Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Encyclopedia
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)
of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
(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 In 1922 state powers of the institution were technically somewhat superseded by the Council of People's Commissars of USSR.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 (soviet
s) of workers, peasants and soldiers acquired considerable political and military power. The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet
conspired to overthrow the Russian Provisional Government
; the uprising started on 7 November 1917
, when Red Guards
units captured the Winter Palace
. On the next day, 8 November 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets
recognized the success of the uprising, and formally established the new government that reflected the capture of the soviets
by the Bolshevik
s.
The government was formally called the Council of People's Commissars (Совет народных коммиссаров), abbreviated as Sovnarkom (Совнарком). It was Leon Trotsky
who devised the council and commissar names, thereby avoiding the more "bourgeois" terms, minister
and cabinet
.
The People's Commissar
s functioned as government ministers; a ministry was therefore called called a People's Commissariat .
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 Soviets
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 minister
. The first Chairman of the Sovnarkom was Vladimir Lenin
.
Council of People's Commissars
The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was government cabinetCabinet (government)
A 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 Republic
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The 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 (soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet 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 Soviet
Petrograd Soviet
The 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 Government
Russian Provisional Government
The 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 1917
October Revolution
The 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 Guards
Red Guards (Russia)
In 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 Palace
Winter Palace
The 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 Soviets
Congress of Soviets
The 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 soviets
Soviet (council)
Soviet 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 Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The 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 Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon 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, minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
and cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A 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 Commissar
Commissar
Commissar 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 Soviets
Congress of Soviets
The 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 minister
Prime minister
A 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 Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir 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 Lenin Vladimir Lenin Vladimir 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 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 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 Krylenko Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai 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 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 Nogin Viktor Nogin Viktor 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 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 Trotsky Leon Trotsky Leon 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 RSFSR NKVD The 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 Rykov Alexei Rykov Aleksei 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 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 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 Stalin Joseph Stalin Joseph 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 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 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 |