Vasily Schmidt

Vasily Vladimirovich Schmidt (Russian: Василий Владимирович Шмидт; December 17, 1886 – July 28, 1938) was a Bolshevik politician, and later a Soviet statesman.

On 1 December 1918, he was appointed People's Commissar for Labour, a post he held until 29 November 1928.

The English journalist Arthur Ransome met him soon after his appointment, and described him as "a clean-shaven, intelligent young man, whose attention to business methods is reflected in his Commissariat, which is extremely clean and very well organised."

[2] At the same time a member of the Presidium and secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

Convicted on June 3, 1937, to 10 years in prison, on January 28, 1938, he was sentenced to capital punishment and shot on the same day.