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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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Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin Михаил Иванович Калинин
The long-serving formal head of state
Legislature and state representation · Soviet Union
1875–1946
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Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky Роман Вацлавович Малиновский
Bolshevik Central Committee member and Duma leader who was the Okhrana's best-paid spy
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1876–1918
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Vasily Nikolayevich Kayurov Василий Николаевич Каюров
Vyborg Bolshevik organizer who turned the Women's Day protest into the February Revolution
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1876–1936
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Boris Mikhailovich Eltsin Борис Михайлович Эльцин
A physician of the Left Opposition who shares a name with the first president of Russia
Science and technology · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1876–1937
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Vladimir Ivanovich Nevsky Владимир Иванович Невский
The revolutionary-historian who seized the railways in October and wrote the party's history
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Union
1876–1937
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Rozaliya Samoilovna Zemlyachka Розалия Самойловна Землячка
The 'Demon' Underground and the Only Woman Vice-Chair of Sovnarkom
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1876–1947
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Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov Максим Максимович Литвинов
The diplomat of collective security, removed in 1939
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union
1876–1951
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Georgy Stepanovich Khrustalev-Nosar Георгий Степанович Носарь
A non-party workers' lawyer elected the first chairman of the Petersburg Soviet in 1905
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1877–1919
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Avel Safronovich Yenukidze Авель Сафронович Енукидзе
Stalin's close friend and the 17-year organizational backbone of the Soviet state, the first fall that opened the Great Purge
Legislature and state representation · Soviet Union
1877–1937
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Nikolai Ivanovich Muralov Николай Иванович Муралов
The revolutionary soldier who founded Post No. 1 at Lenin's Mausoleum
Military command · Soviet Union
1877–1937
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Polikarp Gurgenovich Mdivani Поликарп Гургенович Мдивани
The Georgian communist who led Lenin's last fight against Stalin's centralization
Government and administration · Georgia state institutions
1877–1937
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Stepan Georgiyevich Shaumyan Степан Георгиевич Шаумян
The 'Caucasian Lenin', Marxist theorist of the national question and leader of the Baku Commune
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1878–1918
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Viktor Pavlovich Nogin Виктор Павлович Ногин
First commissar to resign demanding a coalition, buried on Red Square
Political and party leadership · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1878–1924
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Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova Мария Ильинична Ульянова
Lenin's youngest sister who edited the revolution with a pencil: press organizer in her own right
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union
1878–1937
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Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky Яков Михайлович Юровский
The Cheka executioner who personally shot the last Tsar
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1878–1938
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Kedrov Михаил Сергеевич Кедров
Old Bolshevik who led the Cheka Special Department, building the Red Terror in the North and the earliest Soviet camp system
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1878–1941
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Emelyan Mikhailovich Yaroslavsky Емельян Михайлович Ярославский
The Party's Chief Atheist, Called 'the Soviet Priest'
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1878–1943
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Vladimir Viktorovich Adoratsky Владимир Викторович Адоратский
IMEL director and the first Marxist philosopher to publicly anoint Stalin as a theorist
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1878–1945
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Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky Соломон Абрамович Лозовский
The Bolshevik who led the Profintern and was shot with the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
Diplomacy and international organization · Comintern
1878–1952
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Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин
The leader born to a poor Georgian family who came to dominate party and state
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1878–1953
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Evgenia Bogdanovna Bosch Евгения Богдановна Бош
First woman to lead a Soviet government, between revolution and terminal illness
Government and administration · Soviet Ukraine
1879–1925
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Gleb Ivanovich Bokii Глеб Иванович Бокий
Father of Soviet signals intelligence and founder of the Cheka Special Department
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1879–1937
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Leon Davidovich Trotsky Лев Давидович Троцкий
The orator who built the Red Army, felled by an ice axe
Military command · Soviet Union
1879–1940
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Zinovy Yakovlevich Litvin-Sedoy Зиновий Яковлевич Литвин-Седой
Organizer of Presnya’s workers’ fighting squads
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1879–1947
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Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky Михаил Павлович Томский
Chief of the Soviet trade unions, third man of the Right Opposition
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union
1880–1936
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Eero Haapalainen Eero Haapalainen
Trade union leader who commanded the Finnish Red Guards from January to March 1918
Military command · Communist Party of Finland (SKP)
1880–1937
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Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky Николай Ильич Подвойский
The operational commander of October, sidelined by the revolution he led
Military command · Soviet Union
1880–1948
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Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Karpinsky Вячеслав Алексеевич Карпинский
Lenin's trusted Bolshevik publicist and a 68-year party veteran
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1880–1965
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Serafima Ilyinichna Gopner Серафима Ильинична Гопнер
First woman to lead the Ukrainian Bolshevik party; delegate to all seven Comintern congresses
Diplomacy and international organization · Comintern
1880–1966
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Alexei Ivanovich Rykov Алексей Иванович Рыков
Lenin’s successor as premier, destroyed as the Right Opposition
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1881–1938
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Platon Mikhailovich Kerzhentsev Платон Михайлович Керженцев
Proletkult theorist who became architect of Stalin-era arts censorship
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1881–1940
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Evgeni Gegechkori ევგენი გეგეჭკორი
Menshevik politician who chaired the Transcaucasian Commissariat and became foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Diplomacy and international organization · Georgia state institutions
1881–1954
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Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov Климент Ефремович Ворошилов
Stalin’s marshal, sustained by loyalty more than command
Military command · Soviet Union
1881–1969
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Kamo Симон Тер-Петросян
The Bolsheviks' legendary expropriator, the revolutionary who feigned madness and survived four death sentences
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1882–1922
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Yuri Mikhailovich Larin Юрий Михайлович Ларин
An imaginative economic theorist who bridged NEP and central planning, co-founded Gosplan, and championed Jewish agricultural settlement
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union
1882–1932
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Nikolai Mikhailovich Yanson Николай Михайлович Янсон
Estonian Bolshevik and Soviet People's Commissar of Justice who helped design the Gulag camp system
Law and justice · Soviet Union
1882–1938
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Osip Aronovich Piatnitsky Осип Аронович Пятницкий
From Comintern underground courier to its organizational backbone, then devoured by the machine he built
Diplomacy and international organization · Comintern
1882–1938
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Pyotr Alekseevich Bogdanov Пётр Алексеевич Богданов
Architect of NEP industrialization who championed trusts against Glavkist centralization
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union
1882–1938
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Aleksei Kapitonovich Gastev Алексей Капитонович Гастев
From proletarian poetry to the science of labour: founder of Soviet social engineering who trained half a million workers
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1882–1939
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Abram Yakovlevich Belenky Абрам Яковлевич Беленький
Cheka founding member who guarded Lenin personally
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1882–1941
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Alexander Antonovich Troyanovsky Александр Антонович Трояновский
From tsarist artillery officer to Stalin's first ambassador to Washington: a Russian nobleman who crossed revolution and diplomacy
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union
1882–1955
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Sofia Sigizmundovna Dzerzhinskaya Софья Сигизмундовна Дзержинская
Polish Social Democrat who forged an independent revolutionary path from the SDKPiL underground to the Comintern
Social movements and organizing · Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL)
1882–1968
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Nikolai Pavlovich Shmit Николай Павлович Шмит
The young furniture-factory heir whose plant became the heart of the Presnya uprising
Industry and production · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1883–1907
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Fyodor Andreyevich Sergeyev Фёдор Андреевич Сергеев
Founder and head of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, close friend of Stalin and Kirov
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1883–1921
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Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev Григорий Евсеевич Зиновьев
He opposed October, vouched for Stalin, and was shot by him
Diplomacy and international organization · Comintern
1883–1936
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Lev Borisovich Kamenev Лев Борисович Каменев
The party’s licensed voice of caution: his warnings outlived him
Diplomacy and international organization · Comintern
1883–1936
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Terenty Dmitriyevich Deribas Терентий Дмитриевич Дерибас
The security viceroy of the Far East
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1883–1938
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Olga Davidovna Kameneva Ольга Давыдовна Каменева
Trotsky's sister and Kamenev's wife: the architect of Soviet cultural diplomacy with the West
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1883–1941
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Ivan Dmitrievich Chugurin Иван Дмитриевич Чугурин
Vyborg worker-Bolshevik who handed Lenin his party card
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1883–1947
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Aleksei Yegorovich Badayev Алексей Егорович Бадаев
Official publisher of Pravda who rose from Duma deputy to nominal head of the Russian republic
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union
1883–1951