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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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Erich Ollenhauer Erich Ollenhauer
Exiled SPD functionary who succeeded Schumacher as SPD leader and leader of the West German opposition
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1901–1963
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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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Stanisław Mikołajczyk Stanisław Mikołajczyk
An agrarian statesman who negotiated between the government-in-exile and Stalin
Political and party leadership · Polish People's Party (PSL)
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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Galeazzo Ciano Galeazzo Ciano
A Fascist diplomat who became a witness to the regime's internal collapse
Diplomacy and international organization · Italy state institutions
1903–1944
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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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Ferenc Nagy Nagy Ferenc
Smallholder premier of Hungary's second republic, forced out by Soviet-backed communists
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1903–1979
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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
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Nikolai Alexandrovich Tikhonov Николай Александрович Тихонов
The conservative premier of late Brezhnevism
Government and administration · Soviet Union state institutions
1905–1997
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Johannes Gustavovich Käbin Иван Густавович Кэбин
A pragmatic national communist who navigated between Moscow and Estonia for 28 years
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1905–1999
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Leonid Georgiyevich Melnikov Леонид Георгиевич Мельников
First Secretary who ran the largest republican party in the USSR at the close of the Stalin era
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1906–1981
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Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev Леонид Ильич Брежнев
The man whose statecraft was not rocking the boat
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1906–1982
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Edward Mieczysław Ochab Edward Mieczysław Ochab
The transitional First Secretary of 1956 who turned Khrushchev's Secret Speech into a mass document and then yielded power to Gomułka
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1906–1989
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Stefan Staszewski Stefan Staszewski
The PZPR Warsaw first secretary whose unauthorized print run of 15,000 copies broke Khrushchev's Secret Speech out of party control
Political and party leadership · Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
1906–1989
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Alexander Mikhailovich Puzanov Александр Михайлович Пузанов
The RSFSR premier who opposed the Crimea transfer and silently let Kim Il Sung consolidate one-man rule
Diplomacy and international organization · Soviet Union state institutions
1906–1998
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Bo Gu 博古
The CCP's young General Secretary who represented the Comintern line and later built the Party's press apparatus
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1907–1946
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Mikhail Ivanovich Rodionov Михаил Иванович Родионов
The RSFSR premier who turned wartime Gorky into an arsenal
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1907–1950