Government of the Soviet Union
The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 1991. The government was headed by a chairman, most commonly referred to as the premier of the Soviet Union, and several deputy chairmen throughout its existence. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as "The leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system" per Article 6 of the state constitution, controlled the government by holding a two-thirds majority in the All-Union Supreme Soviet. The government underwent several name changes throughout its history, and was known as the Council of People's Commissars from 1922 to 1946, the Council of Ministers from 1946 to 1991, the Cabinet of Ministers from January to August 1991 and the Committee on the Operational Management of the National Economy from August to December 1991.
The government chairman was nominated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and elected by delegates at the first plenary session of a newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Certain governments, such as Ryzhkov's second government, had more than 100 government ministers, serving as first deputy premiers, deputy premiers, government ministers or heads of state committees/commissions; they were chosen by the premier and confirmed by the Supreme Soviet. The Government of the Soviet Union exercised its executive powers in conformity with the constitution of the Soviet Union and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet. The first government was led by Vladimir Lenin, and the last government was led by Valentin Pavlov.
Following the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR of 1922, the Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the Transcaucasian SSR established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The treaty established the government, which was later legitimised by the adoption of the first Soviet constitution in 1924. The 1924 constitution made the government responsible to the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union. In 1936, the state system was reformed with the enactment of a new constitution. It abolished the Congress of Soviets and established the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in its place. At the 1st Plenary Session of the II Supreme Soviet in 1946, the government was renamed Council of Ministers. Minor changes were introduced with the enactment of the 1977 constitution. The CPSU's 19th All-Union Conference voted in favor of amending the constitution. It allowed for multi-candidate elections, established the Congress of People's Deputies and weakened the party's control over the Supreme Soviet. Later, on 20 March 1991, the Supreme Soviet on Mikhail Gorbachev's suggestion amended the constitution to establish a semi-presidential system, essentially a fusion of the American and French styles of government. The Council of Ministers was abolished and replaced by a Cabinet of Ministers that was responsible to the president of the Soviet Union. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers was the prime minister of the Soviet Union. The government was forced to resign in the aftermath of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, which Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov participated in. In its place, the Soviet state established what was supposed to be a transitory committee headed by Silayev to run the basic governmental functions until a new cabinet was appointed. On 26 December 1991, the Supreme Soviet dissolved the union and therefore, the government of the USSR shut down permanently.
Etymology
The name Council of People's Commissars was chosen to distinguish the Soviet government from its bourgeois counterparts, especially its tsarist predecessor the Council of Ministers. However, scholar Derek Watson states that "the term 'commissar' was regarded as interchangeable with 'minister', and there seems little doubt that the Bolshevik leaders meant 'minister'." Joseph Stalin, in a speech to the II Supreme Soviet in March 1946, argued to change the name of government from Council of People's Commissars to Council of Ministers because "The commissar reflects the period of revolutionary rupture and so on. But that time has now passed. Our social system has come into being and is now made flesh and blood. It is time to move on from the title 'people's commissar' to that of 'minister. Scholar Yoram Gorlizki writes that "Notwithstanding the reversion to bourgeois precedents, the adoption of the new nomenclature signaled that the Soviet order had entered a new phase of postrevolutionary consolidation."History
Revolutionary beginnings and Molotov's chairmanship (1922–1941)
The Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union saw the establishment of the All-Union Congress of Soviets and its Central Executive Committee. The Congress of Soviets held legislative responsibilities and was the supreme organ of state power, while the CEC was to exercise the powers of the Congress of Soviets whenever it was not in session, which in practice comprised the majority of its existence. It stated that the government, named the Council of People's Commissars, was to be the executive arm of the CEC. This governmental structure was copied from the one established in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, and the government was modeled on the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR. The government of the Russian SFSR led by Vladimir Lenin governed the Soviet Union until 6 July 1923, when the CEC established the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union. Lenin was appointed its chairman, alongside five deputy chairmen and ten people's commissars. On 17 July 1923 the All-Union Council of People's Commissars notified the central executive committees of the union republics and their respective republican governments that it had begun to fulfill the tasks entrusted to it.The original idea was for the Council of People's Commissars to report directly to the CEC, but the working relations of the two bodies were never clearly defined in depth. Eventually, the powers of the Council of People's Commissars outstripped those of the CEC. However, the 1924 constitution defined the Council of People's Commissars as the "executive and administrative organ" of the CEC. The ability to legislate was restricted by the powers conferred to it by the CEC, and on the Statute of the Council of People's Commissars. The legislative dominance of the Council of People's Commissars continued despite the 1924 constitution's insistence on its relationship to the CEC. Mikhail Kalinin of the CEC and Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee noted in 1928 that one needed to differentiate between the Presidium of the CEC, which he considered the "organ of legislation", and the administrative role of the Council of People's Commissars.
The 1924 constitution differentiated between All-Union and unified people's commissariats. The people's commissariats for justice, internal affairs, social security, education, agriculture and public health remained republican-level ministries. In the meantime the commissariats for foreign affairs, commerce and industry, transport, military and navy affairs, finance, foreign trade, labour, post and telegraphs, supply and the interior were granted All-Union status. This system created troubles at first since neither the constitution or any legal document defined the relations between All-Union commissariats, their organs in republics and the separate unified republican commissariats. However, this system was kept with minor changes until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The 1936 constitution defined the Council of People's Commissars as the Soviet government, and conferring upon it the role of the "highest executive and administrative organ of state power". The constitution stripped the Council of People's Commissars of powers to initiate legislation, and instead confined it to issuing "decrees and regulations on the basis and in execution of the laws currently in force". Only the Supreme Soviet and its Presidium, having replaced the Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee respectively, could alter laws.
High Stalinism (1941–1953)
Stalin's power grab in the 1930s weakened the formal institutions of governance, both in the party and government. Scholar T. H. Rigby writes that"all institutions had gradually dissolved in the acid of despotism", and from 1946 until Stalin died in 1953 "only the most minimal of gestures were made to reverse the atrophy of formal organs of authority, in both party and state." British academic Leonard Schapiro contended that "Stalin's style of rule was characterised by how rule through regular machinery gave way increasingly to the rule of personal agents and agencies, each operating separately and often in conflict, with Stalin in supreme overall control." The government, which was at this point the most formalised Soviet state institution, developed neopatrimonial features due to Stalin's habit of ruling through "the strict personal loyalty of his lieutenants".
Stalin was elected to the government chairmanship on 6 May 1941. The government continued to function normally until World War II when it was subordinated to the State Defense Committee, formed on 30 June 1941 to govern the Soviet Union during the war. Joseph Stalin concurrently served as SDC head and as chairman of the Soviet government until 1946. On 15 March 1946 the 1st Plenary Session of the 2nd Supreme Soviet transformed the Council of People's Commissars into the Council of Ministers. Accordingly, the people's commissariats were renamed ministries, and the people's commissars into ministers. On 25 February 1947, appropriate changes were made to the Constitution of the Soviet Union.
The government's Bureau was established in 1944. After the war, the bureau was split into two. These bureaus were merged on 20 March 1946, reestablishing the government's Bureau. The party Politburo adopted on 8 February 1947 the resolution "On the Organization of the Council of Ministers", which sought to explain the role of the Council of Ministers, its internal operations, and its relationship with the party. It stated that the party politburo had the right to decide on all political matters, which included such topics as governmental appointments and defense, foreign policy, and internal security. It went on to define the government solely as an institution of administering the economy. The non-economic ministries, such as the Ministry of State Security, reported to the politburo.
In addition, the 8 February resolution established eight sectoral bureaus; Bureau for Agriculture, Bureau for Metallurgy and Chemicals, Bureau for Machine Construction, Bureau for Fuel and Electric Power Stations, Bureau for Food Industry, Bureau for Transport and Communication, Bureau for Light Industry and Bureau for Culture and Health. This decision transformed the government's working methods. The new resolution delegated authorities to the bureaus and away from the deputy chairmen of government and high-standing ministers. Every sectoral bureau was headed by a deputy chairman of the government, but decision-making was devolved into these collegial decision-making organs. The net effect of these changes was to greatly increase the legislative activity of the government.
Stalin, who had not attended a meeting of the Bureau since 1944, resorted to appointing acting government chairmen. Molotov was first appointed, but could rarely fulfill his duties since he was simultaneously Minister of Foreign Affairs and often away on business. On 29 March 1948 the politburo resolved to create a rotational chairmanship headed by Lavrentiy Beria, Nikolai Voznesensky and Georgy Malenkov. Lacking a formal leader, most controversial issues were solved at meetings of the Bureau. On 1 September 1949 power was even more dispersed. The Bureau changed its name to the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, and Beria, Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, Lazar Kaganovich and Maksim Saburov were handed the chairmanship. This mode of operating lasted until Stalin's death in 1953.