Maxim Gorky (1934–1936) Vladimir Stavsky (1936–1938) Alexander Fadeyev (1938–1944 and 1946–1954) Nikolai Tikhonov (1944–1946) Alexey Surkov (1954–1959) Konstantin Fedin (1959–1977) George Markov (1977–1986) Vladimir Karpov (1986–1991)