On December 25, 1991, the Soviet state finally ceased to exist. For 70 years of history, there were only eight leaders in the country (not counting Malenkov). Interestingly, the Soviet Union was the only country in the world whose leaders (excluding V. I. Lenin) were of worker-peasant origin.
State and party leaders of the USSR
The actual leader of the Soviet Union was not always the General Secretary of the Communist Party. The post of general secretary 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 unspoken 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. Starting with the election to the post of the first secretary of the party, Khrushchev is gaining political weight, who played a major role in the elimination of Malenkov, one of his main competitors in the internal party struggle for power after his death. Dzhugashvili. Since 1958, the board finally passes to him: Nikita Sergeevich combines the posts of head of the CPSU and chairman of the council of ministers.
In the future, the political weight of the position of chairman fell. Legally, the head of the Supreme Soviet became the leader of the USSR. In 1988, this place was taken by Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the first and last president of the Soviet Union. And before him, Brezhnev L. I., Andropov Yu. V. and Chernenko K. U.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The greatest revolutionary, Marxist theorist and founder of the Bolshevik Party became the first head of Soviet Russia and the creator of the first socialist state in history. He was in power for a relatively short time. Already in 1922, a serious struggle broke out for the first post in the state. Lenin at that time fell seriously ill. It is believed that the deterioration in the he alth of the party leader of the USSR was associated with congestion and the consequences of the 1918 assassination attempt. He died at the age of fifty-four. This happened on January 21, 1924.
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
He went down in history as a brutal politician and dictator. His psychological characteristics include such traits as sadistic tendencies, narcissism, delusions of persecution, vanity and paranoia. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm puts Stalin on a par with Adolf Hitler and his associate Himmler. American historian and political scientist R. Tucker claims that the leader of the USSR suffered from a mental disorder.
The leader carried out nationalizationeconomy, collectivization, which caused the famine of 1932-1933. He initiated industrialization and active urban planning, one of the strategic goals was declared a cultural revolution, and production was retrained for militarism. Not the best pages of the history of the USSR are associated with Stalin's repressions.
Joseph Stalin died at his own residence. His body was discovered by one of the guards on March 1, 1953. The next day, doctors arrived at the residence and diagnosed paralysis. A few days later, Stalin died as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. An autopsy showed that he had several strokes, which (according to the President of the Federation of Neurologists) could lead to a mental disorder.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
The period of rule 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 harsh anti-religious campaign, and punitive psychiatry has significantly increased under him.
In the 60s, dissidents were gaining strength. The spiritual leaders of the human rights movement in the USSR were A. Solzhenitsyn, A. Sakharov. They fought for the right of Soviet citizens to emigrate, for the release of political prisoners, the abolition of censorship and glasnost, and the provision of fundamental rights of citizens.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
Brezhnev at the head of the CPSU actively engaged in foreign policy. He led a delegation to Italy, and in 1972 met with the President of the United States. This was the first official visit by a US leader to Moscow in Soviet history. The following year, Leonid Brezhnev made a return visit. The head of the USSR held talks with Nixon. As a result of the meeting, an agreement on arms reduction was signed.
Detente of international tension is the merit of this leader of the USSR. True, then a period of "stagnation" began. Leonid Ilyich died on the night of November 10, 1982. According to eyewitnesses, Brezhnev had the most magnificent funeral after Stalin's, the heads of 35 countries of the world attended the mourning event.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev is remembered as the man who destroyed the Soviet Union. Such words as "glasnost", "perestroika" and "acceleration" are associated with the name of the leader of the USSR. He received the Nobel Prize in 1990 for his leadership in the peace process.
Mikhail Sergeevich is the only living leader of the Soviet Union at the moment. In 2014, he opened an exhibition in Berlin dedicated to the anniversary of the fall of the wall, in 2016 he admitted responsibility for the collapse of the USSR at a meeting with students, and in 2017 he noted the 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 the events in Ukraine? March 2014Gorbachev welcomed the annexation of the peninsula, and later in an interview supported the Russian policy regarding the political crisis and conflict in southeastern Ukraine.
