Otto Wille Kuusinen

Otto Wille Kuusinen
Portrait, c. 1940s
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish SSR
In office 11 July 1940 – 16 July 1956
Succeeded by	Pavel Prokkonen
Member of the 19th Presidium
In office 16 October 1952 – 5 March 1953
Member of the 20th–21st, 22nd Secretariat
In office 29 June 1957 – 17 May 1964
Personal details
Born	(1881-10-04)4 October 1881 Laukaa, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
Died	17 May 1964(1964-05-17) (aged 82) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Political party	Social Democratic Party of Finland (1906–1918) Communist Party of Finland (1918–1964) Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1918–1964)
Children	8, including Hertta Kuusinen

Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (Finnish: [ˈotːo ˈʋilːe ˈkuːsinen] ^ⓘ; Russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, romanized: Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet communist and, later, Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet who, after the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, fled to the Soviet Union, where he worked until his death. He briefly led the so-called Finnish Democratic Republic before serving as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.