The history of the Soviet system has usually been written in terms of its leaders. Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev are the names with which distinct periods of Soviet development are associated. This practice captures one of the essential elements of the Soviet system, the prominent place played by the leading political figure. However for more than seventy years of the system's existence, there was a fundamental ambiguity with regard to the top job, reflected most importantly in the low level of institutionalisation of leading positions in the political structure.

The traditional presidency

The source of this ambiguity lay in the leading and guiding role which the party played in the Soviet period. In practical terms this meant that the most powerful figure in the political structure was neither the head of state nor the prime minister, but the party General (from September 1953 until April 1966 first) Secretary. From May 1940 until his death in March 1953 Stalin was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (from March 1956 Council of Ministers) as well as General Secretary, a practice emulated by Khrushchev between September 1958 and October 1964, but in neither case was their state position the principal source of their power. Under both, the position of head of state, or Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, was occupied by such second-rank leaders as Kalinin, Shvernik, Voroshilov, Brezhnev (at the time) and Mikoian.