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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position(set)
Citizenship
Background
Era
People of the Soviet Union
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the wider world
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Max Fechner Max Fechner
First East German justice minister, dismissed and imprisoned in 1953 after opposing the prosecution of striking workers
Law and justice · East Germany state institutions
1892–1973
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Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito
Yugoslavia's partisan leader who chose non-alignment
Political and party leadership · Yugoslavia state institutions
1892–1980
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Sanzo Nosaka 野坂参三
International communist who founded the JCP, ran the Comintern's Pacific networks, and led the party for 24 years
Political and party leadership · Japanese Communist Party (JCP)
1892–1993
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Sükhbaatar Сүхбаатар
Military leader of Mongolia's 1921 revolution, posthumously canonized as its 'father'
Military command · Mongolia state institutions
1893–1923
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Sergei Ivanovich Syrtsov Сергей Иванович Сырцов
The RSFSR premier who turned against Stalin from Siberia
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1893–1937
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Wilhelm Zaisser Wilhelm Zaisser
First East German Minister for State Security, purged in 1953 after trying to replace Ulbricht
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany state institutions
1893–1958
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Ana Pauker Ana Pauker
The world's first woman foreign minister and head of the Romanian party's "Muscovite faction", brought down by Gheorghiu-Dej's 1952 purge
Political and party leadership · Romania state institutions
1893–1960
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Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Togliatti
'Il Migliore': the strategist who led Western Europe's largest communist party for forty years
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Italy / Italian Communist Party (PCdI/PCI)
1893–1964
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Hermann Matern Hermann Matern
SED Politburo member and chairman of the Central Party Control Commission who stood by Ulbricht in 1953
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1971
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Walter Ulbricht Walter Ulbricht
German communist leader who built the GDR and erected the Berlin Wall
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1973
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Mao Zedong 毛泽东
He rewrote the grammar of revolution for a peasant country
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1893–1976
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Soong Ching-ling 宋庆龄
Sun Yat-sen’s widow who stayed with the Kuomintang left and became a vice-chair of the People’s Republic
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party of China
1893–1981
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Nikolai Matveyevich Goloded Николай Матвеевич Голодед
The decade-long head of Byelorussia's government who signed the Academy purge, then stood in the same dock
Government and administration · Soviet Union state institutions
1894–1937
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Kyuichi Tokuda 徳田球一
First JCP chairman who endured 18 years in imperial prisons
Political and party leadership · Japanese Communist Party (JCP)
1894–1953
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Otto Grotewohl Otto Grotewohl
The Social Democrat who led a divided state into being
Government and administration · East Germany state institutions
1894–1964
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Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev Никита Сергеевич Хрущёв
He opened the coffin lid, and became the first leader to die in bed
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1894–1971
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Friedrich Ebert Jr. Friedrich Ebert junior
A social democrat who moved from municipal politics into state power amid Germany's division
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1894–1979
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Grigory Naumovich Kaminsky Григорий Наумович Каминский
First USSR People's Commissar for Health, a founder of Soviet preventive medicine
Agriculture and land policy · Soviet Union state institutions
1895–1938
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Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov Николай Иванович Ежов
The Bloody Dwarf, an executor of the Great Terror shaped by the party personnel apparatus
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1895–1940
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José Díaz José Díaz
From baker to General Secretary: the leader who steered Spanish communism through the Popular Front and Civil War
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Spain (PCE)
1895–1942
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Choibalsan Чойбалсан
Mongolian revolution and consolidation
Political and party leadership · Mongolia state institutions
1895–1952
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Mir Jafar Abbasovich Bagirov Мир Аббасович Джафар Багиров
Stalin-era party boss who ruled Azerbaijan for two decades
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union state institutions
1895–1956
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Ruth Fischer Ruth Fischer
First woman to lead a major European communist party, and its sharpest anti-Stalinist apostate
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1895–1961
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Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin Николай Александрович Булганин
The uniformed premier pushed aside by Khrushchev
Government and administration · Soviet Union state institutions
1895–1975
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Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan Анастас Иванович Микоян
The man who built the Soviet table, and the negotiator “from Ilyich to Ilyich”
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1895–1978
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Dolores Ibárruri Dolores Ibárruri
“¡No pasarán!”: the voice of anti-fascism that refused to let Franco's armies pass
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Spain (PCE)
1895–1989
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Semyon Grigoryevich Roshal Семён Григорьевич Рошаль
The 21-year-old commissar who brought Kronstadt sailors to the revolution
Social movements and organizing · Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1896–1917
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Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov Андрей Александрович Жданов
The ideology manager whose name marked Stalinist culture
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1896–1948
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Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald
The communist leader who turned Czechoslovakia into a people's democracy through the February 1948 coup
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1896–1953
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Joaquín Juliá Maurín Joaquín Maurín
A revolutionary who pursued workers' unity across communist divisions
Political and party leadership · Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM)
1896–1973
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Rajani Palme Dutt Rajani Palme Dutt
CPGB founding member, chief theoretician for half a century, and pioneer of Marxist historiography on India
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
1896–1974
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Jacques Duclos Jacques Duclos
The PCF's number two for 37 years: a Stalinist who moved between parliament and the underground
Political and party leadership · French Communist Party (PCF)
1896–1975
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Nikolai Fyodorovich Gikalo Николай Фёдорович Гикало
Civil War hero who commanded the Grozny defence, then drove industrialization and collectivization as First Secretary of three republics
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1897–1938
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Tan Malaka Tan Malaka
Father of the Republic of Indonesia, the Marxist who fused communism with Islam
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
1897–1949
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Traicho Kostov Трайчо Костов
Bulgaria's number two, who ran the repression and fell to a Stalinist purge
Political and party leadership · Bulgaria state institutions
1897–1949
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Anna Mikhailovna Pankratova Анна Михайловна Панкратова
Leading historian of the working class who drove destalinization in scholarship: first woman full academician in Soviet historical studies
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1897–1957
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Zhang Guotao 张国焘
Chair of the founding congress who split with Mao on the Long March and defected to the Nationalists
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1897–1979
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Ye Jianying 叶剑英
From Whampoa instructor to marshal, the soldier who organised the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976 and ended the Cultural Revolution
Military command · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1897–1986
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Charles Tillon Charles Tillon
A communist who carried working-class militancy into armed resistance
Social movements and organizing · Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP/FTPF)
1897–1993
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Akmal Ikramovich Ikramov Акмаль Икрамович Икрамов
First ethnic Uzbek to head the CP of Uzbekistan, who drove collectivization and cotton monoculture before the Great Purge destroyed him
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1898–1938
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József Révai Révai József
Overseer of culture in the Rákosi era
Ideology and propaganda · Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
1898–1959
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Vasile Luca Vasile Luca
Finance minister of the "Muscovite faction", purged on the pretext of the 1952 currency reform and dead in Aiud prison, a Székely Hungarian communist
Political and party leadership · Romania state institutions
1898–1963
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István Dobi Dobi István
Smallholder turned titular head of state
Legislature and state representation · Hungary state institutions
1898–1968
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Liu Shaoqi 刘少奇
CCP chief theoretician and PRC Chairman (1959–68), designated successor to Mao who was purged as China's foremost 'capitalist roader'
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1898–1969
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Zhou Enlai 周恩来
The PRC's first premier and an architect of its foreign policy
Government and administration · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1898–1976
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Pyotr Nikolayevich Pospelov Пётр Николаевич Поспелов
The historian who wrote Stalin's biography, then dismantled his myth
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1898–1979
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Ernő Gerő Gerő Ernő
Hungary's last Stalinist First Secretary; his three months in power ignited the revolution
Political and party leadership · Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
1898–1980
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Harry Haywood Harry Haywood
Architect of the Comintern Black Belt thesis: Southern Blacks are an oppressed nation with the right to self-determination
Political and party leadership · Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
1898–1985
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Luís Carlos Prestes Luís Carlos Prestes
The Knight of Hope: Brazilian revolutionary who marched 25,000 km
Political and party leadership · Brazilian Communist Party (PCB)
1898–1990
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Qu Qiubai 瞿秋白
Marxist literary critic who first sang The Internationale in Chinese, and party leader in 1927
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1899–1935