Yakov Yakovlev

Yakov Arkadyevich Yakovlev (real name: Epstein; Я́ков Арка́дьевич Я́ковлев, June 9, 1896, Grodno - July 29, 1938) was a Soviet statesman and politician.

Yakovlev joined the Bolsheviks in 1913. In January 1923 he led the attack on Alexander Bogdanov, criticising him for being a Menshevik in Pravda. From 1929 he served as People's Commissar for Agriculture for the forced collectivization. In 1936 he appeared as a witness in the first Moscow trial. In 1937 he organized the Great Purge in Belarus, in the following year he fell victim to his own.