Leadership
Who they were
The people who ran the party, the state, the police, or the famine. Office, origin, religion, and the sentences on the page.
Census figures and the leader list
29 filed
Mixed ancestryVladimir Lenin1870–1924Baptized Russian OrthodoxDied in power
JewishLeon Trotsky1879–1940Jewish familyAssassinated
GeorgianJoseph Stalin1878–1953Georgian Orthodox familyDied in power
PolishFelix Dzerzhinsky1877–1926Polish Catholic upbringingDied in power
JewishYakov Sverdlov1885–1919Jewish family in Nizhny NovgorodDied in power
JewishGrigory Zinoviev1883–1936Jewish family (born Radomyslsky, also associated with the name Apfelbaum)Executed by the regime
Mixed ancestryLev Kamenev1883–1936Jewish family (born Rosenfeld)Executed by the regime
RussianNikolai Bukharin1888–1938Russian family, Orthodox cultural backgroundExecuted by the regime
JewishLazar Kaganovich1893–1991Jewish family from a Ukrainian shtetl backgroundSurvived the purges
JewishGenrikh Yagoda1891–1938Jewish familyExecuted by the regime
RussianNikolai Yezhov1895–1940Russian familyExecuted by the regime
MingrelianLavrentiy Beria1899–1953Mingrelian Georgian, Orthodox cultural backgroundExecuted by the regime- MLatvianMartin Latsis1888–1938Latvian family (Janis Sudrabs, party name Martin Latsis)Executed by the regime
JewishMoisei Uritsky1873–1918Jewish familyAssassinated
LatvianYakov Peters1886–1938Latvian familyExecuted by the regime
JewishRosalia Zemlyachka1876–1947Jewish family (born Zalkind)Died in power
HungarianBéla Kun1886–1938 or 1939Jewish family in TransylvaniaExecuted by the regime
RussianVyacheslav Molotov1890–1986Russian familySurvived the purges
RussianNikolai Krylenko1885–1938Russian familyExecuted by the regime
UkrainianGrigory Petrovsky1878–1958Ukrainian familySurvived the purges
JewishKarl Radek1885–1939Jewish family (born Sobelsohn) in LembergKilled in custody
ArmenianAnastas Mikoyan1895–1978Armenian family, Armenian Apostolic cultural backgroundSurvived the purges
GeorgianSergo Ordzhonikidze1886–1937Georgian Orthodox cultural backgroundDied in power
RussianMikhail Kalinin1875–1946Russian peasant family, Orthodox cultural backgroundDied in power
RussianNadezhda Krupskaya1869–1939Russian family, Orthodox cultural backgroundDied in power
RussianAlexandra Kollontai1872–1952Russian-Finnish noble family, Lutheran and Orthodox milieuSurvived the purges
PolishVyacheslav Menzhinsky1874–1934Polish noble family, Catholic upbringingDied in power
Not a Bolshevik · JewishIsaac Steinberg1888–1957Jewish family in DvinskLeft or was forced out
JewishYakov Yurovsky1878–1938Jewish familyDied in power