Gugo Ialava

Born Feb. 3, 1874, in St. Petersburg; died Apr. 28, 1950, in Petrozavodsk. Participant in the Russian revolutionary movement from the 1890’s; member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1906 to 1917. Member of the Communist Party from 1926.

The son of a worker, Ialava became a lathe operator in St. Petersburg in 1889, and in 1898 he began working for the Finnish Railroad. He took part in the Revolution of 1905–07. In accordance with assignments he received from the St. Petersburg committee of the RSDLP, he transported party personnel, arms, and illegal literature across the Finnish border. In 1907 clandestine party meetings were held at his apartment. In 1917, Ialava was the engineer of locomotive No. 293, in which V. I. Lenin, who had gone into hiding in July, crossed the border into Finland in August and back into Russia in October. In August and September, Ialava conveyed correspondence between Lenin and the Central Committee of the RSDLP(B). On Oct. 14 (27), 1917, at Ialava’s apartment in Petrograd, Lenin held a conference of leaders of the party and of the Military Organization of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(B) to prepare for an armed uprising.

In the period beginning in 1918, Ialava held various positions. After serving as an official in the People’s Commissariat of Nationalities, he became a railroad engineer; he also served as a staff member of the Karelian regional committee of the ACP(B) and the Central Executive Committee. In 1947 he was appointed to the Council of Ministers of the Karelian ASSR.

Ialava was awarded the Order of Lenin.