayevich Akayev

Аскар Акаевич Акаев

Scientist-president who moved from reformist promise to prolonged rule

At the Supreme Soviet session on 26 August 1991, Akayev declared the draft Union Treaty 'unacceptable' and demanded a confederal revision.

A physicist and former president of Kyrgyzstan's Academy of Sciences, Akayev was elected the republic's first president in 1990 as an outsider to the senior party apparatus. Amid late-Soviet ethnic conflict and demands for sovereignty, he promoted pluralism and market reform, then quickly condemned the 1991 coup attempt and led Kyrgyzstan toward independence. At the Novo-Ogaryovo negotiations he put republican sovereignty first, calling the August treaty draft unacceptable and demanding a revision closer to confederation. His later rule brought extended presidential terms, family-centered politics and corruption allegations, ending in his overthrow during the 2005 popular protests.

Career timeline
  • 1967–1988Researcher and professor, Frunze Polytechnic Institute; head of computer engineering
  • 1987–1989Vice-president, Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR
  • 1989–1990President, Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR
  • 1990.10–1991.08President of the Kirghiz SSR
  • 1991.08–2005.03President of Kyrgyzstan
  • 1991.08.26At the Supreme Soviet, opposed the New Union Treaty draft and demanded a confederal revision
  • 2005–presentProfessor and researcher at Moscow State University, based in Russia

Dzhumgalbek Beksultan uulu Amanbayev

Жумгалбек Бексултан уулу Аманбаев
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Soviet communism Soviet Kyrgyz 1946–2005 ○ Natural causes

A Kyrgyz party leader at the Soviet Union's end

In April 1991, he joined the Soviet Union's final Politburo as Kyrgyzstan's representative.

Amanbayev was an agricultural specialist who rose through the Kyrgyz Communist Party's regional and central apparatus. In 1991, as the Soviet Union moved toward dissolution, he became first secretary of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan and a member of the CPSU Politburo, but both positions ended within months as the Union collapsed. He later served in the government of independent Kyrgyzstan, embodying institutional continuity between the late Soviet party apparatus and the new state.

Career timeline
  • 1966Graduated from the Kyrgyz Agricultural Institute
  • 1971–1973Director of the Osh state breeding station; first secretary of the Alay district party committee
  • 1981–1985Secretary of the Osh regional committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan
  • 1985–1988Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan
  • 1988–1991First secretary of the Issyk-Kul regional committee
  • 1990–1991Chair of the Issyk-Kul regional Soviet; People's Deputy of the USSR
  • 1991First secretary of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan; member of the CPSU Politburo
  • 1993–1995Deputy prime minister of the Kyrgyz Republic