born , Feb. 25, 1881, Saratov, Russia
died March 14, 1938, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Soviet official.
Active in Bolshevik revolutionary activities from age 18, he became a party leader and, after Vladimir Lenin 's death, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (192429). A strong supporter of the New Economic Policy , he was joined by Joseph Stalin to defeat the economic radicals (and Stalin's rivals) Leon Trotsky , Grigory Zinovyev , and Lev Kamenev . When Stalin then adopted his rivals' radical ideas, Rykov was stripped of his posts and forced to recant his "Right Opposition" views (1929). In 1936 he was implicated in fabricated conspiracies, tried in Stalin's purge trials , and executed for treason.