Otto Kuusinen
Otto Wille Kuusinen | |
|---|---|
Portrait, c. 1940s | |
| Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish SSR | |
| In office 11 July 1940 – 16 July 1956 | |
| Succeeded by | Pavel Prokkonen |
| Member of the 19th Presidium | |
| In office 16 October 1952 – 5 March 1953 | |
| Member of the 20th–21st, 22nd Secretariat | |
| In office 29 June 1957 – 17 May 1964 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 October 1881 Laukaa, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire |
| Died | 17 May 1964 (aged 82) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
| Party | Social Democratic Party of Finland (1906–1918) Communist Party of Finland (1918–1964) Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1918–1964) |
| Children | 8, including Hertta Kuusinen |
Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (Finnish: [ˈotːo ˈʋilːe ˈkuːsinen] ⓘ; Russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, romanized: Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet.
From 1911 to 1917, Kuusinen served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and became one of the leaders of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic in 1918. After the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, he fled to Soviet Russia.
In the Soviet Union, Kuusinen became a prominent official in Comintern. During the Winter War (1939–1940), he led the Finnish Democratic Republic, a short-lived Soviet puppet state. Following the war, he served as the head of state of the Karelo-Finnish SSR from 1940 until 1956. He was a member of the Politburo in 1952–1953 and 1957–1964.