First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union

First Deputy Premier of
the Soviet Union
Former political post
Coat of arms
Predecessor Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Successor First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
First officeholder Valerian Kuibyshev
Last officeholder Vladimir Velichko and Vitaly Doguzhiev
Official residence Moscow Kremlin
Political office started 14 May 1936
Political office ended 26 November 1991
Current pretender Position abolished

The office of First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union, also called First Vice Premier of the Soviet Union, was synonymous with vice-head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); a First Deputy Premier did not always serve in his post alone. A total of 26 individuals had held this post; 18 of them held other posts simultaneously with their First Deputy Premiership. The first officeholder was Valerian Kuibyshev, who was inaugurated in 1934 as First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Народных Комиссаров, abbreviated Sovnarkom). Lavrentiy Beria spent the shortest time in office and served for 113 days. At over seventeen years, Vyacheslav Molotov spent the longest time in office, and held his position through most of Joseph Stalin's tenure as Premier, as well as through the tenureships of Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin.

A First Deputy Premier was usually given responsibility over one specific area. For example, Kirill Mazurov was responsible for industry, and Dmitry Polyansky was agriculture. However, after Polyansky's departure in 1973 Mazurov was left the sole First Deputy Premier until Tikhonov was appointed in 1976.[1]:34 An officeholder could also be responsible for coordinating the activities of ministries and state committees and other subordinate bodies of the Council of Ministers. To do this the First Deputy Premier had to give these bodies guidance in an expeditious manner to ensure the implementation of plans for economic and social development and to check if the orders and decisions of the Council of Ministers were being followed. If the Premier could not perform his duties one of the First Deputy Premiers would take on the role of acting Premier until the Premier's return.[2] During the late 1970s, when the health of Premier Alexei Kosygin deteriorated, Nikolai Tikhonov, the First Deputy Premier, acted on his behalf during his absence. When Tikhonov took command of the Soviet economy, Kosygin served in a standby role. At a Central Committee plenum in June 1980, the Soviet economic development plan was outlined by Tikhonov, and not Kosygin.[3]

Before the transformation of the Council of People's Commissars to the Council of Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров, abbreviated Sovmin) the post of vice-head of government was given to the Deputy Chairmen of the Sovnarkom;[1]:281 however, there were three exceptions: Nikolai Voznesensky, Kuibyshev and Molotov were elected First Deputy Chairmen in the mid-1930s and the 1940s. There was no First Deputy Premier from 1935 to 1941 because no one was elected to the post. Molotov, one of two First Deputy Premiers under Stalin's tenure, nearly lost his position when Stalin, the Premier, took a vacation; Molotov, in his capacity as First Deputy Premier, committed what Stalin saw as grave policy violations.[4] Stalin's successor, Malenkov, promoted Bulganin, Beria and Lazar Kaganovich to the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In a Council of Minister resolution it was stated that the Premier, the First Deputy Premiers and the Deputy Premiers made up the Presidium of the Council of Ministers.[1]:30 The Presidium was later expanded to include individuals hand-picked by the Premier.[1]:31 A decree had to be signed by the Premier or a First Deputy Premier, and in the case of the Premier's absence a First Deputy Premier would assume the duties of the Premier.[1]:123 The First Deputy Prime Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров) were members of the Cabinet of Ministers (Russian: Кабинет Министров СССР), the executive and administrative body that replaced the Council of Ministers in 1990.[5]

List of first deputies

Holder Tenure
(length of tenure)		 Premier Other offices
held while First Deputy Premier
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1934–1935/1941–1946)
Valerian Kuibyshev
(1888–1935)[6]		 14 May 1934 – 25 January 1935
(256 days)		 Vyacheslav Molotov Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission[7]
Nikolai Voznesensky
(1895–1950)[8]		 10 March 1941 – 15 March 1946
(&100000000000000050000005 years, &100000000000000050000005 days)		 Vyacheslav Molotov Chairman of the State Planning Commission[8]
Joseph Stalin
Vyacheslav Molotov
(1890–1986)[9]		 16 August 1942 – 15 March 1946
(&100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000211000000211 days)		 Joseph Stalin People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs[10]
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1946–1990)
Vyacheslav Molotov
(1890–1986)[9]		 19 March 1946 – 29 June 1957
(&1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000106000000106 days)		 Joseph Stalin Minister of Foreign Affairs[11]
Georgy Malenkov
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Bulganin
(1895–1975)[12]		 7 April 1950 – 8 February 1955
(&100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000307000000307 days)		 Joseph Stalin Minister of Defence[13]
Georgy Malenkov
Lavrentiy Beria
(1899–1953)[10]		 5 March 1953 – 26 June 1953
(113 days)		 Georgy Malenkov Minister of Internal Affairs[10]
Lazar Kaganovich
(1893–1991)[14]		 5 March 1953 – 29 June 1957
(&100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000141000000141 days)		 Georgy Malenkov Minister of Building Materials Industry[15]
Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers for Labour and Wages[16]
Nikolai Bulganin
Nikita Khrushchev
Anastas Mikoyan
(1895–1978)[17]		 28 February 1955 – 15 July 1964
(&100000000000000090000009 years, &10000000000000138000000138 days)		 Nikolai Bulganin
—
Nikita Khrushchev
Mikhail Pervukhin
(1904–1974)[18]		 28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000127000000127 days)		 Nikolai Bulganin Chairman of the State Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers on Current Economic Planning[18]
Minister of Medium Machine Building[18]
Maksim Saburov
(1900–1977)[19]		 28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000127000000127 days)		 Nikolai Bulganin Chairman of the State Planning Committee[19]
Joseph Kuzmin
(1910–1996)[20]		 28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000127000000127 days)		 Nikolai Bulganin Chairman of the State Planning Committee[20]
Frol Kozlov
(1908–1965)[21]		 31 March 1958 – 4 May 1960
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &1000000000000003400000034 days)		 Nikita Khrushchev Chairman of the State Planning Committee[21]
Alexei Kosygin
(1904–1980)[22]		 4 May 1960 – 15 October 1964
(&100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000164000000164 days)		 Nikita Khrushchev
—
Dmitriy Ustinov
(1908–1984)[23]		 13 March 1963 – 26 March 1965
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &1000000000000001300000013 days)		 Nikita Khrushchev
—
Alexei Kosygin
Kirill Mazurov
(1914–1989)[24]
—
 26 March 1965 – 28 November 1978
(&1000000000000001300000013 years, &10000000000000247000000247 days)		 Alexei Kosygin First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia[24]
Dmitry Polyansky
(1917–2001)[25]		 2 October 1965 – 2 February 1973
(&100000000000000070000007 years, &10000000000000123000000123 days)		 Alexei Kosygin
—
Nikolai Tikhonov
(1905–1997)[26]		 2 September 1976 – 23 October 1980
(&100000000000000040000004 years, &1000000000000005100000051 days)		 Alexei Kosygin
—
Ivan Arkhipov
(1907–1998)[27]		 27 October 1980 – 4 October 1986
(&100000000000000050000005 years, &10000000000000342000000342 days)		 Nikolai Tikhonov
—
Nikolai Ryzhkov
Heydar Aliyev
(1923–2003)[28]		 24 November 1982 – 23 October 1987
(&100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000333000000333 days)		 Nikolai Tikhonov First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party[29]
Nikolai Ryzhkov
Andrei Gromyko
(1909–1989)[30]		 24 March 1983 – 2 July 1985
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000100000000100 days)		 Nikolai Tikhonov Minister of Foreign Affairs[31]
Nikolai Talyzin
(1929–1991)[32]		 14 October 1985 – 1 October 1988
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000353000000353 days)		 Nikolai Ryzhkov Chairman of the State Planning Committee[32]
Vsevolod Murakhovski
(born 1926)[33]
—
 1 November 1985 – 7 June 1989
(&100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000218000000218 days)		 Nikolai Ryzhkov Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture[33]
Yuri Maslyukov
(1937–2010)[34]
—
 5 February 1988 – 26 December 1990
(&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000324000000324 days)		 Nikolai Ryzhkov Chairman of the State Planning Committee[35]
Lev Voronin
(1928–2006)[36]		 17 July 1989 – 26 December 1990
(&100000000000000010000001 year, &10000000000000162000000162 days)		 Nikolai Ryzhkov
—
Vladilen Niktin
(born 1936)[37]
—
 27 July 1989 – 30 August 1990
(&100000000000000010000001 year, &1000000000000003400000034 days)		 Nikolai Ryzhkov
—
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers (1991)
Vladimir Velichko
(born 1937)[38]
—
 15 January 1991 – 26 November 1991
(315 days)		 Valentin Pavlov Minister of Heavy Machine Building[39]
Ivan Silayev
Vitaly Doguzhiev
(born 1935)[39]
—
 15 January 1991 – 26 November 1991
(315 days)		 Valentin Pavlov
—
Ivan Silayev

See also

References

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  2. ^ Кабинет Министров СССР. 5 июля 1978 «ЗАКОН О СОВЕТЕ МИНИСТРОВ СССР». (Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. 5 July 1978 Law of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. ).
  3. ^ Zemtsov, Ilya (1989). Chernenko: The Last Bolshevik: The Soviet Union on the Eve of Perestroika. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers. p. 119. ISBN 0-88738-260-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=hgscfLr5dCsC&dq. 
  4. ^ Peerie, Maureen; Lieven, D.C.B.; Suny, Ronald Grigory (2006). The Cambridge History of Russia: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 259. ISBN 0-521-81144-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=KAPxOl_mh4YC. 
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  6. ^ Shepilov, Dmitri; Austin, Anthony; Bittner, Stephen (2007). The Kremlin's Scholar: A Memoir of Soviet Politics under Stalin and Khrushchev. Yale University Press. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-300-09206-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=RwfIEhLDaMsC&dq. 
  7. ^ Hollander, Paul (2006). From the Gulag to the Killing Fields: Personal Accounts of Political Violence and Repression in Communist States. ISI Books. p. 113. ISBN 1-932236-78-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=zyaDAAAAMAAJ&q. 
  8. ^ a b McCauley, Martin (1997). Who's Who in Russia since 1900. Routledge. pp. 224–225. ISBN 0-415-13898-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=4A6rFD_AXOEC&dq. 
  9. ^ a b Phillips, Steven (2000). Lenin and the Russian Revolution. Heinemann. p. 89. ISBN 0-435-32719-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=_na0zfdhKQMC&dq. 
  10. ^ a b c Service, Robert (2009). History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century. Penguin Books Ltd. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-14-103797-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ&dq. 
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  13. ^ Siddiqi, Asif Azam (2010). The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination, 1857–1957. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-521-89760-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=iVilfSI_5sAC&dq. 
  14. ^ Rogovin, Vadim Zakharovich (2009). Stalin's Terror of 1937–1938: Political Genocide in the USSR. Mehring Books. p. 332. ISBN 978-1-893638-04-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=dDiFNXLNPDEC&dq. 
  15. ^ McCauley, Martin (1997). Who's Who in Russia since 1900. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 0-415-13898-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=4A6rFD_AXOEC&dq. 
  16. ^ McAuley, Alastair (1979). Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union: Poverty, Living standards, and Inequality. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 2000. ISBN 0-04-335038-0. http://books.google.com/books?ei=XCEuTfyxCY-VOpez1JEK&ct=result&hl=no&id=tUiTAAAAIAAJ&dq. 
  17. ^ Staff writer. "Микоян Анастас Иванович [Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan]" (in Russian). warheroes.ru. http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=9089. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  18. ^ a b c Staff writer. "Первухин, Михаил Георгиевич [G. Pervukhin, Mikhail]" (in Russian). warheroes.ru. http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=9053. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  19. ^ a b Staff writer. "Сабуров, Максим Захарович [Maksim Zakharovich Saburov]" (in Russian). hrono.ru. http://hronos.km.ru/biograf/saburov_mz.html. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  20. ^ a b Государственная власть СССР: Высшие органы власти и управления и их руководители: 1923—1991 [The state power of the USSR: Higher authorities and governments and their leaders: 1923–1991]. Moscow, Russian Federation: Историко-биографический справочник./Сост. В. И. Ивкин.. 2004. p. 69. ISBN 978-5-8243-0014-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=tFJLIIGVk10C&dq. 
  21. ^ a b Staff writer. "Фрол Романович КОЗЛОВ [Frol Romanovich Kozlov]" (in Russian). proekt-wms.narod.ru. http://proekt-wms.narod.ru/states/kozlov-fr.htm. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  22. ^ Trahair, R.C.S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 37. ISBN 978-0313319553. http://books.google.com/books?id=tFJLIIGVk10C&dq. 
  23. ^ Staff writer. "Устинов, Дмитрий Фёдорович [Ustinov, Dmitry Fedorovich]" (in Russian). warheroes.ru. http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1333. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  24. ^ a b Staff writer. "Мазуров Кирилл Тимофеевич [Kirill Trofimovich Mazurov]" (in Russian). hrono.ru. http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_m/mazurovkt.php. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  25. ^ Staff writer. "Полянский, Дмитрий Степанович [Polyansky, Dmitry Stepanovich]" (in Russian). pseudology.org. http://www.pseudology.org/Italy/Poliansky.htm. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  26. ^ Ploss, Sidney (2010). The Roots of Perestroika: The Soviet Breakdown in Historical Context. McFarland & Company. p. 219. ISBN 978-078644486X. http://books.google.com/books?id=6BzucnMoWfQC&dq. 
  27. ^ Ziyang, Zhao; Bao, Pu; Chiang, Renee (1998). Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang. Routledge. p. 289. ISBN 978-1439149380. http://books.google.com/books?id=9ooub2kRkRQC&dq. 
  28. ^ Staff writer (16 December 2003). "Azerbaijan's Geidar Aliev dies at 80". China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-12/16/content_290650.htm. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  29. ^ Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Routledge. 1998. p. 156. ISBN 978-1857430581. http://books.google.com/books?id=qmN95fFocsMC&dq. 
  30. ^ Ploss, Sidney (2010). The Roots of Perestroika: The Soviet Breakdown in Historical Context. McFarland & Company. p. 217. ISBN 978-078644486X. http://books.google.com/books?id=6BzucnMoWfQC&dq. 
  31. ^ Laird, Robin F., Hoffmann, Erik P.; Fleron, Fredrick J. (1991). Soviet Foreign Policy: Classic and Contemporary Issues. Transaction Publishers. pp. 445–46. ISBN 978-0202241718. http://books.google.com/books?id=6z5k4lmY_XMC&dq. 
  32. ^ a b Staff writer (26 January 1991). "Nikolai Talyzin, 62; Assisted Gorbachev in Starting Reforms". The New York Times. Reuters. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/26/obituaries/nikolai-talyzin-62-assisted-gorbachev-in-starting-reforms.html. Retrieved 12 January 2011. 
  33. ^ a b Staff writer. "Всеволод Серафимович Мураховский [Vsevolod Seraphimovich Murakhovski]". portrets.ru. http://www.portrets.ru/5.44.html. Retrieved 13 February 2011. 
  34. ^ Staff writer (1 April 2010). "Скончался депутат Госдумы от КПРФ Юрий Маслюков [Yuri Maslyukov, a Communist Party State Duma Deputy dies]". Gazeta.ru. http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lastnews/2010/04/01/n_1477763.shtml. Retrieved 13 February 2011. 
  35. ^ "Маслюков Юрий Дмитриевич [Yuri Dmitriyevich Maslyukov]" (in Russian). hrono.ru. http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_m/maslyukov_yu.html. Retrieved 13 February 2011. 
  36. ^ Staff writer. "Воронин, Лев Алексеевич [Voronin, Lev Alekseyevich]" (in Russian). moscow-tombs.narod.ru. http://moscow-tombs.narod.ru/2008/voronin_la.htm. Retrieved 8 April 2011. 
  37. ^ Abrosimov, Igor. "Н – Свод персоналий [H – Set of personalities]" (in Russian). proza.ru. http://www.proza.ru/2009/03/26/1061. Retrieved 13 February 2011. 
  38. ^ Schulz-Torge, Ulrich-Joachim (1992). Who Was Who in the Soviet Union. K. G. Saur Verlag. p. 232. ISBN 978-3598108105. http://books.google.com/books?id=j2EYAQAAIAAJ&ql. 
  39. ^ a b Shevchenko, Iulia (2004). The Central Government of Russia: From Gorbachev to Putin. Ashgate Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-0754639824. http://books.google.com/books?id=2Plw98pTk5wC&dq. 
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