List of General Secretaries of the Soviet Union

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the top position in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As the leader of the only legal political party, the General Secretary served as the de facto leader but not necessarily head of government or head of state, although the actual head of government was the Premier, before Stalin turned the position of General Secretary into the most powerful in the Soviet Union. According 1977 Constitution the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the President and Chairman of the Council of Minister was the Premier. Lenin led the nation as Premier.

The office was called First Secretary from 1953 to 1966.

List of General Secretaries

#	Name	Picture	Term start	Term end	Born	Died
1	Joseph Stalin		3 April 1922	16 October 1952	(1878-12-18)18 December 1878	5 March 1953(1953-03-05) (aged 74)
2	Georgy Malenkov		16 October 1952	7 September 1953	(1902-01-08)8 January 1902	14 January 1988(1988-01-14) (aged 86)
3	Nikita Khrushchev (as First Secretary)		7 September 1953	14 October 1964	(1894-04-15)15 April 1894	11 September 1971(1971-09-11) (aged 77)
4	Leonid Brezhnev (First Secretary from 1964 to 1966)		14 October 1964	10 November 1982	(1906-12-19)19 December 1906	10 November 1982(1982-11-10) (aged 75)
5	Yuri Andropov		12 November 1982	9 February 1984	(1914-06-15)15 June 1914	9 February 1984(1984-02-09) (aged 69)
6	Konstantin Chernenko		13 February 1984	10 March 1985	(1911-09-24)24 September 1911	10 March 1985(1985-03-10) (aged 73)
7	Mikhail Gorbachev		11 March 1985	24 August 1991	(1931-03-02)March 2, 1931	30 August 2022(2022-08-30) (aged 91)
—	Vladimir Ivashko		24 August 1991	29 August 1991	(1932-10-28)28 October 1932	13 November 1994(1994-11-13) (aged 62)