This is probably an all-too mundane question to ask, but still…I was wondering, What was the job “title” of the leader of the Soviet Union? Over the years, I’ve heard everything from “Premier” to “Chairman” to “General Secretary” to the classic “President” used. Does anyone know the “official” term, or at least why so many were used?
Well, thanks for your time,
Ranchoth
According to this page, the leaders were either “General Secretaries” or “First Secretaries” to the Central Committee.
The titles were changed as the party saw fit.
I believe Gorbachev was the only one officially titled “President”, and that only for a short while near the end. The others were titled “General Secretary” (of the Central Party), and earlier “First Secretary”. The leader was also often, but not always, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which was bascially Congress.
Confused by my hazily remembered Soviet political class?
Here is a link that explains it in detail.
I believe there was both a prime minister (premier) and a president, though who had the greater power of the two shifted as time went on. I think both Lenin and Stalin were prime ministers. I seem to remember something about the office of prime minister being eliminated in later years. My memories are obviously a little fuzzy.
Be careful not to get the leadership of the Communist Party mixed up with that of the nation, though the two were obviously closely related.
Stalin’s title was General Secretary of the Central Committee (of the Party). When he became General Secretary in 1922 (I think), it was an administrative post, dealing with the appointment of personnel to various party posts. Stalin apparently was the only one on the Politburo who was willing to take on this “boring” position; the others were all People’s Commissar’s (i.e. Ministers) in the government.
Khrushchev changed the title to First Secretary when he took over after Stalin’s death. I believe it was Brezhnev who went back to Stalin’s title.
There were always government titles as well - the President of the Soviet Union for most of Stalin’s time was Mikhail Kalinin, but this post was mostly ceremonial. There was also a Premier (Chairman of the Council of Ministers, officially). who was in theory head of the government.
Gorbachev became President of the Soviet Union a couple of years before the end; this was part of his attempts to reduce the power of Party appartchiks (who de facto ran the country, by telling the people in the government structures what decisions to take) and return a bit of legitimacy to his rule.