1937 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1937 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Incumbents

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union — Joseph Stalin
Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets — Mikhail Kalinin
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union — Vyacheslav Molotov

Events

January 23–30 — Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center
June — Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization
June 18–20 — The first transpolar flight and the first non-stop USSR-USA flight by the crew led by Valery Chkalov
July 12–14 — A world-record non-stop flight, by the crew led by Mikhail Gromov, from Moscow to San Jacinto, California
December 12 — Soviet Union legislative election, 1937

Films

Bezhin Meadow — directed by Sergei Eisenstein
Lullaby — directed by Dziga Vertov
The Return of Maxim — directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg
Without Dowry — directed by Yakov Protazanov

Births

January 2 — Marietta Chudakova, Soviet and Russian literary critic (d. 2021)
January 12 — Mikheil Meskhi, footballer (d. 1991)
January 20 — Mintimer Shaimiev, 1st Head of Tatarstan
January 30 — Boris Spassky, Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster
February 16 — Yuri Manin, mathematician (d. 2023)
February 19 — Boris Pugo, 9th Minister of Interior of the Soviet Union (d. 1991)
February 25 — Yegor Stroyev, 2nd Chairman of the Federation Council
February 28 — Vitaly Tulenev, Soviet and Russian painter, visual artist and art teacher (d. 1997)
March 4 — Yuri Senkevich, Soviet and Russian physician and scientist (d. 2003)
March 6 — Valentina Tereshkova, Soviet and Russian cosmonaut
March 15 — Valentin Rasputin, Soviet and Russian writer (d. 2015)
March 16 — Valentina Parshina, agronomist and politician (d. 2020)
March 18 — Aleksei Zasukhin, Soviet and Russian boxer (d. 1996)
March 23 — Boris Zaytsev, Soviet and Russian ice hockey goaltender (d. 2000)
April 2 — Yuri Falin, Soviet and Russian football player (d. 2003)
April 9 — Leonid Barbier, Soviet and Ukrainian swimmer (d. 2023)
April 10 — Bella Akhmadulina, Soviet and Russian poet (d. 2010)
April 13 — Osman Mirzayev, Head of Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan (d. 1991)
April 14 — Anatoly Lysenko, television figure, journalist, director and producer (d. 2021)
April 24 — Galina Semenova, Soviet and Russian politician (d. 2017)
April 27 — Olga Bondareva, mathematician and economist (d. 1991)
April 29 — Yevgeny Feofanov, boxer (d. 2000)
May 1 — Hazret Sovmen, 2nd Head of the Republic of Adygea
May 7 — Sergey Ling, 3rd Prime Minister of Belarus
May 10 — Vadim Rogovin, Soviet and Russian Trotskyist historian and sociologist (d. 1998)
May 30 — Aleksandr Demyanenko, actor (d. 1999)
June 12 — Vladimir Arnold, mathematician (d. 2010)
June 18 — Vitaly Zholobov, Soviet and Ukrainian cosmonaut
July 2 — Oleg Shenin, politician (d. 2009)
July 6 — Vladimir Ashkenazy, Soviet and Russian pianist
July 7 — Valery Anisimov, wrestler
July 8 — Lidia Klement, singer (d. 1964)
July 21 — Eduard Streltsov, footballer (d. 1990)
August 10 — Anatoly Sobchak, Mayor of Saint Petersburg (d. 2000)
August 20 — Uzakbay Karamanov, last Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR (d. 2017)
August 26 — Gennady Yanayev, Vice President of the Soviet Union (d. 2010)
September 6 — Gennady Shpalikov, poet, screenwriter and film director (d. 1974)
September 13 — Igor Ivanov, Acting Head of Karachay-Cherkessia (d. 2000)
September 16 — Valentina Dimitrieva, Soviet and Russian farm worker (d. 2019)
September 20 — Valentin Knysh, politician (d. 2022)
September 23 — Aleksandr Medakin, Soviet and Russian football player (d. 1993)
September 24 — Umyar Mavlikhanov, Soviet and Russian fencer (d. 1999)
September 26 — Valentin Pavlov, 11th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 2003)
September 28 — Georgy Rerberg, Soviet and Russian cinematographer (d. 1999)
September 30
- Yuri Maslyukov, Soviet and Russian politician (d. 2010)
- Vitaliy Boiko, Soviet and Ukrainian lawyer and diplomat (d. 2020)
October 3 — Aleksandr Kondratov, Soviet and Russian linguist, biologist, journalist and poet (d. 1993)
October 8 — Eduard Rossel, 1st Governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast
October 27 — Victor Popov, Soviet and Russian theoretical physicist (d. 1994)
November 6 — Vadim Bakatin, 8th Chairman of the Committee for State Security (d. 2022)
November 12 — Alexey Obukhov, Russian diplomat and politician (d. 2022)
November 13 — Mikhail Nikolayev, 1st Head of the Sakha Republic (d. 2023)
November 22 — Nikolai Kapustin, Soviet and Russian composer and pianist (d. 2020)
November 25 — Serikbolsyn Abdildin, 1st Chairman of the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan (d. 2019)
November 26 — Boris Yegorov, Soviet and Russian physician and cosmonaut (d. 1994)
November 29 — Ali Aliyev, Soviet and Russian freestyle wrestler (d. 1995)
December 7 — Simon Gindikin, Russian mathematician
December 24 — Viacheslav Chornovil, Soviet dissident and Ukrainian politician (d. 1999)

Deaths

10 January – Martemyan Ryutin (born 1890)
30 January
- Georgy Pyatakov (born 1890)
- Nikolay Muralov (born 1877)
18 February – Grigory Ordzhonikidze (born 1886)
13 April – Ilya Ilf (born 1897)
31 May
- Yan Gamarnik (born 1894)
- Nikolai Uglanov (born 1886)
12 June
- Mikhail Tukhachevsky (born 1893)
- Ieronim Uborevich (born 1896)
- Iona Yakir (born 1896)
- Vitovt Putna (born 1893)
- Vitaly Primakov (born 1897)
- Robert Eideman (born 1895)
- Maria Ulyanova, younger sister of Vladimir Lenin (born 1878)
13 July – Mikhail Alafusov (born 1891)
30 October – Avel Enukidze (born 1877)
26 November – Leonid Veyner (born 1897)
28 November – Ernest Appoga (born 1898)
Vassily Ryutin, older son of Martemyan Ryutin, executed (born 1910)
Vissarion Ryutin, younger son of Martemyan Ryutin, executed (born 1913)