Full Name: Mikhail Tomsky

Russian: Михаи́л Па́влович То́мский

Date of Birth: 31 October 1880
Birth Place: Kolpino, Russian Empire
Date of Death: 22 August 1936 (aged 55)
Cause of Death: Suicide
Death Place: Bolshevo, Soviet Union

Occupation: Trade unionist
Gender: Male
Nationality: Russian/Soviet

Work at: Theodor Kibbel factory & Smirnov Engineering factory.
General Secretary: Red International of Labour Unions.

Factory worker, trade unionist and Bolshevik leader Mikhail Tomsky Russian: Михаи́л Па́влович То́мский (1880-1936) was the Soviet leader of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions. He was born in Kolpino, Russian Empire in a working-class environment. After a brief formal education Tomsky found work at the Theodor Kibbel factory and at the age of fourteen moved to the Smirnov Engineering factory. Tomsky's labour activities radicalized him politically and led him to become a socialist and join the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1904 and eventually join the Bolshevik faction of the party. For involvement in the 1905 Revolution, he was arrested and deported to Siberia. Tomsky was arrested in 1908 and then exiled to France but returned to Russia in 1909 where he was again arrested for his political activities and sentenced to five years of hard labour.

In 1920, he became General Secretary of the Red International of Labour Unions. In 1922, he became a member of the Politburo. He was one of the pallbearers with ( Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev) at Vladimir Lenin's death. He became a full member of the Central Committee's Politburo on December 19, 1927. In 1926 he joined Stalin, Nikolay Bukharin and Alexei Rykov to begin the purge of the left of the party. In 1928 Stalin moved against his former allies, defeating Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky in April 1929. In April 1929, he was forced to resign from his trade union posts. In 1934 he was appointed head of the State Publishing House. Mikhail Tomsky committed suicide on 22nd August 1936 when he was informed about his arrest.