Mikhail Kalinin
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Russian: Михаил Иванович Калинин, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈ(j)iɫ kɐˈlʲinʲɪn] ; 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1875 – 3 June 1946) was a Soviet politician and Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary who served as the head of state of the Soviet Union from 1919 until his resignation in 1946. (This position was largely ceremonial, with actual power residing with Communist Party leader Joseph Stalin.) From 1926 until his death, he was a member of the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).