Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov was a Bolshevik Party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 1917 to 1919. He is sometimes regarded as the first head of state of the Soviet Union, although it was not established until 1922, three years after his death.
Sverdlov in 1919
Yakov Sverdlov in 1904
Sverdlov and Vladimir Lenin open the monument to Karl Marx in 1918
Yakov Sverdlov and Grigory Zinoviev on The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, October coup, or Bolshevik coup was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It was the second revolutionary change of government in Russia in 1917. It took place through an armed insurrection in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25 October]. It was the precipitating event of the Russian Civil War.
The Winter Palace of Petrograd, one day after the insurrection, 8 November
Red Guard unit of the Vulkan factory in Petrograd, October 1917
Bolshevik (1920) by Boris Kustodiev
A scene from the July Days. The army has just opened fire on street protesters.
