 During 1918, he was appointed Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Soviets, which meant that he was in charge of administration and security in the Kremlin.As one of the three most senior native Georgians in the Soviet leadership, after Josif Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze, he was of four authors of "The Life of Stalin", a hagiography published to coincide with Stalin's 50th birthday.His co-authors were Ordzhonikidze, Kliment Voroshilov and Lazar Kaganovich.