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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
GlossarySoviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks→
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Ivan Stepanovich Silayev Иван Степанович Силаев
The last head of government of the Soviet Union: from aviation minister to liquidator of an empire
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1930–2023
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Shkabardnya Михаил Сергеевич Шкабардня
The minister whose precision instruments controlled missiles and the Buran shuttle
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1930–2025
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Boris Dmitrievich Pankin Борис Дмитриевич Панкин
The post-coup foreign minister of the collapsing Union
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union
1931–
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Genrikh Andreyevich Poghosyan Հենրիկ Անդրեյի Պողոսյան
The last party first secretary who tilted Nagorno-Karabakh toward Armenia
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1931–2000
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Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Борис Николаевич Ельцин
The man who climbed onto the tank
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1931–2007
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Viktor Sergeyevich Makarenko Виктор Сергеевич Макаренко
Crimean party administrator who helped protect Massandra
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1931–2007
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв
He set out to repair the system, and ended it
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1931–2022
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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.
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1931–2024
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Abel Gezevich Aganbegyan Абел Гезевич Аганбегян
Gorbachev's chief economic adviser and the market-reform architect of perestroika
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–
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Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko Владимир Антонович Ивашко
The last deputy general secretary before dissolution
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–1994
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Boris Sarkisovich Kevorkov Բորիս Սարգսի Կևորկով
The Armenian party functionary who enforced Baku's control over Nagorno-Karabakh
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–1998
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Karen Serobovich Demirchyan Карен Серобович Демирчян
Modernized Soviet Armenia over 14 years, sacked for siding with Karabakh, returned and assassinated in parliament
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union
1932–1999
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Alexander Vladimirovich Vlasov Александр Владимирович Власов
Creator of OMON and the last communist prime minister of Russia, defeated by Yeltsin
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1932–2002
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Erlen Kirikovich Pervyshin Эрлен Кирикович Первышин
Minister of Communications Equipment Industry who oversaw Soviet military C3 infrastructure
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1932–2004
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Arkady Ivanovich Volsky Аркадий Иванович Вольский
The operator who ran Soviet machine-building and organized post-Soviet capital
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1932–2006
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Algirdas Brazauskas Algirdas Brazauskas
The communist who split his party from Moscow and became independent Lithuania's first president
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–2010
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Stepan Karapetovich Pogosyan Ստեփան Կարապետի Պողոսյան
The last leader of Armenia's Communist Party before the Soviet collapse
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union
1932–2012
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Qahhor Makhkamovich Mahkamov Қаҳҳор Маҳкамович Маҳкамов
The last Communist leader of Tajikistan in the Soviet era
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–2016
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Oleg Dmitriyevich Baklanov Олег Дмитриевич Бакланов
Last surviving GKChP member who led the Soviet space industry
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1932–2021
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Vitold Pavlovych Fokin Вітольд Павлович Фокін
From Soviet economic planner to independent Ukraine’s first prime minister
Government and administration · Ukraine state institutions
1932–2025
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Kamran Mammad oglu Baghirov Kamran Məmməd oğlu Bağırov
Heydar Aliyev's successor who crumbled before the Karabakh crisis
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1933–2000
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Absamat Masaliyevich Masaliyev Абсамат Масалы уулу Масалиев
Party leader of late Soviet Kyrgyzstan
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1933–2004
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Alexander Alexandrovich Bessmertnykh Александр Александрович Бессмертных
The last regular Soviet foreign minister
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union
1933–
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Vladimir Migranovich Movsisyan Վլադիմիր Միգրանովիչ Մովսիսյան
The last Communist Party first secretary of Soviet Armenia
Agriculture and land policy · Soviet Union
1933–2014
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Boris Nikolayevich Pastukhov Борис Николаевич Пастухов
The last Komsomol heavyweight who ran the Soviet publishing empire
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1933–2021
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Anatoly Aleksandrovich Malofeyev Анатолий Александрович Малофеев
A Belarusian party organizer who sought continuity as the Union dissolved
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union
1933–2022
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Lev Dmitrievich Ryabev Лев Дмитриевич Рябев
Nuclear industry minister who inherited Sredmash in the shadow of Chernobyl
Industry and production · Soviet Union
1933–
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Alexander Sergeyevich Dzasokhov Александр Сергеевич Дзасохов
A politician who linked internationalism with regional rule
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union
1934–
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Oleg Danilovich Kalugin Олег Данилович Калугин
Youngest KGB general turned its highest-ranking defector-critic
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1934–
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Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин
The first human smile to leave the Earth
Science and technology · Soviet Union
1934–1968
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Elmira Mikayil qızı Kafarova Elmira Qafarova
A Soviet republican leader who asserted institutional authority in crisis
Legislature and state representation · Soviet Union
1934–1993
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Stanislav Sergeyevich Shatalin Станислав Сергеевич Шаталин
Architect of the 500 Days programme, radical reform economist who tried to convert the Soviet planned economy to the market in one leap
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1934–1997
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Yuri Nikolayevich Afanasyev Юрий Николаевич Афанасьев
The historian who called the conservative majority 'aggressively obedient'
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1934–2015
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Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov Алексей Архипович Леонов
First to open the door to the cosmos, and the first to draw it from inside
Science and technology · Soviet Union
1934–2019
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Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky Валерий Фёдорович Быковский
The cosmonaut who spent five days alone in orbit, setting a solo spaceflight record that still stands
Science and technology · Soviet Union
1934–2019
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Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich Станіслаў Станіслававіч Шушкевіч
The nuclear physicist who demanded Chernobyl truth, hosted the meeting that dissolved the USSR, and called Gorbachev to tell him
Legislature and state representation · Belarus state institutions
1934–2022
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Vasily Georgievich Zakharov Василий Георгиевич Захаров
Propaganda-trained culture minister who executed glasnost-era cultural liberalization
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union
1934–2023
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Alfrēds son of Pēteris Rubiks Alfrēds Pētera dēls Rubiks
A steadfast defender of Latvia's Communist Party at the Soviet Union's end
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union
1935–
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Gherman Stepanovich Titov Герман Степанович Титов
Second human to orbit Earth and builder of Soviet military space systems
Military command · Soviet Union
1935–2000
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Kondrat Zigmundovich Terekh Кондрат Зигмундович Терех
The last Soviet trade minister, formed in consumer cooperatives
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union
1935–
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Valery Ivanovich Boldin Валерий Иванович Болдин
The party apparatus gatekeeper who managed Gorbachev's documents, then betrayed him
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1935–2006
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Valentyna Semenivna Shevchenko Валентина Семенівна Шевченко
Ukrainian SSR head of state during Chernobyl who pushed the evacuation of 526,000 children from Kyiv against Moscow's resistance
Legislature and state representation · Soviet Union
1935–2020
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Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov Виктор Петрович Брюханов
The first director of Chernobyl who built the plant and was held responsible for its catastrophe
Science and technology · Soviet Union
1935–2021
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Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov Евгений Павлович Велихов
Soviet physicist who linked fusion science, Chernobyl, and nuclear disarmament
Science and technology · Soviet Union
1935–2024
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Grigore Isidorovich Eremei Grigore Isidorovici Eremei
The final head of Soviet Moldavia's Communist Party
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union
1935–2024
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Ivan Kuzmich Polozkov Иван Кузьмич Полозков
The conservative apparatchik who founded the Russian republic's Communist Party
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1935–
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Vladimir Nikolayevich Lobov Владимир Николаевич Лобов
The last Chief of the Soviet General Staff, who refused to fire on civilians and twice drafted military reform
Military command · Soviet Union
1935–
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Gavriil Kharitonovich Popov Гавриил Харитонович Попов
Moscow's first elected mayor, who told the U.S. ambassador of the coming coup
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1936–
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Georgy Petrovich Razumovsky Георгий Петрович Разумовский
Architect of perestroika cadres, last surviving Politburo member
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1936–
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Yuli Alexandrovich Kvitsinsky Юлий Александрович Квицинский
Gromyko protégé and arms negotiator remembered for the "Walk in the Woods"
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union
1936–2010