<P> Under the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) , the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was the head of government and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state . The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World , whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president in the First World . 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 the 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 ? ) . </P>
<P> Under the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) , the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was the head of government and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state . The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World , whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president in the First World . 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 the 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 ? ) . </P>
who served during the 1980s as general secretary of the soviet communist party and as president
who served during the 1980s as general secretary of the soviet communist party and as president
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin