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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation(set)
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era
People of the Soviet Union
People of the wider world
GlossaryRussian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)→
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Vera Ivanovna Zasulich Вера Ивановна Засулич
From a narodnik revolver to Marxist criticism, half a century of one woman's revolutionary life
Scholarship and theory · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1849–1919
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Pavel Borisovich Axelrod Павел Борисович Аксельрод
Theorist of the mass workers' party: the argument that lost to Lenin's vanguard
Political and party leadership · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1850–1928
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Lev Grigorievich Deitch Лев Григорьевич Дейч
Co-founder of the Emancipation of Labour group and a Menshevik pioneer at the origins of Russian Marxism
Scholarship and theory · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1855–1941
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Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov Георгий Валентинович Плеханов
The father of Russian Marxism: against his own pupils’ revolution
Scholarship and theory · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1856–1918
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Mikhail Stepanovich Olminsky Михаил Степанович Ольминский
Founder of Istpart and architect of Bolshevik party historiography
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1863–1933
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Nikolay Semyonovich Chkheidze Николай Семёнович Чхеидзе
Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in the dual-power era, face of revolutionary defencism
Political and party leadership · Mensheviks (RSDLP)
1864–1926
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Pēteris Ivanovich Stučka Пётр Иванович Стучка
Architect of Soviet Marxist legal theory who defined law as class relations
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1865–1932
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Leo Jogiches Leo Jogiches
The revolution's underground organizer, always behind the scenes, until he had to lead
Political and party leadership · Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL)
1867–1919
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Viktor Konstantinovich Kurnatovsky Виктор Константинович Курнатовский
One of Russia's first Marxists, from Narodnaya Volya to leader of the 1905 Chita Republic
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1868–1912
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Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky Михаил Николаевич Покровский
Founder of Soviet Marxist historiography, posthumously repudiated
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1868–1932
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Alexei Maximovich Gorky Алексей Максимович Горький
The stormy petrel, caged
Literature and arts · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1868–1936
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Alexander Grigorievich Shlikhter Александр Григорьевич Шлихтер
Bolshevik agrarian policymaker: first Agriculture Commissar, later VP of Ukraine's Academy of Sciences
Agriculture and land policy · Soviet Union state institutions
1868–1940
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Filipp Yeseyevich Makharadze ფილიპე იესეს ძე მახარაძე
The Bolshevik elder removed by Stalin for trying to Sovietize Georgia gently
Political and party leadership · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1868–1941
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Panteleimon Nikolayevich Lepeshinsky Пантелеймон Николаевич Лепешинский
Co-founder of Istpart, who laid the institutional foundations of Party historiography
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1868–1944
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Maria Fyodorovna Andreyeva Мария Фёдоровна Андреева
Actress turned Bolshevik financial agent whom Lenin called 'Comrade Phenomenon'
Literature and arts · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1868–1953
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Noe Zhordania ნოე ჟორდანია
Leader of the Georgian Mensheviks who headed the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918–1921
Political and party leadership · Georgia state institutions
1868–1953
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Alexander Nikolayevich Potresov Александр Николаевич Потресов
One of the six who built Iskra: the Menshevik theorist who parted with Lenin
Political and party leadership · Mensheviks (RSDLP)
1869–1934
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Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya Надежда Константиновна Крупская
She built the Soviet school and library system from the shadow of her husband
Education · Soviet Union state institutions
1869–1939
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Alexander Nikolayevich Vinokurov Александр Николаевич Винокуров
The Bolshevik physician who built the USSR Supreme Court and led it for fourteen years
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1869–1944
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Yekaterina Dmitriyevna Kuskova Екатерина Дмитриевна Кускова
A publicist who moved between reformist socialism and anti-party politics
Scholarship and theory · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1869–1958
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Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Владимир Ильич Ленин
The helmsman who changed course at every fork
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1870–1924
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Nariman Najaf oglu Narimanov Нариман Наджаф оглы Нариманов
From Azerbaijani Enlightener to a Head of the Soviet State
Literature and arts · Soviet Union state institutions
1870–1925
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Leonid Borisovich Krasin Леонид Борисович Красин
From revolutionary engineer to Soviet diplomatic architect, the only Bolshevik who could do business with Western capital
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1870–1926
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Ivan Ivanovich Skvortsov-Stepanov Иван Иванович Скворцов
Bolshevik intellectual who brought Capital into Russian and served as the first People's Commissar of Finance
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1870–1928
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Pyotr Ananyevich Krasikov Пётр Ананьевич Красиков
First Procurator General of the USSR and architect of revolutionary legality
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1870–1939
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Pyotr Berngardovich Struve Пётр Бернгардович Струве
From Marxism through liberalism to conservative anti-Bolshevism: the thinker who traced the arc of a Russian intelligentsia
Scholarship and theory · Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets)
1870–1944
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Vatslav Vatslavovich Vorovsky Вацлав Вацлавович Воровский
The first Soviet diplomat, a bridge between revolution, letters, and diplomacy, felled by a bullet in Lausanne
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union state institutions
1871–1923
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Fyodor Ilyich Dan Фёдор Ильич Дан
Menshevism's theoretical pillar who stood for democratic socialism against Lenin
Political and party leadership · Mensheviks (RSDLP)
1871–1947
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Sergei Nikolaevich Prokopovich Сергей Николаевич Прокопович
An economist who analysed the tension between markets and state control
Scholarship and theory · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1871–1955
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Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk Микола Олексійович Скрипник
Architect of Ukrainization: the cultural revolutionary who turned the gun on himself
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1872–1933
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Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin Георгий Васильевич Чичерин
The first foreign commissar who translated the revolution into diplomacy
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union state institutions
1872–1936
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Aron Aleksandrovich Solts Арон Александрович Сольц
The Bolshevik elder called 'conscience of the party': jurist who confronted the Prosecutor General during the Great Terror
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1872–1945
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Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai Александра Михайловна Коллонтай
The first woman cabinet minister, who made women's liberation the revolution's business
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union state institutions
1872–1952
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Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky Глеб Максимилианович Кржижановский
Early architect of electrification and planning
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1872–1959
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Nikolai Ernestovich Bauman Николай Эрнестович Бауман
The 'Rook' who flew across borders building the Iskra network, and the revolution's first martyr
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1873–1905
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Ivan Vasilyevich Babushkin Иван Васильевич Бабушкин
The worker-organizer Iskra trusted most: archetype of the Bolshevik worker
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1873–1906
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Julius Osipovich Martov Юлий Осипович Мартов
Lenin’s oldest friend and most principled adversary
Political and party leadership · Mensheviks (RSDLP)
1873–1923
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Alexander Alexandrovich Bogdanov Александр Александрович Богданов
The man who made Lenin furious over philosophy, then died swapping his own blood: a forerunner of cybernetics
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1873–1928
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Yuri Mikhailovich Steklov Юрий Михайлович Стеклов
First Soviet editor of Izvestia, architect of the Soviet constitution
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1873–1941
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Vladimir Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich Владимир Дмитриевич Бонч-Бруевич
He built the Soviet government apparatus and studied the religious dissenters of the empire
Government and administration · Soviet Union state institutions
1873–1955
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Inessa Fyodorovna Armand Инесса Фёдоровна Арманд
The woman Bolshevik closest to Lenin: death saved her from the Purge
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1920
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Semyon Ivanovich Balashov Семён Иванович Балашов
Bolshevik leader of Ivanovo-Voznesensk who built the first soviet alongside Frunze during the 1905 general strike
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1874–1925
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Dmitry Ivanovich Kursky Дмитрий Иванович Курский
Architect of revolutionary legality and the first Soviet People's Commissar of Justice and Prosecutor General
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1932
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Sergei Ivanovich Gusev Сергей Иванович Гусев
Architect of the Red Army's political apparatus, Old Bolshevik who opposed Trotsky's military line
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1933
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Vyacheslav Rudolfovich Menzhinsky Вячеслав Рудольфович Менжинский
Dzerzhinsky’s successor who ran OGPU from a sickbed
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1934
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Vladimir Alexandrovich Bazarov Владимир Александрович Базаров
The Machist philosopher-economist of Gosplan who proposed a genetic-teleological planning synthesis
Literature and arts · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1939
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Vladimir Gustavovich Groman Владимир Густавович Громан
The Menshevik statistician who designed Gosplan's early control figures and balance method, leading voice of genetic planning
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1874–1940
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Alexander Alekseevich Vannovsky Александр Алексеевич Ванновский
A revolutionary who turned to Japanese literature and philosophy
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1874–1967
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Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky Анатолий Васильевич Луначарский
Russian revolutionary, first People's Commissar of Enlightenment, and literary critic
Education · Soviet Union state institutions
1875–1933
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Ivan Adolfovich Teodorovich Иван Адольфович Теодорович
First Commissar for Food, purged for his NEP-era agrarian Marxism
Agriculture and land policy · Soviet Union state institutions
1875–1937