Leaders of the Communist Party of the USSR in order. The best ruler of the USSR

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR on March 15, 1990 at the III Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
On December 25, 1991, in connection with the cessation of the existence of the USSR as a state entity, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President and signed a Decree transferring control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Yeltsin.

On December 25, after Gorbachev’s announcement of resignation, the red state flag of the USSR was lowered in the Kremlin and the flag of the RSFSR was raised. The first and last President of the USSR left the Kremlin forever.

The first president of Russia, then still the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected on June 12, 1991 by popular vote. B.N. Yeltsin won in the first round (57.3% of the votes).

In connection with the expiration of the term of office of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, elections for the President of Russia were scheduled for June 16, 1996. This was the only presidential election in Russia where two rounds were required to determine the winner. The elections took place from June 16 to July 3 and were distinguished by intense competition between candidates. The main competitors were considered the current President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin and the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G. A. Zyuganov. According to the election results, B.N. Yeltsin received 40.2 million votes (53.82 percent), significantly ahead of G.A. Zyuganov, who received 30.1 million votes (40.31 percent). 3.6 million Russians (4.82%) voted against both candidates .

December 31, 1999 at 12:00 pm Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin voluntarily ceased to exercise the powers of the President of the Russian Federation and transferred the powers of the President to the Chairman of the Government Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. On April 5, 2000, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was awarded pensioner and labor veteran certificates.

December 31, 1999 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became acting president of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with the Constitution, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation set March 26, 2000 as the date for holding early presidential elections.

On March 26, 2000, 68.74 percent of voters included in the voting lists, or 75,181,071 people, took part in the elections. Vladimir Putin received 39,740,434 votes, which amounted to 52.94 percent, that is, more than half of the votes. On April 5, 2000, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation decided to recognize the presidential elections of the Russian Federation as valid and valid, and to consider Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin elected to the post of President of Russia.

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1985-1991), President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (March 1990 - December 1991).
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (March 11, 1985 - August 23, 1991), first and last President of the USSR (March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991).

Head of the Gorbachev Foundation. Since 1993, co-founder of New Daily Newspaper CJSC (from the Moscow register).

Biography of Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village. Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory. Father: Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev. Mother: Maria Panteleevna Gopkalo.

In 1945, M. Gorbachev began working as an assistant combine operator together with by his father. In 1947, 16-year-old combine operator Mikhail Gorbachev received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for high-threshing grain.

In 1950, M. Gorbachev graduated from school with a silver medal. I immediately went to Moscow and entered the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov to the Faculty of Law.
In 1952, M. Gorbachev joined the CPSU.

In 1953 Gorbachev married Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University.

In 1955, he graduated from the university and was given a referral to the regional prosecutor's office of Stavropol.

In Stavropol, Mikhail Gorbachev first became deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol, then the 1st Secretary of the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee and finally the 2nd and 1st Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Komsomol.

Mikhail Gorbachev - party work

In 1962, Mikhail Sergeevich finally switched to party work. Received the position of party organizer of the Stavropol Territorial Production Agricultural Administration. Due to the fact that the reforms of N. Khrushchev are underway in the USSR, great attention is being given to agriculture. M. Gorbachev entered the correspondence department of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.

In the same year, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was approved as head of the department of organizational and party work of the Stavropol rural regional committee of the CPSU.
In 1966, he was elected 1st Secretary of the Stavropol City Party Committee.

In 1967 he received a diploma from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.

The years 1968-1970 were marked by the consistent election of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, first as the 2nd and then as the 1st secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU.

In 1971, Gorbachev was admitted to the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1978, he received the post of Secretary of the CPSU for issues of the agro-industrial complex.

In 1980, Mikhail Sergeevich became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU.

In 1985, Gorbachev took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU, that is, he became the head of state.

In the same year, annual meetings between the leader of the USSR and the President of the United States and leaders of foreign countries resumed.

Gorbachev's Perestroika

The period of the reign of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is usually associated with the end of the era of the so-called Brezhnev “stagnation” and with the beginning of “perestroika” - a concept familiar to the whole world.

The Secretary General's first event was a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign (officially launched on May 17, 1985). Alcohol prices in the country rose sharply, and its sales were limited. Vineyards were cut down. All this led to the fact that people began to poison themselves with moonshine and all kinds of alcohol substitutes, and the economy suffered more losses. In response, Gorbachev puts forward the slogan “accelerate socio-economic development.”

The main events of Gorbachev's reign were as follows:
On April 8, 1986, at a speech in Togliatti at the Volzhsky Automobile Plant, Gorbachev first uttered the word “perestroika”; it became the slogan of the new era that had begun in the USSR.
On May 15, 1986, a campaign began to intensify the fight against unearned income (the fight against tutors, flower sellers, drivers).
The anti-alcohol campaign, which began on May 17, 1985, led to a sharp increase in prices for alcoholic beverages, cutting down vineyards, the disappearance of sugar in stores and the introduction of sugar cards, and an increase in life expectancy among the population.
The main slogan was acceleration, associated with promises to dramatically increase industry and the well-being of the people in a short time.
Power reform, introduction of elections to the Supreme Council and local councils on an alternative basis.
Glasnost, the actual lifting of party censorship on the media.
Suppression of local national conflicts, in which the authorities took harsh measures (dispersal of demonstrations in Georgia, forceful dispersal of a youth rally in Almaty, deployment of troops to Azerbaijan, unfolding of a long-term conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, suppression of separatist aspirations of the Baltic republics).
During the Gorbachev period of rule there was a sharp decrease in the reproduction of the population of the USSR.
The disappearance of food from stores, hidden inflation, the introduction of a card system for many types of food in 1989. As a result of pumping the Soviet economy with non-cash rubles, hyperinflation occurred.
Under M.S. Gorbachev, the external debt of the USSR reached a record high. Gorbachev took out debts at high interest rates from different countries. Russia was able to pay off its debts only 15 years after his removal from power. The USSR's gold reserves decreased tenfold: from more than 2,000 tons to 200.

Gorbachev's politics

Reform of the CPSU, abolition of the one-party system and removal from the CPSU constitutional status of “leading and organizing force”.
Rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions who were not rehabilitated under.
Weakening control over the socialist camp (Sinatra doctrine). It led to a change of power in most socialist countries and the unification of Germany in 1990. The end of the Cold War in the United States is regarded as a victory for the American bloc.
The end of the war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of Soviet troops, 1988-1989.
The introduction of Soviet troops against the Popular Front of Azerbaijan in Baku, January 1990, the result - more than 130 dead, including women and children.
Hiding from the public the facts of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986.

In 1987, open criticism of Mikhail Gorbachev's actions began from the outside.

In 1988, at the 19th Party Conference of the CPSU, the resolution “On Glasnost” was officially adopted.

In March 1989, for the first time in the history of the USSR, free elections of people's deputies were held, as a result of which not party henchmen, but representatives of various trends in society, were allowed to power.

In May 1989, Gorbachev was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the same year, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. In October, through the efforts of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, the Berlin Wall was destroyed and Germany was reunited.

In December in Malta, as a result of a meeting between Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush, the heads of state declared that their countries were no longer adversaries.

Behind the successes and breakthroughs in foreign policy lies a serious crisis within the USSR itself. By 1990, food shortages had increased. Local performances began in the republics (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia).

Gorbachev President of the USSR

In 1990, M. Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR at the Third Congress of People's Deputies. In the same year, in Paris, the USSR, as well as European countries, the USA and Canada signed the “Charter for a New Europe”, which effectively marked the end of the Cold War, which lasted fifty years.

In the same year, most of the republics of the USSR declared their state sovereignty.

In July 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev ceded his post as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Boris Yeltsin.

On November 7, 1990, there was an unsuccessful attempt on M. Gorbachev’s life.
The same year brought him the Nobel Peace Prize.

In August 1991, a coup attempt was made in the country (the so-called State Emergency Committee). The state began to rapidly disintegrate.

On December 8, 1991, a meeting of the presidents of the USSR, Belarus and Ukraine took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus). They signed a document on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In 1992 M.S. Gorbachev became the head of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research (“Gorbachev Foundation”).

1993 brought a new post - president of the international environmental organization Green Cross.

In 1996, Gorbachev decided to take part in the presidential elections, and the socio-political movement “Civil Forum” was created. In the 1st round of voting, he is eliminated from the elections with less than 1% of the votes.

In 1999 she died of cancer.

In 2000, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev became the leader of the Russian United Social Democratic Party and chairman of the NTV Public Supervisory Board.

In 2001, Gorbachev began filming a documentary about 20th-century politicians whom he personally interviewed.

In the same year, his Russian United Social Democratic Party merged with the Russian Party of Social Democracy (RPSD) of K. Titov, forming the Social Democratic Party of Russia.

In March 2003, M. Gorbachev’s book “The Facets of Globalization” was published, written by several authors under his leadership.
Gorbachev was married once. Spouse: Raisa Maksimovna, nee Titarenko. Children: Irina Gorbacheva (Virganskaya). Granddaughters - Ksenia and Anastasia. Great-granddaughter - Alexandra.

The years of Gorbachev's reign - results

The activities of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev as head of the CPSU and the USSR are associated with a large-scale attempt at reform in the USSR - perestroika, which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the end of the Cold War. The period of M. Gorbachev's reign is assessed ambiguously by researchers and contemporaries.
Conservative politicians criticize him for the economic devastation, the collapse of the Union and other consequences of the perestroika he invented.

Radical politicians blamed him for the inconsistency of reforms and the attempt to preserve the previous administrative-command system and socialism.
Many Soviet, post-Soviet and foreign politicians and journalists assessed positively Gorbachev’s reforms, democracy and glasnost, the end of the Cold War, and the unification of Germany. The assessment of M. Gorbachev’s activities abroad of the former Soviet Union is more positive and less controversial than in the post-Soviet space.

List of works written by M. Gorbachev:
"A Time for Peace" (1985)
"The Coming Century of Peace" (1986)
"Peace has no alternative" (1986)
"Moratorium" (1986)
"Selected Speeches and Articles" (vols. 1-7, 1986-1990)
“Perestroika: new thinking for our country and for the whole world” (1987)
“The August putsch. Causes and Effects" (1991)
“December-91. My position" (1992)
"Years of Hard Decisions" (1993)
“Life and Reforms” (2 vols., 1995)
“Reformers are never happy” (dialogue with Zdenek Mlynar, in Czech, 1995)
“I want to warn you...” (1996)
“Moral Lessons of the 20th Century” in 2 volumes (dialogue with D. Ikeda, in Japanese, German, French, 1996)
"Reflections on the October Revolution" (1997)
“New thinking. Politics in the era of globalization" (co-authored with V. Zagladin and A. Chernyaev, in German, 1997)
"Reflections on the Past and Future" (1998)
“Understand perestroika... Why is it important now” (2006)

During his reign, Gorbachev received the nicknames “Bear”, “Humpbacked”, “Marked Bear”, “Mineral Secretary”, “Lemonade Joe”, “Gorby”.
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev played himself in the feature film by Wim Wenders “So Far, So Close!” (1993) and participated in a number of other documentaries.

In 2004, he received a Grammy Award for scoring Sergei Prokofiev's musical fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf" together with Sophia Loren and Bill Clinton.

Mikhail Gorbachev has been awarded many prestigious foreign awards and prizes:
Prize named after Indira Gandhi for 1987
Golden Dove for Peace Award for contributions to peace and disarmament, Rome, November 1989.
Peace Prize named after Albert Einstein for his enormous contribution to the struggle for peace and understanding between peoples (Washington, June 1990)
Honorary "Historical Figure" Award from an influential US religious organization - "Call of Conscience Foundation" (Washington, June 1990)
International Peace Prize named after. Martin Luther King's "For a World Without Violence 1991"
Benjamin M. Cardoso Award for Democracy (New York, USA, 1992)
International Prize "Golden Pegasus" (Tuscany, Italy, 1994)
King David Award (USA, 1997) and many others.
Awarded the following orders and medals: Order of the Red Banner of Labor, 3 Orders of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Badge of Honour, Gold Commemorative Medal of Belgrade (Yugoslavia, March 1988), Silver Medal of the Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland for outstanding contribution to the development and strengthening of international cooperation, friendship and interaction between the People's Republic of Poland and the USSR (Poland, July 1988), Commemorative Medal of the Sorbonne, Rome, Vatican, USA, “Star of the Hero” (Israel, 1992), Gold Medal of Thessaloniki (Greece, 1993), Gold Badge of the University of Oviedo ( Spain, 1994), Republic of Korea, Order of the Association of Latin American Unity in Korea “Simon Bolivar Grand Cross for Unity and Freedom” (Republic of Korea, 1994).

Gorbachev is Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Agatha (San Marino, 1994) and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty (Portugal, 1995).

Speaking at various universities around the world, giving lectures in the form of stories about the USSR, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev also has honorary titles and honorary academic degrees, mainly as a good messenger and a peacemaker.

He is also an Honorary Citizen of many foreign cities, including Berlin, Florence, Dublin, etc.

, [email protected]

The path of the Soviet Union finally ended in 1991, although in some ways its agony lasted until 1993. Final privatization began only in 1992-1993, simultaneously with the transition to a new monetary system.

The brightest period of the Soviet Union, or rather its dying, was the so-called “perestroika”. But what brought the USSR first to perestroika, and then to the final dismantling of socialism and the Soviet system?

The year 1953 was marked by the death of the long-term de facto leader of the USSR, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. After his death, a struggle for power began between the most influential members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. On March 5, 1953, the most influential members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee were Malenkov, Beria, Molotov, Voroshilov, Khrushchev, Bulganin, Kaganovich, Mikoyan. On September 7, 1953, at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, N. S. Khrushchev was elected first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

At the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956, Stalin's personality cult was condemned. But the most important mine was planted under the very structure of the Leninist principle of the Soviet state at the XXII Congress in October 1961. This congress removed the main principle of building a communist society - the dictatorship of the proletariat, replacing it with the anti-scientific concept of a “state of the whole people”. What was also scary here was that this congress became a virtual mass of voiceless delegates. They accepted all the principles of an actual revolution in the Soviet system. The first shoots of decentralization of the economic mechanism followed. But since pioneers often do not stay in power for long, already in 1964 the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee removed N. S. Khrushchev from the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

This time is often called the “restoration of Stalinist orders”, the freezing of reforms. But this is just philistine thinking and a simplified worldview, in which there is no scientific approach. Because already in 1965, the tactics of market reforms won in the socialist economy. The “state of the whole people” came into its own. In fact, the result was summed up under the strict planning of the national economic complex. The unified national economic complex began to unravel and subsequently disintegrate. One of the authors of the reform was Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A. N. Kosygin. Reformers constantly boast that as a result of their reform, enterprises gained “independence.” In fact, this gave power to the directors of enterprises and the right to conduct speculative transactions. As a result, these actions led to the gradual emergence of a shortage of necessary products for the population.

We all remember the “golden times” of Soviet cinema in the 1970s. For example, in the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession,” the viewer is clearly shown how actor Demyanenko, who plays the role of Shurik, buys the semiconductors he needs not in stores that are for some reason closed for repairs or for lunch, but from a speculator. A speculator who was sort of “reproached and condemned” by Soviet society of that period.

The political economic literature of that time acquired a unique anti-scientific terminology of “developed socialism.” But what is “developed socialism”? Strictly following Marxist-Leninist philosophy, we all know that socialism is a transitional period between capitalism and communism, a period of the withering away of the old order. Intense class struggle led by the working class. What do we get as a result? That some incomprehensible stage of something appears there.

The same thing happened in the party apparatus. Seasoned careerists and opportunists, rather than ideologically seasoned people, began to willingly join the CPSU. The party apparatus becomes virtually uncontrollable by society. There is no longer any trace left of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

In politics at the same time, there is a tendency towards the irreplaceability of leading personnel, their physical aging and decrepitude. Careerist ambitions appear. Soviet cinema also did not ignore this moment. In some places this was ridiculed, but there were also brilliant films of that time that gave a critical analysis of the ongoing processes. For example, the 1982 film - the social drama "Magistral", which posed with all directness the problem of decomposition and degradation in a single industry - the railway. But in the films of that time, mainly in comedies, we already find direct glorification of individualism and ridicule of the working man. The film “Office Romance” especially distinguished itself in this field.

Trade is already experiencing systematic disruptions. Of course, now the directors of enterprises are actually the masters of their inheritance, they have “independence”.

Anti-communists often mention in their “scientific” and anti-scientific works that in the 1980s the country was already seriously ill. Only an enemy can be closer than a friend. Even if we do not take into account the outright slop that the anti-communists poured on the USSR, the situation in the country was actually quite difficult.

For example, I myself remember well how in the early 1980s we traveled from the “underdeveloped” Pskov region of the RSFSR to the “developed” and “advanced” Estonian SSR for groceries.

This is how the country approached the mid-1980s. Even from the films of that period, it is already clear that the country no longer believes in building communism. The 1977 film “Racers” clearly shows what ideas were in the minds of ordinary people, although they also tried to show the character in this film in a negative light.

In 1985, after a series of deaths of “irremovable” leaders, a relatively young politician, M. S. Gorbachev, came to power. His long speeches, the very meaning of which disappeared into emptiness, could last for many hours. But the time was such that the people, as in the old days, believed the deceiving reformers, since the main thing on their minds was changes in life. But how does it happen to the average person? What do I want - I don’t know?

Perestroika became a catalyst for accelerating all the destructive processes in the USSR, which had been accumulating and smoldering for a long time. Already by 1986, openly anti-Soviet elements appeared, whose goal was to dismantle the workers' state and restore the bourgeois order. By 1988, this was already an irreversible process.

In the culture of that time, anti-Soviet groups of that period appeared - “Nautilus Pompilius” and “Civil Defense”. Following an old habit, the authorities are trying to “drive away” everything that does not fit into the framework of official culture. However, even here dialectics threw up strange things. Subsequently, it was “Civil Defense” that became a bright revolutionary beacon of anti-capitalist protest, thereby forever securing all the contradictory phenomena of that era in the Soviet era, as Soviet rather than anti-Soviet phenomena. But even the criticism of that time was at a fairly professional level, which was clearly reflected in the song of the group “Aria” - “What have you done with your dream?”, where the entire path traveled is actually overturned as erroneous.

In its wake, the era of perestroika brought out the most disgusting characters, the vast majority of whom were precisely members of the CPSU. In Russia, such a person was B. N. Yeltsin, who plunged the country into a bloody mess. This is the shooting of the bourgeois parliament, which, out of habit, still had a Soviet shell, this is the Chechen war. In Latvia, such a character was the former member of the CPSU A.V. Gorbunov, who continued to rule bourgeois Latvia until the mid-1990s. Soviet encyclopedias of the 1980s also praised these characters, calling them “outstanding leaders of the party and government.”

“Sausage ordinary people” usually judge the Soviet era by perestroika horror stories about Stalin’s “terror”, through the prism of their narrow-minded perception of empty shelves and shortages. But their mind refuses to accept the fact that it was the large-scale decentralization and capitalization of the country that led the USSR to such results.

But how much effort and intelligence the ideological Bolsheviks put into raising their country to a cosmic level of development by the mid-1950s and going through a terrible war with the most terrible enemy on Earth - fascism. The dismantling of communist development, which began in the 1950s, lasted for more than 30 years, preserving the main features of socialist development and a just society. After all, at the beginning of its journey, the Communist Party was truly an ideological party - the vanguard of the working class, a beacon of social development.

In this entire story, it is clearly evident that the lack of mastery of their ideological weapon - Marxism-Leninism, leads the party leaders to betrayal of the entire people.

We did not set out to analyze in detail all the stages of the decomposition of Soviet society. The purpose of this article is only to describe the chronology of some significant events of Soviet life and its individual significant aspects of the post-Stalin period.

However, it would be fair to mention that the relative modernization of the country continued throughout the entire period of the country’s existence. Until the end of the 1980s, we saw positive developments in many social institutions and technological developments. In some places the pace of development slowed down significantly, in others it continued to remain at a very high level. Medicine and education developed, cities were built, and infrastructure improved. The country moved forward by inertia.

Our path into the dark ages has accelerated and become irreversible only since 1991.

Andrey Krasny

IN AND. Lenin

The first significant decision of the new Russian government was to refuse to participate in the bloody world war. Lenin managed to achieve it, despite the fact that some party members were against concluding peace on unfavorable terms (Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty). Having saved hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of lives, the Bolsheviks immediately put them at risk in another war - a civil one. The fight against interventionists, anarchists and White Guards, as well as other opponents of Soviet power, brought quite a few casualties.

In 1921, Lenin initiated the transition from the policy of war communism to the New Economic Policy (NEP), which contributed to the rapid restoration of the country's economy and national economy. Lenin also contributed to the establishment of one-party rule in the country and the formation of the Union of Socialist Republics. The USSR in the form in which it was created did not satisfy Lenin’s requirements, however, he did not have time to make significant changes.

In 1922, hard work and the consequences of the assassination attempt on him by Socialist-Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan in 1918 made themselves felt: Lenin became seriously ill. He took less and less part in governing the state and other people took the leading roles. Lenin himself spoke with alarm about his possible successor, Party General Secretary Stalin: “Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to use this power carefully enough.” On January 21, 1924, Lenin died, and Stalin, as expected, became his successor.

One of the main directions to which V.I. Lenin paid great attention to the development of the Russian economy. At the direction of the first leader of the country of the Soviets, many factories for the production of equipment were organized, and the completion of the AMO automobile plant (later ZIL) in Moscow began. Lenin paid great attention to the development of domestic energy and electronics. Perhaps, if fate had given the “leader of the world proletariat” (as Lenin was often called) more time, he would have raised the country to a high level.

I.V. Stalin

Lenin’s successor Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (real name Dzhugashvili), who in 1922 took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, pursued a more rigid policy. Now the name of Stalin is associated mainly with the so-called “Stalinist repressions” of the 30s, when several million residents of the USSR were deprived of property (the so-called “dekulakization”), were imprisoned or executed for political reasons (for condemning the current government).
Indeed, the years of Stalin's rule left a bloody mark on the history of Russia, but there were also positive features of this period. During this time, from an agricultural country with a secondary economy, the Soviet Union turned into a world power with enormous industrial and military potential. The development of the economy and industry took its toll during the Great Patriotic War, which, although costly to the Soviet people, was still won. Already during the hostilities, it was possible to establish good supplies for the army and create new types of weapons. After the war, many cities that had been destroyed almost to the ground were restored at an accelerated pace.

N.S. Khrushchev

Soon after Stalin's death (March 1953), Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev became the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (September 13, 1953). This leader of the CPSU became famous, perhaps, most of all for his extraordinary actions, many of which are still remembered. So, in 1960, at the UN General Assembly, Nikita Sergeevich took off his shoe and, threatening to show Kuzka’s mother, began banging on the podium with it in protest against the speech of the Filipino delegate. The period of Khrushchev's reign is associated with the development of the arms race between the USSR and the USA (the so-called “Cold War”). In 1962, the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba almost led to a military conflict with the United States.

Among the positive changes that occurred during the reign of Khrushchev, one can note the rehabilitation of victims of Stalin’s repressions (having taken the post of General Secretary, Khrushchev initiated the removal of Beria from his posts and his arrest), the development of agriculture through the development of unplowed lands (virgin lands), as well as the development of industry. It was during the reign of Khrushchev that the first launch of an artificial Earth satellite and the first human flight into space occurred. The period of Khrushchev's reign has an unofficial name - the “Khrushchev Thaw”.

L.I. Brezhnev

Khrushchev was replaced as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (October 14, 1964). For the first time, a change of party leader was made not after his death, but by removal from office. The era of Brezhnev's rule went down in history as “stagnation”. The fact is that the Secretary General was a staunch conservative and an opponent of any reforms. The Cold War continued, which caused most of the resources to go to the military industry to the detriment of other areas. Therefore, during this period, the country practically stopped in its technical development and began to lose to other leading powers in the world (excluding the military industry). In 1980, the XXII Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow, which were boycotted by some countries (USA, Germany and others) in protest against the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

During Brezhnev's time, some attempts were made to defuse tensions in relations with the United States: American-Soviet treaties on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons were concluded. But these attempts were dashed by the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979. At the end of the 80s, Brezhnev was actually no longer capable of ruling the country and was only considered the leader of the party. On November 10, 1982, he died at his dacha.

Yu. V. Andropov

On November 12, Khrushchev’s place was taken by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, who previously headed the State Security Committee (KGB). He achieved sufficient support among party leaders, therefore, despite the resistance of Brezhnev's former supporters, he was elected General Secretary and then Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Having taken the helm, Andropov proclaimed a course for socio-economic transformations. But all the reforms boiled down to administrative measures, strengthening discipline and exposing corruption in high circles. In foreign policy, confrontation with the West only intensified. Andropov sought to strengthen personal power: in June 1983 he took the post of chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, while remaining general secretary. However, Andropov did not stay in power for long: he died on February 9, 1984 due to kidney disease, without having time to make significant changes in the life of the country.

K.U. Chernenko

On February 13, 1984, the post of head of the Soviet state was taken by Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, who was considered a contender for the post of General Secretary even after Brezhnev’s death. Chernenko held this important post at the age of 72, being seriously ill, so it was clear that this was only a temporary figure. During Chernenko's reign, a number of reforms were undertaken, which were never brought to their logical conclusion. On September 1, 1984, Knowledge Day was celebrated for the first time in the country. On March 10, 1985, Chernenko died. His place was taken by Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, who later became the first and last president of the USSR.

The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee is the highest position in the hierarchy of the Communist Party and, by and large, the leader of the Soviet Union. In the history of the party there were four more positions of the head of its central apparatus: Technical Secretary (1917-1918), Chairman of the Secretariat (1918-1919), Executive Secretary (1919-1922) and First Secretary (1953-1966).

The people who filled the first two positions were mainly engaged in paper secretarial work. The position of Executive Secretary was introduced in 1919 to perform administrative activities. The post of General Secretary, established in 1922, was also created purely for administrative and personnel work within the party. However, the first Secretary General Joseph Stalin, using the principles of democratic centralism, managed to become not only the leader of the party, but the entire Soviet Union.

At the 17th Party Congress, Stalin was not formally re-elected to the post of General Secretary. However, his influence was already enough to maintain leadership in the party and the country as a whole. After Stalin's death in 1953, Georgy Malenkov was considered the most influential member of the Secretariat. After his appointment to the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, he left the Secretariat and Nikita Khrushchev, who was soon elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, took the leading positions in the party.

Not limitless rulers

In 1964, the opposition within the Politburo and the Central Committee removed Nikita Khrushchev from the post of First Secretary, electing Leonid Brezhnev in his place. Since 1966, the position of the party leader was again called the General Secretary. In Brezhnev's times, the power of the General Secretary was not unlimited, since members of the Politburo could limit his powers. The leadership of the country was carried out collectively.

Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko ruled the country according to the same principle as the late Brezhnev. Both were elected to the party's top post while their health was failing and served only a short time as secretary general. Until 1990, when the Communist Party's monopoly on power was eliminated, Mikhail Gorbachev led the state as General Secretary of the CPSU. Especially for him, in order to maintain leadership in the country, the post of President of the Soviet Union was established in the same year.

After the August 1991 putsch, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary. He was replaced by his deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, who worked as acting General Secretary for only five calendar days, until that moment Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the activities of the CPSU.