born Nov. 19, 1875, Verkhnyaya Troitsa, Russia
died June 3, 1946, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Russian communist leader and statesman.
An early supporter of the Bolshevik s, he participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and cofounded Pravda . After the Russian Revolution of 1917 he served as mayor of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). In 1919 he became chair of the central executive committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and thus titular head of the Soviet state, a position he kept until his death. From 1925 he was a member of the Politburo and supported Joseph Stalin in crucial votes, thus retaining his high party office.