List of leaders of the Soviet Union
List of leaders
The following list includes persons who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1922 until its 1991 dissolution.

List of leaders of the Soviet Union

Section Title: List of leaders
Table Section Text: The following list includes persons who held the top leadership position of the Soviet Union from its founding in 1922 until its 1991 dissolution.

Name (lifetime)	Portrait	Period	Congress(es)	Notes	Political office

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)	-	30 December 1922 ↓ 21 January 1924†	1st–10th 11th 12th	Informal leader of the Bolsheviks since their inception. Lenin was leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from 1917 and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 until his death.	Chairman of Sovnarkom

Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)	-	21 January 1924 ↓ 5 March 1953†	13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th	Stalin initially ruled as part of a Triumvirate with Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev until this broke down in April 1925.[incomplete short citation] Stalin also held the post of the Minister of Defence from 19 July 1941 until 3 March 1947 and Chairman of the State Defense Committee during World War II and became the only officer to hold the office of People's Commissar of Nationalities from 1921 to 1923.	General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922–1952)

Chairman of the Council of Ministers

Georgy Malenkov (1902–1988)	-	5 March 1953 ↓ 8 September 1953	—	Succeeded to all of Stalin's titles, but he was forced to resign most of them within a month. Through the office of Premier, Malenkov was locked in a power struggle against Khrushchev.

Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971)	-	8 September 1953 ↓ 14 October 1964	20th 21st 22nd	Served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (from September 1953) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 27 March 1958 to 14 October 1964.	First Secretary of the Communist Party

Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982)	-	14 October 1964 ↓ 10 November 1982†	23rd 24th 25th 26th	Served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Brezhnev was later renamed General Secretary and was co-equal with premier Alexei Kosygin until the 1970s.	General Secretary of the Communist Party

Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)	-	10 November 1982 ↓ 9 February 1984†	—	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 16 June 1983 to 9 February 1984.

Konstantin Chernenko (1911–1985)	-	9 February 1984 ↓ 10 March 1985†	—	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from 11 April 1984 to 10 March 1985.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–)	-	10 March 1985 ↓ 26 December 1991	27th 28th	Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985 and resigned on 24 August 1991, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990 and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991.

President (1990–1991)

Sentence(s)

Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985.
Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from 1984 until thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985.
Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from February 1984 until 10 March 1985.

final_sentence: Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985.
final_sentence: Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from 1984 until thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985.
final_sentence: Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from February 1984 until 10 March 1985.