People of the Revolution and the USSR
Political and party leadership
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
The last generation 1985–1991
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GlossarySoviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
- Lev Nikolayevich Zaikov Лев Николаевич Зайков The technocrat who rose from defense-plant apprentice to Politburo overseer of the military-industrial complex
- Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev Александр Николаевич Яковлев The architect of glasnost: the ideology chief who dismantled the ideology
- Karl Genrikhovich Vaino Карл Генрихович Вайно First Secretary of the Estonian Communist Party (1978–1988) who resisted perestroika and pushed Russification until Moscow replaced him.
- Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov Владимир Александрович Крючков The KGB chairman who designed the August coup
- Vitaly Ivanovich Vorotnikov Виталий Иванович Воротников The last RSFSR premier who tried not to break Russia away
- Yefrem Yevseyevich Sokolov Яфрэм Евсеевич Сакалоў A Belarusian party leader who combined agricultural development with late-Soviet reform
- Rafiq Nishonovich Nishonov Rafiq Nishonovich Nishonov The last chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities
- Gennady Vasilyevich Kolbin Геннадий Васильевич Колбин The unknown Russian party functionary whose appointment to Kazakhstan ignited the Zheltoksan uprising
- Konstantin Fyodorovich Katushev Константин Фёдорович Катушев Late Soviet foreign-economic official
- Mykolas Martinovich Burokevičius Mykolas Burokevičius The only Lithuanian to sit in the CPSU Politburo and the last pro-Moscow party leader, imprisoned for the January Events
- Arnold Rüütel Arnold Rüütel The agronomist who pushed a sovereignty declaration through the Soviet system and led Estonia out of the empire
- Viktor Petrovich Nikonov Виктор Петрович Никонов Gorbachev's agriculture successor who became his last internal critic
- Ivan Timofeyevich Frolov Иван Тимофеевич Фролов The philosopher who gave perestroika its humanist foundations: from defending genetics to founding the science of Man
- Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov Евгений Максимович Примаков The Arabist premier who turned his plane around over the Atlantic
- Vadim Andreyevich Medvedev Вадим Андреевич Медведев The last ideology secretary who dismantled ideology opened the spetskhran and abolished party orthodoxy
- Anatoly Ivanovich Lukyanov Анатолий Иванович Лукьянов Gorbachev's classmate turned critic: the last speaker of the Soviet parliament
- Abdurrahman Khalil oglu Vezirov Əbdürrəhman Xəlil oğlu Vəzirov Gorbachev's man for the Karabakh crisis who fled Baku as Black January consumed Soviet Azerbaijan
- Genrikh Andreyevich Poghosyan Հենրիկ Անդրեյի Պողոսյան The last party first secretary who tilted Nagorno-Karabakh toward Armenia
- Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Борис Николаевич Ельцин The man who climbed onto the tank
- Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв He set out to repair the system, and ended it
- Vaino Iosipovich Väljas Vaino Väljas Recalled from Nicaragua in June 1988, he led Estonia's Communists through the sovereignty declaration, the first breach in the Soviet wall.
- Algirdas Brazauskas Algirdas Brazauskas The communist who split his party from Moscow and became independent Lithuania's first president
- Stepan Karapetovich Pogosyan Ստեփան Կարապետի Պողոսյան The last leader of Armenia's Communist Party before the Soviet collapse
- Qahhor Makhkamovich Mahkamov Қаҳҳор Маҳкамович Маҳкамов The last Communist leader of Tajikistan in the Soviet era
- Oleg Dmitriyevich Baklanov Олег Дмитриевич Бакланов Last surviving GKChP member who led the Soviet space industry
- Vitold Pavlovych Fokin Вітольд Павлович Фокін From Soviet economic planner to independent Ukraine’s first prime minister
- Kamran Mammad oglu Baghirov Kamran Məmməd oğlu Bağırov Heydar Aliyev's successor who crumbled before the Karabakh crisis
- Absamat Masaliyevich Masaliyev Абсамат Масалы уулу Масалиев Party leader of late Soviet Kyrgyzstan
- Vladimir Migranovich Movsisyan Վլադիմիր Միգրանովիչ Մովսիսյան The last Communist Party first secretary of Soviet Armenia
- Anatoly Aleksandrovich Malofeyev Анатолий Александрович Малофеев A Belarusian party organizer who sought continuity as the Union dissolved
- Alexander Sergeyevich Dzasokhov Александр Сергеевич Дзасохов A politician who linked internationalism with regional rule
- Alfrēds son of Pēteris Rubiks Alfrēds Pētera dēls Rubiks A steadfast defender of Latvia's Communist Party at the Soviet Union's end
- Grigore Isidorovich Eremei Grigore Isidorovici Eremei The final head of Soviet Moldavia's Communist Party
- Stanislav Ivanovich Gurenko Станислав Иванович Гуренко Last First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party on the eve of the Soviet dissolution
- Boris Karlovich Pugo Борис Карлович Пуго From Latvian KGB chief to USSR interior minister, a guardian of order shattered in the coup he backed
- Viktor Petrovich Polyanichko Виктор Петрович Поляничко A field enforcer of the Soviet Union's final crisis
- Gennady Ivanovich Yanayev Геннадий Иванович Янаев First and only Vice President of the USSR and the face of the August 1991 coup
- Yegor Semyonovich Stroev Егор Семёнович Строев Gorbachev's last agriculture Politburo member: operational chief of perestroika farm policy
- Yuri Dmitrievich Maslyukov Юрий Дмитриевич Маслюков The last Gosplan generation
- Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov Islom Abdugʻaniyevich Karimov An authoritarian state-builder who made sovereignty his political principle
- Jumber Ilyich Patiashvili ჯუმბერ ილიას ძე პატიაშვილი The Georgian First Secretary who asked Moscow for troops, then resigned after 21 died
- Romualdas Ozolas Romualdas Ozolas The Sąjūdis philosopher who launched the 2-million-signature campaign demanding Red Army withdrawal
- Yuri Anatolyevich Prokofyev Юрий Анатольевич Прокофьев A Moscow party organizer at the Soviet Union's end
- Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев Kazakhstan's thirty-year ruler, defender of the union to its last day
- Pyotr Luchinsky Petru Lucinschi A politician who moved from Soviet party leadership to Moldova's presidency
- Lembit Annus Lembit Annus An Estonian communist leader who chose to preserve the Soviet Union
- Anatolijs Gorbunovs Anatolijs Gorbunovs The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence
- Askar Akayevich Akayev Аскар Акаевич Акаев Scientist-president who moved from reformist promise to prolonged rule
- Enn-Arno Augustovich Sillari Enn-Arno Augustovich Sillari The last Soviet-aligned communist leader of Estonia amid a party split
- Givi Grigorievich Gumbaridze Гиви Григорьевич Гумбаридзе A Georgian party official at the edge of Soviet collapse