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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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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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Grace Lee Boggs Grace Lee Boggs
From first translator of Marx's 1844 Manuscripts to philosopher of Detroit's revolution
Social movements and organizing
1915–2015
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Chae Byeong-deok 채병덕
A general whose colonial military career met failure at the war’s outbreak
Military command · South Korea state institutions
1916–1950
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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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Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh
South Vietnamese general who led the 1963 coup and ordered the 1975 surrender
Military command · Vietnam
1916–2001
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Robert McNamara Robert McNamara
The quantitative defense secretary who led the Vietnam War and helped prevent nuclear war in the Cuban Missile Crisis
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1916–2009
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Géza Losonczy Losonczy Géza
A reform communist journalist
Ideology and propaganda · Hungary
1917–1957
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József Szilágyi Szilágyi József
Refused to cooperate at his show trial: tried separately and hanged two months before Imre Nagy
Government and administration · Hungary
1917–1958
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Miklós Gimes Gimes Miklós
Reform communist journalist executed alongside Imre Nagy
Literature and arts · Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
1917–1958
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Pál Maléter Maléter Pál
A soldier caught between negotiation and armed resistance
Military command · Hungary
1917–1958
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John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy
The youngest U.S. president, who took the world to the brink of nuclear war and back
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1917–1963
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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
1917–1979
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Tony Cliff Tony Cliff
The Trotskyist theorist who defined the USSR as bureaucratic state capitalism and built Britain's Socialist Workers Party
Social movements and organizing
1917–2000
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Văn Tiến Dũng Văn Tiến Dũng
Vietnamese general who led the 1975 spring offensive to Saigon and directed the 1979 invasion of Cambodia and border war with China
Military command · Vietnam
1917–2002
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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
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Nako Spiru Nako Spiru
Albanian communist economic planner who led domestic criticism of Yugoslav economic control
Economy, finance and planning · Albania
1918–1947
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Kang Kon 강건
The KPA's first Chief of General Staff who finalized the invasion plan with Soviet advisers
Military command · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
1918–1950
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Adolfas Ramanauskas Adolfas Ramanauskas
Partisan commander “Vanagas” who led the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters from 1952, the last commander to be captured
Military command
1918–1957
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Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu
Romania's leader who combined independent diplomacy with a cult of personality
Political and party leadership · Romania
1918–1989
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Louis Pierre Althusser Louis Althusser
The thinker who found a new continent in Marx: founder of structural Marxism
Scholarship and theory · French Communist Party (PCF)
1918–1990
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Elena Ceaușescu Elena Ceaușescu
The regime insider who fused political power with scientific prestige
Political and party leadership · Romanian Communist Party (PCR)
1919–1989
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Viliam Šalgovič Viliam Šalgovič
The deputy interior minister who arrested Dubček and handed him to the Soviets
Security, intelligence and policing · Czechoslovakia
1919–1990
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McGeorge Bundy McGeorge Bundy
The National Security Advisor who chose not to wake the president on the first night of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Security, intelligence and policing · United States state institutions
1919–1996
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Ota Šik Ota Šik
Czechoslovak economist who designed a 'third way' between plan and market
Economy, finance and planning · Czechoslovakia
1919–2004
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Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane
From US-educated anthropologist to founder of Mozambique's liberation front
Political and party leadership · Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO)
1920–1969
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Walter Stoessel Walter Stoessel
A career diplomat who worked the front lines of détente
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1920–1986
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Kaysone Phomvihane ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ
Lao revolution and economic reform
Political and party leadership · Laos
1920–1992
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Hussein Kulmiye Afrah Xuseen Kulmiye Afrax
Leadership of Somalia’s revolutionary council
Security, intelligence and policing
1920–1993
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Tố Hữu Tố Hữu
Revolutionary poet laureate who, as the Party's ideology chief, policed its writers
Literature and arts · Communist Party of Vietnam / Workers' Party of Vietnam
1920–2002
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Balázs Nagy Nagy Balázs
The exile historian of workers’ councils
Literature and arts
1920–2003
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Karol Józef Wojtyła Karol Józef Wojtyła
A global pope from behind the Iron Curtain
Religion
1920–2005
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George Pratt Shultz George Shultz
The Secretary of State who pushed Reagan toward dialogue with Gorbachev and helped end the Cold War
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1920–2021
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Gail Halvorsen Gail Halvorsen
An airman whose small act of kindness became an international symbol
Military command · United States state institutions
1920–2022
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Juozas Lukša Juozas Lukša
Lithuanian partisan leader who crossed the Iron Curtain in 1947 to seek Western support and was killed by the MGB after returning
Military command
1921–1951
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Tafari Benti ተፈሪ በንቲ
Early chairman of the Derg
Government and administration · Ethiopia
1921–1977
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Alois Indra Alois Indra
The KSČ hardliner who signed the letter inviting Soviet intervention to end the Prague Spring
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1921–1990
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Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček
He dreamed of a human face, and was posted to the forestry service
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1921–1992
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Oldřich Černík Oldřich Černík
The miner's son and technocrat who led the Prague Spring government, then signed the Moscow Protocol under duress
Government and administration · Czechoslovakia
1921–1994
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Gerhard Schürer Gerhard Schürer
The GDR State Planning Commission chief who warned of bankruptcy but could not save the system
Economy, finance and planning · East Germany
1921–2010
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Wolfgang Leonhard Wolfgang Leonhard
Youngest member of the Ulbricht Group who fled to Yugoslavia in 1949 and became a leading Western scholar of Soviet communism
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1921–2014
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Agostinho Neto Agostinho Neto
Physician-poet who led Angola's liberation struggle and became its first president
Political and party leadership · Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)
1922–1979
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Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer
Architect of Eurocommunism who led the West's largest non-ruling communist party
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Italy / Italian Communist Party (PCdI/PCI)
1922–1984
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András Hegedüs Hegedüs András
A young premier who bore responsibility at the revolution’s threshold
Government and administration · Hungary
1922–1999
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Julius Kambarage Nyerere Julius Nyerere
Founding president who theorized Ujamaa and led non-aligned socialist Tanzania for 24 years
Political and party leadership
1922–1999
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Sándor Kopácsi Kopácsi Sándor
A police chief who stood between state orders and guns aimed at the people
Security, intelligence and policing · Hungary
1922–2001
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Võ Văn Kiệt Võ Văn Kiệt
Architect of Đổi Mới and prime minister of Vietnam
Government and administration · Vietnam
1922–2008
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Norodom Sihanouk នរោត្តម សីហនុ
Cambodian king and united-front leader
Monarchs and royalty · Cambodia state institutions
1922–2012
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Dipa Nusantara Aidit Dipa Nusantara Aidit
The organizer who built Indonesia's CP into the world's third-largest communist party
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
1923–1965
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Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
General who was president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975, opposed the Paris Peace Accords and resigned days before the fall of Saigon
Military command · Vietnam
1923–2001
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Markus Wolf Markus Wolf
A long-serving architect of Cold War intelligence
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany
1923–2006