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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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Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu
Ceaușescu's protégé who ordered his execution and led Romania's post-communist transition
Political and party leadership · Romania
1930–2025
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Atnafu Abate አጥናፉ አባተ
The Derg's last independent leader
Military command · Ethiopia
1931–1977
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Khieu Samphan ខៀវ សំផន
Head of state of Democratic Kampuchea
Political and party leadership
1931–
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Richard Ratsimandrava Richard Ratsimandrava
Fokonolona and local communities
Security, intelligence and policing · Madagascar
1931–1975
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Mohammad Ali Samatar Maxamed Cali Samantar
Barre's vice-president who commanded the Ogaden War
Military command · Somalia
1931–2016
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Pascal Lissouba Pascal Lissouba
The scientist-president overthrown after the Congo's first free election
Government and administration · Republic of the Congo
1931–2020
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Raúl Castro Raúl Castro
From Moncada to the presidency: the Revolution's indispensable number two for over half a century
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Cuba (PCC)
1931–
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Gyula Horn Horn Gyula
Hungarian foreign minister who cut the Iron Curtain, and reform prime minister
Diplomacy and international organization · Hungary
1932–2013
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Rodric Quentin Braithwaite Rodric Braithwaite
From ambassador to Moscow during perestroika to author of Afgantsy, the British diplomat who knew Russia from the inside
Diplomacy and international organization · United Kingdom state institutions
1932–
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Samora Moisés Machel Samora Moisés Machel
The Marxist revolutionary who overthrew Portuguese colonial rule and led Mozambique to independence
Political and party leadership · Mozambique
1933–1986
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Iko Carreira Iko Carreira
Founder of Angola's People's Armed Forces and its first Defence Minister
Military command · Angola
1933–2000
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Bernard Kolélas Bernard Kolélas
The opposition leader from Pool who ended one-party rule
Political and party leadership
1933–2009
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Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou
Benin’s people’s republic and transition
Government and administration · Benin
1933–2015
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Imre Pozsgay Pozsgay Imre
The reformist Politburo member who called 1956 a 'popular uprising' and dismantled his own party's orthodoxy
Ideology and propaganda · Hungary
1933–2016
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Alois Mock Alois Mock
An Austrian Europeanist who helped open the Iron Curtain
Diplomacy and international organization · Austria state institutions
1934–2017
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Heng Samrin ហេង សំរិន
Cambodian reconstruction after 1979
Political and party leadership
1934–
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Jacek Jan Kuroń Jacek Jan Kuroń
A dissident socialist who linked workers’ self-management to civic solidarity
Social movements and organizing · Workers' Defence Committee (KOR)
1934–2004
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Maurice Ahanhanzo-Glèlè Maurice Ahanhanzo-Glèlè
The jurist who draughted Benin’s 1990 constitution
Law and justice
1934–
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Nicéphore Soglo Nicéphore Soglo
Benin’s transitional government and pluralism
Government and administration · Benin
1934–
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André Milongo André Milongo
The World Bank official who steered the transition
Government and administration · Republic of the Congo
1935–2007
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Andrzej Gwiazda Andrzej Gwiazda
An uncompromising organiser of August Solidarity
Social movements and organizing · Free Trade Unions of the Coast (WZZ)
1935–
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Diego Zegers Cordovez Diego Zegers Cordovez
The Ecuadorian UN envoy who shuttled through six years of Geneva talks to frame the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
Diplomacy and international organization · United Nations
1935–2014
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Marian Jurczyk Marian Jurczyk
A shipyard leader caught between two landmark agreements
Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność)
1935–2014
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Tadeusz Rudolf Fiszbach Tadeusz Fiszbach
A reform-minded party official caught between control and negotiation
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1935–
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Petar Mladenov Петър Младенов
The diplomat who opened Bulgaria's post-Zhivkov transition
Political and party leadership · Bulgaria
1936–2000
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Václav Havel Václav Havel
Czech playwright-turned-president whose absurdist theater critiqued the regime and whose dissident leadership ended communist rule
Literature and arts
1936–2011
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Pen Sovann ប៉ែន សុវាន
First prime minister of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of Kampuchea
1936–2016
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Didier Ratsiraka Didier Ratsiraka
Madagascar’s socialist charter
Government and administration · Madagascar
1936–2021
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Ali Ahmed Nasser Antar علي أحمد ناصر عنتر
Vice president who twice remade the leadership, killed by a comrade's guards
Political and party leadership · South Yemen
1937–1986
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Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz Egon Krenz
The last communist leader of East Germany, who succeeded Honecker, opened the Wall, and fell in 50 days
Political and party leadership · East Germany
1937–
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Jan Ludwiczak Jan Ludwiczak
The union leader whose arrest sparked the Wujek strike
Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność)
1937–2023
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Mengistu Haile Mariam መንግሥቱ ኃይለ ማርያም
Consolidation of Derg rule
Political and party leadership · Ethiopia
1937–
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Zdzisław Kurowski Zdzisław Kurowski
A party cadre shaped by the youth movement
Political and party leadership · Poland
1937–
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Marien Ngouabi Marien Ngouabi
Founding of the Congolese people’s republic
Political and party leadership · Republic of the Congo
1938–1977
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Manandafy Rakotonirina Manandafy Rakotonirina
Founder of the MFM, the left party of the 1972 student-revolution generation
Political and party leadership
1938–2019
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Abdul Fattah Ismail عبد الفتاح إسماعيل
Leader of South Yemen’s Socialist Party
Political and party leadership · South Yemen
1939–1986
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Ali Nasir Muhammad علي ناصر محمد
South Yemeni policy conflict and the 1986 crisis
Political and party leadership · South Yemen
1939–
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José Van-Dúnem José Jacinto da Silva Vieira Dias Van-Dúnem
Angolan political-military leader and co-leader of the Nitista current with Nito Alves
Military command · Angola
1939–1977
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Carlos Alberto Dilolwa Carlos Alberto da Rocha Oliveira Dilolwa
Designer of Angolan economic planning and MPLA theorist
Economy, finance and planning · Angola
1939–1996
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Ali Salem al-Beidh علي سالم البيض
The last leader of South Yemen
Political and party leadership · Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP)
1939–2026
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Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas حيدر أبو بكر العطاس
South Yemen's last head of state and the united republic's first prime minister
Government and administration · Yemen state institutions
1939–
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Haile Fida ኃይሌ ፊዳ
Ethiopian Marxist leader of MEISON and drafter of the Derg's national-democratic program
Political and party leadership
1939–1979
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Joaquim Chissano Joaquim Chissano
Mozambican rehabilitation and peace
Government and administration · Mozambique
1939–
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Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow
A Turkmen leader who turned late-Soviet rule into personal rule over an independent state
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1940–2006
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Ernest Kombo Ernest Kombo
The Owando bishop who chaired the National Conference
Religion
1941–2008
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Géza Jeszenszky Jeszenszky Géza
A historian who carried the memory of 1956 into diplomacy
Diplomacy and international organization · Hungary
1941–
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Kim Jong Il 김정일
The successor between a Soviet birth record and the Paektu myth
Political and party leadership · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
1941–2011
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Václav Klaus Václav Klaus
The market reformer who rejected a third way
Government and administration · Czechia state institutions
1941–
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Walter Rodney Walter Rodney
Guyanese Marxist historian who demonstrated how Europe underdeveloped Africa, scholar-activist of the Pan-African revolution
Scholarship and theory
1942–1980
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Saleh Muslih Qasim صالح مصلح قاسم
South Yemen's defence minister, shot in the January 1986 Aden violence
Military command · South Yemen
1942–1986