Born into a large family of fishermen, he was the son and ninth child of Anton Prokhorovich Volin and Irina Ivanovna (née Ganycheva).

Since 1921 – chief of the secret part of the headquarters of one of the units of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

From August 1948 to February 1957 – Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.

At the same time, in 1948–1952, he participated in the purges of the justice authorities and organized and supervised judicial panels for the consideration of crimes committed by judges.

[2] He was suspended from office in connection with the explanation of the plenum of the Supreme Court about the possibility of restitution of housing to rehabilitated citizens in January 1954, which was soon recognized as erroneous by the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.