An approximately chronological list of leaders of the Soviet Union (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 of the Soviet Union 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.

In practice, the leader or General Secretary of the Communist Party used to occupy another position, which led to confusion in the West as to who the number one person in the USSR was: Lenin, Stalin and Malenkov preferred the post of the premier, while Khrushchev, Brezhnev and his successors preferred that of the president (called Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and changed to President of the Soviet Union in 1990).

Picture	Name	Title	Period	Supreme Ruler
	Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Владимир Ильич Ленин	Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars[1]. Informally, leader of the Bolsheviks since their inception.	October 26, 1917 - January 21, 1924	December 30, 1922 - January 21, 1924
	Joseph Stalin Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks	April 3, 1922 - March 5, 1953	1927 - March 5, 1953
		Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	May 6, 1941 - March 5, 1953
	Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov Гео́ргий Максимилиа́нович Маленко́в	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	March 5, 1953 - February 8, 1955	March 5, 1953 - September 7, 1953
	Nikita Khrushchev Никита Сергеевич Хрущёв	First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union	September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964	September 7, 1953 - October 14, 1964
		Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	March 27, 1958 - October 14, 1964
Troika	Leonid Brezhnev, Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев	First Secretary of the CPSU	October 14, 1964 - April 8, 1966
	Alexei Kosygin, Алексе́й Никола́евич Косы́гин	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR	October 14, 1964 - October 23, 1980
	Anastas Mikoyan, Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	October 14, 1964 - December 9, 1965
	Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev Леонид Ильич Брежнев	First Secretary of the CPSU	October 14, 1964 - April 8, 1966	October 14, 1964 - 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		May, 1960 - October 14, 1964 and June 16, 1977 - November 10, 1982
	Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов	General Secretary of the CPSU	November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984	November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984
		Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	June 16, 1983 - February 9, 1984
	Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko Константин Устинович Черненко	General Secretary of the CPSU	February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985	February 13, 1984 - March 10, 1985
		Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	April 11, 1984 - March 10, 1985
	Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union	March 11, 1985 - August 24, 1991	March 11, 1985 - December 25, 1991
		Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR	October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989
		Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR[2]	May 25, 1989 - March 15, 1990
		President of the Soviet Union[3]	March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991
^ The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was only created in 1922. From August 1917, after the February Revolution, the state name was the Russian Republic, and after the October Revolution from 1918 to 1922 its name was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the RSFSR continued after 1922 as one of 15 republics in the USSR). ^ Office of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet renamed to Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. ^ On 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 and Kamenev to succeed Lenin (1925). The title was informal between 1934 and 1953, since it was officially abolished by the XVII Party Congress, and was called First Secretary between September 1953 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.

[edit] Leaders of post-Soviet independent states

For details of the leaders of the 15 independent states that replaced the Soviet Union, see the following articles:

• Armenia - President of Armenia
• Azerbaijan - President of Azerbaijan
• Belarus - Leaders of Belarus
• Estonia - President of Estonia
• Georgia - President of Georgia
• Kazakhstan - President of Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan - President of Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia - List of Presidents of Latvia
• Lithuania - List of Lithuanian rulers
• Moldova - President of Moldova
• Russia - List of Presidents of Russia
• Tajikistan - List of Presidents of Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan - President of Turkmenistan
• Ukraine - President of Ukraine
• Uzbekistan - President of Uzbekistan

[edit] See also

• List of Leaders of Russia
• History of the Soviet Union
• USSR Heads of State

[edit] External links

• Heads of State and Government of the Soviet Union (1922-1991)

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