List of leaders of the Soviet Union

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(Redirected from Leaders of post-Soviet independent states)

An approximately chronological listing of Soviet leaders (heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Soviet Union).

The formal structure of power in the Soviet Union consisted of three main branches that gave rise to three top positions.

The first position of importance was that of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, informally translated as President of the Soviet Union. Theoretically it was the highest position, since the Supreme Soviet was an interim organ of the Congress of Soviets, the latter being the supreme power of people, according to the Constitution of the Soviet Union.

The head of the government was the Premier of the Soviet Union. This was the most important position in Lenin's time.

After Lenin's death the most important position ultimately became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who headed the Politburo.

In practice, the leader of the Communist Party used to occupy another position, which led to confusion in the West as to what is the number one person in the USSR: Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov and Khrushchev preferred the post of the premier, while Brezhnev and the successors preferred that of the president.

Image:Soviet leaders timeline.png

Name	Title	Period	Supreme Ruler
Vladimir Lenin	Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Template:Ref. Informally, leader of the Bolsheviks since the very beginning.	October 26, 1917 - January 21, 1924	December 30, 1922 - January 21, 1924
Joseph Stalin	General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union	April 3, 1922 - March 3, 1953	1928 - March 5, 1953
Joseph Stalin	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	May 6, 1941 - March 5, 1953	1928 - March 5, 1953
Georgy Malenkov	Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union	July 1, 1948 - March 14, 1953	March 5, 1953 - September 7, 1953
Georgy Malenkov	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	March 5, 1953 - February 8, 1955	March 5, 1953 - September 7, 1953
Nikita Khrushchev	First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union	September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964	September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964
Nikita Khrushchev	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	March 27, 1958 - October 14, 1964	September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964
Troika	Leonid Brezhnev, First Secretary of the CPSU	October 14, 1964 - April 8, 1966	none
	Alexey Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	October 14, 1964 - 1968
	Anastas Mikoyan, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	October 14, 1964 - December 9, 1965
Leonid Brezhnev	First Secretary of the CPSU	October 14, 1964 - April 8, 1966	1968 - November 10, 1982
	General Secretary of the CPSU	April 8, 1966 - November 10, 1982
	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	June 16, 1977 - November 10, 1982
Yuri Andropov	General Secretary of the CPSU	November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984	November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984
Yuri Andropov	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	June 16, 1983 - February 9, 1984	November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984
Konstantin Chernenko	General Secretary of the CPSU	February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985	February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985
Konstantin Chernenko	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	April 11, 1984 - March 10, 1985	February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985
Mikhail Gorbachev	General Secretary of the CPSU	March 11, 1985 - August 24, 1991	March 11, 1985 - December 25, 1991
	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSRTemplate:Ref	October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989
	Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	May 25, 1989 - March 15, 1990
	President of the Soviet Union Template:Ref	March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991
Template:Note The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was only created in 1922. From 1918 to 1922 its tentative predecessor was the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (the RSFSR continued after 1922 as one of 15 republics in the USSR). From August 1917, after the February Revolution, the state name was the Russian Republic though it was often referred to as Soviet Russia after the October Revolution in 1917 when the Council of People's Commissars was formed. Template:NoteOffice of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet renamed to Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. Template:NoteOn March 15, 1990 the office of the President of the Soviet Union was created and executive power was transferred from the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. Although the Chairman's office remained, it was now that of a parliamentary speaker, not a head of state.

The post of General Secretary was created in April 1922 but did not come to signify the party leader or leader of the country until after Stalin won the struggle with Trotsky to succeed Lenin. The title was First Secretary between 1952 and April 1966. The "Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet" was the equivalent of President of the state while "Chairman of the Council of Ministers" and "Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars" were equivalent to Premier or Prime Minister.

On March 14 1990, the newly created (1989) Congress of People's Deputies voted to end the Communist party's control over the government and elected Gorbachev President of the Soviet Union.

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