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

 * 23–30 January – Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center
 * June – Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization
 * 18–20 June – by the crew led by Valery Chkalov
 * 12–14 July – A world-record non-stop, by the crew led by Mikhail Gromov, from Moscow to San Jacinto, California
 * 12 December – 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

 * 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
 * March 16 — Valentina Parshina, agronomist and politician (d. 2020)
 * April 14 — Anatoly Lysenko, television figure, journalist, director and producer (d. 2021)
 * April 29 — Yevgeny Feofanov, boxer (d. 2000)
 * May 7 — Sergey Ling, 3rd Prime Minister of Belarus
 * May 30 — Aleksandr Demyanenko, actor (d. 1999)
 * June 12 — Vladimir Arnold, mathematician (d. 2010)
 * July 2 — Oleg Shenin, politician (d. 2009)
 * July 7 — Valery Anisimov, wrestler
 * July 8 — Lidia Klement, singer (d. 1964)
 * 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 16 — Valentina Dimitrieva, farm worker (d. 2019)
 * September 26 — Valentin Pavlov, 11th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 2003)
 * September 30 — Yuri Maslyukov, Soviet and Russian politician (d. 2010)
 * November 6 — Vadim Bakatin, 8th Chairman of the Committee for State Security (d. 2022)
 * November 25 — Serikbolsyn Abdildin, 1st Chairman of the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan (d. 2019)
 * 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)