Vladimir Smirnov (politician)

Smirnov c. 1920s

Vladimir Mikhailovich Smirnov (Russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Смирно́в; 7 May 1887 – 26 May 1937) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, member of the Bolshevik Party (from 1907) and Soviet politician, where he advocated a militant and doctrinally pure line. He was a persistent critic of successive party leaders, including Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, for which he spent years in prison and exile before being executed.