Mikhail Kalinin

Mikhail Kalinin (1875-1946), Russian statesman, born in Tver Province. In 1898 Kalinin joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour party, and the following year he was imprisoned for engaging in revolutionary activities. With his release ten months later, Kalinin was again involved in revolutionary activities as a supporter of Bolshevism until 1904, when he was exiled to Siberia. He returned to St Petersburg the next year and participated in the 1905 Revolution. In 1913 he was again exiled to Siberia, but he escaped and remained in St Petersburg until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, in which he took an active part. After the establishment of the Soviet republic Kalinin was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Supreme Soviet. He became the first chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council in 1923 and, as such, was president of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. He held the position until his death.