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People
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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Jan Ernestovich Sten Ян Эрнестович Стэн
Marxist philosopher who went from Stalin's Hegel tutor to Right Opposition conspirator
Scholarship and theory · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1899–1937
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Andrija Hebrang Andrija Hebrang
A leader caught between revolutionary national politics and party centralism
Political and party leadership · Communist Party / League of Communists of Yugoslavia (KPJ/SKJ)
1899–1949
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Heinrich Rau Heinrich Rau
Communist who chaired the German Economic Commission, the forerunner of the GDR government, and led East German economic policy
Economy, finance and planning · East Germany state institutions
1899–1961
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Aleksander Zawadzki Aleksander Zawadzki
A communist leader who helped shape postwar Poland's state
Political and party leadership · Poland state institutions
1899–1964
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Li Lisan 李立三
Labour organiser whose 1930 urban-insurrection “Li Lisan line” led the party and cost him his position
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1899–1967
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Fritz Selbmann Fritz Selbmann
East German heavy-industry minister who faced the striking workers outside the House of Ministries on 16 June 1953
Industry and production · East Germany state institutions
1899–1975
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Pak Hon-yong 박헌영
Architect of the Korean Communist Party's rebirth; leader of the Workers' Party of South Korea
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Korea
1900–1955
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Grigory Artemyevich Arutinov Григорий Артемьевич Арутинов
'Grigory the Builder': led Soviet Armenia for 16 years under Stalin, driving industrialization and a national cultural revival
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1900–1957
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Maurice Thorez Maurice Thorez
A miner's son who built the Popular Front and led the French Communist Party for 34 years
Political and party leadership · French Communist Party (PCF)
1900–1964
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Choe Yong-gon 최용건
The Manchurian guerrilla who became the KPA's first commander and the DPRK's nominal head of state
Military command · Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions
1900–1976
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Zhang Wentian 张闻天
A “28 Bolsheviks” returnee who became general secretary after Zunyi and sided with Peng Dehuai at Lushan in 1959
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1900–1976
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Luigi Longo Luigi Longo
'Gallo': commander in Spain and the Resistance, PCI secretary-general who endured Cominform self-criticism and succeeded Togliatti
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Italy / Italian Communist Party (PCdI/PCI)
1900–1980
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Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský
KSČ General Secretary who organized the February 1948 coup and built Czechoslovakia's people's democracy as its operational architect
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
1901–1952
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Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Romania's first communist leader who turned the country from a Soviet satellite toward a semi-autonomous course
Political and party leadership · Romanian Communist Party (PCR)
1901–1965
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Nikolai Grigoryevich Ignatov Николай Григорьевич Игнатов
The man who saved Khrushchev and then helped destroy him
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1901–1966
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Nikolai Karotamm Nikolai Karotamm
First Secretary of the Estonian Communist Party in 1944–1950, removed in 1950 for allegedly shielding “bourgeois nationalists”
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1901–1969
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Chen Yi 陈毅
The poet-marshal who led the New Fourth Army and the Third Field Army and succeeded Zhou Enlai as foreign minister
Diplomacy and international organization · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1901–1972
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Nikolai Nikolayevich Organov Николай Николаевич Органов
RSFSR formal head of state who once sat on an NKVD execution troika
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1901–1982
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Jakub Berman Jakub Berman
An architect of Stalinist power in Poland
Political and party leadership · Polish Workers' Party (PPR)
1901–1984
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Olga Grigoryevna Shatunovskaya Ольга Григорьевна Шатуновская
Khrushchev's chief investigator who traced Stalin's crimes to the end
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1901–1990
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Xu Xiangqian 徐向前
Marshal who commanded the Fourth Front Army through Zhang Guotao’s split and as defence minister directed the 1979 war with Vietnam
Military command · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1901–1990
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Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Malyshev Вячеслав Александрович Малышев
Production boss from tanks to atomic industry
Industry and production · Soviet Union state institutions
1902–1957
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Zhumabay Shayakhmetovich Shayakhmetov Жумабай Шаяхметович Шаяхметов
Kazakh SSR figure who chaired the Soviet of Nationalities
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1902–1966
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Filipp Yegorovich Mikheyev Филипп Егорович Михеев
An administrator swept into the Leningrad purge
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1902–1975
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Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov Михаил Андреевич Суслов
The Kremlin's Grey Cardinal
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1902–1982
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Hilde Benjamin Hilde Benjamin
East German jurist who succeeded Fechner as justice minister after the 1953 uprising and led its harsh political trials
Law and justice · East Germany state institutions
1902–1989
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Peng Zhen 彭真
Beijing mayor purged as the Cultural Revolution's first major target, then the architect of post-Mao China's legal-institutional foundations
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1902–1997
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Julio Antonio Mella Julio Antonio Mella
The student founder of the Cuban Communist Party martyred at 25: a face of Latin American anti-imperialism
Political and party leadership
1903–1929
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Nikolai Alexeyevich Voznesensky Николай Алексеевич Вознесенский
Wartime planning prodigy killed in the Leningrad Affair
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1903–1950
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Kim Chaek 김책
Korean revolutionary military leader who fought alongside Kim Il Sung in the Manchurian anti-Japanese guerrillas
Military command · Chinese Communist revolutionary forces (before 1949)
1903–1951
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Rudolf Herrnstadt Rudolf Herrnstadt
Editor of Neues Deutschland who helped draft the 1953 New Course, moved against Ulbricht and was purged as a “faction”
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1903–1966
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Antanas Juozovich Sniečkus Antanas Sniečkus
The communist who ruled Soviet Lithuania for 34 years
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1903–1974
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Rao Shushi 饶漱石
The East China leader purged with Gao Gang in the “Gao–Rao anti-party alliance”, the People’s Republic’s first high-level purge
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1903–1975
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Fred Oelßner Fred Oelßner
Economist and the SED’s chief ideologue until 1958, when he was expelled from the Politburo in the Schirdewan affair
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1903–1977
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Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny Николай Викторович Подгорный
Head of state in the Brezhnev-Kosygin collective leadership
Political and party leadership · Soviet Union state institutions
1903–1983
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Ren Bishi 任弼时
The organiser among Yan’an’s five secretaries, dead a year after the People’s Republic was founded
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1904–1950
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Mihály Farkas Farkas Mihály
Defence minister in Rákosi's ruling foursome
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1904–1965
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Vilis Tenisovich Lācis Вилис Тенисович Лацис
From Ulmanis's favorite novelist to the architect of Latvia's Sovietization
Literature and arts · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1904–1966
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Wang Ming 王明
Leader of the "28 Bolsheviks" and Mao Zedong's foremost political rival
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1904–1974
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Antonín Josef Novotný Antonín Novotný
The Czechoslovak leader whose Stalinist orthodoxy was swept aside by the Prague Spring reform movement
Political and party leadership · Czechoslovakia state institutions
1904–1975
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Ding Ling 丁玲
From Miss Sophia’s Diary to The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River, a writer who lived through Yan’an and the anti-rightist purge
Literature and arts · Communist Party of China
1904–1986
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Deng Xiaoping 邓小平
The paramount leader who redirected China through reform and opening
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1904–1997
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Gao Gang 高岗
The second-most powerful man in the CCP who wielded virtually autonomous power in Manchuria, then walked into Mao's trap and fell
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1905–1954
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Anton Ackermann Anton Ackermann
German communist who drafted the KPD’s 1945 appeal and argued for a “special German road to socialism”
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1905–1973
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Władysław Gomułka Władysław Gomułka
The national communist who returned in the Polish October of 1956 to test a 'Polish road to socialism'
Political and party leadership · Poland state institutions
1905–1982
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Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov Михаил Александрович Шолохов
The Russian and Soviet novelist of And Quiet Flows the Don
Literature and arts · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1905–1984
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Eugenio Reale Eugenio Reale
Italian delegate at the Cominform founding who witnessed Stalin's telephone line, later turning from communist to anti-communist critic
Diplomacy and international organization · Italy state institutions
1905–1986
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Hoàng Văn Hoan Hoàng Văn Hoan
Pro-Chinese veteran, North Vietnam’s first ambassador to China, who defected to China after the 1979 war
Diplomacy and international organization · Vietnam state institutions
1905–1991
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Chen Yun 陈云
CCP elder who designed China's socialist economic system with his 'bird-cage economy' concept
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China state institutions
1905–1995
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Dmitri Trofimovich Shepilov Дмитрий Трофимович Шепилов
Khrushchev’s theoretician who became “Shepilov who joined them”
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1905–1995