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Who was the 4th General Secretary of the USSR. General secretaries of the ussr in chronological order

Introduction

Party history
October Revolution
war communism
New economic policy
Stalinism
Khrushchev thaw
The era of stagnation
perestroika

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (in informal use and everyday speech is often abbreviated to General Secretary) is the most significant and the only non-collegiate position in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The position was introduced as part of the Secretariat on April 3, 1922, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), elected by the XI Congress of the RCP(b), when I. V. Stalin was approved in this capacity.

From 1934 to 1953, this position was not mentioned at the plenums of the Central Committee during the elections of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. From 1953 to 1966, the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was elected, and in 1966 the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was again established.

Post of General Secretary and Stalin's victory in the struggle for power (1922-1934)

The proposal to establish this post and appoint Stalin to it was made, on the idea of Zinoviev, by a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, Lev Kamenev, in agreement with Lenin, Lenin was not afraid of any competition from the uncultured and politically insignificant Stalin. But for the same reason, Zinoviev and Kamenev made him general secretary: they considered Stalin a politically insignificant person, they saw him as a convenient assistant, but by no means a rival.

Initially, this position meant only the leadership of the party apparatus, while Lenin, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, formally remained the leader of the party and government. In addition, leadership in the party was considered inextricably linked with the merits of the theorist; therefore, following Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin were considered the most prominent "leaders", while Stalin was not seen to have either theoretical merits or special merits in the revolution.

Lenin highly valued Stalin's organizational skills, but Stalin's despotic demeanor and his rudeness towards N. Krupskaya made Lenin repent of his appointment, and in the "Letter to the Congress" Lenin declared that Stalin was too rude and should be removed from the post of general secretary. But due to illness, Lenin retired from political activity.

Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev organized a triumvirate based on opposition to Trotsky.

Before the beginning of the XIII Congress (held in May 1924), Lenin's widow Nadezhda Krupskaya handed over the Letter to the Congress. It was announced at a meeting of the Council of Elders. Stalin announced his resignation at this meeting for the first time. Kamenev proposed to resolve the issue by voting. The majority voted in favor of keeping Stalin in the post of general secretary, only Trotsky's supporters voted against.

After the death of Lenin, Leon Trotsky claimed the role of the first person in the party and the state. But he lost to Stalin, who masterfully played the combination, winning Kamenev and Zinoviev over to his side. And Stalin's real career begins only from the moment when Zinoviev and Kamenev, desiring to seize Lenin's inheritance and organize the struggle against Trotsky, chose Stalin as an ally who must be had in the party apparatus.

On December 27, 1926, Stalin submitted his resignation from the post of General Secretary: “I ask you to release me from the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee. I declare that I can no longer work in this post, unable to work in this post anymore. The resignation was not accepted.

Interestingly, Stalin in official documents never signed the full name of the position. He signed as "Secretary of the Central Committee" and was addressed as Secretary of the Central Committee. When the Encyclopedic reference book "The Figures of the USSR and the Revolutionary Movements of Russia" (prepared in 1925-1926) came out, there, in the article "Stalin", Stalin was presented as follows: "since 1922, Stalin is one of the secretaries of the Central Committee of the party, in what position he remains even now. ”, that is, not a word about the post of general secretary. Since the author of the article was Stalin's personal secretary Ivan Tovstukha, it means that such was Stalin's desire.

By the end of the 1920s, Stalin had concentrated such significant personal power in his hands that the position became associated with the highest position in the party leadership, although the Charter of the CPSU (b) did not provide for its existence.

When Molotov was appointed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in 1930, he asked to be relieved of his duties as Secretary of the Central Committee. Stalin agreed. And the duties of the second secretary of the Central Committee began to be performed by Lazar Kaganovich. He replaced Stalin in the Central Committee. .

Stalin - the sovereign ruler of the USSR (1934-1951)

According to R. Medvedev, in January 1934, at the 17th Congress, an illegal bloc was formed mainly from the secretaries of the regional committees and the Central Committee of the National Communist Parties, who, more than anyone else, felt and understood the fallacy of Stalin's policy. Proposals were made to move Stalin to the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars or the Central Executive Committee, and to elect S.M. Kirov. A group of congress delegates discussed this with Kirov, but he resolutely refused, and without his consent the whole plan became unrealistic.

Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich 1977: “ Kirov is a weak organizer. He is a good crowd. And we treated him well. Stalin loved him. I say that he was Stalin's favorite. The fact that Khrushchev cast a shadow on Stalin, as if he had killed Kirov, is vile».

For all the importance of Leningrad and the Leningrad region, their leader Kirov was never the second person in the USSR. The position of the second most important person in the country was occupied by the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Molotov. At the plenum after the congress, Kirov, like Stalin, was elected secretary of the Central Committee. 10 months later, Kirov died in the Smolny building from a shot by a former party worker. . An attempt by opponents of the Stalinist regime to unite around Kirov during the 17th Party Congress led to the beginning of mass terror, which reached its climax in 1937-1938.

Since 1934, the mention of the position of the General Secretary has disappeared from the documents altogether. At the Plenums of the Central Committee held after the 17th, 18th, and 19th Party Congresses, Stalin was elected Secretary of the Central Committee, effectively performing the functions of General Secretary of the Party's Central Committee. After the XVII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, held in 1934, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks elected the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, consisting of Zhdanov, Kaganovich, Kirov and Stalin. Stalin, as chairman of the meetings of the Politburo and the Secretariat, retained the general leadership, that is, the right to approve this or that agenda and determine the degree of readiness of the draft decisions submitted for consideration.

Stalin continued in official documents to sign as "Secretary of the Central Committee" and continued to be addressed as Secretary of the Central Committee.

Subsequent updates of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1939 and 1946 were also held with the election of formally equal secretaries of the Central Committee. The Charter of the CPSU, adopted at the 19th Congress of the CPSU, did not contain any mention of the existence of the post of "general secretary".

In May 1941, in connection with the appointment of Stalin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Politburo adopted a resolution in which Andrei Zhdanov was officially named Stalin's deputy for the party: “In view of the fact that Comrade. Stalin, remaining, at the insistence of the Politburo of the Central Committee, the first Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, will not be able to devote sufficient time to work on the Secretariat of the Central Committee, appoint comrade. Zhdanova A.A. Deputy Comrade. Stalin on the Secretariat of the Central Committee.

Vyacheslav Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich, who had previously actually performed this role, were not awarded the official status of deputy leader for the party.

The struggle among the leaders of the country escalated as Stalin increasingly raised the question that in the event of his death he needed to select successors in the leadership of the party and government. Molotov recalled: “After the war, Stalin was about to retire and said at the table: “Let Vyacheslav work now. He's younger."

For a long time, a possible successor to Stalin was seen in Molotov, but later Stalin, who considered the post of head of government to be the first post in the USSR, in private conversations suggested that he sees Nikolai Voznesensky as his successor in the state line

Continuing to see in Voznesensky his successor in leadership of the country's government, Stalin began to look for another candidate for the post of party leader. Mikoyan recalled: “I think it was 1948. Once, Stalin pointed to 43-year-old Alexei Kuznetsov and said that future leaders should be young, and in general, such a person could someday become his successor in leadership of the party and the Central Committee.

By this time, two dynamic rival groups had formed in the country's leadership. Further, events turned tragically. In August 1948, the leader of the "Leningrad group" A.A. died suddenly. Zhdanov. Almost a year later, in 1949, Voznesensky and Kuznetsov became key figures in the "Leningrad Affair". They were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on October 1, 1950.

The last years of Stalin's rule (1951-1953)

Since Stalin's health was a taboo topic, only various rumors served as a source for versions about his illnesses. The state of health began to affect his performance. Many documents remained unsigned for a long time. He was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and not he, but Voznesensky, chaired the meetings of the Council of Ministers (until he was removed from all posts in 1949). After Voznesensky Malenkov. According to the historian Yu. Zhukov, Stalin's decline in working capacity began in February 1950 and reached its lowest limit, stabilizing in May 1951.

As Stalin began to tire of everyday affairs and business papers remained unsigned for a long time, in February 1951 it was decided that three leaders, Malenkov, Beria and Bulganin, had the right to sign for Stalin, and they used his facsimile.

Georgy Malenkov led the preparations for the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, which took place in October 1952. At the congress, Malenkov was instructed to deliver the Report of the Central Committee, which was a sign of Stalin's special confidence. Georgy Malenkov was seen as his most likely successor.

On the last day of the congress, October 14, Stalin delivered a short speech. This was Stalin's last open public speech.

The procedure for electing the leading bodies of the party at the Plenum of the Central Committee on October 16, 1952 was quite specific. Stalin, taking out a piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket, said: “The Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU could be elected, for example, such comrades - Comrade Stalin, Comrade Andrianov, Comrade Aristov, Comrade Beria, Comrade Bulganin ...” and then alphabetically another 20 names, including the names of Molotov and Mikoyan, to whom in his speech he had just, without any reason, expressed political distrust. Then he read out the candidates for membership in the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, including the names of Brezhnev and Kosygin.

Then Stalin took out another piece of paper from the side pocket of his jacket and said: “Now about the Secretariat of the Central Committee. It would be possible to elect as secretaries of the Central Committee, for example, such comrades as Comrade Stalin, Comrade Aristov, Comrade Brezhnev, Comrade Ignatov, Comrade Malenkov, Comrade Mikhailov, Comrade Pegov, Comrade Ponomarenko, Comrade Suslov, Comrade Khrushchev.

In total, Stalin proposed 36 people to the Presidium and Secretariat.

At the same plenum, Stalin tried to resign from his party duties, refusing the post of secretary of the Central Committee, but under pressure from the delegates of the plenum, he accepted this position.

Suddenly, someone shouted loudly from the spot: “Comrade Stalin must be elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.” Everyone stood up, thunderous applause broke out. The ovation continued for several minutes. We, sitting in the hall, believed that this was quite natural. But then Stalin waved his hand, calling everyone to silence, and when the applause died down, unexpectedly for the members of the Central Committee said: “No! Release me from the duties of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. After these words, some kind of shock arose, an amazing silence reigned ... Malenkov quickly went down to the podium and said: “Comrades! We must all unanimously and unanimously ask Comrade Stalin, our leader and teacher, to continue to be the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Thunderous applause and ovation followed. Then Stalin went to the podium and said: “Applause is not needed at the Plenum of the Central Committee. It is necessary to resolve issues without emotions, in a businesslike way. And I ask to be relieved of my duties as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. I'm already old. I don't read papers. Choose another secretary!”. The people in the hall murmured. Marshal S.K. Timoshenko rose from the front rows and loudly declared: “Comrade Stalin, the people will not understand this! We all as one elect you as our leader - the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. There can be no other solution." Everyone, standing, warmly applauding, supported Comrade Timoshenko. Stalin stood for a long time and looked into the hall, then waved his hand and sat down.

From the memoir of Leonid Efremov "Roads of struggle and labor" (1998)

When the question arose of forming the leading bodies of the party, Stalin took the floor and began to say that it was hard for him to be both the prime minister of the government and the general secretary of the party: The years are not the same; it's hard for me; tired; well, what kind of prime minister is he who cannot even make a report or a report. Stalin said this and inquisitively peered into the faces, as if studying how the Plenum would react to his words about his resignation. Not a single person sitting in the hall, practically did not admit the possibility of Stalin's resignation. And everyone instinctively felt that Stalin did not want his words about his resignation to be accepted for execution.

From the memoir of Dmitry Shepilov "Non-joining"

Unexpectedly for everyone, Stalin proposed the creation of a new, non-statutory body - the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee. It was supposed to fulfill the functions of the former omnipotent Politburo. Stalin proposed not to include Molotov and Mikoyan in this supreme party organ. This was adopted by the Plenum, as always, unanimously.

Stalin continued to search for a successor, but he no longer shared his intentions with anyone. It is known that shortly before his death, Stalin considered Panteleimon Ponomarenko as the successor and continuer of his work. The high authority of Ponomarenko manifested itself at the XIX Congress of the CPSU. When he took the podium to make his speech, the delegates greeted him with applause. However, Stalin did not have time to carry out the appointment of P.K. Ponomarenko to the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Only Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev and Bulganin out of 25 members of the Presidium of the Central Committee did not have time to sign the appointment document. .

And according to the telegram of the regional committee ... considered it his duty to inform General secretary Central Committee CPSU about the state of affairs around the landfill ... the phone rang - called secretary Central Committee CPSU O. D. Baklanov, who was in charge ...

People speak of Stalin as the Leader and General Secretary among the people, less often as the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Government of the USSR. All this is true, but if you ask if Stalin was the General Secretary until his death, then most of the respondents will be mistaken in saying that Iosif Vissarionovich died in the post of General Secretary. Many historians are also mistaken when they say that Stalin wanted to leave the post of general secretary in the fifties.
The fact is that Stalin liquidated the post of General Secretaries of the CPSU (b) in the thirties and until the sixties, already under Brezhnev, there were no general secretaries (already the Central Committee of the CPSU!) in the USSR. Khrushchev was First Secretary and Head of Government after Stalin's death. What post did Stalin himself hold from the thirties until his death, what post did he want to leave? Let's look into this.

Was Stalin the General Secretary? This question will surprise almost everyone. The answer will follow - of course it was! But if you ask an elderly person who remembers the late 1930s - early 50s about this, whether Stalin was called that then, he will answer: "I don’t remember something. You know, for sure - no."
On the other hand, we have heard many times that in April 1922, at the plenum of the Central Committee after the 21st Party Congress, "at Lenin's suggestion" Stalin was elected General Secretary. And after that there was a lot of talk about his secretaryship.

Should be sorted out. Let's start from afar.
The secretary, according to the original meaning of the word, is a clerical position. Not a single state or political institution can do without office work. The Bolsheviks, from the very beginning aimed at seizing power, paid much attention to their archives. It was inaccessible to most of the party members, but Lenin often looked into it for his polemics, in other words, scolding. He had no difficulties - Krupskaya kept the archive.

After the February Revolution, Elena Stasova became secretary of the Central Committee (still with a small letter). If Krupskaya kept the party archive in her desk, then Stasova was given a room in Kseshinskaya's mansion, she got a staff - 3 assistants. In August 1917, after the 6th Congress of the Central Committee, a secretariat was established, headed by Sverdlov.

Further more. Bureaucratization gradually embraced the Bolshevik Party. In 1919, the Politburo and the Orgburo arose. Stalin entered both. In 1920, Krestinsky, a supporter of Trotsky, became the head of the secretariat. A year after the next discussion, it's easier otherwise - squabbles, Krestinsky and other "Trotskyites" were taken out of all the highest bodies of the party. Stalin, as usual, skillfully maneuvered and remained senior in the Orgburo, which included the secretariat.

While Lenin and other "best minds" of the party were engaged in big politics, Stalin, in the words of Trotsky, "outstanding mediocrity", was preparing his army - the party apparatus. Separately, it should be said about Molotov, a typical party official, completely devoted to Stalin. He is in 1921-22. led the secretariat, i.e. was his predecessor.

By April 1922, when Stalin became General Secretary, his position was quite strong. Almost no one noticed this appointment itself. In the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, in the article "VKP(b)" (1928), Stalin is never mentioned separately and there is not a word about any general secretariat. And it was formalized in "working order", among others, "listened-decided", at the suggestion, by the way, of Kamenev.

Most often, the General Secretary was remembered in connection with the so-called "Lenin's Testament" (in fact, the document was called "Letter to the Congress"). One should not think that Lenin only spoke badly about Stalin: "too rude," and offered to replace him with someone else. The most humane person did not say a kind word about any of his "Parteigenosse".

There is an important feature of Lenin's statement about Stalin. Lenin dictated the proposal to remove him on January 4, 1923, after he learned of Stalin's rudeness towards Krupskaya. The main text of the "Testament" was dictated on December 23-25, 1922, and it says rather reservedly about Stalin: "concentrated immense power in his hands," and so on. In any case, not much worse than about others (Trotsky is self-confident, Bukharin is a scholastic, does not understand dialectics, and in general, almost a non-Marxist). So much for the "principled" Vladimir Ilyich. Until Stalin got nasty to his wife, he did not even think about removing Stalin.

I will not dwell on the further history of the Testament. It is important to emphasize that Stalin, by skillful demagogy, flexible tactics, and blockade with various "Tsekists", ensured that the post of General Secretary remained with him. Let us go straight to 1934, when the 17th Party Congress took place.

It has already been written many times that some of the congress delegates decided to replace Stalin with Kirov. Naturally, there are no documents about this, and "memoir evidence" is extremely contradictory. The charter of the party, based on the notorious "democratic centralism", completely excludes any personnel transfers by decision of congresses. The congresses elected only the central bodies, but no one personally. Such issues were resolved in a narrow circle of the party elite.

Nevertheless, the "Testament" was not forgotten, and Stalin could not yet consider himself guaranteed against all sorts of accidents. At the end of the 1920s, the "Testament" was mentioned openly or veiled at various party gatherings. They talked about him, for example, Kamenev, Bukharin and even Kirov. Stalin had to defend himself. He interpreted Lenin's words about his rudeness as praise that he was rude to those who "rudely and treacherously destroy and split the party."

By 1934, Stalin decided to put an end to all talk of the Testament. In the era of the "great terror", the possession of this Leninist document began to be equated with counter-revolutionary activity. With related findings. Neither at the 17th Congress nor at the subsequent plenum of the Central Committee was the question of the General Secretary raised. Since then, Stalin signed all the documents modestly - the Secretary of the Central Committee, even after the Presovnarkom Molotov. This was until May 1940, when he combined both positions.

In October 1952, at the plenum after the 19th Congress, the post of General Secretary was abolished - officially, however, there was no information about this. No one should have remembered this story at all.

They revived the General Secretariat many years later, in the Brezhnev era.
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the topic of this note is rather secondary, and in no case should Stalin's unwillingness to be called General Secretary after 1934 be regarded as a sign of his "modesty". This is just his petty maneuver, aimed at quickly forgetting about Lenin's letter and all the vicissitudes associated with it.

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General secretaries of the USSR in chronological order
General secretaries of the USSR in chronological order. Today they are already just a part of history, and once their faces were familiar to every single inhabitant of a vast country. The political system in the Soviet Union was such that citizens did not choose their leaders. The decision to appoint the next general secretary was made by the ruling elite. But, nevertheless, the people respected the state leaders and, for the most part, perceived this state of affairs as a given.
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin)
Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, was born on December 18, 1879 in the Georgian city of Gori. He became the first general secretary of the CPSU. He received this position in 1922, when Lenin was still alive, and until the death of the latter he played a secondary role in government.
When Vladimir Ilyich died, a serious struggle began for the highest post. Many of Stalin's competitors had a much better chance of taking him, but thanks to tough, uncompromising actions, Iosif Vissarionovich managed to emerge victorious from the game. Most of the other applicants were physically destroyed, some left the country.
In just a few years of rule, Stalin took the whole country under his "hedgehogs". By the beginning of the 1930s, he finally established himself as the sole leader of the people. The policy of the dictator went down in history:
mass repressions;
· total dispossession;
collectivization.
For this, Stalin was branded by his own followers during the “thaw”. But there is something for which Joseph Vissarionovich, according to historians, is worthy of praise. This is, first of all, the rapid transformation of a ruined country into an industrial and military giant, as well as a victory over fascism. It is quite possible that if the "cult of personality" was not so condemned by all, these achievements would have been unrealistic. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died on March 5, 1953.
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was born on April 15, 1894 in the Kursk province (the village of Kalinovka) into a simple working-class family. Participated in the Civil War, where he took the side of the Bolsheviks. In the CPSU since 1918. In the late 1930s he was appointed secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
Khrushchev took over the Soviet state shortly after Stalin's death. At first, he had to compete with Georgy Malenkov, who also claimed the highest post and at that time was actually the leader of the country, chairing the Council of Ministers. But in the end, the coveted chair still remained with Nikita Sergeevich.
When Khrushchev was General Secretary, the Soviet country:
launched the first man into space and developed this sphere in every possible way;
· Actively built up five-story buildings, today called "Khrushchev";
planted the lion's share of the fields with corn, for which Nikita Sergeevich was even nicknamed the "maize man".
This ruler went down in history primarily with his legendary speech at the 20th Party Congress in 1956, where he branded Stalin and his bloody policies. From that moment, the so-called “thaw” began in the Soviet Union, when the grip of the state was loosened, cultural figures received some freedom, etc. All this lasted until the removal of Khrushchev from his post on October 14, 1964.
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was born in the Dnepropetrovsk region (village Kamenskoye) on December 19, 1906. His father was a metallurgist. In the CPSU since 1931. He occupied the main post of the country as a result of a conspiracy. It was Leonid Ilyich who led the group of members of the Central Committee that ousted Khrushchev.
The Brezhnev era in the history of the Soviet state is characterized as stagnation. The latter appeared as follows:
· the development of the country has stopped in almost all areas, except for the military-industrial;
The USSR began to seriously lag behind Western countries;
Citizens again felt the grip of the state, repressions and persecution of dissidents began.
Leonid Ilyich tried to improve relations with the United States, which had aggravated back in the time of Khrushchev, but he did not succeed very well. The arms race continued, and after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, it was impossible to even think about any kind of reconciliation. Brezhnev held a high post until his death, which occurred on November 10, 1982.
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was born in the station town of Nagutskoye (Stavropol Territory) on June 15, 1914. His father was a railroad worker. In the CPSU since 1939. He was active, which contributed to his rapid rise up the career ladder.
At the time of Brezhnev's death, Andropov headed the State Security Committee. He was elected by his associates to the highest post. The board of this general secretary covers a period of less than two years. During this time, Yuri Vladimirovich managed to fight a little with corruption in power. But he did nothing drastic. On February 9, 1984, Andropov died. The reason for this was a serious illness.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was born in 1911 on September 24 in the Yenisei province (the village of Bolshaya Tes). His parents were peasants. In the CPSU since 1931. Since 1966 - Deputy of the Supreme Council. Appointed General Secretary of the CPSU on February 13, 1984.
Chernenko became the successor of Andropov's policy of identifying corrupt officials. He was in power for less than a year. The cause of his death on March 10, 1985 was also a serious illness.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the North Caucasus (the village of Privolnoe). His parents were peasants. In the CPSU since 1952. He proved to be an active public figure. Moved quickly along the party line.
He was appointed Secretary General on March 11, 1985. He went down in history with the policy of "perestroika", which provided for the introduction of glasnost, the development of democracy, the provision of certain economic freedoms and other liberties to the population. Gorbachev's reforms led to mass unemployment, the liquidation of state-owned enterprises, and a total shortage of goods. This causes an ambiguous attitude towards the ruler on the part of the citizens of the former USSR, which collapsed just during the reign of Mikhail Sergeyevich.
But in the West, Gorbachev is one of the most respected Russian politicians. He was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev was Secretary General until August 23, 1991, and the USSR headed until December 25 of the same year.
All deceased general secretaries of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are buried near the Kremlin wall. Their list was closed by Chernenko. Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is still alive. In 2017, he turned 86 years old.
Photos of the General Secretaries of the USSR in chronological order
Stalin
Khrushchev
Brezhnev
Andropov
Chernenko

The general secretaries (general secretaries) of the USSR... Once their faces were known to almost every inhabitant of our vast country. Today they are only part of the story. Each of these political figures committed actions and deeds that were evaluated later, and not always positively. It should be noted that the general secretaries were not chosen by the people, but by the ruling elite. In this article, we present a list of the General Secretaries of the USSR (with photo) in chronological order.

I. V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili)

This politician was born in the Georgian city of Gori on December 18, 1879 in the family of a shoemaker. In 1922, during the lifetime of V.I. Lenin (Ulyanov), he was appointed the first general secretary. It is he who heads the list of general secretaries of the USSR in chronological order. However, it should be noted that while Lenin was alive, Joseph Vissarionovich played a secondary role in government. After the death of the “leader of the proletariat”, a serious struggle broke out for the highest state post. Numerous competitors of I. V. Dzhugashvili had every chance to take this post. But thanks to uncompromising, and sometimes even tough actions, political intrigues, Stalin emerged victorious from the game, he managed to establish a regime of personal power. Note that most of the applicants were simply physically destroyed, and the rest were forced to leave the country. For a rather short period of time, Stalin managed to take the country into "hedgehogs". In the early thirties, Joseph Vissarionovich became the sole leader of the people.

The policy of this Secretary General of the USSR went down in history:

mass repression;

collectivization;

total dispossession.

In 37-38 years of the last century, mass terror was carried out, in which the number of victims reached 1,500,000 people. In addition, historians blame Iosif Vissarionovich for his policy of forced collectivization, mass repressions that took place in all sectors of society, and the forced industrialization of the country. Some traits of the leader's character affected the domestic policy of the country:

sharpness;

thirst for unlimited power;

high conceit;

intolerance for other people's opinions.

Cult of personality

You will find a photo of the Secretary General of the USSR, as well as other leaders who have ever held this post, in the presented article. We can say with certainty that Stalin's personality cult had a very tragic effect on the fate of millions of very different people: scientific and creative intelligentsia, statesmen and party leaders, and the military.

For all this, during the thaw, Joseph Stalin was branded by his followers. But not all actions of the leader are reprehensible. According to historians, there are moments for which Stalin is worthy of praise. Of course, the most important thing is the victory over fascism. In addition, there was a fairly rapid transformation of the destroyed country into an industrial and even military giant. There is an opinion that if it were not for the personality cult of Stalin, now condemned by all, many accomplishments would be impossible. The death of Joseph Vissarionovich happened on March 5, 1953. Let's look at all the general secretaries of the USSR in order.

N. S. Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeevich was born in the Kursk province on April 15, 1894, in an ordinary working-class family. He took part in the civil war on the side of the Bolsheviks. He was a member of the CPSU since 1918. In the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in the late thirties he was appointed secretary. Nikita Sergeevich headed the Soviet Union some time after Stalin's death. It should be said that he had to fight for this post with G. Malenkov, who chaired the Council of Ministers and at that time was actually the leader of the country. But still the leading role went to Nikita Sergeevich.

During the reign of Khrushchev N.S. as General Secretary of the USSR in the country:

There was a launch of the first man into space, all kinds of development of this sphere.

A huge part of the fields were planted with corn, thanks to which Khrushchev was nicknamed "corn".

During his reign, the active construction of five-story buildings began, which later became known as "Khrushchev".

Khrushchev became one of the initiators of the "thaw" in foreign and domestic policy, the rehabilitation of victims of repression. This politician made an unsuccessful attempt to modernize the party-state system. He also announced a significant improvement (along with capitalist countries) in living conditions for the Soviet people. At the XX and XXII Congresses of the CPSU, in 1956 and 1961. accordingly, he spoke harshly about the activities of Joseph Stalin and his cult of personality. However, the construction of a nomenklatura regime in the country, the violent dispersal of demonstrations (in 1956 - in Tbilisi, in 1962 - in Novocherkassk), the Berlin (1961) and Caribbean (1962) crises, the aggravation of relations with China, the building of communism by 1980 and the well-known political call to “catch up and overtake America!” - all this made Khrushchev's policy inconsistent. And on October 14, 1964, Nikita Sergeevich was relieved of his post. Khrushchev died on September 11, 1971, after a long illness.
L. I. Brezhnev

The third in order in the list of General Secretaries of the USSR is L. I. Brezhnev. Born in the village of Kamenskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region on December 19, 1906. In the CPSU since 1931. He took the post of general secretary as a result of a conspiracy. Leonid Ilyich was the leader of the group of members of the Central Committee (Central Committee) that ousted Nikita Khrushchev. The era of Brezhnev's rule in the history of our country is characterized as stagnation. This happened for the following reasons:

in addition to the military-industrial sphere, the development of the country was stopped;

The Soviet Union began to lag significantly behind Western countries;

repression and persecution began again, people again felt the grip of the state.

Note that during the reign of this politician there were both negative and favorable sides. At the very beginning of his reign, Leonid Ilyich played a positive role in the life of the state. He curtailed all the unreasonable undertakings created by Khrushchev in the economic sphere. In the first years of Brezhnev's rule, enterprises were given more independence, material incentives, and the number of planned indicators was reduced. Brezhnev tried to establish good relations with the United States, but he never succeeded. And after the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, this became impossible.

period of stagnation

By the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, Brezhnev's entourage cared more about their clan interests and often ignored the interests of the state as a whole. The politician's inner circle catered to the sick leader in everything, awarded him orders and medals. The reign of Leonid Ilyich lasted for 18 years, he was in power the longest, with the exception of Stalin. The eighties in the Soviet Union are characterized as a "period of stagnation". Although, after the devastation of the 90s, it is increasingly presented as a period of peace, state power, prosperity and stability. Most likely, these opinions have the right to be, because the entire Brezhnev period of government is heterogeneous in nature. L. I. Brezhnev was in his position until November 10, 1982, until his death.

Yu. V. Andropov

This politician spent less than 2 years at the post of General Secretary of the USSR. Yuri Vladimirovich was born in the family of a railway worker on June 15, 1914. His homeland is the Stavropol Territory, the city of Nagutskoye. Party member since 1939. Due to the fact that the politician was active, he quickly climbed the career ladder. At the time of Brezhnev's death, Yuri Vladimirovich led the State Security Committee.

He was nominated for the post of general secretary by his associates. Andropov set himself the task of reforming the Soviet state, trying to prevent the impending socio-economic crisis. But, unfortunately, I didn't have time. During the reign of Yuri Vladimirovich, special attention was paid to labor discipline in the workplace. While serving as Secretary General of the USSR, Andropov opposed the numerous privileges that were granted to employees of the state and party apparatus. Andropov showed this by personal example, refusing most of them. After his death on February 9, 1984 (due to a long illness), this politician was the least criticized and most of all aroused the support of society.
K. U. Chernenko

On September 24, 1911, Konstantin Chernenko was born into a peasant family in the Yeysk province. He has been in the ranks of the CPSU since 1931. He was appointed to the post of General Secretary on February 13, 1984, immediately after Yu.V. Andropov. When governing the state, he continued the policy of his predecessor. He served as general secretary for about a year. The death of a politician occurred on March 10, 1985, the cause was a serious illness.

M.S. Gorbachev

The date of birth of the politician is March 2, 1931, his parents were simple peasants. Gorbachev's homeland is the village of Privolnoye in the North Caucasus. He joined the Communist Party in 1952. He acted as an active public figure, therefore he quickly moved along the party line. Mikhail Sergeevich completes the list of general secretaries of the USSR. He was appointed to this position on March 11, 1985. Later he became the only and last president of the USSR. The era of his reign went down in history with the policy of "perestroika". It provided for the development of democracy, the introduction of publicity, and the provision of economic freedom to the people. These reforms of Mikhail Sergeyevich led to mass unemployment, a total shortage of goods and the liquidation of a huge number of state-owned enterprises.

The collapse of the Union

During the reign of this politician, the USSR collapsed. All the fraternal republics of the Soviet Union declared their independence. It should be noted that in the West, MS Gorbachev is considered perhaps the most respected Russian politician. Mikhail Sergeevich has the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev remained in the post of general secretary until August 24, 1991. He headed the Soviet Union until December 25 of the same year. In 2018, Mikhail Sergeevich turned 87 years old.
April 3, 1922 - Stalin was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b)
At the beginning of the 1920s, Stalin was not as famous as Lenin or Trotsky. However, at the same time, he confidently entered the second echelon of Bolshevik leaders: one of the oldest Bolsheviks, a member of the party since its foundation in 1898, a member of the Central Committee since 1912 and a member of the Politburo since 1919, Stalin was also a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee and the historical first composition of the Council of People's Commissars, elected by the II Congress of Soviets in 1917. For several years, Stalin oversaw the national policy of Bolshevism, having received a secondary post as People's Commissar for Nationalities, and delivered a number of official reports of the Central Committee on the national question at party congresses. From 1920, Stalin also headed the Rabkrin (state control bodies).
Stalin's sharp ascent to the heights of power began with the end of the Civil War and the transition to the construction of a full-fledged state apparatus in the country. Beginning in late 1921, Lenin increasingly interrupted his work in leadership of the party. He instructed Stalin to carry out the main work in this direction.
Already at the time of the XI Congress of the RCP (b) in the spring of 1922, Lenin was seriously ill, and therefore he was able to appear only at four meetings out of 12. During this period, Stalin was a permanent member of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), and at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) ) April 3, 1922 was elected to the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), as well as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Initially, this position meant only the leadership of the party apparatus, while Lenin continued to be perceived as the leader of the party and government by everyone. Thus, Stalin actually headed the “technical” apparatus of the party at the time of its rapid growth, simultaneously heading the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, the Secretariat of the Central Committee and the Rabkrin.
The documents available to historians do not allow us to find out exactly who, when and under what circumstances had the idea to single out one of the secretaries of the Central Committee as general. It is known, however, that on the eve of the Eleventh Congress of the RCP(b) the hierarchical scheme of organization and functioning of the apparatus, topped by the post of general secretary, became popular in the leadership of the party.
Thus, a month before the Eleventh Congress of the RCP(b), at a meeting of Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev, the question of a new Secretariat of the Central Committee was worked out and put before Lenin for the first time. The question of singling out one of the secretaries as the general secretary is not yet on the table, but Stalin's place in the new secretariat is definitely indicated. He is the first on the list, and according to the tradition that has developed in the party, if there were no special reservations, then the primacy in the list of members of a commission, collegium meant an instruction to assemble its members, to preside over it, i.e. actually lead its work. This is understandable: as a member of the Politburo, Stalin could not help but have such primacy, so to speak, "in fact." Judging by the further development of events, Lenin agreed with the proposal on the composition of the Secretariat and on the proposal of this composition to the congress delegates.
Molotov provides interesting information about Lenin's preparations for the election of Stalin as General Secretary. It is with Lenin that he connects the first mention of the name of the new position - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). “At the XI Congress,” Molotov recalled, “the so-called “list of dozens” appeared - the names of alleged members of the Central Committee, supporters of Lenin. Against Stalin's name was written in Lenin's hand: "General Secretary."
If Lenin proposed to include in the list of candidates an indication of the future general secretary and secretaries of the Central Committee, then he planned to discuss this issue at the plenary session of the congress before it was discussed by the Plenum of the Central Committee. Could Lenin have foreseen the violent backlash from his opponents? Obviously yes. The question arises: why did Lenin need to address this issue to the delegates of the entire congress, if it fell within the competence of the Plenum of the Central Committee? If Lenin took such an unusual step, it means that he considered it fundamentally important.
What is the meaning of it? If we proceed from the traditional idea that first a position was created, and then a candidate was selected for it, then the step taken by Lenin looks senseless or imprudent: he ran into a scandal and was forced, with the help of Kamenev, to disavow his unsuccessful move. But this step makes a lot of sense if we see what happened: the post of general secretary was created as part of the reorganization of the management system carried out by Lenin and it was created specifically for Stalin. In this case, the meaning of this step could be to force all the congress delegates to speak out about Stalin. The goal was achieved: more than 40% of the congress delegates spoke in favor, and this was much more than the proportion of Central Committee members in the congress. Objectively, this strengthened the moral and political position of Stalin in the party and its leadership and increased his chances in the upcoming political struggle for leadership in the party. Consequently, we have indirect and independent (from Molotov's story) evidence that Lenin looked at Stalin as the person who should replace him as the leader of the party and the revolution.
The same idea is also suggested by the fact that at the 11th Party Congress Lenin defended Stalin against Preobrazhensky's criticism, giving Stalin an excellent political characterization in the face of the congress. If the chairman of the Central Committee was conceived as the highest position in the party instead of the general secretary, then it can be assumed that it came from Trotsky and his supporters. This option allowed them to politically torpedo Lenin's plan by placing the work of the Secretariat of the Central Committee under the constant political control of the chairman of the Central Committee.
Lenin was against the establishment of the post of chairman of the Central Committee. Against, even if it was meant for him. Why? Maybe because he knew that after his retirement, rivalry and struggle would arise in the Politburo, relying on two almost equivalent positions - the chairman and general secretary of the Central Committee? A struggle which, under these conditions, can only become more difficult, sharper and more threatening to split the party. If Lenin was against the establishment of the post of chairman of the Central Committee, then he advocated that the general secretary should not share his power with him. But it follows from this that the point is not in the position, but in the system in which it is inscribed. Lenin's rejection of the proposal for the chairman of the Central Committee of the party says that Lenin wanted a general secretary at the head of the party.
This proposal by Lenin, coupled with his rejection of the proposal to introduce the post of chairman of the Central Committee, indicates that he wanted to see Stalin at the head of the party as general secretary. Indeed, if the scheme of the Comintern is adopted in the RCP(b), then the power and influence of I.V. Stalin as General Secretary of the Central Committee are balanced by the post of Chairman of the Central Committee, and he himself is doomed to play the role of a guide to the life of decisions taken by a collegial body working under the leadership of the chairman. Lenin rejected this scheme. If the scheme adopted for the Profintern is adopted, then the general secretary of the Central Committee will inevitably play a much more independent political role. Lenin supported a scheme that prevented the fragmentation of power in the leadership of the party, allowing to combine the work of a collegiate body with a significant concentration of political power in the hands of the general secretary of the party's Central Committee. It was possible to grant such power only to a person in whom you have absolute political trust.
The Plenum of the Central Committee of the party also formed the Politburo, the Orgburo and the representation of the RCP in the Comintern. The Politburo included 7 people: “TT. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Tomsky, Rykov. Candidates for membership in the Politburo were “TT. Molotov, Kalinin, Bukharin. Stalin, Molotov, Kuibyshev, Rykov, Tomsky, Dzerzhinsky and Andreev were "appointed" members of the Orgburo, and Rudzutak, Zelensky, Kalinin were candidates for membership. The order in which the names are listed on the list reflects the fact that the 11th Congress was the time when Stalin seriously consolidated his political positions. In the list of members of the Politburo, he took third place, in contrast to the fifth in the list of members of the Central Committee, put to the vote. Among the members of the Orgburo, he occupies the first place, which, according to the traditions of that time, meant chairmanship in a collective body.
Now the reader can appreciate the version of the creation of the post of general secretary and the election of Stalin to it, proposed by Trotsky and picked up by traditional historiography.
There are enough grounds to accept as a working hypothesis the proposition that Lenin brought Stalin to power and ensured his leadership in the party and, therefore, the entire political hierarchy, because, thinking about a successor, he fixed his eyes on Stalin.
If we take into account the position that the party occupied in the political system of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, it becomes clear that the post of general secretary, being the highest position in the party, at the same time became the highest position in the political system of the Soviet state. Above her was only Lenin, whose position was determined not by positions, but by his role as leader of the party and revolution. Therefore, the introduction of the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) actually meant the replacement of Trotsky by Stalin as "leader No. 2" in the party. It may not have been clear to everyone yet, but two years later it will become clear even to outside observers.
If we evaluate the establishment of the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) from the point of view of Lenin’s desire to strengthen the positions of his supporters in the Central Committee and the party, their ability to ensure the implementation of a jointly developed course, then we must admit that this innovation was a logical and timely political step, quite in line with in the reorganization of the political system that Lenin carried out.
The fact that Stalin took this political position with the most active support of Lenin was of great importance for Stalin's political future and far-reaching consequences for the alignment of political forces in the leadership of the party, for the outcome of the struggle between Bolshevism and Trotskyism in the RCP(b) and in the Comintern.
In itself, the post of general secretary added little to the power that was already concentrated in the hands of Stalin by the 11th Party Congress. It would be more correct to say that this position expanded his power opportunities and strengthened his political positions, since now his power was based on the authority of the decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee, approved by the party congress, and the position of general secretary itself was already inscribed in the new management system and was its pinnacle. Now Stalin could enter into the most diverse issues of foreign and domestic policy as the highest official of the ruling party.