December 25, 1991 the Soviet state finally ceased to exist. Over 70 years of history, there were only eight leaders in the country (not counting Malenkov). It is interesting that the Soviet Union was the only country in the world whose leaders (except V.I. Lenin) were of workers and peasants.
State and Party Leaders of the USSR
The actual leader of the Soviet Union was not always the Secretary General of the Communist Party. The post of Secretary General was established in 1922, when Joseph Stalin actually had unlimited power. In 1953, Georgy Malenkov, the new leader of the USSR and de facto head of state, became his unwritten successor as chairman of the Council of Ministers.
The post of head of the Council of Ministers was then perceived as the main state post. Since the election of the party’s first secretary, Khrushchev has gained political weight, who played a major role in eliminating Malenkov, one of his main rivals in the internal party struggle for power after the death of Dzhugashvili. Since 1958, the board finally passes to him: Nikita Sergeyevich combines the posts of head of the CPSU and chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Subsequently, the political weight of the post of chairman fell. Legally, the leader of the USSR was the head of the Supreme Council. In 1988, this place was taken by Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the first and last president of the Soviet Union. And before him, the heads of the Supreme Council were alternately Brezhnev L.I., Andropov Yu. V. and Chernenko K. U.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The greatest revolutionary, theorist of Marxism and the founder of the Bolshevik party became the first head of Soviet Russia and the creator of the first socialist state in history. He was relatively short in power. Already in 1922, a serious struggle broke out for the first position in the state. Lenin was seriously ill at that time. It is believed that the deterioration in the health of the party leader of the USSR was due to the congestion and consequences of the 1918 assassination attempt. He died in the fifty-fourth year of his life. This happened on January 21, 1924.
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
He went down in history as a brutal politician and dictator. His psychological characteristics include traits such as sadistic tendencies, narcissism, delusions of persecution, vanity and paranoidness. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm puts Stalin on a par with Adolf Hitler and his associate Himmler. The American historian and political scientist R. Tucker claims that the leader of the USSR suffered from a mental disorder.
The leader carried out the nationalization of the economy, collectivization, which caused the famine of 1932-1933. He initiated industrialization and active urban development, the cultural revolution was declared one of the strategic goals, and production was re-qualified as militarism. Not the best pages of the history of the USSR are connected with Stalinist repressions.
Joseph Stalin died in his own residence. One of the guards discovered his body on March 1, 1953. The next day, doctors who diagnosed paralysis arrived at the residence. A few days later, Stalin died as a result of a brain hemorrhage. An autopsy showed that he had several strokes that (according to the president of the Federation of Neurologists) could lead to a mental disorder.
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev
The reign of this leader of the USSR is usually called the thaw. At that time, many political prisoners were released, repressive actions decreased significantly, and the influence of censorship decreased. In addition, active housing construction was launched, the Soviet Union achieved success in space exploration. Khrushchev is known as the organizer of a tough anti-religious campaign, and with him, punitive psychiatry increased significantly.
In the 60s, dissidents gained strength. A. Solzhenitsyn, A. Sakharov became the spiritual leaders of the human rights movement in the USSR. They fought for the right of Soviet citizens to emigrate, for the release of political prisoners, the abolition of censorship and publicity, and the fundamental rights of citizens.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
Brezhnev, at the head of the CPSU, was actively engaged in foreign policy. He led the delegation to Italy, and in 1972 he met with the US President. This was the first official visit of the US head to Moscow in Soviet history. The following year, Leonid Brezhnev paid a return visit. The head of the USSR held talks with Nixon. Following the meeting, an arms reduction agreement was signed.
Detente of international tension is the merit of this leader of the USSR. True, then the period of "stagnation" began. Leonid Ilyich died on the night of November 10, 1982. According to eyewitnesses, Brezhnev had the most magnificent funeral after the Stalin, the heads of 35 countries of the world attended the mourning event.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev is remembered as the man who ruined the Soviet Union. The name of the leader of the USSR is associated with such words as "glasnost", "perestroika" and "acceleration". He received the Nobel Prize in 1990 for his leading role in the peace process.
Mikhail Sergeyevich is the only living leader of the Soviet Union at the moment. In 2014, he opened an exhibition in Berlin on the anniversary of the fall of the wall, in 2016 he recognized his responsibility for the collapse of the USSR at a meeting with students, and in 2017 he noted signs of the Cold War in the arms race between Russia and the United States.
What position did the leader of the USSR take regarding the Crimean crisis and events in Ukraine? In March 2014, Gorbachev welcomed the accession of the peninsula, and later in an interview he supported Russian politics regarding the political crisis and conflict in southeastern Ukraine.