Johannes Käbin (), also known by his Russified name Ivan Gustavovich Kebin (; 24 September 1905,

Kalvi Kalvi is a village in Viru-Nigula Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) It's located about north of the Tallinn–Narva road (part of E20), northwest of Aseri and northeast of Viru-Nigula, on the co ...

, Kreis Wierland, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire – 26 October 1999, Tallinn, Estonia) was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

Soviet politician who led the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei, abbreviated EKP) was a subdivision of the Soviet communist party which in 1920-1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, after the 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia by the ...

from 1950 to 1978. Käbin was an ethnic Estonian but had been raised in Russia (so-called " Yestonian"), as his family had moved to Saint Petersburg in 1910. After the reindependence of Estonia till his death Käbin was a member of the Social Democratic Labour Party.

Biography

Johannes Käbin was born in 1905 in

Virumaa Virumaa ( la, Vironia; Low German: ''Wierland''; Old Norse: ''Virland'') is a former independent county in Ancient Estonia. Now it is divided into Ida-Viru County or Eastern Vironia and Lääne-Viru County or Western Vironia. Vironians built ma ...

. In 1907, Käbin's family moved from Estonia to St. Petersburg, where his father died in the same year. In 1916, together with his mother and older sister, he moved to the village of Sussanino in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Province, where the family bought a small farm (0.27 hectares). In 1926 he entered the Leningrad School of Soviet and Party Construction. A year later, Käbin was appointed chairman of the Susanin Village Council of the Gatchina (Trotsky) district. He completed his studies from

Institute of Red Professors An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

in 1938.

Career

He worked as a teacher in Moscow before returning to Estonia after the Second World War. Käbin later became the Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the EKP. In 1948, Käbin returned to be elected secretary of the Central Committee for Propaganda and Propaganda. In 1950, at the 8th Plenum, he was elected as First Secretary of the EKP. Initially a hardline Stalinist, he gradually became more moderate in the post-Stalin era but nevertheless remained devoted to the consolidation of Soviet rule in Estonia. He was in this position for more than 25 years, in part due the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

's approval of his policies. He was the

Chairman of the Supreme Soviet The Constitution of the Soviet Union recognised the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the earlier Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Congress of Soviets as the highest organs of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

( head of state) from 1978 to 1983.

Later life

After the restoration of independence, he remained in Estonia. He died in Tallinn in 1999 at the age of 94. He is buried in Metsakalmistu.

Personal life

His son is the physicist Eduard Käbin (born 17 April 1945), who is a graduate of Moscow State University and is a Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of Russia.

Awards

He received many awards, such as the: * Order of Lenin *

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

* Order of the October Revolution

References