Yakov Sverdlov
1885 – 1919 Russian First head of the Soviet state
The Bolsheviks' organizer and first head of state, dead young in 1919.
- Religion
- Born to a Jewish family; a militant atheist.
- Affiliations
- Bolshevik Party; chairman of the Central Executive Committee and party administrator; oversaw the order for the Romanov executions.
Sverdlov was the party's great organizer, holding the Bolshevik machine together in the first years of the revolution. As formal head of the Soviet state he was tied to the decision to execute the Romanov family in 1918. He died in the 1919 influenza epidemic, and the city of Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk in his honor.
Connections
- ally of Vladimir Lenin — Lenin's chief organizer and formal head of state.
- associate of Yakov Yurovsky — Carried out the execution the central leadership had sanctioned.
- associate of Yakov Yurovsky — The Romanov execution he sanctioned was carried out by Yurovsky.