Lev Kamenev

Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician (1883–1936)

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Lived 1883–1936, aged 53

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Wikipedia
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Era
1883–1936
Aged 53

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

He helped Lenin seize power, ruled beside Stalin when Lenin fell ill, then watched the General Secretary turn the party machinery against him. Kamenev went from acting premier to show trial defendant in a decade.

Biography

About

Born in Moscow in 1883 to a family steeped in revolutionary politics, Lev Kamenev joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1901 and sided with Lenin's Bolsheviks after the 1903 split. Arrested repeatedly, he participated in the failed 1905 revolution before moving abroad as one of Lenin's close associates. He opposed Lenin's April Theses and the plan for armed seizure in 1917, but when the October Revolution succeeded he took senior posts including chairman of the Moscow Soviet and deputy premier. After Lenin's stroke in May 1922, Kamenev formed a triumvirate with Zinoviev and Stal…

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