Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich

Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich (b. 19 Nov. 1875, d. 3 June 1946). Head of state of the Soviet Union 1919–46 Born in Verkhniaia Troitsa (near Tver, whose name was changed to Kalinin until 1990 in his honour), he became an active revolutionary after joining the Social Democratic (Workers') Party in 1898. He joined its Bolshevik faction in 1903. He was involved in the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, when he became Mayor of Petrograd (St Petersburg). In 1919 he became Chairman of the Central Executive Committee and de facto head of state, a function that became official upon the foundation of the USSR in 1922. Subsequently, he was remarkable less for his actions, than for his unique ability as an old comrade of Lenin to escape the Great Purge and die a natural death, remaining in his (albeit ceremonial) high office throughout. He achieved this through a peculiar combination of adaptability, cunning, and blandness.