On November 19, a postage stamp dedicated to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mikhail Kalinin, a statesman and a politition, was put into postal circulation

Mikhail Kalinin (1875–1946) was a Russian revolutionary, a Soviet statesman, and a party leader. In 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Mikhail Kalinin was born on November 7 (19), 1875, in the village of Verkhnyaya Troitsa of the Tver Province.

During the February Revolution of 1917, he was one of the leaders of the seizure of the Finland Station and liberation of political prisoners from the Kresty Prison. In March, he was elected member of the Petrograd Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (of Bolsheviks). After the October Revolution of 1917, he became the Chairman of the Petrograd City Council and simultaneously a member of the Board of the People's Commissariat of Food. From March of 1919 to July of 1938, he was the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

In 1919–1920, M. Kalinin traveled over all fronts by the October Revolution propaganda train. He contributed to the increase the morale of the Red Army soldiers, explained the decrees of the Soviet government, examined the organization of the supply of Red Army units and the work of hospitals. He was given the honorary unofficial title of “All-Russian Starosta,” which later became “All-Union Starosta.”

In 1921–1923, he was the Chairman of the Central Commission to Aid the Starving and the Central Commission for the Struggle against Consequences of the Famine of 1921 under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

After the establishment of the Soviet Union, M. Kalinin was the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1922–1938), the Chairman of the Down with Illiteracy Society (1923–1936) and the Chairman of the Politburo Commission of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks for the preparation and consideration of issues of nation building in the national regions of the RSFSR (since 1926).

In 1936, he was a Deputy Chairman of the constitutional commission and participated in drafting of a new Constitution of the USSR. He was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1938 to 1946.

In the late 1930s, M. Kalinin's role in the highest echelon of power was narrowed down mainly to agitprop travels around the country, presenting awards, reception of ambassadors, speaking at sessions of the supreme legislative body, and receiving petitioners. Numerous requests were made to the famous "reception room" of M. Kalinin, millions of letters were received, including those from prisoners and their relatives.

The postage stamp features a portrait of Mikhail Kalinin against the backdrop of a map of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with silhouettes of people symbolizing M. Kalinin's activities as the “All-Union Starosta”.

In addition to the issue of the postage stamp, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Tver.


Design Artist: S. Ulyanovsky.
Face value: 70 rubles.
Stamp size: 50×37 mm, sheet size: 170×174 mm.
Emission form: a sheet with 12 (3×4) stamps.
Quantity: 66 thousand stamps (5.5 thousand sheets).

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