People of the Revolution and the USSR

Independent activity National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1857–1927 ○ Natural death

Founding leader of the Wafd whose deportation to Malta in 1919 set off the Egyptian Revolution

Born in a village in the Nile Delta, he studied at al-Azhar and at a law school in Cairo and became a lawyer. Under the British occupation he served as a judge, minister of education (1906–1908) and minister of justice (1910–1912), and in 1913 became vice-president of the Legislative Assembly. In November 1918 he led the Wafd in demanding the end of the protectorate and a seat at the peace negotiations. When the British deported him to Malta in March 1919, the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 broke out. Exiled again to the Seychelles, he was allowed to return in 1923. After the Wafd’s landslide in the 1924 elections he formed the first Wafdist government, but resigned in November after the assassination of Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General of the Sudan, and the British demands that followed. He died in Cairo in 1927.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1873–1935 ○ Died of illness

Pioneer of Korean communism who fused the Bolshevik revolution with national liberation against Japanese rule

On his deathbed he declared: 'I die without seeing the Korean revolution succeed. Comrades, you must establish a Korean Soviet Republic.'

A pioneer of Korean communism who transformed from a Korean Empire army officer into a socialist revolutionary, becoming the first to fuse Marxism with the Korean national liberation struggle. He founded the Korean Socialist Party in 1918, served as prime minister of the Korean Provisional Government where he championed armed resistance, and after breaking with Syngman Rhee led the Korean Communist Party (Shanghai faction) in pursuit of combining national liberation with class revolution.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1880–1921 ✕ Froze to death while fleeing

Iranian revolutionary who led the Jungle movement of Gilan and proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Gilan in 1920

Born in Rasht in 1880, the son of a Gilani merchant, he joined the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and in 1909 was a junior commander of the constitutionalist force that took Tehran. In 1914–1915 he launched the Jungle movement in the forests of Gilan, demanding provincial autonomy, an end to central government corruption and foreign interference, and land reform. When a Soviet flotilla entered Enzeli in 1920 he agreed to cooperate on condition of non-interference, proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Gilan on 5 June and became its head, but split with the communists over his refusal to redistribute land. He returned as head of government in May 1921, but after the Soviets withdrew their support he was defeated by Reza Khan’s government troops and died of frostbite while fleeing into the Talesh mountains. His severed head was displayed in Rasht.

India state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1889–1964 ○ Heart attack

India's first prime minister and co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement

'Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge… At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.' (Independence eve address, 14 August 1947)

A towering leader of the Indian independence movement, he became independent India's first prime minister in 1947 and held the office until his death in 1964. He anchored the new republic in parliamentary democracy, secularism, and planned economic development, while charting a foreign policy of non-alignment that refused subordination to either Cold War bloc. With Tito he issued the 1954 joint statement that first defined 'non-alignment' as a positive, active policy, not passive neutrality, and went on to co-found the Non-Aligned Movement through the 1956 Brioni Declaration and the 1961 Belgrade summit. The Sino-Indian War of 1962 shook his domestic standing, yet he is remembered as the architect of the Indian republic.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1909–1972 ○ Illness

Architect of Pan-African Marxism who led sub-Saharan Africa's first independence

“We must unite now or perish.” — address to the Conference of African Heads of State, Addis Ababa, 1963

Ghana's independence leader, first prime minister and president. He secured sub-Saharan Africa's first independence in 1957. Through Nkrumaism, synthesizing scientific socialism with African tradition, he forged the intellectual foundation of the pan-African liberation movement.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1922–1999 ○ Natural causes

Founding president who theorized Ujamaa and led non-aligned socialist Tanzania for 24 years

“We, in Africa, have no more need of being 'converted' to socialism than we have of being 'taught' democracy. Both are rooted in our past — in the traditional society which produced us.” — essay 'Ujamaa', 1962

Founding president of Tanzania (1964–1985), anti-colonial leader, and the most influential theorist of African socialism. He founded TANU in 1954 and led Tanganyika to independence through non-violent struggle. The 1967 Arusha Declaration established Ujamaa, a homegrown development model fusing traditional communal life with modern socialism, nationalizing banks and industry while dramatically expanding education and healthcare. Throughout his presidency he backed southern African liberation movements and stood at the center of the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1985 he voluntarily stepped down, one of the few African leaders to orchestrate a peaceful transfer of power, and spent his final years mediating the Burundian Civil War.

Congolese National Movement (MNC) National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1925–1961 ✕ Murdered

Congo's first prime minister: one speech made him the empire's target

“History will one day have its say… Africa will write its own history.” — last letter to his wife from prison, 1960

Independence leader and first prime minister of the Congo. His unscheduled 1960 independence-day speech indicting colonial violence before King Baudouin made him a global symbol; within three months he was deposed and the following year killed with CIA and Belgian complicity.