Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba. He led the revolution overthrowing dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and shortly after was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Cuba. Castro became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965, and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. In 1976 he became president of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers.

was the leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Communist Albanian Party of Labour. He was also Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1946 to 1953. Hoxha's rule was characterized by isolation from the rest of Europe and his proclaimed firm adherence to Anti-Revisionism, which has been dubbed "Hoxhaism".

Todor Hristov Zhivkov (September 7, 1911-August 5, 1998) was the Communist leader of Bulgaria from March 4, 1954 until November 10, 1989.

original name JOSIP BROZ, Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was secretary-general (later president) of the Communist Party (League of Communists) of Yugoslavia (1939-80), supreme commander of the Yugoslav Partisans (1941-45) and the Yugoslav People's Army (1945-80), and marshal (1943-80), premier (1945-53), and president (1953-80) of Yugoslavia. Tito was the chief architect of the "second Yugoslavia," a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991.

Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili ("Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili";, "Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili") (March 5 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Despite his formal position being originally without significant influence, …

Hồ Chí Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became Prime Minister (1946–1955) and President (1946–1969) of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Ho is most famous for leading the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. Ho was fluent in Vietnamese, several dialects of Chinese, English and French.

Saloth Sar, was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia (officially renamed the Democratic Kampuchea during his rule) from 1976 to 1979, having been "de facto" leader since mid-1975. Having been directly and indirectly responsible for the physical elimination of about one-third of the Cambodian population during his stay in power, Pol Pot is today regarded as one of the five worst mass-murderers of modern history.

Kim Il-sung was a North Korean Communist leader from its founding in early 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Workers Party of Korea where he exercised autocratic power. As leader of North Korea, he ended up switching from a Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Juche idea and established a personality cult.

José Daniel Ortega Saavedra is the current President of Nicaragua. For much of his life, he has been an important leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front ("Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional" or "FSLN"). After a popular rebellion resulted in the overthrow and exile of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, Ortega became a member of the ruling multipartisan junta and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990.

Nicolae Ceauşescu (IPA, in English, sometimes (and erroneously)) (January 26, 1918-December 25,1989) was the leader of Romania from 1965 until December 1989. That month, he was placed on trial and convicted for crimes against the state, genocide, and "undermining the national economy." His subsequent execution marked the final act of the Revolutions of 1989.

Erich Honecker was an East German Communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until 1989. After German re-unification, he first fled to the Soviet Union but was extradited by the new Russian government to Germany, where he was imprisoned and tried for high treason and crimes allegedly committed during the Cold War. However, as he was dying of cancer, he was released from prison. He died in exile in Chile about a year and a half later.

Georgi Dimitrov Mikhailov, also known as Georgiy Mikhailovich Dimitrov, (June 18, 1882 - July 2, 1949) was a Bulgarian Communist leader.

Walter Ulbricht (June 30, 1893 - August 1, 1973) was a German communist statesman. As First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971, he held arguably the central role in the early development and establishment of German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 1937) was the military leader of Ethiopia from 1977-1991. During much of the period, Ethiopia was ruled by the Provisional Military Administrative Council. In 1987, the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was formed under the leadership of the Workers Party which Mengistu headed.

Ramiz Alia (born October 18, 1925) was the leader of Albania from 1985 to 1992. He had been designated as successor by Enver Hoxha and took power after Hoxha died. Alia was born in 1925 and had joined the Albanian communist movement before he was twenty years old. He had risen rapidly under Hoxha's patronage and by 1961 was a full member of the ruling Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Albanian Party of Labor (APL).

Béla Kun, born Béla Kohn, was a Hungarian Communist politician, who ruled Hungary as the Hungarian Soviet Republic for a brief period in 1919.

Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian dictator and the leader of Hungary from 1945 to 1956 through his post as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Rákosi was born in Ada, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Serbia). The sixth son of a Jewish grocer, he later repudiated religion. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War and was captured on the Eastern Front.

János Kádár, né Giovanni Csermanek (his Italian first name was due to the laws of Fiume, his father denied paternity and refused to support his mother Borbála) (May 26, 1912-July 6, 1989), was the communist leader of Hungary from 1956 to 1988, and twice served as Prime Minister of Hungary, from 1956 to 1958 and again from 1961 to 1965.

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.

Babrak Karmal (January 6, 1929 - December 3, 1996) was the third President of Afghanistan (1979 - 1986) during the period of the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is best known of the Marxist leadership. Having been restored to power with Soviet support, he was unable to consolidate his power and, in 1986, he was replaced by Dr. Mohammad Najibullah. He left Afghanistan for Moscow, but returned to Kabul in 1989. He died in Moscow.

Klement Gottwald (November 23, 1896, Dědice (Vyškov), South Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic) - March 14, 1953) was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ or CPCz or CPC), prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia. His first career was as a cabinet maker. Subsequently, he was (1921) one of the founders of the KSČ, 1921-1926 newspaper editor and KSČ functionary in Slovakia, …

Prince Souphanouvong (July 13, 1909 - January 9, 1995) was, along with his half-brother Prince Souvanna Phouma and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak, one of the "Three Princes" who represented respectively the communist (pro-Vietnam), neutralist, and royalist political factions in Laos. He was the figurehead president of Laos from December 1975 to August 1991, a period where the country was effectively under the control of Vietnam.

António Agostinho Neto served as the first President of Angola (1975-1979), leading the Marxist-Leninist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the war for independence and the civil war. His birthday is celebrated as National Heroes Day, a public holiday in Angola.

Bouasone Bouphavanh (born June 3, 1954 in Ban Tao Poun, Muang Salavan, Salavan Province) is the prime minister of Laos. He was officially appointed to the office by the National Assembly of Laos on June 8, 2006, during a major government reshuffle. He replaced Bounnhang Vorachith who became vice president. Bouasone had previously served as first deputy prime minister since October 3, 2003.

Lieutenant General Choummaly Sayasone (born March 6, 1936 in Attapu) is president of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and general secretary (leader) of the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party since March 21, 2006. He was elected general secretary on that date by the party's 8th Congress. He previously served as defense minister. Formerly vice president of the country, he was officially appointed president on June 8, 2006, replacing Khamtai Siphandon, …

Samora Moisés Machel was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique. Machel led the country to independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa converge.

Kaysone Phomvihane (December 13, 1920-November 21, 1992) was the leader of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party from 1955, though Souphanouvong served in a figurehead role. He served as the first prime minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and then as president until his death in 1992.

General Khamtai Siphandon (born February 8, 1924) is the former president of Laos. He served from February 24, 1998 until June 8, 2006, when he was officially replaced by Choummaly Sayasone. Khamtai also served as general secretary, or leader, of the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the only legal party in the country, from November 24, 1992 until March 21, 2006 when he was replaced by Choummaly. As expected, he stepped down as president soon after the April 30, …

Tôn Đức Thắng was the second and final President of North Vietnam and the first President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He served as President, initially of North Vietnam from September 2 1969 and later of the united Vietman until his death on March 30, 1980. He was a key Vietnamese nationalist and Communist political figure and served as vice president to Ho Chi Minh.

Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi was the military President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969 – March 18, 1977. As a captain, he and other officers had overthrown the government of Alphonse Massamba-Débat in 1968 as part of a leftist coup d'etat. After a period under the National Revolutionary Council with Ngouabi as chairman and Alfred Raoul as acting head of state, Ngouabi assumed the presidency on December 31, 1968.

Khorloogiin Choibalsan was the Communist leader of the Mongolian People's Republic from the 1930s until his death. Choibalsan originally trained as a lamaist monk. He made contact with Russian revolutionaries when he travelled to Siberia. He founded his first revolutionary organisation in 1919 and in 1921 joined up with Damdin Sükhbaatar to form the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.

Vulko Velev Ĉervenkov (September 6 1900 - October 21 1980) was a Bulgarian communist politician. Chervenkov was born in Zlatitsa, Bulgaria. He became a communist in 1919 and participated in communist youth group activities and newspaper editing. He took part in the failed 1923 communist uprising. In 1925 Chervenkov fled to the Soviet Union. He attended the Marx-Lenin school in Moscow and eventually became the director of that school.

Ahmed Sékou Touré was an African political leader and president of the Republic of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in the liberation of the country from France.

Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was the leader of Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987. With a potent combination of personal charisma and a social organization with some participatory democracy, his government undertook major initiatives to fight corruption and improve education, agriculture, and the status of women.

Jaan Anvelt, Eessaare Aadu, Jaan Holm, Jaan Hulmu, Kaarel Maatamees, Onkel Kaak or Н. Альтъ. Prisoned during Great Purge in 1937. Killed by examiner named Langfang.

José Eduardo dos Santos is the current President, Head of Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola. Eduardo's father was a construction worker. While he was studying in school, he joined the MPLA in 1956 thereby starting his political career. Due to the repression of the colonial government, Dos Santos went into self-exile in France in 1961. He later moved to the Republic of the Congo.

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was one of the leaders of Mongolia from the 1940s to 1984. During his political life, he served as prime minister and general secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. After taking over premiership in 1952 with Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan's death, Tsedenbal successfully purged his political rivals: Dashiin Damba in 1958-59,Daramyn Tömör-Ochir in 1962, Luvsantserengiin Tsend in 1963, …

Mathieu Kérékou, also known as Ahmed Kérékou, (born 2 September 1933) was President of Dahomey/Benin as military dictator from 1972 to 1991. He served again as President, elected democratically, from 1996 to 2001, and was then re-elected in a disputed election to serve 2001 to 2006. Kérékou converted to Islam in 1980. His beliefs prior to this are uncertain. Kérékou later rejected Islam and is now an Evangelical Christian.