Mikhail Gorbachev was selected as Communist Party chairman March 11, 1985. His predecessors were:
Vladimir I. Lenin (November 1917-January 1924). The most revered Russian revolutionary spent years absorbing the doctrines of Karl Marx, and did a stint in Siberian prisons, before rallying the masses behind the Russian revolution. He ordered massive state planning but didn't live to see it. He left secret instructions for Stalin's removal as head of the Communist Party -- to no avail.
Josef Stalin (January 1924-March 1953). He ruthlessly eliminated political opponents, most notably Leon Trotsky, to grab uncontested power in December 1927. His nearly three decades in power encompassed ultimate victory in World War II, Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and a dictatorship unrivaled among major powers for fear and repression.
Georgi Malenkov (March 1953). Stalin's close aide, Malenkov, succeeded the dictator upon his death as secretary-general of the Communist Party but was ousted 10 days later by Nikita Khrushchev. Malenkov, who enunciated the doctrine of 'peaceful coexistence,' lost his other post as premier in 1955 and lost all government influence in 1957. He died at 86, a forgotten man, in 1988.
Nikita Khrushchev (March 1953-October 1964). Slow to consolidate a position of absolute power, he used it to denounce Stalin in 1956, declared 'coexistence' the goal of Soviet foreign policy, began economic reform and modernization, and opened contacts with the West. Ousted in 1964, he was blamed for for the Cuban missile crisis and other failings. He died in September 1971.
Leonid I. Brezhnev (October 1964-November 1982). The stolid Brezhnev moved quickly to abolish many of Khrushchev's attempts at decentralization of Soviet bureaucracy and to increase defense spending. His willingness to negotiate arms reductions in the 1970s withered with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. He died of a heart attack at 75.
Yuri Andropov (November 1982-February 1984). In the 15 months in power of the former secret police boss, East-West tensions heightened over a number of issues, including the Soviet downing of a Korean Air Lines jet and deployment of NATO intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe. For most of his last six months before his death, he was out of public view.
Konstantin Chernenko (February 1984-March 1985). At 72 the oldest man to assume power in the Kremlin, the protege of Leonid Brezhnev railed against President Reagan's 'Star Wars' defense strategy while moving toward nuclear arms limitations. Attempts to improve the Soviet economy and stem corruption lost out to steadily worsening health, and he died after a tenure of only 13 months.
