Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin On 5 March 1953, at 21:50 EET, Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union, died at the Kuntsevo Dacha aged 74 after suffering a stroke. After four days of national mourning, Stalin was given a state funeral and then buried in Lenin's Mausoleum on 9 March. Nikita Khrushchev, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov and Lavrentiy Beria were in charge of organizing the funeral. On 6 March, the coffin with Stalin's body was displayed at the Hall of Columns in the House of the Unions and it stayed there for three days. On
Premier of the Soviet Union Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Twelve individuals became Premier during the time span of the office. Two of the twelve Premiers died in office of natural causes (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin), three resigned (Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Ivan Silayev) and three had the offices of party secretary and Premier simultaneously (Lenin, Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev). The first Premier was Lenin, who was inaugurated during 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union. Ivan Silayev spent