Sverdlov, Yakov

Sverdlov, Yakov (Mikhaylovich)

(born June 3, 1885, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia—died March 16, 1919, Moscow) Soviet politician. A Bolshevik organizer and agitator in the Urals, he was often arrested and exiled. In the Russian Revolution of 1917, he headed the Bolshevik secretariat and helped plan and execute the October coup that brought the Bolsheviks to power. As titular head of state, he worked closely with Vladimir Lenin to consolidate power in the Communist Party's Central Committee. His untimely death at age 33 from an infectious illness left a void in the party hierarchy that was filled by Joseph Stalin in 1922.