Socialism & Communism: A Historical Timeline

Twenty chronological profiles, from eighteenth-century critics of inequality to contemporary leaders. Each account identifies the individual’s country of origin, movement, path to influence, governing decisions where applicable, and the consequences for citizens and other populations.

1. Gracchus Babeuf (1760–1797; France)
2. Henri de Saint-Simon (1760–1825; France)
3. Robert Owen (1771–1858; Wales and Scotland, United Kingdom; later United States)
4. Charles Fourier (1772–1837; France)
5. Karl Marx (1818–1883; Prussia (now Germany); political exile in France, Belgium and Britain)
6. Friedrich Engels (1820–1895; Prussia (now Germany) and England)
7. Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924; Russian Empire)
8. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919; Born in Russian-ruled Poland; politically active in Germany)
9. Joseph Stalin (1878–1953; Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire; Soviet Union)
10. Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969; Vietnam, then under French colonial rule)
11. Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980; Croatia in Austria-Hungary; later Yugoslavia)
12. Mao Zedong (1893–1976; China)
13. Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971; Russian Empire; Soviet Union)
14. Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997; China)
15. Kim Il Sung (1912–1994; Korea under Japanese colonial rule; North Korea)
16. Pol Pot (1925–1998; Cambodia)
17. Fidel Castro (1926–2016; Cuba)
18. Che Guevara (1928–1967; Argentina; political activity in Cuba, Congo and Bolivia)
19. Xi Jinping (1953–present; China)
20. Hugo Chávez (1954–2013; Venezuela)

The Great Terror, 1936–1938 — origins, operations & consequences

Reading the consequences

Consider how leaders gained authority, whether people could criticize them, the reliability of claimed economic improvements, and how policy affected people with little political power. Wartime conditions, sanctions and external intervention matter, but do not remove a leader’s responsibility for decisions within their control.