People of the Revolution and the USSR
- Georgy Sergeyevich Pavlov Георгий Сергеевич Павлов Brezhnev's 18-year steward of the party treasury and 'party gold'
- Mikhail Timofeyevich Yefremov Михаил Тимофеевич Ефремов From Volga orphanage boy to Kosygin's deputy premier: a party cadres specialist who ran three obkoms
- Leonid Nikolayevich Yefremov Леонид Николаевич Ефремов The party man who handed Stavropol to Gorbachev, then called him a renegade
- Nikolai Romanovich Mironov Николай Романович Миронов The party's overseer of the power ministries who organized Khrushchev's removal
- Nikolai Ivanovich Savinkin Николай Иванович Савинкин The personnel gatekeeper of the Soviet power ministries for 19 years under Brezhnev
- Viktor Vasilyevich Grishin Виктор Васильевич Гришин The face of the Brezhnev era who ran Moscow for eighteen years and died while re-applying for his pension
- Aleksei Mikhailovich Shkolnikov Алексей Михайлович Школьников The apparatchik who ran three oblasts under Khrushchev and rose to People's Control
- Ivan Vasilyevich Kapitonov Иван Васильевич Капитонов The personnel chief who ran the nomenklatura for 21 years under Brezhnev
- Vasily Sergeyevich Tolstikov Василий Сергеевич Толстиков Leningrad party leader during the Thaw who became ambassador to China
- Fyodor Davydovich Kulakov Фёдор Давыдович Кулаков Agriculture secretary seen as a Brezhnev successor whose sudden death opened the seat for Gorbachev
- Viktor Mikhailovich Bushuyev Виктор Михайлович Бушуев CC department head who directed the Soviet chemical industry
- Georgy Emmanuilovich Tsukanov Георгий Эммануилович Цуканов The quiet gatekeeper who controlled Brezhnev's paper flow
- Nikolai Grigoryevich Yegorychev Николай Григорьевич Егорычев The Moscow party boss who challenged Brezhnev and was exiled to diplomacy
- Yegor Kuzmich Ligachev Егор Кузьмич Лигачёв The conservative Second Secretary inside perestroika
- Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov Григорий Васильевич Романов From Leningrad to Moscow: the successor halted one step short
- Sergei Iosifovich Manyakin Сергей Иосифович Манякин The longest-serving regional party secretary in Soviet history, who led Omsk for 26 years
- Yuri Filippovich Solovyov Юрий Филиппович Соловьёв Ligachev protégé who led Leningrad during early perestroika
- Nikolai Yefimovich Kruchina Николай Ефимович Кручина The last treasurer who guarded the party coffers through perestroika
- Yakov Petrovich Pogrebnyak Яков Петрович Погребняк CPU secretary who oversaw the anti-alcohol campaign in Ukraine and testified that Ligachev ordered the Massandra wine library destroyed
- Yakov Petrovich Ryabov Яков Петрович Рябов Yeltsin's political patron and CPSU defence secretary who forced the T-72 tank through against Ustinov's opposition
- Yevgeny Mikhailovich Tyazhelnikov Евгений Михайлович Тяжельников The model Brezhnev-era youth-cadre pipeline apparatchik
- Sergei Pavlovich Pavlov Сергей Павлович Павлов The anti-thaw Komsomol chief who delivered the Moscow Olympics
- Yuri Nikolayevich Khristoradnov Юрий Николаевич Христораднов Party chief who led the Gorky region for 14 years and the last Soviet overseer of religious affairs
- Nikolai Nikitovich Slyunkov Николай Никитович Слюньков From tractor factory to Politburo: the 'director of the Central Committee'
- Viktor Sergeyevich Makarenko Виктор Сергеевич Макаренко Crimean party administrator who helped protect Massandra
- Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko Владимир Антонович Ивашко The last deputy general secretary before dissolution
- Boris Nikolayevich Pastukhov Борис Николаевич Пастухов The last Komsomol heavyweight who ran the Soviet publishing empire
- Ivan Kuzmich Polozkov Иван Кузьмич Полозков The conservative apparatchik who founded the Russian republic's Communist Party
- Valery Ivanovich Boldin Валерий Иванович Болдин The party apparatus gatekeeper who managed Gorbachev's documents, then betrayed him
- Georgy Petrovich Razumovsky Георгий Петрович Разумовский Architect of perestroika cadres, last surviving Politburo member
- Grigory Ivanovich Revenko Григорий Иванович Ревенко From Kiev regional party leader to Gorbachev's last chief of staff
- Grigory Petrovich Kharchenko Григорий Петрович Харченко Organizational-Party Work deputy chief who witnessed Sumgait, and said 'we were a day late'
- Oleg Semyonovich Shenin Олег Семёнович Шенин The last Politburo member who tried to save the USSR and went to prison for it
- Galina Vladimirovna Semyonova Галина Владимировна Семёнова Architect of women's and family policy in the perestroika era, the fourth woman ever on the Politburo
- Valentin Alexandrovich Kuptsov Валентин Александрович Купцов The last-generation secretary who rebuilt the Russian Communist Party