Joseph Stalin
Nickname(s)Koba
Service/branchSoviet Armed Forces
Years of service1943–53
RankMarshal of the Soviet Union (1943–45)
Battles/warsWorld War II
Central institution membership
  • 1917–53: Full member, 6th–19th Presidium
  • 1922–43: 11th–19th Secretariat
  • 1920–52: 9th–18th Orgburo
  • 1912–53: Full member, 5th–19th Central Committee

Other offices held
  • 1941–47: Minister of Defense
  • 1941–45: Chairman, State Defense Committee
  • 1920–22: Chairman, Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the Russian SFSR
  • 1917–22: People's Commissar, Nationalities of the Russian SFSR
Leader of the Soviet Union
  • Lenin
  • Malenkov

  • a Despite abolishing the office of General Secretary in 1952, Stalin continued to exercise its powers as the Secretariat's highest-ranking member.
  • b After Stalin's death, Malenkov temporarily emerged as the highest-ranking member of the Secretariat.