Sergei Kirov (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Sergei Mironovich Kirov (Russian: Серге́й Миро́нович Ки́ров; March 15 [March 27 N.S.], 1886 – April 23, 1956), born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a Soviet communist revolutionary and politician. He was the informal leader of the Soviet Union from 1934 until his death in 1956. Relatively unknown among party inner circle during the time of Russian Revolution, Kirov rose rapidly through the Communist Party ranks in 1920s where served as leader of party regional committee in Leningrad. He subsequently managed to consolidate power following the 1934 Party Congress.

Under Kirov's rule, the Soviet Union shifted its focus from world revolution to the development of the state economy following the concept of "socialism in one country." He speeded the economic development in the Soviet Union by launching a period of industrialization and collectivization that resulted in the rapid transformation of the USSR from an agrarian society into an industrial power. Despite Kirov's initial promise to restore the inter-party democracy, the repression against dissident voices also intensified during Kirov's era. Millions of people forced to work at labor camps and more than thousands of oppositional figures were missing.

Kirov also led the Soviet Union during the World War II, together with the United States and the United Kingdom as an ally against the Axis powers. Albeit a Soviet-German non-aggression pact in 1939, Germany later violated the agreement and launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Despite heavy human and territorial losses, Soviet forces managed to halt the Nazi offensive after the decisive Battles of Moscow and Stalingrad. After defeating the Axis powers on the Eastern Front, the Red Army captured Berlin in May 1945, effectively ending the war in Europe for the Allies. The Soviet Union subsequently emerged as one of world superpowers, the other being the United States.