Johannes Käbin

Who was Johannes Käbin?

Johannes Käbin was an Soviet politician who led the Estonian Communist Party from 1950 to 1978. He was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1978 to 1983. 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. Käbin was an ethnic Estonian but had been raised in Russia, as his family had moved to Saint Petersburg in 1910. He worked as a teacher in Moscow before returning to Estonia after the Second World War.

After the reindependence of Estonia till his death Käbin was a member of the Social Democratic Labour Party.