List of alternate Soviet leaders

[big bad fab]

A divisive and very collective Politburo.....

Lenin 1917-1922forced to resign due to health problems, is able to impose Trotsky by fear of Stalin's rising power

Trotsky 1922-1923
too messy, too aggressive towards foreign countries, having probably ordered the assassination of Stalin, Trotsky is ousted by a vast majority of other leaders, with the consent of an ailing Lenin

Zinoviev 1923-1924
he leads the assault against Trotsky, but his majority is too diverse and he is ousted by the then left of the party

Kamenev 1924-1926
after bad economic results and ethnic troubles, the Politburo decides to try a more rightist solution with Bukharin and Rykov

Bukharin 1926-1929
sabotaged from the inside, the economic policy of Bukharin is a failure and some social unrest leads the Politburo to choose a strong man

Molotov 1929-1932
too harsh for more and more party members, he is ousted by a more popular guy

Kirov 1932-1934
probably assassinated after resented trends towards a personal dictatorship

Kalinin 1934-1935
a short-lived compromise candidate

Ordzhonikidze 1935-1937
easily eliminates Kalinin from the Nr.1 slot, but makes enemies quickly, particularly among the Russian members of the Politburo

Kaganovich 1937-1941
after Ordzhonikidze's mysterious death, Kaganovich exerts an iron power on the USSR

Voroshilov 1941-1942
with some more moderate leaders, Voroshilov is able to eliminate Kaganovich, after the massive failure of the Red Army against the Germans in June 1941

Beria 1942-1946
he quickly replaces a very inefficient Voroshilov and, by force, implements many changes on the Soviet Army and industry

Zhdanov 1946-1948
Beria, the big victor of WW2 in the East, has made the mistake of promoting harsh guys, who are worried by his smooth policy towards the West and his unability to give power to Communists in Eastern and Central Europe: they pick Zhdanov instead

Malenkov 1948-1954
after Zhdanov's death (and failures), the Politburo reverts to a more moderate and modern guy, who should concentrate on the economy

Khrushchev 1954-1956
with weak political skills, Malenkov is unable to prevent a coup by Khrushchev and the left

Zhukov 1956-1957
Khrushchev betrays the left and liberalizes a bit the country, but the mess in Hungary and Poland forces the Politburo to pick a strong and prestigious military guy, who turns out to be even more dangerous for the future of the USSR

Bulganin 1957-1959
the compromise and stabilizing candidate after Zhukov's weird behaviour doesn't achieve much

Mikoyan 1959-1960
another compromise candidate, picked by the old guard as well as those who wants better relations with the West

Shelepin 1960-1966
candidate of all those who want to make the USSR a superpower again, he eventually scares them by being too dictatorial and too "maoist"; the mad Cultural Revolution in China leads to his dismissal

Kosygin 1966-1968
he must appease things after Shelepin and reform the economy, but the crisis in Prague leads to his ousting

Brezhnev 1968-1972
appointed to build a stronger Soviet Union, he fails to prevent US-Chinese "entente" and his disarmament policy isn't well considered

Suslov 1972-1978
he is elected to reinstate orthodoxy and order, but, on top of his personal harshness towards many Communists, some bad harvests kill him politically

Kulakov 1978
nominated to do something about the ailing agriculture and because Andropov prefers to stay behind, he surprisingly dies very quickly

Kirilenko 1978-1980
a messy leader, an even worse economic situation and a badly managed intervention in Afghanistan: Kirilenko doesn't survive Andropov's push

Andropov 1980-1984
at last, the Politburo wants efficiency, while keeping orthodoxy, but, eventually, the ailing Andropov dies after many economic failures

Romanov 1984
without any strong heir to Andropov, Romanov pulls ahead surprisingly but he appears to be too weird in his foreign policy, he survives only a few months

Ustinov 1984
a military guy should bring a stronger image for the Soviet power, but he dies very quickly

Gromyko 1984-1987
he was the real leader behind Ustinov, so he becomes Nr.1, but he is completely out-of-date and doesn't understand the new trends in the society and in the nations

Gorbachev 1987-1990
the "last chance" of the USSR, he frees the society and the Republics, which is refused by the KGB and the left around Ligachev

Kriuchkov 1990-1991
his KGB manners quicken the disintegration of the USSR

Lukyanov 1991
in despair, Lukyanov tries to save the Soviet Union for some months

[big bad fab]

Come on fellow, don't leave this thread behind

Yeah, this is one of the best ones !

I know there isn't much Soviet fans around here and that's a pity.
But, at least, just make some critics of our lists !

[big bad fab]

That's interesting idea, a rotation.

Voroshilov is the worst case scenario at begining of World War II. He was one of the most mediocre military leaders in entire USSR history. In fact among five initial Soviet Marshals: Voroshilov, Budyonny, Tukhachevsky, Yegorov and Blücher, only the third mentioned was a talented modern commander. In fact, with exceptions of him and Uberowicz all high-rank soviet commanders, who were killed during a great purge, were a relicts of civil war, calvaryman with narrow minds like Budyonny. Ironically, a purge allowed Stalin to fill cadres with modern-thinking officers.

That's why, in my scenario, Beria eliminates Voroshilov very quickly in, say, January 42.

Rokossovski, Zhukov, Chouikov, Konev were indeed better than the Voroshilovs and Budyonnys...

[big bad fab]

OMG, there was a "mistake" (at least an oddity) in my list, as Andropov died in 1984 not in 1982.
So, I've changed it a bit, to add even more leaders

My rotating leadership makes me able to put forward many leaders, that's so "kewl" !

EDIT: I think I may write a TL on this, one day or another : thanks for having created this fine topic, Kalwejt !


Kalwejt, I think you may PM GMantis (Dessie Potter), so that he can come here: he may well be interested.
I don't agree with him very often, but he's the other man from the former "East"