Government of the Soviet Union

Council of Ministers of the USSR (Russian: Совет Министров СССР, tr.: Soviet Ministrov SSSR; sometimes the abbreviation Sovmin was used) was the Soviet government - the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union.[1] Between 1918 and 1946 it was named Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Совет Народных Комиссаров СССР, tr.: Sovet Narodnykh Komissarov SSSR, often abbreviated to Sovnarkom or SNK). The Council of Ministers of the USSR was formed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the first session of each convocation, i.e. every four years.[1]

Contents

History

Sovnarkom

According to the 1918 Constitution of the RSFSR, and subsequent USSR constitutions, until 1946 the functions of ministers in the government of the Russian SFSR and, after 1922 the Soviet Union, were performed by People's Commissars (Russian: Народный комиссар, tr.: Narodny komissar, or Narkom). Its supreme organ was the Council of People's Commissars(Совет народных коммиссаров) , abbreviated as Sovnarkom (совнарком). A ministry was called a People's Commissariat (Russian: Народный комиссариат, tr.: Narodny komissariat, abbreviated to narkomat), and the country's main governing body was the Council of People's Commissars. Its role was fixed in the constitution of the USSR. The Soviet republics retained their own governments which dealt with domestic matters; they were also named Sovnarkom by conventions of their pre-Union legislation.

Communists wanted to create a government of workers and peasants. Traditionally, a government is a council of ministers nominated by a ruler or by a president. The communists saw this as a bourgeois institution, and wanted to organize things differently in a workers' state. After the October revolution, political power was held by councils (soviets) of workers, peasants and soldiers. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets (1917) introduced and elected the first Council of People's Commissars to manage Russia in the name of working people. The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, also elected by the Congress of Soviets, had a function similar to that of a prime minister. The first Chairman of Sovnarkom was Vladimir Lenin.

The 1918 Soviet Constitution made the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR responsible to the Congress of Soviets for the "general administration of the affairs of the state." The constitution enabled the Sovnarkom to issue decrees carrying the full force of law when the congress was not in session. The congress then routinely approved these decrees at its next session. In fact, the Sovnarkom had already exercised governmental authority of the RSFSR since November 1917 after the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

The People's Commissariats

Each Commissar was head of commissariat and had several deputies and a collegium which functioned as a deliberative body to advise the commissar. The first council elected by the Second All-Russian congress was composed as follows:

Chairman: Vladimir Lenin
Secretary: Nikolai Gorbunov
  • Narkomzem People's Commissariat for Agriculture: Commissar Vladimir Milyutin
  • People's Commissariat for Military Affairs: Commissars Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Nikolai Krylenko
  • People's Commissariat for Naval Affairs: Commissar Pavel Dybenko
  • People's Commissariat for Trade and Industry: Commissar Viktor Nogin
  • Narkompros People's Commissariat for Education:Commissar Anatoly Lunacharsky
  • Narkomprod People's Commissariat for Food: Commissar Ivan Teodorovich
  • Narkomindel People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs: Commissar Leon Trotsky
  • NKVD People's Commissariat for Interior Affairs: Commissar Alexei Rykov
  • Narkomiust People's Commissariat for Justice: Commissar Georgy Oppokov
  • Narkomtrud People's Commissariat for Labour: Commissar Alexander Shlyapnikov
  • Narkomnats People's Commissariat of Nationalities: Commissar: Joseph Stalin
  • Potel People's Commissariat for Post and Telegraph:Commissar Nikolai Glebov-Avilov
  • People's Commissariat of Railways: (vacant)
  • Narkomfin People's Commissariat of Finance: Commissar Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov

Sovmin

In 1946, Sovnarkom was renamed as the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Russian: Совет Министров СССР, tr.: Sovet Ministrov SSSR). While the People's Commissars and People's Commissariats became Ministers and government departments.

The building of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was situated inside the Moscow Kremlin, next to the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, entry on "Совет Министров СССР", available online here

External links

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