Ya. M. Sverdlov. Moscow, 1918. Photo by P. Otsup. Solomon Mikhailovich Sverdlov, 3 June 1885 - 16 March 1919), known by the pseudonyms Andrei, Mikhalych, Max, Smirnov, Permyakov, Jacob, was a Bolshevik party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 1917 to 1919. The post of chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was formally the highest state post in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Sverdlov 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.