Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov Я́ков Свердло́в
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 (acting)
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	(1885-06-03)3 June 1885 Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	Moscow, Russian SFSR
Citizenship	Soviet
Nationality	Russian
Political party	Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)
Ethnicity	Jew

Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (Russian: Я́ков Миха́йлович Свердло́в; IPA: [ˈjakəf mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ svʲɪrdˈlof]; known by pseudonyms "Andrei", "Mikhalych", "Max", "Smirnov", "Permyakov"; June 3, [O.S. May 22] 1885 – March 16, 1919) was a Bolshevik party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Early life

Sverdlov was born in Nizhny Novgorod as Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov to Jewish parents Mikhail Izrailevich Sverdlov and Elizaveta Solomonova. His father was a politically active engraver who eventually began practising forgery and arms storage and dealing. The Sverdlov family had six children: two daughters (Sophia and Sara) and four sons (Zinovy, Yakov, Veniamin, and Lev). After his wife's death during 1900, Mikhail converted his family to the Russian Orthodox Church, married Maria Aleksandrovna Kormiltsev, and had two more sons, Herman and Alexander. Yakov's eldest brother Zinovy was adopted by Maxim Gorky, who was a frequent guest at the house. Yakov Sverdlov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party during 1902, and then the Bolshevik faction, endorsing Vladimir Lenin. He was involved with the 1905 revolution while living in the Ural Mountains.

After four years of high school, he became a major activist and speaker in Nizhny Novgorod. For most of the time from his arrest during June 1906 until 1917 he was either imprisoned or exiled. During the period 1914–1916 he was in internal exile in Turukhansk, Siberia, along with Joseph Stalin. Both had been betrayed by the Okhrana agent Roman Malinovsky. Like Stalin, he was co-opted in absentia to the 1912 Prague Conference.

Party leader

After the 1917 February Revolution Sverdlov returned to Petrograd from exile and was re-elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He played an important role in planning the October Revolution.

He first met Lenin during April 1917 and was subsequently trusted as the chairman of the Central Committee Secretariat. Sverdlov was elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee during November, becoming thereby de jure chief of state of the Russian SFSR until his death. He played an important role in the controversial decision to end the Russian Constituent Assembly and the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was claimed that Lenin provided the theories and Sverdlov made sure they worked. Later their relationship suffered as Lenin seemed to be too theoretical for practical Sverdlov.

Sverdlov had a prodigious memory and was able to retain the names and details of fellow revolutionaries while in exile. His organizational capability was well-regarded and during his chairmanship thousands of local party committees were initiated. Sverdlov is sometimes regarded as the first chief of state of the Soviet Union, although the Soviet Union wasn't established until 1922, three years after his death.

Romanov family

Main article: Shooting of the Romanov family

A number of sources claim that Sverdlov played a major role in the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

A book written during 1990 by the Moscow playwright Edvard Radzinsky claims that Sverdlov ordered their execution on July 16, 1918. This book as well as other Radzinsky's books were characterized as "folk history" (Russian term for pseudohistory) by journalists and academic historians. However Yuri Slezkine in his book The Jewish Century expressed the same opinion: "Early in the Civil War, in June 1918, Lenin ordered the killing of Nicholas II and his family. Among the men entrusted with carrying out the orders were Sverdlov, ru and Yakov Yurovsky".

The 1922 book by a White Army general, Mikhail Diterikhs, The Murder of the Tsar’s Family and members of the House of Romanov in the Urals, sought to describe the murder of the royal family as a Jewish plot against Russia. It referred to Sverdlov by his Jewish nickname "Yankel" and to Goloshchekin as "Isaac". This book in turn was based on an account by one Nikolai Sokolov, special investigator for the Omsk regional court, whom Diterikhs assigned with the task of investigating the disappearance of the Romanovs while serving as regional governor under the White regime during the Russian Civil War.

According to Leon Trotsky's diaries, after returning from the front (of the Russian Civil War) he had the following dialogue with Sverdlov:

-By the way, where is the tsar?

-Executed, of course.

-And where is the family?

-And the family, together with him.

-The whole?

-The whole. What do you have in mind?

-Who made the decision?

-We here made the decision. Ilyich reckoned there should be no live banner left for "them".

According to Russia's chief investigator Vladimir Solovyov, as of 2011 there is no conclusive evidence that either Lenin or Sverdlov gave the order.

Death

Snow-covered statue of Sverdlov in Yekaterinburg, formerly Sverdlovsk.

Sverdlov is commonly believed to have died of either typhus or influenza, during the 1918 flu pandemic, after a political visit to Oryol. He is buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, in Moscow.

According to Paganuzzi, on March 16, 1919, he visited Morozov's factory in Moscow where a worker hit him on his head with a heavy object at around 4 PM. Historian Arkady Vaksberg claimed that there were reliable rumours that Sverdlov was beaten to death by workers in Oryol, due to his Jewish origins, and that the incident was covered up to prevent an anti-semitic outburst. Another speculation is that he was eliminated due to his supposed involvement in an attempt to assassinate Lenin.

During 1924, Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk in his honor. During 1991, Sverdlovsk was changed back to Yekaterinburg.

His son Andrei had a long career as an officer for the Soviet security organs (NKVD, OGPU). His niece Ida married NKVD chief Genrikh Yagoda.

Legacy

• The Imperial Russian Navy destroyer leader Novik (commissioned during 1913) was renamed Yakov Sverdlov during 1923.
• The first ship of the Sverdlov class cruisers was also named after him.
• The city of Yekaterinburg had the name of Sverdlovsk in the USSR (1924-1991).
• A few locations in the former Soviet Union still bear Sverdlovsk's name, in the Russian Federation, in Ukraine, and in Kyrgyzstan. Others have been renamed.

See also

• Zinovy Peshkov (Zinovy Sverdlov), Yakov's brother

External links

• Leon Trotsky: Jacob Sverdlov – 1925 memorial essay

Political offices
Preceded by Lev Kamenev	Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets 1917–1919	Succeeded by Mikhail Vladimirsky