Ivan Nikitich Smirnov

Ivan Nikititch Smirnov (Russian: Иван Никитич Смирнов; * 1880 † August 25, 1936 in Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician.

Life

Smirnov joined in 1899 the Russian Social Democracy. After the October Revolution he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council. In the Russian Civil War, he fought against Kolchak leader. From 1923 to 1927 he was People's Commissar for Post and Telegraphs. Smirnov was a co-signer of the Declaration of 46 from 1923 and a founding member of the Left Opposition in 1927, he was expelled from the CPSU. In 1929, he surrendered and was resumed. 1931 Smirnov met with the opposition, Leon Sedov in Berlin and gave him material about the situation in the Soviet Union. In 1932, he tried to block a different opposition groups. He was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison in 1936 but tried and shot in the first Moscow show trial.