Nikolay Krestinsky

Nikolay Krestinsky
Николай Крестинский
Krestinsky in 1929
Responsible Secretary of the Russian Communist Party
In office December 1919 – March 1921
Preceded by	Elena Stasova (as Chairwoman)
Succeeded by	Vyacheslav Molotov
People's Commissar for Finance of the Russian SFSR
In office 16 August 1918 – 22 November 1922
Premier	Vladimir Lenin
Preceded by	Isidore Gukovsky
Succeeded by	Grigory Sokolnikov
Full member of the 8th, 9th Politburo
In office 8 March 1919 – 16 March 1921
Full member of the 8th, 9th Secretariat
In office 8 March 1919 – 16 March 1921
Personal details
Born	13 October 1883 Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died	15 March 1938(1938-03-15) (aged 54) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Political party	RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1903-1918) Russian Communist Party (1918–1937)
Alma mater	Saint Petersburg State University

Nikolay Nikolayevich Krestinsky (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Крести́нский; 13 October 1883 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet Bolshevik revolutionary and politician who served as the Responsible Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Born in Mogilev to a Ukrainian family, Krestinsky studied law at Saint Petersburg Imperial University, where he embraced revolutionary politics. He became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1903, and two years later he supported Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction following the RSDLP split. Repeatedly arrested, he was exiled to the Urals in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. After the 1917 February Revolution brought an end to the monarchy, Krestinsky led the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg before returning to Petrograd. He was named People's Commissar for Finance and elected to the first Politburo. After the death of Yakov Sverdlov, Krestinsky also served as Responsible Secretary of the Russian Communist Party.

Krestinsky was an ally of Leon Trotsky and supported the Left Opposition. With the rise of Joseph Stalin, Krestinsky gradually fell from power and lost his positions in the government, save for his post as Soviet ambassador to Germany. He eventually repudiated his opposition and capitulated to Stalin. Krestinsky was arrested in 1937 in the Great Purge and charged with treason. He was found guilty in the 1938 Trial of the Twenty-One and executed.