1948 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1948 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Decades:

Incumbents

Joseph Stalin sends the first advisers to China in an effort to repair the economic damage brought on by years of civil war.^[1]
At the request of Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin Sends railroad construction expert I.V. Kovalev with a team of 300 engineers and laborers to repair deteriorated or destroyed Manchurian railways.^[1]
March 10 – Extreme restrictions are placed on German traffic from the Soviet Zone into Berlin.^[2]
June 24 – The Soviets implement a total blockade of all ground and water transport into or out of Berlin. The blockade will last nearly a full year, ending May 12, 1949.^[2]

January 1 — Pavel Grachev, 2nd Minister of Denfence (d. 2012)
January 10 — Mischa Maisky, cellist
January 14 — Valeri Kharlamov, ice hockey player (d. 1981)
January 20 — Natan Sharansky
January 27
- Mikhail Baryshnikov, Latvian and American dancer, choreographer and actor
- Otari Kvantrishvili, Georgian Mafia boss (d. 1994)
March 20 — Helene Vannari, Estonian stage, radio, television and film actress (d. 2022)
March 26 — Gayyur Yunus, Azerbaijani painter
April 13 — Mikhail Shufutinsky, Russian pop singer
May 2 — Vladimir Matorin, Russian opera singer
May 31 — Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian
June 1 — Juhan Viiding, Estonian poet and actor (d. 1995)
June 30 — Vladimir Yakunin, former President of Russian Railways
July 16 — Mariia Stefiuk^[3]
July 21 — Mikhail Zadornov, Soviet and Russian stand-up comedian and writer (d. 2017)
August 23 — Lev Zelyony, Soviet and Russian physicist
August 28 — Natalya Gundareva, Russian film and theatre actress (d. 2005)
August 30 — Victor Skumin, Soviet and Russian scientist, psychiatrist, philosopher and writer
September 19 — Nadiya Tkachenko, Ukrainian pentathlete
September 25 — Vladimir Yevtushenko, billionaire and oligarch
November 9 — Viktor Matviyenko, Soviet and Ukrainian footballer and coach (d. 2018)

January 13 — Solomon Mikhoels, actor and artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater (b. 1890)
February 11 — Sergei Eisenstein, film director (b. 1898)
March 23 — Yevgeniy Abalakov, mountaineer and sculptor (b. 1907)
April 19 — Mikhail Rostovtsev, bass, opera and operetta singer and actor (b. 1872)
May 1 — David Shterenberg, painter and graphic artist (b. 1881)
July 28 — Nikolai Podvoisky, Bolshevik revolutionary and statesman (b. 1880)
August 31 — Andrei Zhdanov, Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1896)
September 30 — Vasily Kachalov, actor (b. 1875)
October 25 — Boris Fomin, musician (b. 1900)