Before you is a historical encyclopedia, covering absolutely all aspects of the life of the “world's first socialist state” - the USSR. On its pages are biographies of military leaders and politicians, cultural and artistic figures, scientists, athletes, party and economic functionaries - everyone who made up the elite of their time. Here are the victims of Stalin's repressions, and those whose hands carried out these repressions. This reference book is the first to present such a broad cross-section of the country’s history through the biographies of its “first persons.”