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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
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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Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer
Architect of Eurocommunism who led the West's largest non-ruling communist party
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Italy / Italian Communist Party (PCdI/PCI)
1922–1984
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Pyotr Stepanovich Pleshakov Пётр Степанович Плешаков
Architect of Soviet radio-electronic warfare
Industry and production · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–1987
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Georgi Nikitovich Bolshakov Георгий Никитович Большаков
The GRU officer who ran the secret backchannel between Khrushchev and the Kennedys
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–1989
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Viktor Grigoryevich Afanasyev Виктор Григорьевич Афанасьев
Longest-serving Pravda editor and gatekeeper of Brezhnev-era print orthodoxy
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–1994
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András Hegedüs Hegedüs András
A young premier who bore responsibility at the revolution’s threshold
Government and administration · Hungary state institutions
1922–1999
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Muhammetnazar Gapurovich Gapurov Мухамедназар Гапурович Гапуров
16-year leader of Brezhnev-era Turkmenistan who integrated its cotton and gas economy into the Soviet center
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1922–1999
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Nikolai Gennadiyevich Basov Николай Геннадиевич Басов
Nobel-winning physicist who laid the foundations of the maser and laser, then extended quantum electronics into missile defense
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–2001
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Vadim Alekseyevich Kirpichenko Вадим Алексеевич Кирпиченко
KGB First Chief Directorate deputy who ran Soviet foreign intelligence for twelve years
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–2005
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Võ Văn Kiệt Võ Văn Kiệt
Architect of Đổi Mới and prime minister of Vietnam
Government and administration · Vietnam state institutions
1922–2008
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Oleg Genrikhovich Ivanovsky Олег Генрихович Ивановский
The engineer who turned early Soviet spacecraft designs into tested machines
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–2014
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Leonid Mitrofanovich Zamyatin Леонид Митрофанович Замятин
Information architect of the Brezhnev system
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1922–2019
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Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya Зоя Анатольевна Космодемьянская
The first woman Hero of the Soviet Union, the 18-year-old partisan who cried 'Stalin will come!' from the gallows
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1941
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Dipa Nusantara Aidit Dipa Nusantara Aidit
The organizer who built Indonesia's CP into the world's third-largest communist party
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
1923–1965
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Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov Виктор Михайлович Глушков
Father of Soviet cybernetics whose OGAS network envisioned real-time socialist planning decades before the internet
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1982
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Nikolai Vasilyevich Sutyagin Николай Васильевич Сутягин
The Soviet ace with MiG Alley’s highest score
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1986
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Sergei Fyodorovich Akhromeyev Сергей Фёдорович Ахромеев
The Soviet Marshal who forged the INF Treaty and could not outlive the USSR
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1991
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Alexander Ivanovich Koldunov Александр Иванович Колдунов
The top Yak ace of the war who rose to command the Air Defence Forces, and fell after a teenager landed on Red Square
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1992
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Pyotr Georgievich Lushev Пётр Георгиевич Лушев
The last supreme commander of the Warsaw Pact forces
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1997
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Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov Виктор Михайлович Чебриков
KGB chairman from late stagnation into perestroika
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–1999
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Vladimir Fyodorovich Utkin Владимир Фёдорович Уткин
Father of the SS-18 'Satan' and architect of the late Cold War nuclear balance
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2000
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Filipp Timofeyevich Yermash Филипп Тимофеевич Ермаш
The party functionary who ran Soviet cinema as a state Hollywood: blockbusters, Oscars, and ideological control
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2002
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Lev Nikolayevich Zaikov Лев Николаевич Зайков
The technocrat who rose from defense-plant apprentice to Politburo overseer of the military-industrial complex
Industry and production · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2002
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Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev
The KGB general who rose from Baku to the Kremlin and founded independent Azerbaijan
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1923–2003
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Boris Ivanovich Stukalin Борис Иванович Стукалин
Brezhnev-era chief of all Soviet publishing and censorship
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1923–2004
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Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev Александр Николаевич Яковлев
The architect of glasnost: the ideology chief who dismantled the ideology
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2005
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Markus Wolf Markus Wolf
A long-serving architect of Cold War intelligence
Security, intelligence and policing · East Germany state institutions
1923–2006
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Boris Pavlovich Bugayev Борис Павлович Бугаев
Brezhnev's personal pilot who became Chief Marshal and the head of Soviet civil aviation
Economy, finance and planning · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2007
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Ivan Moiseevich Tretyak Иван Моисеевич Третьяк
Soviet air defence chief who ordered the KAL 007 shootdown
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2007
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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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Mikhail Mitrofanovich Zaitsev Михаил Митрофанович Зайцев
GSFG Commander-in-Chief and Army General who oversaw Soviet operations in Afghanistan
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2009
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Valentin Ivanovich Varennikov Валентин Иванович Варенников
General who received the Victory Banner and stood alone in the coup dock
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2009
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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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Aleksandr Nikolayevich Yefimov Александр Николаевич Ефимов
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Il-2 assault ace who rose to command the Soviet Air Force at its zenith
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2012
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José Ramón Álvarez Fernández José Ramón Fernández Álvarez
Cuban revolutionary commander credited with defeating the 1961 Bay of Pigs landing (Brigade 2506)
Government and administration · Cuba state institutions
1923–2019
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Makhmut Akhmetovich Gareev Махмут Ахметович Гареев
A staff general who turned wartime experience into military theory
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2019
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Alexander Yakovlevich Sukharev Александр Яковлевич Сухарев
The last reform-era Procurator General of the USSR, who oversaw the legal rehabilitation of Stalin's victims during perestroika
Law and justice · Soviet Union state institutions
1923–2021
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Karl Genrikhovich Vaino Карл Генрихович Вайно
First Secretary of the Estonian Communist Party (1978–1988) who resisted perestroika and pushed Russification until Moscow replaced him.
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1923–2022
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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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Evald Vasilyevich Ilyenkov Эвальд Васильевич Ильенков
A Soviet European who excavated dialectical logic from Marx's Capital
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–1979
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Viktor Petrovich Makeyev Виктор Петрович Макеев
Founder of Soviet naval strategic rocketry, the man the CIA called 'the Ural Dragon'
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–1985
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Alexei Ivanovich Adzhubey Алексей Иванович Аджубей
Khrushchev's son-in-law and the editor who turned Izvestia into the most-read Soviet newspaper of the thaw
Ideology and propaganda · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–1993
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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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Mikhail Fyodorovich Reshetnev Михаил Фёдорович Решетнёв
The chief designer who built a Soviet satellite empire in the Siberian taiga
Science and technology · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–1996
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Mieczysław Zygmunt Jagielski Mieczysław Jagielski
A party official who contained crisis through concessions
Economy, finance and planning · Poland state institutions
1924–1997
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Vasily Aleksandrovich Dinkov Василий Александрович Динков
The gas and oil minister who made the USSR the world's largest gas producer
Industry and production · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2001
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Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny Владимир Ефимович Семичастный
The KGB chairman during Khrushchev’s fall
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2001
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Yuri Pavlovich Maksimov Юрий Павлович Максимов
General of the Army who commanded the Strategic Rocket Forces through the Afghan war and the dissolution of the USSR
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2002
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Vladimir Leonidovich Govorov Владимир Леонидович Говоров
Son of a marshal who led the Chernobyl response and turned Soviet civil defence toward peacetime emergencies
Military command · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2006
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Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov Владимир Александрович Крючков
The KGB chairman who designed the August coup
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2007
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Vladimir Petrovich Pirozhkov Владимир Петрович Пирожков
The KGB constant: 20 years as deputy chairman under four chiefs
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union state institutions
1924–2009