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.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod to a Jewish family active in revolutionary politics, Sverdlov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1902 and supported Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction during an ideological split. He was active in the Urals during the failed Revolution of 1905, and in the next decade, he was subjected to constant imprisonment and exile. After the 1917 February Revolution overthrew the monarchy, Sverdlov returned to Petrograd and was appointed chairman of the Party Secretariat. In that capacity, he played a key role in planning of the October Revolution.
Sverdlov was elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in November 1917. He worked to consolidate Bolshevik control of the new regime and supported the Red Terror campaign and the decossackization policies.