Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who was the first USSR leader?
Through the history of the Soviet Union several political offices were endowed with power, which made their holder the de facto leader of the country. Under the 1977 Constitution, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, was the head of government[1] and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state.[2] The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World[1] whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president.[2] In the Soviet Union's seventy-year history there was no official leader of the Soviet Union office, but during most of that era there was a de facto top leader who usually led the country through the office of Premier or the office of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In the ideology of Vladimir Lenin, the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of the vanguard party (see What Is To Be Done?).
In the early years of the party, Kim Il-sung was the acknowledged leader, but he did not yet have absolute power, since it was necessary to balance off the interests of the various factions. To eliminate any threats to his position, he first moved against individual leaders who were potential rivals. He drove from power Alexei Ivanovich Hegay (also known as Hŏ Ka-i), leader of the Soviet faction, first demoting him during the Korean War in 1951 and then using him as a scapegoat for slow repairs of a water reservoir bombed by the Americans to drive him from power (and to an alleged suicide) in 1953. In part, it was possible for Kim to do this because the intervention of "Chinese People's Volunteers" in the war reduced the influence of both the USSR and the Soviet faction and allowed Kim Il-sung the room he needed to dispose of his main rival.
In the summer of 1956, just a few months after Khrushchev's secret speech, Moscow became the center of the first Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. The event was made pompous in the Soviet style: Moscow hosted large sports teams and groups of fans in national costumes who came from all Union republics. Khrushchev used the event to accentuate his new political and social goals, and to show himself as a new leader who was completely different from Stalin.
At the time of the match, many people in Belgrade speculated that the order of the USSR players seemed as if it were arranged so that they would play against opponents with whom they had a history of beating. For instance, ex-world champion Mikhail Botvinnik was below Efim Geller and Mark Taimanov. The lineup matched Taimanov against Wolfgang Uhlmann, whom he "used to beat as he liked" and Botvinnik against Milan Matulović, who admitted to having a "Botvinnik complex", not playing well against him. People also questioned Paul Keres being on board 10, and wondered if his opponent being Borislav Ivkov had something to do with it. These suspicions were printed in Belgrade newspapers and the Russians replied with their reason for their team's selection: Current World Champion Boris Spassky must be first and his predecessor Tigran Petrosian must be second. Next comes Viktor Korchnoi, who played in the candidate's final match. Next came four players (Lev Polugaevsky, Geller, Vasily Smyslov, and Taimanov) who earned the right to play in the next Interzonal because of their place in the USSR Championship. The last three places were given to players of special merit – Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, and Keres. The first reserve was Leonid Stein, who placed sixth in the USSR Championship, just behind those going to the Interzonal. The second reserve was David Bronstein, who once played in a world championship match .
In a speech in 1948, Russell said that if the USSR's aggression continued, it would be morally worse to go to war after the USSR possessed an atomic bomb than before it possessed one, because if the USSR had no bomb the West's victory would come more swiftly and with fewer casualties than if there were atom bombs on both sides. At that time, only the United States possessed an atomic bomb, and the USSR was pursuing an extremely aggressive policy towards the countries in Eastern Europe which were being absorbed into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Many understood Russell's comments to mean that Russell approved of a first strike in a war with the USSR, including Nigel Lawson, who was present when Russell spoke of such matters. Others, including Griffin, who obtained a transcript of the speech, have argued that he was merely explaining the usefulness of America's atomic arsenal in deterring the USSR from continuing its domination of Eastern Europe.
However, just after the atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Russell wrote letters, and published articles in newspapers from 1945 to 1948, stating clearly that it was morally justified and better to go to war against the USSR using atomic bombs while the United States possessed them and before the USSR did. In September 1949, one week after the USSR tested its first A-bomb, but before this became known, Russell wrote that USSR would be unable to develop nuclear weapons because following Stalin's purges only science based on Marxist principles would be practiced in the Soviet Union. After it became known that the USSR carried out its nuclear bomb tests, Russell declared his position advocating for the total abolition of atomic weapons.
Anti-NTS pamphlets and newsreel films were produced by the USSR. One such pamphlet was supposedly written by Konstantin Cherezov, a former NTS member who defected from Germany back to the USSR. The pamphlet accuses the leaders of NTS being employees of American and British intelligence. It also labels them as drunkards, homosexuals and gamblers who had at one point or another served the Nazi regime.
During the collapse of the USSR, Georgia's first post-Soviet leader, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, emerged. The platform, known as "Georgia for Georgians", projected ethnic Georgians, who made up 70 percent of the population, as the country's true masters. A longtime anti-Soviet dissident, he derided South Ossetians as newcomers, saying they had arrived only 600 years ago and as "tools" of the Soviet Union.
Georgia was at this time ruled by supporters of Lavrentiy Beria, who had been the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party from 1931 to 1938. In July 1953, following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the arrest of Beria, the leadership of the Georgian Communist Party was purged by Khrushchev's supporters. Mzhavanadze was promoted to lead the Party in Georgia, replacing Beria's protégé Aleksandre Mirtskhulava as First Secretary in September 1953. In an unprecedented display of military presence on the political arena, Mzhavanadze was joined in the Georgian Central Committee by the generals Alexi Inauri and Aleksei Antonov. When Khrushchev became leader of the USSR in 1957, Mzhavanadze was appointed to become a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo. He became a full member in 1966.
Davis supported world peace and international cooperation with all nations, which included working with the USSR and China. Most scholars recognize that his support included admiration for Communism and its leaders. Thus, scholar Judy Kutulas writes that Davis found Joseph Stalin an impressive intellectual and one useful during a revolutionary period yet carefully describes him as a non-communist who supported the USSR as an "inveterate front supporter."
Born in Moscow, Garanian was trained at the Moscow Conservatory. He was one of the first Russian musicians who attracted attention of Western world as part of the jazz from the USSR. He belonged to the first generation of Russian jazzmen who started to perform after World War II. As a musician (alto saxophone), conductor and composer he was the leader of country's best big bands: "Melodia" (1970s–1980s) and "Moscow Big Band" (1992–1995). He led the Municipal Big Band in the Southern Russian city of Krasnodar. He toured regularly as a trio with pianist Daniil Kramer and guitarist Aleksey Kuznetsov during the 1990s.
Two goals from Puskás and Zoltán Czibor saw Hungary beat Yugoslavia and take the gold medal.
The first meeting between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia is still the most famous one. On the political level, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the Yugoslav leader Josip Tito split in 1948, which resulted in Yugoslavia being excluded from the Communist Information Bureau. The origin of the conflict was Tito’s refusal to submit to Stalin’s interpretations and visions of politics and in process becoming a Soviet satellite state. Before the match, both Tito and Stalin sent telegrams to their national teams, which showed just how important it was for the two head of states. Yugoslavia led 5–1, but a Soviet comeback in the last 15 minutes resulted in a 5–5 draw. The match was replayed, Yugoslavia winning 3–1. The defeat to the archrivals hit Soviet football hard, and after just three games played in the season, CDKA Moscow, who had made up most of the USSR squad, was forced to withdraw from the league and later disbanded. Furthermore, Boris Arkadiev, who coached both USSR and CDKA, was stripped of his Merited Master of Sports of the USSR title.
This is a list of ice hockey players of the USSR or Russia who were awarded either the title of Merited Master of Sports of the USSR (until 1992) or this title's successor Honoured Master of Sports of Russia (since 1993) respectively. The first ice hockey player was awarded this title in 1948. Ice hockey players who were awarded this title are sometimes unofficially seen as members of "Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame" by the analogy with IIHF Hall of Fame of international hockey and Hockey Hall of Fame of Canadian professional hockey.
In 1941, Dübendorfer met Alexander Radó for the first time. In 1942, she became a leader of a section of Rado's Red Three resistance movement. Other leaders in the movement included and . Initially, Dübendorfer did not mention to Radó the name of Roessler, her most important informant. In November 1943, Dübendorfer became the lone Red Three leader after other leaders, including Radó, were arrested and imprisoned. As leader, Dübendorfer tried unsuccessfully to contact Moscow through Hermina Rabinovitch, a friend who lived in Montreal, Canada. Dübendorfer refused to co-operate with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and did not want to send information back to Moscow. She provided information to MI6 officers in Switzerland, under the proviso that this information was not shared with Moscow. In April 1944, Dübendorfer and Böttcher were captured. She was imprisoned in the USSR and later East Germany from 1946 until 1956.
Moscow Protocol ( and , officially "Protocol of the negotiations of the ČSSR and USSR delegations") was a document signed by Czechoslovak political leaders in Moscow, after the Prague Spring. The negotiations took place from 23 to 26 August 1968. The main signatories were President Ludvík Svoboda, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubček, Prime Minister Oldřich Černík, Chairman of the National Assembly Josef Smrkovský and most of the ministers and Communist Party leaders (Gustáv Husák among them). The only person present at the negotiations who declined to sign was František Kriegel.
In 1934, the First East Turkestan Republic ended. Afterwards the Muslim Tungan warlord Ma Zhongying vanished into Soviet territory. His successor was Ma Hushan, who fled from Kashgar to Khotan. Ma Hushan regularly received telegrams, ostensibly from his brother-in-law in the USSR, promising the leader of Tunganistan that Ma Zhongying would soon return.
Recommendations for award of the Medal "For the Restoration of the Donbass Coal Mines" was made by business leaders, party and trade union organizations. Lists of potential recipients were reviewed on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by the Ministry of the Coal Industry of the USSR, the Ministry of Construction of the USSR or the Ministry of Chemical and Petroleum Industries of the western areas.
At the 1952 Games in Helsinki the USSR team competed for the first time and immediately became one of the dominant teams (finishing second both in the number of gold and overall medals won). Soviet immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis, hence violating amateur rules. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czechoslovak army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.
Bad Balance is a Russian rap group considered to be one of the first rap acts in USSR. The group maintained a devoted underground following during the 1990s. The group made huge contribution to the hip-hop culture in Russia and ex-USSR countries. SHEFF (founder and main member of Bad Balance) is often considered as original creator of hip-hop culture in Russia, and for years the leader of Russian old school hip hop.
In certain states under Marxist constitutions of the constitutionally socialist state type inspired by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its constitutive Soviet republics, real political power belonged to the sole legal party. In these states, there was no formal office of head of state, but rather the leader of the legislative branch was considered to be the closest common equivalent of a head of state as a natural person. In the Soviet Union this position carried such titles as "Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR"; "Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet"; and in the case of the Soviet Russia "Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets" (pre-1922), and "Chairman of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian SFSR" (1956–1966). This position may or may not have been held by the de facto Soviet leader at the moment. For example, Nikita Khrushchev never headed the Supreme Soviet but was First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (party leader) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of government).
In the 1970s and '80s Moldova received substantial investment from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial, scientific facilities, as well as housing. In 1971 the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of Kishinev city" that secured more than one billion rubles of funds for Chișinău alone from the USSR budget. Subsequent decisions directed large amounts of funds and brought qualified specialists from all over the USSR to further develop the Moldavian SSR. Such an allocation of USSR assets was influenced by the fact that the-then leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, was the First Secretary of the local Communist Party in the 1950s. These investments stopped in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Moldova became independent.
On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the Ukrainian and Belorussian SSRs, and the RSFSR met to agree on the annulment of the 1922 treaty, which was terminated on December 25, 1991, effectively dissolving the USSR.
Gorbachev's permissive attitude toward Central and Eastern Europe did not initially extend to Soviet territory; even Bush, who strove to maintain friendly relations, condemned the January 1991 killings in Latvia and Lithuania, privately warning that economic ties would be frozen if the violence continued. The USSR was fatally weakened by a failed coup and a growing number of Soviet republics, particularly Russia, who threatened to secede from the USSR. The Commonwealth of Independent States, created on 21 December 1991, is viewed as a successor entity to the Soviet Union but, according to Russia's leaders, its purpose was to "allow a civilized divorce" between the Soviet Republics and is comparable to a loose confederation. The USSR was declared officially dissolved on 26 December 1991.
Another wave of repression occurred in 1939—1941 in West Belarus following its annexation to the USSR, when thousands of "kulaki", priests, social and political leaders, former Polish officials and "osadniki" were either exterminated or forcibly resettled in Kazakhstan, Siberia and other regions of the USSR. Repression largely stopped after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. The exact number of people who became victims of Soviet repression in Belarus is hard to determine because the archives of the KGB in Belarus remain inaccessible to researchers.
Secret Monasticism began to develop in the 1920s in response to the state persecution. This practice involved either people who lived 'in the world' who undertook monastic vows secretly and lived a double-life with other secret monks or nuns, or it involved communities of monastics who lived in secret and isolated from society. When such communities were discovered, the monastics could sometimes be immediately executed. Future church leaders were in these communities and they may have been instrumental in preserving monasticism in the USSR.
In 1922, the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who viewed the Soviet Union as a "socialist island", stated that the Soviet Union must see that "the present capitalist encirclement is replaced by a socialist encirclement".