Alexei Rykov

Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (February 25 (February 13, Old Style), 1881 - March 15, 1938) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician.

Rykov was born in Saratov in 1881 to a peasant family. He joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) at the age of 20 and supported the Bolsheviks after the split with the Mensheviks in 1903. Rykov worked as a Bolshevik agent in Moscow and St. Petersburg and played an active role in the 1905 Revolution.

Rykov resented the dictatorial style of Vladimir Lenin and in 1910 he broke with the Bolsheviks. He became a leading member of the Moscow Soviet and called for a left-wing coalition to be formed in Russia.

In September 1917, Rykov was invited to join the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Petrograd Soviet. The following month he was appointed to the Military Revolutionary Committee in Moscow.

Despite his differences with Vladimir Lenin, Rykov was appointed Commissar of the Interior (1917-18), Chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy (1918-20) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1921-24) and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1924-29).

Rykov supported Joseph Stalin, Nikolay Bukharin and Mikhail Tomsky against Leon Trotsky. In 1929 Stalin turned against the right-wing of the party and Rykov was removed from all posts.

In 1938 Rykov, Bukharin, Genrikh Yagoda, Nikolai Krestinsky and Christian Rakovsky were arrested and accused of being involved with Trotsky in a plot against Stalin. Rykov was found guilty of treason and executed.