Following Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the 1920s[3] the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party became synonymous with 'Leader of the Soviet Union'[4] because the post controlled both the CPSU and the Soviet Government.[3] The post of the General Secretary was abolished in 1952 under Stalin and later re-established by Nikita Khrushchev under the name of First Secretary; in 1966 Leonid Brezhnev reverted the office title to its former name. Being the head of the communist party,[5] the office of the General Secretary was the highest in the Soviet Union until 1990.[6][incomplete short citation] The post of General Secretary lacked clear guidelines of succession, so after the death or removal of a Soviet leader, the successor usually needed the support of the Politburo, the Central Committee, or another government or party apparatus to both take and stay in power. The President of the Soviet Union, an office created in March 1990, replaced the General Secretary as the highest Soviet political office.[7]
Contemporaneously to establishment of the office of the President, representatives of the Congress of People's Deputies voted to remove Article 6 from the Soviet constitution which stated that the Soviet Union was a one-party state controlled by the Communist Party which, in turn, played the leading role in society. This vote weakened the Party and its hegemony over the Soviet Union and its people.[8] Upon death, resignation, or removal from office of an incumbent President, the Vice President of the Soviet Union would assume the office, though the Soviet Union collapsed before this was actually tested.[9] After the failed August Coup the Vice President was replaced by an elected member of the State Council of the Soviet Union.[10]
Vladimir Lenin was voted the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Sovnarkom) on 30 December 1922 by the Congress of Soviets.[11] His health, at the age of 53, declined from effects of two bullet wounds, later aggravated by three strokes which culminated with his death in 1924.[12] Irrespective of his health status in his final days, Lenin was already losing much of his power to Stalin.[13]Alexei Rykov succeeded Lenin as Chairman of the Sovnarkom, and although he was de jure the most powerful person in the country, the Politburo of the Communist Party began to overshadow the Sovnarkom in the mid-1920s. By the end of the decade, Rykov merely rubber stamped the decisions predetermined by Stalin and the Politburo.[14]
Stalin's early policies pushed for rapid industrialisation, nationalisation of private industry[15] and the collectivisation of private plots created under Lenin's New Economic Policy.[16] As leader of the Politburo, Stalin consolidated near-absolute power by 1938 after the Great Purge, a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution.[17]Nazi German troops invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941,[18] but were repulsed by the Soviets in December. On Stalin's orders, the USSR launched a counter-attack on Nazi Germany.[19] Stalin died in March 1953,[20] his death triggered a power struggle in which Nikita Khrushchev after several years emerged victorious against Georgy Malenkov.[21]
Khrushchev denounced Stalin on two occasions: in 1956 and 1962. His policy of de-Stalinisation earned him many enemies within the party, especially from old Stalinist appointees. Many saw this approach as destructive and destabilising. A group known as Anti-Party Group tried, but failed, to oust Khrushchev from office in 1957.[22] As Khrushchev grew older, his erratic behavior became worse, usually making decisions without discussing or confirming them with the Politburo.[23]Leonid Brezhnev, a close companion of Khrushchev, was elected First Secretary the same day of Khrushchev's removal from power; Alexei Kosygin became the new Premier and Anastas Mikoyan kept his office as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In 1965, on the orders of the Politburo, Mikoyan was forced to retire; Nikolai Podgorny took over the office of Chairman of the Presidium.[24] The USSR in the post-Khrushchev 1960s was governed by a collective leadership.[25]Henry A. Kissinger, the American National Security Advisor, mistakenly believed that Kosygin was the 'Leader of the Soviet Union and that he was at the helm of 'Soviet foreign policy' because he represented the Soviet Union at the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference.[26] The "Era of Stagnation", a derogatory term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev, was a period marked by low socio-economic efficiency in the country and a gerontocracy ruling the country.[27]Yuri Andropov succeeded Brezhnev in his post as General Secretary in 1982. He was 68 years old at the time. In 1983 Andropov was hospitalised, and rarely met up at work to chair the politburo meetings due to his declining health; Nikolai Tikhonov usually chaired the meetings in his place.[28] Following Andropov's death 15 months after his appointment, an even older leader, 72 year old Konstantin Chernenko was elected to the General Secretariat. His rule lasted for little more than a year until his death 13 months later on 10 March 1985.[29]
Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the General Secretariat by the Politburo on 11 March 1985.[30] He was 54 years old at the time. In May 1985, Gorbachev publicly admitted the slowing down of the economic development and inadequate living standards, being the first Soviet leader to do so, and began a series of fundamental reforms. From 1986 to around 1988 he dismantled central planning, allowed state enterprises to set their own outputs, enabled private investment in businesses not previously permitted to be privately owned, and allowed foreign investment, among other measures. He also opened up the management of and decision-making within the Soviet Union, and allowed greater public discussion and criticism, along with a warming of relationships with the West. These twin policies were known as perestroika (literally meaning "reconstruction", but varies) and glasnost ("openness" and "transparency") respectively.[31] The dismantling of the principal defining features of communism in 1988 and 1989 in the Soviet Union led to the unintended consequence of the Soviet Union breaking up after the failed August Coup of 1991 led by Gennady Yanayev.[32]
List of leaders
The following list includes only those persons who were able to gather enough support from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the government, or one of these to lead the Soviet Union. † denotes leaders who died in office.
Succeeded to all of Stalin's titles, but was forced to resign most of them within a month.[42] Malenkov, through the office of Premier, was locked in a power struggle against Khrushchev.[43]
Served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (from September 1953) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 27 March 1958 to 14 October 1964. While vacationing in Abkhazia, Khrushchev was called by Leonid Brezhnev to return to Moscow for a special meeting of the Presidium, to be held on 13 October 1964. There, at the most fiery session since the so-called "anti-party group" crisis of 1957, he was fired from all his posts. He was largely left in peace in retirement, but was made a "non-person" to the extent that his name was removed even from the thirty-volume Soviet Encyclopedia.[46] He died in 1971. He was seen overseas as a reformer of a "petrified structure"[47][incomplete short citation] and described his main contribution as removing the fear that Stalin had brought,[48] but many of his reforms were later reversed.
Served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, was later renamed General Secretary,[23] and was co-equal with premier Alexei Kosygin until the 1970s. To consolidate his power he later assumed the title of Chairman of the Presidium.[24]
Served as General Secretary from 11 March 1985,[55] and resigned on 24 August 1991,[58] Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1 October[54] 1988 until the office was renamed to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet on 25 May 1989 to 15 March 1990[55] and President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990[59] to 25 December 1991.[60] The day following Gorbachev's resignation as President, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.[57]
On four occasions—the 2–3 year period following Lenin's incapacitation that preceded Stalin's dictatorship; the 3 months immediately following Stalin's death; the interval between Khrushchev's fall and Leonid Brezhnev's consolidation of power; and the ailing Chernenko's tenure as General Secretary—a form of collective leadership known as the troika ("triumvirate")[61] governed the Soviet Union, with no single individual holding leadership alone.[24][40][62]
When Vladimir Lenin suffered his first stroke in May 1922, a Troika was established to govern the country in his place, although Lenin briefly returned to the leadership from 2 October 1922 until a severe stroke on 9 March 1923 ended Lenin's political career. The Troika consisted of Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, and Grigory Zinoviev. The Troika broke up in April 1925, when Kamenev and Zinoviev found themselves in a minority over their belief that socialism could only be achieved internationally. Zinoviev and Kamenev joined forces with Leon Trotsky's Left Opposition in early 1926.[64] Later, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky would all be murdered on Stalin's orders.
Following Khruschev's ouster, a Troika took power consisting of Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary, Alexei Kosygin as Premier and Nikolai Podgorny who ultimately ascended to the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. During Brezhnev's gradual consolidation of power, the Troika was "dissolved" when he succeeded Podgorny in 1977 as Presidium chairman.[24] However, the collective leadership continued to exist in a different shape after Podgorny's ouster in the Party leadership throughout the rest of Brezhnev's rule.[69]
Despite succeeding Yuri Andropov as General Secretary , Konstantin Chernenko was unable to secure full control over its apparatus due to his poor health[72] and lack of a mandate from the nomenklatura.[73] These circumstances resulted in a collective leadership giving Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov a monopoly over the USSR's foreign policy and military[74] while leaving Chernenko in control of the nation's domestic policy [75]. From this point forward, these three figures dominated Politburo decision-making until Ustinov's death in December 1984.
^Anderson, Annelise & Anderson, Martin. Reagan's Secret War: The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World From Nuclear Disaster., First Edition, Crown Publishers, New York, 2009, p. 156-57
^Service, Robert. The End of the Cold War:1985-1991., First Edition, Public Affairs, New York, 2015, p.105
^ Saxon, Wolfgang. Succession In Moscow: Siberian Peasant Who Won Power; Konstantin Chernenko, A Brezhnev Protege, Led Brief Regime. The New York Times, New York, 1984-03-12
^ Kenez, Peter. A History of the Soviet Union From the Beginning to the End. , Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999, p. 244
^Mitchell, R. Judson. Getting to the Top jn the USSR: Cyclical Patterns in the Leadership Succession Process. First Edition, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1990, p.121-22
^Zubok, V.M.A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin To Gorbachev, Second Edition, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2002, p. 276
^ Bialer, Seweryn. The Soviet Paradox: External Expansion, Internal Decline. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, London, 1986 , p. 105.
Europa Publications Limited (2004). Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. Routledge. ISBN978-1857431872.((cite book)): CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Ginsburgs, George; Ajani, Gianmaria; van den Berg, Gerard Peter (1989). Soviet Administrative Law: Theory and Policy. Brill Publishers. ISBN978-0792302889. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Tinggaard Svendsen, Gert; Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase (2009). Handbook of Social Capital: The Troika of Sociology, Political Science and Economics. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN978-1845423230.
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