People of the Revolution and the USSR
- Sergei Ivanovich Gusev Сергей Иванович Гусев Architect of the Red Army's political apparatus, Old Bolshevik who opposed Trotsky's military line
- Eero Haapalainen Eero Haapalainen Trade union leader who commanded the Finnish Red Guards from January to March 1918
- Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky Николай Ильич Подвойский The operational commander of October, sidelined by the revolution he led
- Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov Климент Ефремович Ворошилов Stalin’s marshal, sustained by loyalty more than command
- Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze Михаил Васильевич Фрунзе Civil War front commander and Red Army reformer
- Eino Rahja Eino Rahja Petrograd Finnish Bolshevik who helped Lenin escape to Finland in 1917 and sat on the Red Guards’ three-man command in 1918
- Yefim Afanasievich Shchadenko Ефим Афанасьевич Щаденко From 1st Cavalry Army commissar to the purge's personnel executioner
- Alexander Yakovlevich Parkhomenko Александр Яковлевич Пархоменко Civil War commander who helped defend Tsaritsyn and establish Soviet power in Ukraine
- Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mekhonoshin Константин Александрович Мехоношин The quiet architect of the Red Army who confronted Stalin at Tsaritsyn as Trotsky's man
- Pavel Yefimovich Dybenko Павел Ефимович Дыбенко The first People's Commissar for Naval Affairs, whose Baltic sailors tipped the scales in October 1917
- Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher Василий Константинович Блюхер “Order of the Red Banner No. 1”: Civil War hero and one of the first five marshals, extinguished in Lefortovo
- Pyotr Ionovich Baranov Пётр Ионович Баранов Principal architect of the Soviet Air Force and aviation industry
- Semyon Petrovich Uritsky Семён Петрович Урицкий GRU chief who expanded Soviet military intelligence, then fell to the Great Purge