Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov
Yakov Sverdlov
Яков Свердлов
	Sverdlov in 1919
Chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
	In office; 1918 – 16 March 1919
Preceded by	Elena Stasova; (as Technical Secretary)
Succeeded by	Elena Stasova
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 Bolshevik Party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 1917 to 1919. He is sometimes regarded as the first head of state of the Soviet Union, although it was not established until 1922, three years after 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 during an ideological split. He was active in the Urals during the failed Revolution of 1905, and in the next decade, he was subjected to constant imprisonment and exile. After the 1917 February Revolution overthrew the monarchy, Sverdlov returned to Petrograd and was appointed chairman of the Party Secretariat. In that capacity, he played a key role in planning of the October Revolution.

Sverdlov was elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in November 1917. He worked to consolidate Bolshevik control of the new regime and supported the Red Terror campaign and the decossackization policies. He is also considered to have played a major role in authorising the execution of the Romanov family in July 1918.

Sverdlov died in March 1919 during the Spanish flu at the age of 33 and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The city of Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk in 1924 in his honour.

Some historians have regarded the untimely deaths of prominent Bolsheviks such as Lenin and Sverdlov to have been key factors which facilitated the elevation of Joseph Stalin to the position of leadership in the Soviet Union, partly because Sverdlov served as the original chairman of the party secretariat and was considered a natural candidate for the position of General Secretary.^[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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