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Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov
About museum
Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov – a Russian revolutionary, Soviet political and state figure, Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). He was born on June 3, 1885 in Nizhny Novgorod into the family of an engraver. He received a partial gymnasium education and worked as an apprentice pharmacist.
In 1901 Sverdlov joined the ranks of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and began active revolutionary activity: he distributed propaganda materials, collected funds for the party, and organized an underground printing press. After the party split in 1903 he became a Bolshevik and took an active part in the First Russian Revolution: he worked in Yekaterinburg, Perm, Moscow, and Petersburg. During this period he was repeatedly arrested and exiled.
After the February Revolution of 1917 Sverdlov returned to Petrograd. He was a member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) and participated in the preparation and execution of the October uprising. At Lenin's suggestion he headed the VTsIK, organizing the establishment of Soviet power. In 1918 Sverdlov led the work on the first Constitution and was one of the leaders in suppressing the uprising of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (Left SRs). Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov died in March 1919 of the Spanish flu and was buried at the Kremlin Wall.
Date of birth
03 June 1885
Date of death
16 March 1919
Occupation
Statesman