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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era(set)
People of the Soviet Union
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era
People of the wider world
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Stanisław Mikołajczyk Stanisław Mikołajczyk
An agrarian statesman who negotiated between the government-in-exile and Stalin
Political and party leadership · Polish People's Party (PSL)
1901–1966
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Hilde Benjamin Hilde Benjamin
East German jurist who succeeded Fechner as justice minister after the 1953 uprising and led its harsh political trials
Law and justice · East Germany state institutions
1902–1989
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Rudolf Herrnstadt Rudolf Herrnstadt
Editor of Neues Deutschland who helped draft the 1953 New Course, moved against Ulbricht and was purged as a “faction”
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1903–1966
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Fred Oelßner Fred Oelßner
Economist and the SED’s chief ideologue until 1958, when he was expelled from the Politburo in the Schirdewan affair
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1903–1977
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Ferenc Nagy Nagy Ferenc
Smallholder premier of Hungary's second republic, forced out by Soviet-backed communists
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1903–1979
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Mihály Farkas Farkas Mihály
Defence minister in Rákosi's ruling foursome
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1904–1965
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Antonín Josef Novotný Antonín Novotný
The Czechoslovak leader whose Stalinist orthodoxy was swept aside by the Prague Spring reform movement
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1904–1975
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Anton Ackermann Anton Ackermann
German communist who drafted the KPD’s 1945 appeal and argued for a “special German road to socialism”
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1905–1973
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Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka
The national communist who returned in the Polish October of 1956 to test a 'Polish road to socialism'
Political and party leadership · Poland state institutions
1905–1982
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Eugenio Reale Eugenio Reale
Italian delegate at the Cominform founding who witnessed Stalin's telephone line, later turning from communist to anti-communist critic
Diplomacy and international organization · Italy state institutions
1905–1986
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Hoàng Văn Hoan Hoàng Văn Hoan
Pro-Chinese veteran, North Vietnam’s first ambassador to China, who defected to China after the 1979 war
Diplomacy and international organization · Vietnam state institutions
1905–1991
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Edward Mieczysław Ochab Edward Mieczysław Ochab
The transitional First Secretary of 1956 who turned Khrushchev's Secret Speech into a mass document and then yielded power to Gomułka
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1906–1989
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Stefan Staszewski Stefan Staszewski
The PZPR Warsaw first secretary whose unauthorized print run of 15,000 copies broke Khrushchev's Secret Speech out of party control
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1906–1989
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Le Duan Lê Duẩn
The longest-serving General Secretary who reunified Vietnam and invaded Cambodia in his 26-year rule
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Vietnam / Workers' Party of Vietnam
1907–1986
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Trường Chinh Trường Chinh
Vietnam's chief theoretician, demoted for the land reform disaster and returned to launch Đổi Mới
Political and party leadership · Vietnam state institutions
1907–1988
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Erich Fritz Emil Mielke Erich Mielke
East Germany's 'Master of Fear': the Stasi chief who ruled state security for 32 years
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany state institutions
1907–2000
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Ho Ka-i Алексей Хегай
Principal organizer of the Workers' Party of Korea and leader of its early Soviet faction
Political and party leadership · Workers' Party of Korea (WPK)
1908–1953
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František Kriegel František Kriegel
The only Prague Spring leader who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1908–1979
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Enver Hoxha Enver Hoxha
Albania's leader who made isolation and self-reliance state policy
Political and party leadership · Albania state institutions
1908–1985
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László Rajk Rajk László
Interior minister who built the ÁVH secret police, then fell as the first major victim of Stalinist show trials in Eastern Europe
Security, intelligence and policing · Hungary state institutions
1909–1949
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Adam Rapacki Adam Rapacki
A diplomat who widened room for negotiation amid East-West tension
Diplomacy and international organization · Poland state institutions
1909–1970
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Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah
Architect of Pan-African Marxism who led sub-Saharan Africa's first independence
Political and party leadership
1909–1972
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Piotr Jaroszewicz Piotr Jaroszewicz
The premier of technocratic growth
Government and administration · Poland state institutions
1909–1992
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Souphanouvong ສຸພານຸວົງ
Pathet Lao and the first presidency
Legislature and state representation · Laos state institutions
1909–1995
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Bruno Leuschner Bruno Leuschner
East German planner who ran planning in the German Economic Commission and then chaired the State Planning Commission
Economy, finance and planning · East Germany state institutions
1910–1965
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Edvard Kardelj Edvard Kardelj
Chief theoretician of workers' self-management and Tito's closest ideological collaborator
Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia state institutions
1910–1979
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Monja Jaona Monja Jaona
Southern nationalist who joined the revolutionary front, then walked out over fraudulent elections
Political and party leadership
1910–1994
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Gus Hall Gus Hall
Finnish-American labor militant and CPUSA General Secretary for 41 years, Moscow loyalist, four-time presidential candidate
Political and party leadership · Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
1910–2000
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Koçi son of Dhimitër Xoxe Koçi Xoxe
Albania's postwar interior minister and deputy premier
Security, intelligence and policing · Albania state institutions
1911–1949
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Josef Smrkovský Josef Smrkovský
The purge victim who returned to become the Prague Spring's most eloquent reformer
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1911–1974
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Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Cyrankiewicz
A resistance survivor who became a guardian of the system
Government and administration · Poland state institutions
1911–1989
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Lê Đức Thọ Lê Đức Thọ
Vietnamese Politburo member who negotiated the Paris Peace Accords with Kissinger and declined the Nobel Peace Prize
Diplomacy and international organization · Vietnam state institutions
1911–1990
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Milovan Djilas Милован Ђилас
Yugoslav dissident who attacked Western communist parties at the Cominform and later dissected the communist system in The New Class
Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia state institutions
1911–1995
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Todor Hristov Zhivkov Тодор Христов Живков
The Eastern Bloc's longest-serving leader, 35 years as Moscow's most loyal Balkan ally
Political and party leadership · Bulgaria state institutions
1911–1998
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Son Sann សឺន សាន
Cambodian anti-communist resistance leader
Political and party leadership
1911–2000
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Ronald Wilson Reagan Ronald Reagan
The Cold War's last American president, who genuinely believed in nuclear abolition but would not yield on SDI
Political and party leadership · United States state institutions
1911–2004
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Henry M. Jackson Henry M. Jackson
A hawkish Democratic senator who tied Soviet trade status to Jewish emigration
Political and party leadership · United States state institutions
1912–1983
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Vladimir Bakarić Vladimir Bakarić
A communist leader who negotiated republican interests within federal socialism
Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia state institutions
1912–1983
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János Kádár Kádár János
Architect of 'goulash communism', enforcer of the 1956 reprisals
Political and party leadership · Hungary state institutions
1912–1989
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Erich Honecker Erich Honecker
The long-serving East German leader of the walled republic
Political and party leadership · East Germany state institutions
1912–1994
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Kim Il Sung 김일성
The founder of North Korea returned from the Soviet Far East
Political and party leadership · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions
1912–1994
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Nam Il 남일
The Soviet-Korean general who signed the Korean Armistice at Panmunjom
Military command · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions
1913–1976
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Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák
Czechoslovakia's longest-serving leader, who crushed the Prague Spring and built 'normalization'
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1913–1991
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Willy None Brandt Willy Brandt
A social democrat who made reconciliation a politics of divided cities
Government and administration · Germany state institutions
1913–1992
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Edward Gierek Edward Gierek
First Secretary who led a decade of Western-credit modernisation: only for debt and Solidarity to bring the curtain down
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1913–2001
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Nouhak Phoumsavan ໜູຮັກ ພູມສະຫວັນ
Lao revolutionary leader and president
Political and party leadership · Lao People's Revolutionary Party
1914–2008
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Santiago Carrillo Santiago Carrillo
The Eurocommunist architect who lit a cigarette at gunpoint
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Spain (PCE)
1915–2012
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Tsedenbal Цэдэнбал
Mongolian planning and Soviet ties
Political and party leadership · Mongolian People's Party / Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
1916–1991
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Nur Muhammad Taraki نور محمد ترهکی
Afghan communist founder whose overthrow and murder by his protégé Amin triggered the Soviet invasion
Political and party leadership · Afghanistan state institutions
1917–1979
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Vasil Biľak Vasiľ Biľak
The party ideology secretary who signed the letter inviting Soviet tanks into his own country
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1917–2014