Mikhail Kalinin
Encyclopedia
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin , known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych," was a Bolshevik
revolutionary and the nominal head of state
of Russia and later of the Soviet Union
, from 1919 to 1946. From 1926 he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, where he was one of the inner circle of party leaders around Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
.
origin in the village of Verkhnyaya Troitsa (Верхняя Троица), Tverskaya Gubernia
, Russia
.
Kalinin finished his education at a local school in 1889 and worked for a time on a farm following the completion of his formal education. He later moved to Saint Petersburg
, where he gained employment as a metal worker in 1895. He also worked as a butler
, then a railway worker in Tbilisi
depot where he met Sergei Alliluyev, father of Stalin's second wife.
In 1906, he married the ethnic Estonian
Katarina Loorberg (1882–1960).
During the Russian Revolution of 1905
, Kalinin worked for the Bolshevik party and on the staff of the Central Union of Metal Workers. He was later active on behalf of the RSDLP in Tiflis, Georgia (now Tbilisi
), Reval, Estonia (now Tallinn
), and Moscow
. In April 1906 he was a delegate at the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
.
Kalinin was an early and devoted adherent of the Bolshevik
faction of the RSDLP, headed by Vladimir Lenin
. He was a delegate to the 1912 Bolshevik Party Conference held in Prague
, where he was elected an alternate member of the governing Central Committee and sent to work inside Russia. He didn't become a full member because he was suspected of being an Okhrana agent (the real agent was Roman Malinovsky
, a full member).
Kalinin was arrested for his political activities in 1916 and freed during the February Revolution
of 1917 which overthrew the tsarist state. During this period, Kalinin joined the Petrograd Bolshevik committee and assisted in the organization of the party daily Pravda, newly legalized by the post-Tsarist regime.
In April 1917 Kalinin, like many other Bolsheviks, advocated conditional support for the Provisional Government
in cooperation with the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP — a position at odds with that of Lenin. He continued to oppose an armed uprising to overthrow the government of Alexander Kerensky
throughout that summer.
In the elections held for the Petrograd City Duma in the fall of 1917, Kalinin was chosen as mayor of the city, which he administered during and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 7 November.
In 1919 Kalinin was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party as well as a candidate member of the Politburo. He was promoted to full membership on the Politburo in January 1926, a position which he retained until his death in 1946.
When Yakov Sverdlov
died in March 1919 Kalinin replaced him as President of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the titular head of state of Soviet Russia. The name of this position was changed to Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in 1922 and to Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1938. Kalinin continued to hold the post without interruption until his retirement at the end of World War II
.
In 1920, Kalinin attended the Second World Congress of the Communist International in Moscow as part of the Russian delegation. He was seated on the presidium rostrum and took an active part in the debates.
Kalinin was one of comparatively few members of Stalin's inner circle springing from peasant origins. These lowly social origins were widely publicized in the official press, which habitually referred to Kalinin as the "All-Union headman" (Всесоюзный староста) — a term hearkening to the village commune — in conjunction with his role as titular head of state. In practical terms, by the 1930s Kalinin's role as a decision-maker in the Soviet government was nominal. He held little power or influence beyond receiving diplomatic letters from abroad. Recalling him, future Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
said that, "I don't know what practical work Kalinin carried out under Lenin. But under Stalin he was the nominal signatory of all decrees, while in reality he rarely took part in government business. Sometimes he was made a member of a commission, but people didn't take his opinion into account very much. It was embarrassing for us to see this; one simply felt sorry for Mikhail Ivanovich."
Kalinin kept a low profile during the Great Purge
of 1937. He was well aware of the repression; between 1937 and 1941 hundreds of people went to his dacha
or sent petitions to him about asking help against the arrests. Although he opposed the executions of personal friends like Avel Yenukidze, he remained submissive to Stalin, who under the pretext of protecting him had his apartment always watched by NKVD
officers.
Kalinin's own wife was arrested by the NKVD on 25 October 1938. She was forced under torture to confess to "counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activities" and sent to a labor camp. She was released in 1945, not long before her husband's death.
On 5 March 1940 he approved the order for the execution of more than ten thousand Polish officers captured during the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939
.
. Kalinin was honored with a major state funeral
and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
.
During his lifetime, three large cities — Tver
, Korolyov
and Königsberg
— were named or renamed in his honor; the last has retained the name Kaliningrad
after the fall of the USSR.
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
revolutionary and the nominal head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
of Russia and later of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, from 1919 to 1946. From 1926 he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, where he was one of the inner circle of party leaders around Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
Early life
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was born to a peasant family of ethnic RussianRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
origin in the village of Verkhnyaya Troitsa (Верхняя Троица), Tverskaya Gubernia
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Kalinin finished his education at a local school in 1889 and worked for a time on a farm following the completion of his formal education. He later moved to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, where he gained employment as a metal worker in 1895. He also worked as a butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
, then a railway worker in Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
depot where he met Sergei Alliluyev, father of Stalin's second wife.
In 1906, he married the ethnic Estonian
Estonians
Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. They speak a Finnic language known as Estonian...
Katarina Loorberg (1882–1960).
Political career in Russia
Kalinin joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) in 1898, the year of its foundation. He got to know Stalin through the Alliluyev family.During the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
, Kalinin worked for the Bolshevik party and on the staff of the Central Union of Metal Workers. He was later active on behalf of the RSDLP in Tiflis, Georgia (now Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
), Reval, Estonia (now Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
), and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. In April 1906 he was a delegate at the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Fourth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party that took place in Stockholm, Sweden, from April 10-25 , 1906....
.
Kalinin was an early and devoted adherent of the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
faction of the RSDLP, headed by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. He was a delegate to the 1912 Bolshevik Party Conference held in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where he was elected an alternate member of the governing Central Committee and sent to work inside Russia. He didn't become a full member because he was suspected of being an Okhrana agent (the real agent was Roman Malinovsky
Roman Malinovsky
Roman Vaslavovich Malinovsky was a prominent Russian Bolshevik politician before the revolution, while at the same time working as the best paid agent for the Okhrana. They codenamed him 'Portnoi' ....
, a full member).
Kalinin was arrested for his political activities in 1916 and freed during the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
of 1917 which overthrew the tsarist state. During this period, Kalinin joined the Petrograd Bolshevik committee and assisted in the organization of the party daily Pravda, newly legalized by the post-Tsarist regime.
In April 1917 Kalinin, like many other Bolsheviks, advocated conditional support for the Provisional Government
Provisional government
A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...
in cooperation with the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP — a position at odds with that of Lenin. He continued to oppose an armed uprising to overthrow the government of Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
throughout that summer.
In the elections held for the Petrograd City Duma in the fall of 1917, Kalinin was chosen as mayor of the city, which he administered during and after the Bolshevik Revolution of 7 November.
In 1919 Kalinin was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party as well as a candidate member of the Politburo. He was promoted to full membership on the Politburo in January 1926, a position which he retained until his death in 1946.
When Yakov Sverdlov
Yakov Sverdlov
Yakov Mikhaylovich Sverdlov ; known under pseudonyms "Andrei", "Mikhalych", "Max", "Smirnov", "Permyakov" — 16 March 1919) was a Bolshevik party leader and an official of the Russian Soviet Republic.-Early life:...
died in March 1919 Kalinin replaced him as President of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the titular head of state of Soviet Russia. The name of this position was changed to Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in 1922 and to Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1938. Kalinin continued to hold the post without interruption until his retirement at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1920, Kalinin attended the Second World Congress of the Communist International in Moscow as part of the Russian delegation. He was seated on the presidium rostrum and took an active part in the debates.
Political career in the Soviet Union
Kalinin was a factional ally of Stalin during the bitter struggle for power which erupted following the death of Lenin in 1924. He delivered a report on Lenin and the Comintern to the Fifth World Congress in 1924.Kalinin was one of comparatively few members of Stalin's inner circle springing from peasant origins. These lowly social origins were widely publicized in the official press, which habitually referred to Kalinin as the "All-Union headman" (Всесоюзный староста) — a term hearkening to the village commune — in conjunction with his role as titular head of state. In practical terms, by the 1930s Kalinin's role as a decision-maker in the Soviet government was nominal. He held little power or influence beyond receiving diplomatic letters from abroad. Recalling him, future Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
said that, "I don't know what practical work Kalinin carried out under Lenin. But under Stalin he was the nominal signatory of all decrees, while in reality he rarely took part in government business. Sometimes he was made a member of a commission, but people didn't take his opinion into account very much. It was embarrassing for us to see this; one simply felt sorry for Mikhail Ivanovich."
Kalinin kept a low profile during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
of 1937. He was well aware of the repression; between 1937 and 1941 hundreds of people went to his dacha
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
or sent petitions to him about asking help against the arrests. Although he opposed the executions of personal friends like Avel Yenukidze, he remained submissive to Stalin, who under the pretext of protecting him had his apartment always watched by NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
officers.
Kalinin's own wife was arrested by the NKVD on 25 October 1938. She was forced under torture to confess to "counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activities" and sent to a labor camp. She was released in 1945, not long before her husband's death.
On 5 March 1940 he approved the order for the execution of more than ten thousand Polish officers captured during the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
.
Death and legacy
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin retired in 1946 and died on 3 June of that same year in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Kalinin was honored with a major state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
and was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Burials in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik victims of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. It is centered on both sides of Lenin's Mausoleum, initially built in wood in 1924 and rebuilt in granite in 1929–1930...
.
During his lifetime, three large cities — Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
, Korolyov
Korolyov (city)
Korolyov or Korolev is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, well known as the cradle of Soviet and Russian space exploration. It was originally founded as Kaliningrad in 1938 by Vasily Boldyrev, Naum Nosovsky, and Mikhail Loginov as the leading Soviet center for production of anti-tank...
and Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
— were named or renamed in his honor; the last has retained the name Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
after the fall of the USSR.