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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation
Position(set)
Citizenship
Background
Era(set)
People of the Soviet Union
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the wider world
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Wilhelm Pieck Wilhelm Pieck
From the Spartacus League to GDR head of state, the sole founding member who lived the full arc of German communism
Political and party leadership · East Germany state institutions
1876–1960
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Ivan Ribar Ivan Ribar
A parliamentarian who carried constitutional politics into the Liberation Movement
Legislature and state representation · Yugoslavia state institutions
1881–1968
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Antonín Zápotocký Antonín Zápotocký
Czechoslovak Communist who led the trade-union central council, became prime minister after February 1948 and president in 1953
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1884–1957
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Petru Groza Petru Groza
The "red bourgeois", a landowning lawyer who never joined the party yet served as the communist regime's first prime minister and head of state
Government and administration · Romania state institutions
1884–1958
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Ferenc Münnich Münnich Ferenc
Hungarian communist who backed Soviet intervention with Kádár in 1956 and became prime minister after the revolution was crushed
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1886–1967
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Omer Nishani Omer Nishani
Albanian physician and politician, the people's republic's formal first head of state
Social movements and organizing
1887–1954
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Kim Tu-bong 김두봉
Independence activist, linguist, and Yan'an faction leader who served as the first head of state of the DPRK
Political and party leadership · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions
1889–1958?
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Ho Chi Minh Hồ Chí Minh
He took on France, Japan and America in turn to win Vietnam's independence
Political and party leadership · Vietnam state institutions
1890–1969
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Zdeněk Fierlinger Zdeněk Fierlinger
Pro-Soviet Social Democrat and first post-liberation premier who sided with the Communists in 1948 and merged his party into theirs
Government and administration · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1891–1976
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Václav Nosek Václav Nosek
Czechoslovak interior minister whose purge of non-communist police in February 1948 triggered the government crisis and communist takeover
Security, intelligence and policing · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1892–1955
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Bolesław Bierut Bolesław Bierut
Stalin's most trusted East European proxy, architect of Poland's Stalinist system and guardian of the Oder–Neisse border
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1892–1956
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Mátyás Rákosi Rákosi Mátyás
Architect of Hungary's Sovietization who built one-party rule through 'salami tactics'
Political and party leadership · Party of Communists in Hungary (KMP)
1892–1971
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Max Fechner Max Fechner
First East German justice minister, dismissed and imprisoned in 1953 after opposing the prosecution of striking workers
Law and justice · East Germany state institutions
1892–1973
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Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito
Yugoslavia's partisan leader who chose non-alignment
Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia state institutions
1892–1980
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Wilhelm Zaisser Wilhelm Zaisser
First East German Minister for State Security, purged in 1953 after trying to replace Ulbricht
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany state institutions
1893–1958
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Ana Pauker Ana Pauker
The world's first woman foreign minister and head of the Romanian party's "Muscovite faction", brought down by Gheorghiu-Dej's 1952 purge
Political and party leadership · Romania state institutions
1893–1960
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Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Togliatti
'Il Migliore': the strategist who led Western Europe's largest communist party for forty years
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Italy / Italian Communist Party (PCdI/PCI)
1893–1964
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Hermann Matern Hermann Matern
SED Politburo member and chairman of the Central Party Control Commission who stood by Ulbricht in 1953
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1971
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Walter Ulbricht Walter Ulbricht
German communist leader who built the GDR and erected the Berlin Wall
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1973
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Kyuichi Tokuda 徳田球一
First JCP chairman who endured 18 years in imperial prisons
Political and party leadership · Japanese Communist Party (JCP)
1894–1953
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Otto Grotewohl Otto Grotewohl
The Social Democrat who led a divided state into being
Government and administration · East Germany state institutions
1894–1964
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Friedrich Ebert Jr. Friedrich Ebert junior
A social democrat who moved from municipal politics into state power amid Germany's division
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1894–1979
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Ludvík Svoboda Ludvík Svoboda
A national hero of two world wars who became an unlikely last bastion of the Prague Spring
Military command · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1895–1979
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Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald
The communist leader who turned Czechoslovakia into a people's democracy through the February 1948 coup
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1896–1953
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Jacques Duclos Jacques Duclos
The PCF's number two for 37 years: a Stalinist who moved between parliament and the underground
Political and party leadership · French Communist Party (PCF)
1896–1975
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Traicho Kostov Трайчо Костов
Bulgaria's number two, who ran the repression and fell to a Stalinist purge
Political and party leadership · Bulgaria state institutions
1897–1949
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József Révai Révai József
Overseer of culture in the Rákosi era
Ideology and propaganda · Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
1898–1959
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Vasile Luca Vasile Luca
Finance minister of the "Muscovite faction", purged on the pretext of the 1952 currency reform and dead in Aiud prison, a Székely Hungarian communist
Political and party leadership · Romania state institutions
1898–1963
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Ernst Wollweber Ernst Wollweber
Communist who ran an anti-fascist sabotage network before the war and headed the Stasi from 1953 to 1957
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany state institutions
1898–1967
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István Dobi Dobi István
Smallholder turned titular head of state
Legislature and state representation · Hungary state institutions
1898–1968
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Ernő Gerő Gerő Ernő
Hungary's last Stalinist First Secretary; his three months in power ignited the revolution
Political and party leadership · Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
1898–1980
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Heinrich Rau Heinrich Rau
Communist who chaired the German Economic Commission, the forerunner of the GDR government, and led East German economic policy
Economy, finance and planning · East Germany state institutions
1899–1961
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Aleksander Zawadzki Aleksander Zawadzki
A communist leader who helped shape postwar Poland's state
Political and party leadership · Poland state institutions
1899–1964
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Fritz Selbmann Fritz Selbmann
East German heavy-industry minister who faced the striking workers outside the House of Ministries on 16 June 1953
Industry and production · East Germany state institutions
1899–1975
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Sreten Žujović Сретен Жујовић
A Stalin supporter at the heart of Tito’s party
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party / League of Communists of Yugoslavia (KPJ/SKJ)
1899–1976
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Pak Hon-yong 박헌영
Architect of the Korean Communist Party's rebirth; leader of the Workers' Party of South Korea
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Korea
1900–1955
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Choe Yong-gon 최용건
The Manchurian guerrilla who became the KPA's first commander and the DPRK's nominal head of state
Military command · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions
1900–1976
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Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský
KSČ General Secretary who organized the February 1948 coup and built Czechoslovakia's people's democracy as its operational architect
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1901–1952
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Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Romania's first communist leader who turned the country from a Soviet satellite toward a semi-autonomous course
Political and party leadership · Romanian Communist Party (PCR)
1901–1965
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Jaroslav Seifert Jaroslav Seifert
A poet who confronted censorship and power at each moment of reform
Literature and arts · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1901–1986
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Vladimír Clementis Vladimír Clementis
Slovak Communist who succeeded Jan Masaryk as foreign minister and was executed after the Slánský trial of 1952
Diplomacy and international organization · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1902–1952
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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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George Padmore George Padmore
From Comintern Negro Bureau chief to architect of Pan-African independence, the revolutionary journalist who broke with empire
Literature and arts · Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
1903–1959
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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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Zoltán Vas Vas Zoltán
Rákosi-era planning chief who fell from grace and joined Imre Nagy
Economy, finance and planning · Hungary state institutions
1903–1983
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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