Leader Soviet Union - Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin

Famed leader of the Soviet Union, one of the original seven members of the first Politburo which formed in 1917 for leading the Bolshevik revolutionary effort to control Russia and to knock out other Communist factions vying for power.

Joseph Stalin was promoted to General Secretary of the party's Central Committee in 1922. When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin pursued establishing his position as the most powerful in the Soviet government, eliminating rivals and eventually consolidating power until he essentially served as dictator.