People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Political and party leadership 1 Government and administration 1 Social movements and organizing 2
Affiliation

Most people

Any Russian Federation state institutionsstate 1 Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1 Socialist Workers Party (United States) 1 United Russia 1 Our Home – Russia 1

All 5 affiliations

Russia

Russian Federation state institutionsstate 1 United Russia 1 Our Home – Russia 1

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 1

United States

Socialist Workers Party (United States) 1
Position
Any Left critics of Bolshevism 1 Western Marxist theorists 1 Conservatism and Christian democracy 1
Citizenship
Any Russia 1 United States 1
Background(set)
Any United States 50 Poland 43 Germany 37 Hungary 34 Czechia 21 Vietnam 15 Angola 10 Cambodia 9 France 9 Romania 9 Czechoslovakia 8 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 8 Yemen 8 Congo - Brazzaville 7 United Kingdom 7 Korea 6 Slovakia 6 Afghanistan 5 Albania 5 Cuba 5 Ethiopia 5 Laos 5 Madagascar 5 Benin 4 Bulgaria 4 Serbia 4 Croatia 3 Finland 3 Italy 3 Mozambique 3 Somalia 3 Chile 2 China 2 East Germany 2 Indonesia 2 Lithuania 2 Martinique 2 Russia 2 Slovenia 2 South Africa 2 Spain 2 Trinidad and Tobago 2 Argentina 1 Austria 1 Brazil 1 Burkina Faso 1 DR Congo 1 Ghana 1 Grenada 1 Guinea-Bissau 1 Guyana 1 India 1 Japan 1 Mongolia 1 Myanmar 1 South Korea 1 Tajikistan 1 Tanzania 1 Turkmenistan 1
Era(set)
Any

People of the Soviet Union

The old regime and its challengers1905–1917 130 The revolutionary generation1917–1940 188 People of the Stalin era1929–1953 328 People of the thaw and the stagnation1953–1985 306 The last generation1985–1991 131

People of the wider world

The age of the Internationals and empires1820–1917 9 The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 11 The Cold War and decolonization1945–현재 2 Scholars of this history1892–현재 34
Background: Russia The Cold War and decolonization 1945–현재 Clear all

Raya Dunayevskaya

Raya Dunayevskaya
Socialist Workers Party (United States) Left critics of Bolshevism United States Russia 1910–1987 ○ Natural causes

From Trotsky's secretary to founder of Marxist Humanism

“My real development only began after my break with Trotsky.” — from a 1980s interview

Born to a Jewish family in the Russian Empire, she emigrated to the US as a child. Starting as Trotsky's secretary, she broke with him over the nature of the USSR and co-developed the theory of state capitalism with C.L.R. James. She went on to found Marxist Humanism, fusing Hegelian dialectics with Marx's early writings, and led the News and Letters Committees.

Career timeline
  • 1922Emigrates with family to Chicago, USA
  • 1928Expelled from CPUSA youth organization for defending Trotskyism
  • 1929Joins independent Trotskyist group in Boston led by Antoinette Konikow
  • 1937–1938Serves as Trotsky's Russian-language secretary and stenographer in Mexico
  • 1939Breaks with Trotsky over the character of the Soviet Union
  • 1940Participates in SWP split → formation of the Workers Party
  • 1941–1943Forms Johnson–Forest Tendency with C.L.R. James; state-capitalist analysis of USSR
  • 1947Returns to the SWP
  • 1951Leaves SWP over Korean War; forms Correspondence Publishing Committee
  • 1953Studies Hegel's Phenomenology; advances interpretation of absolutes as 'philosophic moment'
  • 1955Splits with C.L.R. James; founds News and Letters Committees
  • 1958Publishes Marxism and Freedom (preface by Herbert Marcuse)
  • 1973Publishes Philosophy and Revolution
  • 1982Publishes Rosa Luxemburg, Women's Liberation, and Marx's Philosophy of Revolution
  • 1987Dies in Chicago aged 77

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Владимир Владимирович Путин
Russian Federation state institutions Conservatism and Christian democracy Russia Russian 1952–

A ruler who recast the loss of the Soviet Union as a narrative of state restoration

“The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”

Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician and former Soviet security officer who rose to national power amid the crises of the 1990s. Alternating between the presidency and premiership, he strengthened federal and presidential authority while making the restoration of Russia’s international influence a central narrative of rule. In 2005, he called the Soviet collapse “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” a remark that condensed his memory of dissolution as a Russian experience of loss and dislocation. His rule also narrowed political competition and independent media while expanding the state’s military interventions abroad.

Career timeline
  • 1975–1991Officer, KGB of the Soviet Union
  • 1990–1996Head of the Committee for External Relations and senior deputy official, Saint Petersburg administration
  • 1998–1999Director, Federal Security Service (FSB)
  • 1999Secretary, Security Council of the Russian Federation
  • 1999–2000Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
  • 2000–2008President of the Russian Federation
  • 2008–2012Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
  • 2012–President of the Russian Federation