AHC: A Female Ruler of the Soviet Union

Old soviet joke: “There was Russia before Peter (dopetrovskaya), then there was Russia under Peter (petrovskaya), and now there’s Russia under Dnipropetrovsk (dnepropetrovskaya)." This joke referred to the new makeup of the Politburo, where former Party leaders from Dnipropetrovsk - the Brezhnev "mafia" - played a decisive role.

After dissolution of the Soviet Union the "Dnipropetrovsk clan" became most prominent clan of Ukraine. So, theoretically, if the Soviet Union didn't collapse, Yulia Tymoshenko (also a product of the ''Dnipropetrovsk clan'') could become a leader of the USSR.
 
One of the more interesting candidates I think would be Valentina Tereshkova.


I wonder, if Lilly Litvak had survived the war, with even greater success than at the time of her death, if she might've become prominent in politics, long before Tereshkova, and conceivably had a shot at the throne so to speak.
 
I think a real alternative to Zionism emerges in bilobozardisn.

What the heck is that?

How does antisemitism enter the equation if Sinoviev and Kamenev take over?

Undoubtedly. Tsarist Russia was a deeply anti-semetic place, that's hardly going to disappear overnight.

Also, due to how the Soviets criminalized certain entrepreneurial economic activities where Jews were heavily represented, there are "good Marxist reasons" to justify anti-semites indulging in their prejudices.

There is a good chance that Zinoviev and Kamenev would preside over a less anti-semetic environment though.

Also, I love the idea of Tereshkova as general secretary of the Communist Party. (Since she's continued to be active in politics in the post-Soviet era, one could get a pretty good idea of what sort of Gen. Sec. she'd be too.)

fasquardon
 
Yes i'm sorry it was a soviet jewish homeland on paper at least during the stalin era. zionoev and pals might make it real.
 
Yes i'm sorry it was a soviet jewish homeland on paper at least during the stalin era. zionoev and pals might make it real.

I get you now.

And it was real. It just imploded real fast once the Soviets allowed emigration to Israel with even limited numbers.

fasquardon
 
With a POD no earlier than Lenin's death how can a woman, any woman, rise to become leader of the Soviet Union? You are allowed to consider possible candidates should the USSR have survived into the 2000s as well as earlier potential candidates.
Maybe a female WW2 war hero later having a career in the Communist party or Soviet institutions. Maybe comes into spotlight only somewhere in the 80es when the USSR is in crisis. Takes Gorbatchow's place around 1985. Would be interesting how Reagan would deal with a Soviet "Thatcher".
 
If "leader" includes Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (the closest thing the USSR had to a titular head of state for most of its history) this was pretty much a decorative position, and could be held by someone with no real power--Shvernik, who held this position from 1946 to 1953, wasn't even a full member of the Politburo (though he was part of the "large" Presidium of the CPSU that briefly replaced the Politburo in 1952-3). So someone like Tereshkova could theoretically have been chosen for that.
 
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