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Union of People's Commissars. Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR

It was first elected at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8 (October 26, old style) 1917, chaired by Vladimir Lenin, as a provisional workers' and peasants' government (until the convening of the Constituent Assembly). The management of individual branches of state life was carried out by commissions. Government power belonged to the collegium of chairmen of these commissions, that is, to the Council People's Commissars. Control over the activities of the people's commissars and the right to remove them belonged to the All-Russian Congress of Councils of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and its Central Executive Committee (CEC).

After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets on January 31 (January 18, old style) 1918 decided to abolish the word “temporary” in the name of the Soviet government, calling it the “Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of the Russian Soviet Republic.”

According to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, adopted by the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on July 10, 1918, the government was called the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

In connection with the formation of the USSR in December 1922, a union government was created - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, chaired by Vladimir Lenin (first approved at the second session of the USSR Central Executive Committee in July 1923).

In accordance with the Constitution of the USSR of 1924, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was the executive and administrative body of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, formed by a resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR for the term of office of the Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars of the union and autonomous republics - the Central Executive Committee of the corresponding republics. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was supposed to regularly report on the work done at the Congresses of Soviets of the USSR and sessions of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

The competence of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR included the organization of direct management national economy and all other sectors of government life. This leadership was carried out through central sectoral bodies - non-unified (union) and united (union-republican) People's Commissariats of the USSR. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR supervised the activities of the People's Commissariats, reviewed their reports, and resolved disagreements between individual departments. He approved concession agreements, resolved disputes between the Councils of People's Commissars of the Union republics, considered protests and complaints against the decisions of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR and other institutions under it, against the orders of the People's Commissars, approved the staff of all-Union institutions, and appointed their leaders.

The responsibility of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR included the adoption of measures to implement the national economic plan and the state budget and to strengthen the monetary system, to ensure public order, to carry out general management in the field of external relations with foreign states, etc.

Legislative work was also entrusted to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR: it preliminary considered draft decrees and resolutions, which were then submitted for approval by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and its presidium; from the beginning of the 1930s, all bills had to be previously submitted for consideration to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, although this was not provided for by the constitution .

The Constitution of 1936 added to the definition of the place of government in the state mechanism. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was defined as "the highest executive and administrative body state power". In the Constitution of 1924 the word "supreme" was absent.
According to the Constitution of the USSR of 1936, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the union and autonomous republics were formed, respectively, by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Supreme Councils of the union and autonomous republics.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was formally responsible to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (SC) and accountable to it, and in the period between sessions of the Supreme Council it was responsible to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council, to which it was accountable. The Council of People's Commissars could issue decrees and orders binding on the entire territory of the USSR on the basis and in pursuance of existing laws and verify their implementation.

Orders, as state acts, began to be issued by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in 1941.

To successfully implement the functions assigned to it, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR could create committees, directorates, commissions and other institutions.

Subsequently arose large network special departments for various industries government controlled, operating under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

The chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR were Vladimir Lenin (1923-1924), Alexei Rykov (1924-1930), Vyacheslav Molotov (1930-1941), Joseph Stalin (1941-1946).

IN post-war period with the aim of introducing generally accepted international state practice names by the law of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 15, 1946, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the People's Commissariats into ministries.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (Sovnarkom of the RSFSR, Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR)- the name of the government until 1946. The Council consisted of people's commissars who led the people's commissariats (People's Commissariats, NK). After education analogous body was created at the union level

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The Council of People's Commissars (SNK) was formed in accordance with the "Decree on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars", adopted by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies on October 27, 1917. Immediately before the seizure of power on the day of the revolution, the Central Committee also instructed Winter (Berzin) to enter into political contact with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and begin negotiations with them on the composition of the government. During the Second Congress of Soviets, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were offered to join the government, but they refused. The factions of the right Socialist Revolutionaries left the Second Congress of Soviets at the very beginning of its work - before the formation of the government. The Bolsheviks were forced to form a one-party government. The name "Council of People's Commissars" was proposed: Power in St. Petersburg was won. We need to form a government.
- What to call him? - reasoned out loud. Just not ministers: this is a vile, worn-out name.
“We could be commissars,” I suggested, but now there are too many commissars. Perhaps high commissioners? No, “supreme” sounds bad. Is it possible to say “folk”?
- People's Commissars? Well, that'll probably do. What about the government as a whole?
- Council of People's Commissars?
“The Council of People’s Commissars,” Lenin picked up, “this is excellent: it smells terrible of revolution.” According to the Constitution of 1918, it was called the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.
The Council of People's Commissars was the highest executive and administrative body of the RSFSR, having full executive and administrative power, the right to issue decrees having the force of law, while combining legislative, administrative and executive functions. The Council of People's Commissars lost the character of a temporary governing body after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, which was legally enshrined in the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918. Issues considered by the Council of People's Commissars were resolved by a simple majority of votes. The meetings were attended by members of the Government, the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the manager and secretaries of the Council of People's Commissars, and representatives of departments. The permanent working body of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was the administration, which prepared issues for meetings of the Council of People's Commissars and its standing commissions, and received delegations. The administrative staff in 1921 consisted of 135 people. (according to the data of the TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 25, d. 2, pp. 19 - 20.) By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR dated March 23, 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers.

Activity

According to the Constitution of the RSFSR dated July 10, 1918, the activities of the Council of People's Commissars consist of: managing the general affairs of the RSFSR, managing individual branches of management (Articles 35, 37), issuing legislative acts and taking measures “necessary for the correct and fast current state life." (v.38) People's Commissar has the right to individually make decisions on all issues within the jurisdiction of the commissariat, bringing them to the attention of the board (Article 45). All adopted resolutions and decisions of the Council of People's Commissars are reported to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (Article 39), which has the right to suspend and cancel a resolution or decision of the Council of People's Commissars (Article 40). 17 people's commissariats are created (in the Constitution this figure is indicated erroneously, since in the list presented in Article 43 there are 18 of them). The following is a list of people's commissariats of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR in accordance with the Constitution of the RSFSR of July 10, 1918:

For foreign affairs;
For military affairs;
For maritime affairs;
By internal affairs;
Justice;
Labor;
Social Security;
Enlightenment;
Posts and telegraphs;
For Nationalities Affairs;
For financial matters;
Communication routes;
Commerce and Industry;
Food;
State control;
Supreme Council of the National Economy;
Healthcare.

Under each people's commissar and under his chairmanship, a collegium is formed, the members of which are approved by the Council of People's Commissars (Article 44). With the formation of the USSR in December 1922 and the creation of an all-Union government, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR became the executive and administrative body of state power of the Russian Federation. The organization, composition, competence and procedure for the activities of the Council of People's Commissars were determined by the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 and the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925. at this moment The composition of the Council of People's Commissars was changed in connection with the transfer of a number of powers to allied departments. 11 people's commissariats were established:

Domestic trade;
Labor;
Finance;
Internal Affairs;
Justice;
Enlightenment;
Healthcare;
Agriculture;
Social Security;
VSNKh.

The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR now included, with the right of a decisive or advisory vote, representatives of the USSR People's Commissariats under the Government of the RSFSR. The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR allocated, in turn, a permanent representative to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. (according to information from the SU, 1924, N 70, art. 691.) Since February 22, 1924, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR have a single Administration. (based on materials from the TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 25, d. 5, l. 8.) With the introduction of the Constitution of the RSFSR on January 21, 1937, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was accountable only to the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, and in the period between its sessions - to the Presidium of the Supreme Council RSFSR. Since October 5, 1937, the composition of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR has included 13 people's commissariats (data from the Central State Administration of the RSFSR, f. 259, op. 1, d. 27, l. 204.):

Food Industry;
Light industry;
Forestry industry;
Agriculture;
Grain state farms;
Livestock farms;
Finance;
Domestic trade;
Justice;
Healthcare;
Enlightenment;
Local industry;
Utilities;
Social Security.

Also included in the Council of People's Commissars is the Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR and the head of the Department of Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

However, this list strongly diverges from official data on the composition of the first Council of People's Commissars. Firstly, writes Russian historian Yuri Emelyanov in his work “Trotsky. Myths and Personality,” it includes people’s commissars from various compositions of the Council of People’s Commissars, which have changed many times. Secondly, according to Emelyanov, Dikiy mentions a number of people’s commissariats that never existed at all! For example, on cults, on elections, on refugees, on hygiene... But the actually existing People's Commissariats of Railways, Posts and Telegraphs are not included in the Wild's list at all!
Further: Dikiy claims that the first Council of People's Commissars included 20 people, although it is known that there were only 15 of them.
A number of positions are listed inaccurately. Thus, Chairman of the Petrosovet G.E. Zinoviev never actually held the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. Proshyan, whom Dikiy for some reason calls “Protian,” was the People’s Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs, not of Agriculture.
Several of the mentioned “members of the Council of People’s Commissars” were never members of the government. I.A. Spitsberg was an investigator of the VIII liquidation department of the People's Commissariat of Justice. It is generally unclear who is meant by Lilina-Knigissen: either the actress M.P. Lilina, or Z.I. Lilina (Bernstein), who worked as head of the public education department of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet. Cadet A.A. Kaufman participated as an expert in the development of land reform, but also had nothing to do with the Council of People's Commissars. The name of the People's Commissar of Justice was not Steinberg at all, but Steinberg...

The first government after the victory of the October Revolution was formed in accordance with the “Decree on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars”, adopted by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies on October 27 (old style) 1917.

Initially, the Bolsheviks hoped to agree on the participation of representatives of other socialist parties, in particular the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, in it, but they failed to achieve such an agreement. As a result, the first revolutionary government turned out to be purely Bolshevik.

The authorship of the term “people’s commissar” was attributed to several revolutionary figures, in particular Leon Trotsky. The Bolsheviks wanted in this way to emphasize the fundamental difference between their power and the tsarist and Provisional governments.

The term “Council of People's Commissars” as a definition of the Soviet government will exist until 1946, until it is replaced by the now more familiar “Council of Ministers”.

The first composition of the Council of People's Commissars will last only a few days. A number of its members will resign from their posts due to political contradictions, mainly related to the same issue of participation in the government of members of other socialist parties.

The first composition of the Council of People's Commissars included:

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin);
People's Commissar for Internal Affairs;
People's Commissar of Agriculture;
People's Commissar of Labor;
People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs - committee consisting of: Vladimir Ovseenko (Antonov), Nikolai Krylenko and Pavel Dybenko;
People's Commissar for Trade and Industry;
People's Commissar of Public Education;
People's Commissar of Finance;
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs;
People's Commissar of Justice;
People's Commissar for Food Affairs;
People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs;
People's Commissar for National Affairs Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin);
The post of People's Commissar for Railway Affairs remained temporarily unfilled.

The biographies of the head of the first Soviet government, Vladimir Lenin, and the first People's Commissar for National Affairs are known general public good enough, so let's talk about the other people's commissars.

The first People's Commissar of Internal Affairs spent only nine days in his post, but managed to sign a historical document on the creation of the police. After leaving the post of People's Commissar, Rykov went to work for the Moscow Soviet.

Alexey Rykov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Subsequently, Alexey Rykov held high government positions, and from February 1924 he officially headed the Soviet government - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Rykov's career began to decline in 1930, when he was removed from his post as head of government. Rykov, who has long supported Nikolai Bukharin, was declared a “right-wing draft dodger,” and was never able to get rid of this stigma, despite numerous speeches of repentance.

At the party plenum in February 1937, he was expelled from the CPSU (b) and arrested on February 27, 1937. During interrogations he pleaded guilty. As one of the main accused, he was brought to the open trial in the case of the Right-Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Bloc. On March 13, 1938 he was sentenced to death penalty and on March 15 he was shot. Rykov was completely rehabilitated by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR in 1988.

Nine days after the creation of the first Soviet government, Milyutin spoke out for the creation of a coalition government and, in protest against the decision of the Central Committee, submitted a statement of resignation from the Central Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, after which he admitted the fallacy of his statements and withdrew his statement of resignation from the Central Committee.

Vladimir Milyutin. Photo: Public Domain

Subsequently, he held high positions in the government, from 1928 to 1934 he was Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee.

On July 26, 1937 he was arrested. On October 29, 1937, he was sentenced to death for belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization of the “right.” On October 30, 1937 he was shot. Rehabilitated in 1956.

Shlyapnikov also advocated the inclusion in the government of members of other political parties However, unlike his colleagues, he did not leave his post, continuing to work in the government. Three weeks later, in addition to the duties of People's Commissar of Labor, he was also assigned the duties of People's Commissar of Trade and Industry.

Alexander Shlyapnikov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In the Bolshevik Party, Shlyapnikov was the leader of the so-called “workers’ opposition,” which manifested itself especially clearly in the party discussion about the role of trade unions. He believed that the task of the trade unions was to organize the management of the national economy, and they should take this function from the party.

Shlyapnikov's position was sharply criticized by Lenin, which affected the further fate of one of the first Soviet people's commissars.

Subsequently, he held minor positions, for example, he worked as chairman of the board joint stock company"Metalimport".

Shlyapnikov’s memoirs “The Seventeenth Year” aroused sharp criticism in the party. In 1933, he was expelled from the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), in 1934 he was administratively exiled to Karelia, and in 1935 he was sentenced to 5 years for belonging to the “workers’ opposition” - a punishment replaced by exile to Astrakhan.

In 1936, Shlyapnikov was arrested again. He was accused of the fact that, as the leader of the counter-revolutionary organization "Workers' Opposition", in the fall of 1927 he gave a directive to the Kharkov center of this organization on the transition to individual terror as a method of struggle against the CPSU (b) and the Soviet government, and in 1935-1936 he gave directives on the preparation of a terrorist act against Stalin. Shlyapnikov did not admit guilt, but according to the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was shot on September 2, 1937. January 31, 1963 Military Collegium Supreme Court The USSR rehabilitated Alexander Shlyapnikov due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions.

The fate of the members of the triumvirate who headed the defense department was quite similar - they all occupied high government positions for many years, and they all became victims of the “Great Terror.”

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, Nikolai Krylenko, Pavel Dybenko. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, who arrested the Provisional Government during the armed uprising in Petrograd, was one of the founders of the Red Army, spent many years in diplomatic work, during Civil War in Spain he was the USSR Consul General in Barcelona, providing great assistance to the Republican troops as a military adviser.

Upon his return from Spain, he was arrested and sentenced to death on February 8, 1938 “for belonging to a Trotskyist terrorist and espionage organization.” Shot on February 10, 1938. Rehabilitated posthumously on February 25, 1956.

Nikolai Krylenko was one of the creators of Soviet law, held the posts of People's Commissar of Justice of the RSFSR and the USSR, prosecutor of the RSFSR and chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

Krylenko is considered one of the “architects Great Terror» 1937-1938. Ironically, Krylenko himself became its victim.

In 1938, at the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Krylenko was criticized. Soon after this, he was removed from all posts, expelled from the CPSU(b) and arrested. According to the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was executed on July 29, 1938. In 1956 he was rehabilitated for lack of evidence of a crime.

Pavel Dybenko made a military career, held the rank of army commander of the 2nd rank, and commanded troops in various military districts. In 1937, he took an active part in repressions in the army. Dybenko was part of the Special Judicial Presence that convicted a group of senior Soviet military commanders in the “Tukhachevsky Case” in June 1937.

In February 1938, Dybenko himself was arrested. He pleaded guilty to participating in an anti-Soviet Trotskyist military-fascist conspiracy. On July 29, 1938, he was sentenced to death and executed on the same day. Rehabilitated in 1956.

Advocating for the creation of a “homogeneous socialist government,” Nogin was among those who left the Council of People’s Commissars a few days later. However, after three weeks Nogin “admitted his mistakes” and continued to work for leadership positions, but already more low level. He held the posts of Labor Commissioner of the Moscow Region, and then Deputy People's Commissar of Labor of the RSFSR.

Victor Nogin. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

He died on May 2, 1924, and was buried on Red Square. The name of one of the first Soviet People's Commissars is immortalized to this day in the name of the city of Noginsk near Moscow.

The People's Commissar of Education was one of the most stable figures in the Soviet government, holding his post continuously for 12 years.

Anatoly Lunacharsky. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Thanks to Lunacharsky, a lot of historical monuments, the activities of cultural institutions have been established. There were, however, very controversial decisions - in particular, already at the end of his career as People's Commissar, Lunacharsky was preparing to translate the Russian language into the Latin alphabet.

In 1929, he was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Education and appointed chairman of the Academic Committee of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

In 1933, Lunacharsky was sent as USSR plenipotentiary envoy to Spain. He was deputy head of the Soviet delegation during the disarmament conference at the League of Nations. Lunacharsky died in December 1933 on his way to Spain in the French resort of Menton. The urn with the ashes of Anatoly Lunacharsky is buried in the Kremlin wall.

At the time of his appointment as People's Commissar, Skvortsov served as a member of the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee. Upon learning of his appointment, Skvortsov announced that he was a theorist, not a practitioner, and refused the position. Later he was engaged in journalism, since 1925 he was the executive editor of the newspaper “Izvestia of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee”, since 1927 - deputy. executive secretary of the newspaper "Pravda", at the same time since 1926, director of the Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

Ivan Skvortsov (Stepanov). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In the party press Skvortsov acted as an active supporter of Stalin, but to the highest government posts didn’t make it - died on October 8, 1928 serious illness. The ashes are buried in the Kremlin wall.

One of the main leaders of the Bolsheviks, the second person in the party after Lenin, completely lost in the internal party struggle in the 1920s, and in 1929 was forced to leave the USSR as a political emigrant.

Lev Bronstein (Trotsky). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Trotsky continued his correspondence confrontation with Stalin's course until 1940, until it was interrupted in August 1940 by an ice pick blow from an NKVD agent. Ramon Mercader.

For Georgy Oppokov, his tenure as People's Commissar for several days was the pinnacle of his political career. Subsequently, he continued his activities in secondary positions, such as chairman of the Oil Syndicate, chairman of the board of Donugol, deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, member of the bureau of the Commission of Soviet Control under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Georgy Oppokov (Lomov). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In June 1937, as part of the “Great Terror”, Oppokov was arrested and, according to the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, was executed on December 30, 1938. Posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.

Like other supporters of creating a government from among members of various socialist parties, Teodorovic announced his resignation from the government, but fulfilled his duties until December 1917.

Ivan Teodorovich. Photo: Public Domain

Later he was a member of the board of the People's Commissar of Agriculture, and since 1922, deputy people's commissar of agriculture. In 1928-1930 general secretary Peasant International.

Arrested on June 11, 1937. Sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on September 20, 1937 on charges of participation in anti-Soviet terrorist organization to death and was shot on the same day. Rehabilitated in 1956.

Avilov held his post until the decision to create a coalition government with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, after which he changed the post of People's Commissar to the post of assistant director of the State Bank. Later he held various positions of the second rank, and was the People's Commissar of Labor of Ukraine. From 1923 to 1926, Avilov was the leader of the Leningrad trade unions and became one of the leaders of the so-called “Leningrad opposition,” which ten years later became fatal for him.

Nikolay Avilov (Glebov). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Since 1928, Avilov headed Selmashstroy, and since 1929 he became the first director of the Rostov agricultural machinery plant Rostselmash.

On September 19, 1936, Nikolai Avilov was arrested on charges of terrorist activities. On March 12, 1937, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced him to death on charges of participation in a counter-revolutionary terrorist organization. The sentence was carried out on March 13, 1937. Rehabilitated in 1956.

The Council of People's Commissars is the highest government body that carries out executive branch V Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1946. This abbreviation stands for Council of People's Commissars, since this institution consisted of the heads of the People's Commissariats. This body first existed in Russia, but after its formation Soviet Union in 1922, similar formations were formed in other republics. On next year after the end of the war it was transformed into the Council of Ministers.

Emergence

The Council of People's Commissars is a government that was initially created as a temporary body consisting of representatives of peasants, soldiers and workers. It was assumed that it should have functioned until the convening of the Constituent Assembly. The origin of the term's name is unknown. There are points of view that it was proposed either by Trotsky or Lenin.

The Bolsheviks planned its formation even before the October Revolution. They invited the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to join the new political entity, but they refused, as did the Mensheviks and Right Socialist Revolutionaries, so as a result a one-party government was convened. However, after the Constituent Assembly was dissolved, it turned out that it became permanent. The Council of People's Commissars is a body that was formed by the country's highest legislative institution - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Functions

His responsibility included the general management of all affairs of the new state. It could issue decrees, which, however, could be suspended by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Decisions in this governing body were made very simply - by majority vote. At the same time, the chairman of the mentioned legislative institution, as well as members of the government, were present at the meetings. The Council of People's Commissars is an institution that included a special department for case management, preparing issues for consideration. Its staff was quite impressive - 135 people.

Peculiarities

Legally, the powers of the Council of People's Commissars were enshrined in the Soviet Constitution of 1918, which stated that the body should manage general affairs in the state and certain industries.

In addition, the document stated that the Council of People's Commissars should issue bills and regulations necessary for the proper functioning of public life in the country. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee controlled all adopted resolutions and, as mentioned above, could suspend their effect. A total of 18 commissariats were formed, the main ones dedicated to military, foreign and naval affairs. The People's Commissar was directly in charge of administration and could make decisions individually. After the formation of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars began to perform not only executive, but also administrative functions.

Compound

The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was formed in very difficult conditions of political change and struggle for power. A. Lunacharsky, who took the post of the first People's Commissar of Education, argued that its composition was accidental. Big influence V. Lenin influenced his work. Many of its members were not experts in the fields they were supposed to lead. In the 1930s, many government members were repressed. According to experts, the Council of People's Commissars consisted of representatives of the intelligentsia, while the Bolshevik Party declared that this body should be a workers' and peasants' body.

The interests of the proletariat were represented by only two people, which subsequently gave rise to the so-called workers' opposition, which demanded representation. In addition to the layers mentioned in working group The institutions included nobles, minor officials, and the so-called petty-bourgeois elements.

In general, the national composition of the Council of People's Commissars still causes controversy among scientists. Among the most famous politicians who held positions in this body, there are such names as Trotsky, who was involved in foreign affairs, Rykov (he was in charge of the internal affairs of the young state), as well as Antonov-Ovseenko, who served as People's Commissar for Naval Affairs. The first chairman of the Council of People's Commissars is Lenin.

Changes

After the formation of the new Soviet state, changes took place in this body. From a Russian institution it turned into an all-Union government. At the same time, his powers were distributed among the allied authorities. Local republican councils were created locally. In 1924, the Russian and all-Union bodies formed a single department for affairs. In 1936, this governing body was transformed into the Council of Ministers, which performed the same function as the Council of People's Commissars.

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