Otto Wille Kuusinen

Otto Wilhelm (Wille, Ville) Kuusinen
Born October 4, 1881, Laukaa. Died May 17, 1964, Moscow

Bachelor of Arts (philosophy, aesthetics, art history) 1905, Imperial Alexander University

Journalist 1901–02, Suomalainen newspaper
Assistant 1904–06, journalist 1907–16, Työmies newspaper
Founder 1905, editorial secretary 1906–08, Sosialistisen Aikakauslehden
Secretary of the central office of the Finnish Social Democratic Party (SDP) 1916–17
Underground work for the Communist Party of Finland in Finland and Sweden 1919–21
Member of the secretariat of the Comintern Executive Committee
President of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic 1939–56

SDP member of parliament (constituency of Uusimaa) 1908–09, 1911–13, 1917
Chairman of Finnish Social Democratic Party 1911–17
Education secretary of the Finnish People’s Delegation 1918
Prime minister and foreign minister of the Finnish Democratic Republic, Terijoki 1939–40
Member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union 1940–64, Presidium member 1940–57
Member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1957–64

Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

Honours:
Hero of Socialist Labour 1961
Order of Lenin (decorated three times)

Eponymously named:
O.W: Kuusinen Foundation 1964, Petrozavodsk State University, Russia
A street in Moscow and Petrozavodsk

Photo: Kansan Arkisto
Written by Tiia Niemelä
Translated by Matthew Billington

Last Resting Place in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis

Otto Wille Kuusinen is the only Finn to have been buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, one of the most famous sights in Moscow. Kuusinen died of liver cancer in Moscow on May 17, 1964, at the age of 82. The Soviet leadership honoured Kuusinen with black-edged newspapers that included comprehensive obituaries. His funeral ceremony was held in the House of the Unions or Dom Sojusov, the same building where the funeral of Stalin had taken place 11 years earlier. The day after the funeral, the ashes of Kuusinen were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, with several influential figures attending. The urn was carried by Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Nikolai Podgorny and Alexei Kosygin.

Sources:

Kuusinen, Aino. Jumala syöksee enkelinsä. Muistelmat vuosilta 1919-1965 (‘God Fells His Angels. Memoirs 1919-1965). Finnish translation by Aaro A. Vuoristo. Otava. Keuruu 1972.
Sainio, Venla. Kuusinen, Otto Wille. Online publication of the National Biography. Accessed September 24, 2015.
Salminen, Vesa (ed.) Nuori Otto Ville Kuusinen 1881-1920 (‘Young Otto Ville Kuusinen 1881-1920’). K.J. Gummerus Osakeyhtiö. Jyväskylä 1970.
Uitto, Antero. Suomensyöjä Otto Wille Kuusinen (‘Otto Wille Kuusinen,