Mikhail Gorbachev
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the C
Gorbachev in 1987
Gorbachev and his Ukrainian maternal grandparents, late 1930s
Gorbachev on a visit to East Germany in 1966
Gorbachev (right) with his mentor Yuri Andropov in 1973
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, also known at some points as the Russian Communist Party, the All-Union Communist Party, the Bolshevik Party, and the Soviet Communist Party, was the founding
A neighborhood in the Kozhukhovsky Bay of the Moskva River with a large sign promoting the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1975
Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union and the leader of the Bolshevik party.
Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death in 1953, rapidly industrializing the country during the global Great Depression and leading the military defeat of Germany during World War II. After his death, the repressive aspects of his leadership were criticized by the party and became a divisive matter for the rest of its history.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the CPSU and the Soviet Union, implemented major reforms to restructure the economy and state which would prove fatal for both.