Soviet leaders as you've never seen them before (PHOTOS)

Vladimir Lenin

What is probably engrained in everyone’s mind is the image of the leader of the proletariat as a passionate orator, delivering speech after speech from a platform. However, there are also rare photos of him as a man about town in Europe during his youth, or as a kindly-looking man in his later years.

Joseph Stalin

Photographs of Stalin fell into a special category and were used for propaganda purposes. Many of them were never shown to the people and it was forbidden to take photos of him when he was off his guard. Still, some shots showing the ruthless figure of Stalin as an ordinary person have survived to this day.

Nikita Khrushchev

Khrushchev can be described as the most relaxed leader as far as his own appearance was concerned. Most of the jokes, funny stories and anecdotes about Soviet leaders involve him - the story of how he used the expression “I’ll show you Kuzma’s mother” [the rough equivalent of “I’ll show you what's what!”] during a UN address speaks volumes. The general secretary of the USSR Communist Party was a very spontaneous person, and even during official visits didn’t shy away from unfamiliar cameras.

Leonid Brezhnev

Brezhnev’s most iconic photos - showing him kissing the leaders of friendly states on the lips - is immortalized in graffiti on the Berlin Wall [kissing DDR leader Erich Honecker]. He was one of the most “senior” leaders, hence his informal photos often show him on vacation and in the company of his grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

Mikhail Gorbachev

In the era of glasnost and perestroika ushered in by this leader, it was already difficult to hide any photographs from the people. In any case, Gorbachev behaved pretty immaculately. Almost always.