The Soviet Union was led by eight leaders, all members of the Communist Party, with different titles and lengths of rule. It was formed in 1922 and dissolved in 1991 when Gorbachev resigned amid a political coup, leading to the formation of independent governments and the transfer of power to the Russian government.
The Soviet Union was formally led by eight different men: Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev. Some, notably Stalin and Brezhnev, ruled for long periods of time, while others held office for little more than a year. The Soviet Union, also known as the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic, or USSR, was a communist state whose leaders were elected by party constituencies rather than individual voters.
Government formation
Russia’s autocratic monarchy was ousted in a revolution in 1917, and this shift in power is what gave rise to the new governing body that would become the USSR, although the country wasn’t officially formed until 1922. The Soviet Union was essentially a union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Transcaucasian kingdoms. It had existed for less than a century, but during this time it had a significant impact on both international politics and the world economy. Much of this impact can be traced to his series of leaders.
Leadership with different names
All Soviet leaders were members of the Communist Party, which ruled the country as a one-party state. This means that every candidate for every election was a communist, and that party’s ideology governed all decisions, nominations and negotiations, official or otherwise.
Leadership came in many different forms to the USSR. In the beginning, the “supreme” leader or head of government was known as the “Premier” and functioned much like a modern Prime Minister; the last leader was known as the “President,” however, a term that typically has a slightly different definition and general function. “President” and “secretary” were also titles given to top leaders and in most cases were used interchangeably depending on the regime and who was in control. Many leaders have also held several government leadership positions concurrently, for example Premier and Minister of Defence.
The following table identifies the names, dates, and primary titles of the eight primary Soviet leaders:
Leadership of the USSR Leadership Started Leadership Finished TitleVladimir Ilych Lenin 30 December 1922 21 January 1924 President, PremierJoseph Stalin 21 January 1924 5 March 1953 Secretary General, Premier Georgy Malenkov 5 March 1953 8 February 1955 Premier Nikita Khrushchev 8 February 1955 14 October 1964 First Secretary , President Leonid Brezhnev 14 October 1964 10 November 1982 First Secretary, Secretary General, President Yuri Andropov 12 November 1982 9 February 1984 Secretary General, President Konstantin Chernenko 13 February 1984 10 March 1985 Secretary General, President Mikhail Gorbachev 11 March 1985 25 December 1991 Secretary General , president, president
Collapse and Dissolution
The Soviet Union broke up and dissolved when Gorbachev stepped down as president in late 1991. His resignation came amid an intense political coup that effectively removed the Communist Party from power. Several countries seceded from the Union and formed independent governments at this time, and most of the USSR’s responsibilities and powers were transferred to the Russian government headed by President Boris Yeltsin.
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