Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic


The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR was the highest organ of state power of Ukraine when it was known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the union republics of the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was Ukraine's sole branch of government and, per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. It was established in 1937 replacing the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets.
Before demokratizatsiya, the Supreme Soviet had been characterized as a rubber stamp for the Soviet Ukrainian regime or as only being able to affect issues of low sensitivity and salience to the regime by the Ukrainian Communist Party, similar to all other supreme soviets in the union republics. The 1990 election in Ukraine was the first in the Ukrainian SSR where opposition parties were permitted to run.

History

The first elections for the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR were held on 25–28 July 1938. A total of 304 deputies were elected and Mykhailo Burmystenko was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

List of chairmen

After Burmystenko's death in 1941, the position of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR was vacant until 1947. The longest-serving Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR was Oleksandr Korniychuk.
PortraitChairmanFromTo
Mykhailo Burmystenko25 July 19389 September 1941
Oleksandr Korniychuk19471953
Pavlo Tychyna19531959
Oleksandr Korniychuk19591972
Mykhailo Bilyi19721980
Kostiantyn Sytnyk19801985
Platon Kostiuk19854 June 1990
Vladimir Ivashko4 June 19909 July 1990
Leonid Kravchuk23 July 19905 December 1991