Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov
Yakov Sverdlov
Яков Свердлов
	Sverdlov in 1919
Chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
	In office; 8 March 1918 – 16 March 1919
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Elena Stasova; (as Responsible Secretary)
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets
	In office; 21 November 1917 – 16 March 1919
Preceded by	Lev Kamenev
Succeeded by	Mikhail Vladimirsky
Member of the 6th, 7th Bureau
	In office; 29 November 1917 – 16 March 1919
Member of the 6th, 7th Secretariat
	In office; 6 August 1917 – 16 March 1919
Personal details
Born	3 June 1885; Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	16 March 1919 (aged 33); Moscow, Russian SFSR
Resting place	Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Nationality	Russian; Soviet;
Political party	RSDLP (1902–1912); Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1912–1919)
Spouse	Klavdia Novgorodtseva

Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (Russian: Яков Михайлович Свердлов; 3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1885 – 16 March 1919) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician who served as Chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1918 until his death in 1919, and as Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (head of state of the Russian SFSR) from 1917 until his death.

Born in Nizhny Novgorod to a Jewish family active in revolutionary politics, Sverdlov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1902 and supported Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction from 1903. He was active in the Urals during the failed Revolution of 1905, and over the next decade was subjected to constant imprisonment and exile. After the 1917 February Revolution overthrew the monarchy, Sverdlov returned to Petrograd and was appointed a secretary of the party's central committee. In his administrative capacity, he played a key role in planning the October Revolution, in which the Bolsheviks came to power.

In November 1917, Sverdlov was elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the de facto head of state. He worked to consolidate Bolshevik control of the new regime and supported the Red Terror campaign and decossackization policies. He played major roles in the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in January 1918, in persuading party members to support the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed with the Central Powers that March, and in authorising the execution of the Romanov family that July. In March 1919, Sverdlov died at age 33 during the Spanish flu, and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The city of Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) and Theatre (Sverdlov) Square in Moscow were renamed in his honour.

Some historians regard the untimely deaths of prominent Bolsheviks such as Sverdlov and Lenin to have been key factors which facilitated the rise of Joseph Stalin to leader of the Soviet Union, as Sverdlov was a natural candidate for the position of party General Secretary, to which Stalin was appointed in 1922.^[1]^[2]

^ Mccauley, Martin (13 September 2013). Stalin and Stalinism: Revised 3rd Edition. Routledge. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-317-86369-4.
^ Ragsdale, Hugh (1996). The Russian Tragedy: The Burden of History. M.E. Sharpe. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-56324-755-2.

[1] Mccauley, Martin (13 September 2013). Stalin and Stalinism: Revised 3rd Edition. Routledge. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-317-86369-4.

[2] Ragsdale, Hugh (1996). The Russian Tragedy: The Burden of History. M.E. Sharpe. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-56324-755-2.

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