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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
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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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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Ferenc Nagy Nagy Ferenc
Smallholder premier of Hungary's second republic, forced out by Soviet-backed communists
Government and administration · Hungary
1903–1979
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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
1903–1983
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Mihály Farkas Farkas Mihály
Defence minister in Rákosi's ruling foursome
Government and administration · Hungary
1904–1965
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Llewellyn E. Thompson Llewellyn Thompson
The US Ambassador to Moscow who knew Khrushchev personally and, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, told Kennedy to ignore the second letter
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1904–1972
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Charles E. Eustis Bohlen Charles E. Bohlen
The State Department Soviet expert who turned Kennan's and Clayton's policy memos into Marshall's Harvard speech
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1904–1974
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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
1904–1975
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George F. Kennan George F. Kennan
The American diplomat and historian whose 1946 Long Telegram and X article laid the intellectual foundations of containment
Scholarship and theory
1904–2005
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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
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
1905–1991
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William H. Tunner William H. Tunner
Architect of large-scale airlift operations
Military command · United States state institutions
1906–1983
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Roman Brandstaetter Roman Brandstaetter
A writer who joined Jewish and Catholic memory and organized public remembrance
Literature and arts
1906–1987
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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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Curtis E. LeMay Curtis LeMay
The Air Force general who firebombed Japan and urged nuclear war on his adversaries
Military command · United States state institutions
1906–1990
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James Webb James Edwin Webb
The administrator who organized Apollo
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1906–1992
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Gábor Péter Péter Gábor
Founder of Hungary's secret police, and its prisoner
Security, intelligence and policing · Hungary
1906–1993
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Ernest Gross Ernest A. Gross
An international lawyer who worked the UN’s procedures
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1906–1999
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Phạm Văn Đồng Phạm Văn Đồng
Ho Chi Minh's closest lieutenant and Vietnam's longest-serving prime minister, governing for 32 years
Government and administration · Vietnam
1906–2000
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Jan Patočka Jan Patočka
A phenomenologist who turned care for truth into civic action
Scholarship and theory
1907–1977
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Jean Sainteny Jean Sainteny
French resistance veteran and official who concluded the 6 March 1946 preliminary agreement with Ho Chi Minh
Diplomacy and international organization · France state institutions
1907–1978
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Pierre Mendès France Pierre Mendès France
French prime minister who promised a ceasefire within four months after Điện Biên Phủ and concluded the 1954 Geneva Accords
Government and administration · France state institutions
1907–1982
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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
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
1907–2000
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Paul Nitze Paul Nitze
A Cold War strategist who moved between nuclear buildup and arms control
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1907–2004
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Vladimir Velebit Vladimir Velebit
Yugoslav partisan-diplomat whom Stalin named a British spy to break off correspondence
Diplomacy and international organization · Yugoslavia
1907–2004
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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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Béla Kovács Kovács Béla
The Smallholders' general secretary whose Soviet abduction triggered his party's destruction
Agriculture and land policy · Hungary
1908–1959
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Josef Pavel Josef Pavel
Prague Spring interior minister whose security reforms were undermined by KGB subversion and internal betrayal
Security, intelligence and policing · Czechoslovakia
1908–1973
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Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson
A Cold War president caught between reform and war
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1908–1973
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Salvador Guillermo Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende
First elected Marxist head of state; pursued the peaceful 'Chilean road to socialism' (copper, land, cybernetics) until the 1973 coup
Government and administration · Chile state institutions
1908–1973
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Teohari Georgescu Teohari Georgescu
The first communist interior minister, builder of the Securitate, purged in 1952 alongside Pauker and Luca for "shielding" them
Security, intelligence and policing · Romania
1908–1976
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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
1908–1985
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Edward Geary Lansdale Edward Lansdale
The Mongoose architect whose six-phase Cuba overthrow plan convinced the Soviets invasion was coming
Security, intelligence and policing · United States state institutions
1908–1987
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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
1909–1949
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Jonas Žemaitis Jonas Žemaitis
Officer who founded the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in 1949 and led the partisan resistance as its chairman
Military command
1909–1954
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Adam Rapacki Adam Rapacki
A diplomat who widened room for negotiation amid East-West tension
Diplomacy and international organization · Poland
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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Annamarie Doherr Annamarie Doherr
The West German journalist whose question drew Ulbricht's 'No one intends to build a wall'
Literature and arts
1909–1974
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U Thant ဦးသန့်
The quiet diplomat who mediated a superpower nuclear standoff
Diplomacy and international organization · United Nations
1909–1974
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Mohammad Daoud Khan محمد داود خان
Afghan prince who overthrew his cousin to found a republic, then was killed five years later in the same palace by a communist coup
Government and administration · Afghanistan
1909–1978
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Aleksandar Ranković Александар Ранковић
Tito's third man, who directed the Cominform purges
Security, intelligence and policing · Yugoslavia
1909–1983
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Piotr Jaroszewicz Piotr Jaroszewicz
The premier of technocratic growth
Government and administration · Poland
1909–1992
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Dean Rusk Dean Rusk
A Cold War diplomat who built containment through international coalitions
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1909–1994