Mikhail Kalinin

Mikhail Kalinin was a Soviet politician and revolutionary, who served as the formal head of state of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898 and became a supporter of Lenin's Bolshevik faction. He was active in the 1905 and 1917 revolutions and became the chairman of the central executive committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets in 1919. He was also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party from 1926. He supported Stalin in the power struggle after Lenin's death and remained loyal to him throughout his rule. He was known as a moderate and conciliatory figure, who advocated peaceful coexistence with the West. He died of a heart attack in 1946 and was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery.