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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era
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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Fyodor Konstantinovich Mortin Фёдор Константинович Мортин
Sakharovsky's 13-year right hand and the short-lived PGU chief of early détente
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1918–1990
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Pierre Félix Georges Pierre Georges
A communist pioneer of armed resistance to the Occupation
Military command · Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP/FTPF)
1919–1944
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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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Viktor Mikhailovich Bushuyev Виктор Михайлович Бушуев
CC department head who directed the Soviet chemical industry
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1919–1996
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Georgy Emmanuilovich Tsukanov Георгий Эммануилович Цуканов
The quiet gatekeeper who controlled Brezhnev's paper flow
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1919–2001
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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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Nikolai Grigoryevich Yegorychev Николай Григорьевич Егорычев
The Moscow party boss who challenged Brezhnev and was exiled to diplomacy
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1920–2005
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Yegor Kuzmich Ligachev Егор Кузьмич Лигачёв
The conservative Second Secretary inside perestroika
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1920–2021
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Apostolos Santas Απόστολος Σάντας
The resistance fighter who brought down an occupation symbol from the Acropolis
Social movements and organizing
1922–2011
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Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov Григорий Васильевич Романов
From Leningrad to Moscow: the successor halted one step short
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1923–2008
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Sergei Iosifovich Manyakin Сергей Иосифович Манякин
The longest-serving regional party secretary in Soviet history, who led Omsk for 26 years
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1923–2010
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Guy Môquet Guy Môquet
A young Communist activist executed under occupation
Social movements and organizing
1924–1941
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Tengiz Evgenyevich Abuladze თენგიზ ევგენის ძე აბულაძე
Georgian film director whose Repentance fired the cultural starting gun of glasnost
Literature and arts · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1924–1994
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Ruth First Ruth First
The investigative journalist who exposed apartheid, the communist revolutionary who endured 117 days of solitary confinement
Literature and arts · African National Congress (ANC)
1925–1982
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Ramiz Alia Ramiz Alia
Albania after Hoxha
Political and party leadership · Party of Labour of Albania
1925–2011
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Yuri Filippovich Solovyov Юрий Филиппович Соловьёв
Ligachev protégé who led Leningrad during early perestroika
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1925–2011
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Peter Fryer Peter Fryer
A communist journalist who chose the scene over the party line
Literature and arts · Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
1927–2006
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Boris Ivanovich Gostev Борис Иванович Гостев
The last orthodox Soviet finance minister who rejected market reform during perestroika
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1927–2015
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Oleg Timofeyevich Bogomolov Олег Тимофеевич Богомолов
An economist of socialist economic integration and reform
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1927–2015
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Stanisław Kania Stanisław Kania
A party leader who lost power while seeking compromise
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1927–2020
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Stanisław Matyja Stanisław Matyja
The carpenter who became the unofficial leader of Poznań June
Social movements and organizing
1928–1985
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Nikolai Yefimovich Kruchina Николай Ефимович Кручина
The last treasurer who guarded the party coffers through perestroika
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1928–1991
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Yakov Petrovich Pogrebnyak Яков Петрович Погребняк
CPU secretary who oversaw the anti-alcohol campaign in Ukraine and testified that Ligachev ordered the Massandra wine library destroyed
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1928–2016
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Yakov Petrovich Ryabov Яков Петрович Рябов
Yeltsin's political patron and CPSU defence secretary who forced the T-72 tank through against Ustinov's opposition
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1928–2018
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Yevgeny Mikhailovich Tyazhelnikov Евгений Михайлович Тяжельников
The model Brezhnev-era youth-cadre pipeline apparatchik
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1928–2020
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Sergei Pavlovich Pavlov Сергей Павлович Павлов
The anti-thaw Komsomol chief who delivered the Moscow Olympics
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1929–1993
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Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz
From fired shipyard worker to 'mother of independent Poland'
Social movements and organizing · Free Trade Unions of the Coast (WZZ)
1929–2010
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Yuri Nikolayevich Khristoradnov Юрий Николаевич Христораднов
Party chief who led the Gorky region for 14 years and the last Soviet overseer of religious affairs
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1929–2018
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Nikolai Nikitovich Slyunkov Николай Никитович Слюньков
From tractor factory to Politburo: the 'director of the Central Committee'
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1929–2022
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Merab Konstantinovich Mamardashvili Мераб Константинович Мамардашвили
The philosopher who spoke consciousness aloud
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1930–1990
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Yegor Vladimirovich Yakovlev Егор Владимирович Яковлев
Editor of Moscow News who led the charge in breaking Soviet taboos during the glasnost era
Literature and arts · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1930–2005
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Viktor Sergeyevich Makarenko Виктор Сергеевич Макаренко
Crimean party administrator who helped protect Massandra
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1931–2007
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Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko Владимир Антонович Ивашко
The last deputy general secretary before dissolution
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–1994
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Boris Nikolayevich Pastukhov Борис Николаевич Пастухов
The last Komsomol heavyweight who ran the Soviet publishing empire
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1933–2021
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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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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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Ivan Kuzmich Polozkov Иван Кузьмич Полозков
The conservative apparatchik who founded the Russian republic's Communist Party
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1935–
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Valery Ivanovich Boldin Валерий Иванович Болдин
The party apparatus gatekeeper who managed Gorbachev's documents, then betrayed him
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1935–2006
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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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Georgy Petrovich Razumovsky Георгий Петрович Разумовский
Architect of perestroika cadres, last surviving Politburo member
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1936–
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Grigory Ivanovich Revenko Григорий Иванович Ревенко
From Kiev regional party leader to Gorbachev's last chief of staff
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1936–2014
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Grigory Petrovich Kharchenko Григорий Петрович Харченко
Organizational-Party Work deputy chief who witnessed Sumgait, and said 'we were a day late'
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1936–
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Oleg Semyonovich Shenin Олег Семёнович Шенин
The last Politburo member who tried to save the USSR and went to prison for it
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1937–2009
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Nikolai Yakovlevich Petrakov Николай Яковлевич Петраков
An economist who carried price theory into the transition to a market economy
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1937–2014
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Galina Vladimirovna Semyonova Галина Владимировна Семёнова
Architect of women's and family policy in the perestroika era, the fourth woman ever on the Politburo
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1937–2017
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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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Valentin Alexandrovich Kuptsov Валентин Александрович Купцов
The last-generation secretary who rebuilt the Russian Communist Party
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1937–
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Fuad Enver oglu Musayev Fuad Ənvər oğlu Musayev
First Secretary of the Baku Party Committee who blocked buses from entering Baku, shifting the violence to Sumgait
Social movements and organizing · Soviet Union state institutions
1938–2017
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Nina Alexandrovna Andreyeva Нина Александровна Андреева
The Leningrad chemistry lecturer whose 'I Cannot Forsake My Principles' became the manifesto of anti-perestroika forces
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1938–2020
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Merab Ivanes dze Kostava მერაბ ივანეს ძე კოსტავა
A poet who joined the struggle for independence to the defense of human rights
Social movements and organizing
1939–1989