The
Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was known officially as the Council of People's Commissars (1917–1946), Council of Ministers (1946–1978) and Council of Ministers – Government (1978–1991)
Council of People's Commissars
The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was
government cabinetA Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist RepublicThe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
(RSFSR) from 1917 through 1946, when it was renamed the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR. In 1922 state powers of the institution were technically somewhat superseded by the Council of People's Commissars of USSR.
By September 1917, the councils (
sovietSoviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
s) of workers, peasants and soldiers acquired considerable political and military power. The leaders of the
Petrograd SovietThe Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , usually called the Petrograd Soviet , was the soviet in Petrograd , Russia, established in March 1917 after the February Revolution as the representative body of the city's workers.The Petrograd Soviet became important during the Russian...
conspired to overthrow the
Russian Provisional GovernmentThe Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
; the uprising started on
7 November 1917The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, when
Red GuardsIn the context of the history of Russia and Soviet Union, Red Guards were paramilitary formations consisting of workers and partially of soldiers and sailors formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
units captured the
Winter PalaceThe Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...
. On the next day, 8 November 1917, the Second All-Russian
Congress of SovietsThe Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and several other Soviet republics from 1917–36 and again from 1989-91. After the creation of the Soviet Union, the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union functioned as its legislative branch...
recognized the success of the uprising, and formally established the new government that reflected the capture of the
sovietsSoviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
by the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s.
The government was formally called the Council of People's Commissars (Совет народных коммиссаров), abbreviated as Sovnarkom (Совнарком). It was
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
who devised the
council and
commissar names, thereby avoiding the more "bourgeois" terms,
ministerA minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
and
cabinetA Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
.
The People's
CommissarCommissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
s functioned as government ministers; a ministry was therefore called called a People's Commissariat .
Formation
Traditionally, a government is a council of ministers nominated by a ruler or by a president, but the Bolsheviks saw this as a bourgeois institution, and wanted to create what they thought a new government of workers and peasants, a 'soviet' government.
The role and structure of the Sovnarkom was formalized in the 1918 Constitution of the RSFSR. The Sovnarkom of the RSFSR was responsible to the
Congress of SovietsThe Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and several other Soviet republics from 1917–36 and again from 1989-91. After the creation of the Soviet Union, the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union functioned as its legislative branch...
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.
Each People's Commissar was head of commissariat and had several deputies and a collegium which functioned as a deliberative body to advise the commissar.
The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, also elected by the Congress, had a function similar to that of a
prime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
. The first Chairman of the Sovnarkom was
Vladimir LeninVladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
.
The original People's Commissars
The first council elected by the Second All-Russian congress was composed as follows:
| People's Commissar |
Original incumbent |
Death |
| Chairman |
Vladimir LeninVladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
|
Natural causes 1924 |
| Executive Officer |
Nikolai Gorbunov Nikolai Petrovich Gorbunov , was at one time personal secretary to Vladimir Lenin.His parents were Pyotr Mikhailovich Gorbunov and Sofia Vasilievna Gorbunova. Pyotr was an honoured citizen who worked as an engineer and later as a director of a paper factory not far from Saint Petersburg...
|
Executed 1938 |
| People's Commissariat for Agriculture of the RSFSR |
Vladimir Milyutin Vladimir Pavlovich Milyutin was a Bolshevik leader who was appointed People's Commissar of Agriculture in 1917....
|
Died in prison 1937 |
| People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the RSFSR |
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko
Nikolai KrylenkoNikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet legal system, rising to become People's Commissar for Justice and Prosecutor General of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.Krylenko was an...
|
Executed 1939
Executed 1938 |
| People's Commissariat for Naval Affairs of the RSFSR |
Pavel Dybenko Pavel Efimovich Dybenko was a Russian revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer.- Until the military service :...
|
Executed 1938 |
| People's Commissariat for Trade and Industry of the RSFSR |
Viktor NoginViktor Pavlovich Nogin was a prominent Bolshevik in Moscow, holding many high positions in the party and in government, including Chairman of the Moscow Military-Revolutionary Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of Moscow Council of Workers'...
|
Natural causes 1924 |
| People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR |
Anatoly Lunacharsky |
Natural causes 1933 |
| People's Commissariat for Food |
Ivan Teodorovich Ivan Adolfovich Teodorovich was a Russian Bolshevik activist, and the first Commissar for Food when the Council of the People's Commissars was established ....
|
Executed 1937 |
| People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR |
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
|
Assassinated 1940 |
People's Commissariat for Interior Affairs of the RSFSRThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
|
Alexei RykovAleksei Ivanovich Rykov was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician most prominent as Premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924–29 and 1924–30 respectively....
|
Executed 1938 |
| People's Commissariat for Justice of the RSFSR |
Georgy Oppokov Georgy Ippolitovich Oppokov was a prominent Bolshevik, he was a Left Communist and subsequently a member of the Left Opposition and People's Commissar for Justice....
|
Executed 1937 |
| People's Commissariat for Labour of the RSFSR |
Alexander Shlyapnikov Alexander Gavrilovich Shliapnikov was a Russian communist revolutionary, metalworker, and trade union leader. He is best remembered as a memoirist of the October Revolution of 1917 and as the leader of one of the primary opposition movements inside the Russian Communist Party during the decade of...
|
Executed 1937 |
| People's Commissariat of Nationalities |
Joseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
|
Natural causes 1953 |
| People's Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR |
Nikolai Glebov-Avilov Nikolai Glebov-Avilov was a prominent Bolshevik.Glebov-Avilov was the son of a cobbler who started work in a printshop in Kaluga. He became a Bolshevik in 1904, and during the 1905 Revolution, he was active in Moscow Kaluga and the Urals working in underground printshops, being hidden by the...
|
Executed 1937 |
| People's Commissariat for Railways of the RSFSR |
(vacant) |
| People's Commissariat for Finance |
Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov Ivan Ivanovich Skvortsov-Stepanov was a prominent Russian Bolshevik.Skvortsov-Stepanov was one of the oldest participants in the Russian revolutionary movement, a Marxist writer....
|
Natural causes 1928 |
Council of Ministers
The Council of People's Commissars was renamed Council of Ministers in 1946.
External links