He was elected chairman of the council. Council of People's Commissars of the USSR

For almost the entire duration of its existence, the Soviet state did not have a formal head. The collective head of state was the Supreme Council, and the key positions of the state apparatus were the positions of chairmen of the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Council.

It should be remembered that actual power in the USSR belonged not to state, but to party bodies. In fact, the highest body and not controlled by any other authority was the Central Committee of the party and its supreme body, which from 1917 to 1952 and from 1960 to 1991 was called the Politburo, and from 1952 to 1960 - the Presidium. However, with the exception short periods interregnum, the actual control of this most important body was in the hands of one person. The remaining members of the highest party and state bodies were only important functionaries. Although different opinions could be expressed at the meetings of the Central Committee, the final decision depended on the head of the Central Committee. With rare exceptions, the decisions of the Central Committee, the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers were unanimous.

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...

Libmonster ID: RU-12818

As a result of the victory of the Great October socialist revolution The Leninist party of the working class of Russia was the first Marxist party in world history to rise to power. From an illegal party, persecuted and persecuted under the conditions of tsarism and the domination of the landowners and bourgeoisie, it became the ruling party, from whose representatives on October 26, 1917 the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets formed the Council of People's Commissars - the first workers' and peasants' government of Russia. The congress elected the leader of the greatest social revolution, V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin), who was a statesman of a new, proletarian type, as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

The creation of the Council of People's Commissars - fundamentally new in its social nature and purpose of the first proletarian government of Russia, which was supposed to lead all work on governing the country and socialist construction, can hardly be overestimated. “First of all, the significance of this coup is that we will have a Soviet government, our own body of power, without any participation of the bourgeoisie,” said V.I. Lenin, speaking the day before, October 25, in Smolny before the deputies Petrograd Soviet with a report on the tasks of the power of the Soviets. - The oppressed masses themselves will create power. The old state apparatus will be completely destroyed and a new administrative apparatus will be created in the person of Soviet organizations" 1 . As emphasized in this regard in Izvestia, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets created " new type government, truly popular, connected with popular organizations, working with them and through them, and thus established the government of the people by the people themselves" 2.

V.I. Lenin owes the greatest merit to the creative development and concretization of the Marxist doctrine of the proletarian revolution and the demolition of the old, exploitative and the creation of a new, socialist state apparatus, the discovery of born folk art the revolutionary masses of Russia, the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies as a fundamentally new and higher political form of proletarian dictatorship compared to any bourgeois-parliamentary republic.

After the victory of the Great October Revolution, the theoretical and practical issues of socialism took a central place in Leninism.

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 35, p. 2.

2 "News of the Central Executive Committee and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies", 28.X.1917, No. 209.

construction, prospects for the development of the world revolution 4. Strengthening and developing the alliance of the working class and the peasantry as the basis of the proletarian dictatorship; strengthening and enhancing the leadership and guiding role of the Communist Party in the socialist reconstruction of society; building the foundations of genuine democracy, Soviet socialist democracy; development and implementation of principles, forms and methods of organization and activities of the new Soviet apparatus government controlled; building the foundations of a socialist economy; the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which defended the gains of the revolution in the civil war; development and commencement of implementation of a scientific, technical and cultural revolution; the creation of the world's first multinational socialist state - the USSR; consistent implementation of the peaceful foreign policy of the Soviet state... It is difficult to even name (at least in the most general view) the entire unusually wide and diverse range of the most important socio-economic problems, the scientific and theoretical development and practical solution of which was devoted to the state activities of V. I. Lenin. It is quite clear that within the framework of one article it is impossible to comprehensively reveal his outstanding role in the creation and development of Soviet statehood, in the leadership of the domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Soviets. This article pursues a much more modest goal - to try, if necessary, to briefly characterize only some of the main directions along which the multifaceted activities of V.I. Lenin unfolded as the head of the first workers' and peasants' government of Russia - the Council of People's Commissars.

The victory of the October armed uprising in Petrograd and the triumphant march of the proletarian revolution throughout the country allowed V. I. Lenin to write on November 9, 1917 (old style) in the preface to the second edition of the famous work “Will the Bolsheviks retain state power?” the following eloquent lines: “The revolution of October 25th transferred the question posed in this pamphlet from the realm of theory to the realm of practice... Theoretical arguments against the Bolshevik government are weak to the last degree. These arguments are broken. The task now is to practice... to prove the viability of the workers' and peasants' government... in order to practically solve the greatest historical question" 5.

The founder and leader of the Communist Party, who led it to victory in the days of October, V.I. Lenin was the first of all the leaders of the proletariat who had the historical mission, in the most difficult conditions of building socialism in one country, to successfully lead in practice the initial period of the activity of a fundamentally new state, proletarian type. "Lenin went down in history as the founder and leader of the world's first socialist state - the state of workers and peasants" 6.

From October 1917 to the beginning of 1923, a historical five-year period continued, during which, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, the foundations of the Soviet socialist state and social system were laid. All these years, V.I. Lenin continuously headed the activities of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, and after the formation Soviet Union was also elected Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. V.I. Lenin directly directed and controlled the work

4 "To the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Theses of the CPSU Central Committee." M. 1970, p. 17.

5 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 34, p. 289.

6 "On preparations for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee." M. 1968, p. 9.

that of the Small Council of People's Commissars, created at the end of 1917 to consider secondary, so-called “vermicelli” issues, and from November 30, 1918 - from the formation of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense, transformed in April 1920 into the Council of Labor and Defense , - invariably presided over the meetings of this most important government agency, which, acting as a commission of the Council of People's Commissars, in the emergency conditions of civil war and military intervention, exercised operational management of the country's defense.

One must mentally imagine those difficult and heroic years in order to somehow understand the full extent of responsibility, the weight of worries that fell on the shoulders of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

The revolution was victorious, but not all of Russia is yet in the hands of the rebellious proletariat; in many regions of the country, an intense struggle continues to establish Soviet power. There is still a world war going on, and millions of soldiers are at the front. From the very first hours of the October victory, furious sabotage by officials, open and hidden actions of the not yet broken and still strong internal counter-revolution, based on the generous support of international imperialism. In fact, a single anti-Bolshevik, essentially anti-Soviet bloc, formed by various bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties and groups. Their desperate efforts by any means to remove the Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin from governing Russia - from the attempts of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries to put together a so-called “homogeneous socialist government” to organizing armed rebellions in different cities and regions of the country and the formation of all kinds of White Guard “ governments", the outbreak of civil war and military intervention. And at the same time, in the Republic of Soviets, squeezed into a ring of fronts, there is devastation, hunger, mines and mines are closing, many factories and plants are deprived of raw materials and fuel, transport is operating with great interruptions. There is nowhere to wait for help, advice, support. Rely only on your own forces... And these forces, inspired by the revolution, do not have any experience, and for the most part, the knowledge necessary for state leadership of such a huge country.

In these most difficult conditions, the Bolshevik Party, its Central Committee and Council. The People's Commissars, led by V.I. Lenin, launched a huge amount of work to create a new, proletarian administrative apparatus, to guide the domestic and foreign policy of the first state of workers and peasants in world history, and socialist construction.

In the political report of the Central Committee of the Party to the Seventh Emergency Congress of the RCP (b), which contained a brilliant Marxist outline of the development of the October Revolution, V. I. Lenin drew the attention of the congress delegates to the fundamental difference between the socialist revolution and the bourgeois revolution. “Here,” said V.I. Lenin, speaking at a meeting of the VII Congress on March 7, 1918, “to the tasks of destruction are added new, unheard-of difficulty tasks - organizational ones.” The successes of the revolution in the political field, it was further noted in the report of the Central Committee, its triumphal march across the country were largely possible precisely thanks to the presence in October 1917 of ready-made organizational forms of the new state power - the Soviets, born of the revolutionary creativity of the masses, which provided the "skeleton, the basis of this authorities". However, V.I. Lenin immediately emphasized that before the proletarian revolution in Russia, as before any socialist revolution, there remained other, exceptionally difficult tasks, first of all “the tasks internal organization" 7 .

7 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 36, p. 6.

About a month later, in April 1918, these statements by V.I. Lenin were further developed in his other work, “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power,” dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of the ways and methods of the main, creative work of the socialist revolution to establish the “extremely complex And a subtle network of new organizational relations, covering the systematic production and distribution of products necessary for the existence of tens of millions of people" 8. The new “complex and subtle network of organizational relations” that V.I. Lenin wrote about inevitably had to cover not only the economy, but also other spheres public life, including, of course, the political area. Moreover, the successful resolution of the historical tasks of socialist construction facing the Republic of Soviets largely depended on how successfully the problem of organizing and operating the new, Soviet apparatus for governing the country would be resolved.

"We must now Russia manage"- emphasized V.I. Lenin, and he characterized the task of organizing management as the main, central task 9. This most important conclusion was formulated by V.I. Lenin in the theses he prepared on behalf of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the immediate tasks of Soviet power, which briefly summarized the main content of the famous Lenin’s work mentioned above. The short theses written by V. I. Lenin, unanimously approved by the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets on May 4, 1918, were sent out throughout Russia by a special radiogram signed by the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya. M. Sverdlov 10 . One of the points of Lenin’s “Theses”, which, as indicated at the beginning of the radiogram, was supposed to form the basis for the activities of all provincial, district and volost Soviets, said: “The organization of proper management, the steady implementation of the decisions of the Soviet government - this is the urgent task of the Soviets “, this is the condition for the complete victory of the Soviet type of state, which type is not enough to formally decree, it is not enough to establish and introduce it in all parts of the country, but it is also necessary to practically establish and test it in the regular, everyday work of management” 11.

An indispensable condition for success on this unexplored path of building the Soviet socialist state and social system, full of difficulties, was the leadership of the Leninist party of the working class. “In order to govern,” V.I. Lenin emphasized, “you must have an army of seasoned communist revolutionaries, it exists, it is called a party” 12. The constant unity of actions of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Soviet government was ensured not only by the commonality of their socialist program and political course, but also by the fact that, along with issues of current party work, the Leninist Central Committee of the party constantly considered and discussed all the central issues of the domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Soviets. “Not a single important political or organizational issue,” emphasized V.I. Lenin, “is resolved by any state institution in our republic without the guidelines of the Party Decree” 13 . And precisely the fact that from the moment of the creation of the first workers' and peasants' government of Russia, its head was continuously the generally recognized leader of the Bolshevik Party V.I. Lenin, undoubtedly gave the Council of People's Commissars special authority. “Much of the connection between the Council of People’s Commissars and the Politburo was maintained personally by me,” -

8 Ibid., p. 171.

9 Ibid., p. 172.

10 CPA IML, f. 86. op. 1, d. 32, l. 1.

11 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 36, p. 278.

12 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 42, p. 254.

13 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 41, pp. 30 - 31.

V.I. Lenin spoke about this at the XI Congress of the RCP (b) 15. In the enormous and versatile activities of V.I. Lenin, who, as is known, enjoyed exceptional respect and boundless trust of the entire party and the broad masses of working people, first of all found expression in the guiding role of the Bolshevik party in relation to the Soviet state and its governing bodies.

Day after day, V.I. Lenin carried out truly titanic work. The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, as stated in one of the documents of the Administration of the Council of People's Commissars, "is engaged in intensive mental labor and works an unlimited number of hours" 16.

The leader of the socialist revolution, V.I. Lenin, was the inspirer and leader of the successful defense of its gains on the fronts of the civil war, the main organizer of the construction of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the victories of the Soviet Republic over internal counter-revolution and imperialist intervention 17. “During the Civil War,” recalls one of the first employees of the Council of People’s Commissars, M.I. Glyasser, “his office was the main headquarters of all military operations. Military maps almost always lay on his desk... 18. He demanded the most detailed reports about all details of operations, sent dozens of telegrams to all fronts, convened (sometimes at night) commissions and meetings to resolve certain military issues" 19. From the first post-October days, when in battles with the troops of Kerensky - Krasnov on the Pulkovo Heights it was decided whether there would be Soviet power or not, V.I. Lenin directly controlled and directed the activities of the leadership of the People's Commissariats for Military and Naval Affairs, commanders of the armed forces of the republic at all fronts, systematically receiving for these purposes all the necessary information (operational and political reports, newsletters, reports, etc.). Thus, on December 22, 1917, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars N.P. Gorbunov, in his letter to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, reporting the receipt of a secret daily information report for No. 5 of December 19 and confirming the need to send such reports in the future, wrote: “Clear, preferably reprints so as not to make it difficult for the Chairman of the Council to read them" 20. Another letter from the Administration of the Council of People's Commissars, dated July 26, 1918, addressed to the Communications and Information Department under the Operational Department of the People's Commissar of Military Affairs, said: “In response to your attitude of July 13 of this year, the Administration of the Council of People's Commissars notifies that the ballots are received by us carefully. We ask you to continue to send them to Vladimir Ilyich for information" 21 . He regularly submitted detailed reports to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on the situation on the fronts, as well as on the issues of recruiting new units of the Red Army, supplying it with weapons, ammunition, food to the commanders.

15 V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 45, p. 114.

16 TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 2, d. 365, l. 217.

17 See S. M. Klyatskin. In defense of October. 1917 - 1920 M. 1965; "V.I. Lenin and the Soviet Armed Forces". M. 1969.

18 An interesting document has been preserved in the materials of the Council of People's Commissars - a letter from the manager and secretary of the Council of People's Commissars to the store of the headquarters of the Moscow Military District dated March 29, 1918. In this letter, written, undoubtedly, on behalf of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, it was proposed to “immediately issue the following wall maps to the bearer against receipt: 1) Ukraine, 2) the Caucasus, 3) Central Asia, 4) Siberia, 5) Crimea, 6) European Russia, 7) Asian Russia. The scale should be large enough to be able to find large villages, villages, etc. (TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 2, d. 347, l. 125).

19 "Ilyich at the construction site of the Soviet apparatus." M. 1934, pp. 42 - 43.

20 TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 1, no. 15, l. 5.

21 Ibid., op. 2, d. 347, l. 247.

nickname of the Operations Department (Operod) of the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs S. I. Aralov. “The military reports that we made to Lenin,” S.I. Aralov later recalled, “his discussion of the situation, his instructions showed how exceptionally important he devoted to the struggle, on the fronts of the civil war, how much time he devoted to military affairs, and it was clear to us that the main, basic leadership of the Red Army and its struggle belonged to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin." 22. Grandiose, in the words of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the republic in 1919 - 1924 S. S. Kamenev, awareness of the situation at the fronts, in all the plans and activities of the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs, a deep understanding of military affairs allowed the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars to quickly make the necessary, often the only correct decisions on the most complex and important issues of the construction and activities of the Red Army, to turn special attention to the front that this moment was of paramount importance for the Republic of Soviets. To verify this, it is enough to cite excerpts from several documents relating to August 1918, when the fate of the revolution depended on the successful actions of the Red Army on the Eastern Front against units of the Czechoslovak corps and the so-called “People’s” and “Siberian” armies that had risen in anti-Soviet rebellion, put together by the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik government of the Volga region - Committee of Members Constituent Assembly(Komuch) and the counter-revolutionary Provisional Siberian Government.

On August 10, 1918, V.I. Lenin pointed out to the Supreme Military Council of the Republic the need to strengthen in every possible way Eastern front. To this end, V.I. Lenin proposed developing a plan for the removal of all combat-ready units from the Western Front and implementing it as soon as possible 23 . The instruction of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was immediately carried out. “According to the order of the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars dated August 11 and his personal instructions by telephone on August 12 of this year,” reported the Air Force leaders led by M.D. Bonch-Bruevich on August 13, “an urgent order was made from the curtain sections of the Northern and Western fronts on August 11 on the removal of all combat-ready units for departure to the Eastern Front" 24 .

During these tense days, V.I. Lenin did not forget about the needs of other fronts, in the ring of which the Republic of Soviets found itself, and took care of their strengthening. Thus, having received on August 9 a memorandum from the leaders of the Northern Front M. S. Kedrov and A. V. Eiduk, which contained a list of reinforcements, military equipment and ammunition necessary for the needs of the front, V. I. Lenin wrote about this special order to the Supreme Military Council, obliging the military head of the Air Force M.D. Bonch-Bruevich to give an immediate response 25. On the same day, August 9, 1918, M.D. Bonch-Bruevich reported to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on the measures taken in accordance with this instruction 26.

In parallel with the order of the Air Force, V.I. Lenin considered it necessary to take other measures aimed at the speedy and successful fulfillment of the requests of the leadership of the Northern Front. “According to the order of the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars,” said a telephone message dated August 12 from the Deputy People’s Commissar of Railways Volkovsky, transmitted to all the responsible leaders listed in M.D. Bonch-Bruevich’s report, “I ask you to provide assistance to me and the authorized comrades Yakushko, Shilov, Sevidsky and Rutelegsky full assistance in

22 "Lenin and the Red Army". M. 1958, pp. 24 - 25.

23 See V.I. Lenin. PSS. T. 50, p. 146; A. P. Nenarokov. Eastern front. 1918. M. 1969, p. 117, etc.

24 TsPA IML, f. 5, time op. d. 149.

25 See V.I. Lenin. PSS. T. 50, pp. 141, 441.

26 TsGASA, f. 3, op. 1, d. 115, part 1, l. 64.

obtaining subversive equipment, weapons and food at the request certified by me in the warehouses and bases of the Military Commissariat for the formation of lead trains urgently leaving for the front" 27.

There were many such instructions and orders, telegrams and telephone messages associated with the name of the head of the first Soviet government. From November 1917 to November 1920, V.I. Lenin wrote more than 600 letters and telegrams on various issues of national defense, military development and the conduct of armed struggle. The enormous volume of military-organizational activity of V.I. Lenin and the Council of People's Commissars, the Council of Defense and the Central Committee of the RCP (b) led by him is eloquently evidenced by the following data: from November 1917 to December 1920, V.I. Lenin carried out 375 (of 406) meetings of the Council of People's Commissars; from December 1918 to December 24, 1920, 143 (out of 175) meetings of the Defense Council were held under his chairmanship; only during 1919 V.I: Lenin led the work of 14 plenums of the Central Committee and 40 meetings of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), at which military issues were resolved 28 .

The enormous work of organizing the defense of the socialist Fatherland and the defeat of the White Guards and interventionists was only one of many areas government activities V.I. Lenin. As A.I. Ulyanova-Elizarova noted, in the first years of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin, under whose leadership the young Republic of Soviets began to build the foundations of socialism, “had to direct the work himself in all sectors - from the military to the food or enlightened" 29. In each of the people's commissariats that replaced the old ministries liquidated by the revolution, M. S. Kedrov wrote, “with the hands of Ilyich, the foundation was laid on which the commissariat was subsequently built and developed” 30.

Convincing evidence of this is, for example, the history of the creation and activities of one of the most important Soviet people's commissariats - the People's Commissariat for foreign affairs. From the moment of its organization, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs was under the constant and careful supervision and control of V.I. Lenin, who carried out enormous and most versatile work in guiding the foreign policy course of the Republic of Soviets, taught Soviet diplomats to firmly and consistently defend the interests of the world's first state of workers and peasants 31 . Day after day, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars received numerous telegrams, reports, reports from V.V. Vorovsky, Ya.S. Ganetsky, A.A. Ioffe, Ya.A. Berzin, M.M. Litvinov and other Soviet diplomatic representatives who supported V.I. Lenin was in constant contact with those who turned to him on all important foreign policy issues. “Dear Comrade Lenin,” wrote, for example, on April 2, 1921, the head of the department of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in Turkestan A. Vinogradova. “Upon arrival from Turkestan, I gave you a letter from Comrade Gopner, in which he asks to receive and listen to me, in particular , on issues relating to India, Bukhara, Khiva and Turkestan itself in general.

27 TsPA IML, f. 5, Art. - 1, house 32542,

28 See Yu. I. Korablev. V.I. Lenin and the creation of the Red Army (October 1917 - March 1919). Abstract by Dr. diss. M. 1967, pp. 60 - 61.

29 A. I. Ulyanova-Elizarova. Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich. Enz. Dictionary Pomegranate. T. 41, part 1, column. 323 - 324.

30 "Memories of V.I. Lenin", T. 3. M. 1969, p. 150.

31 See M.I. Trush. Foreign policy activities of V. I. Lenin. 1917 - 1920. Day after day. M. 1963; him. Foreign policy activities of V. I. Lenin. 1921 - 1923. Day after day. M. 1967.

No, you are too busy all the time. However, I continue to consider our meeting very desirable. If you find it possible to devote 20 minutes, inform the secretariat of Karakhan." Soon, as usual in such cases, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars received the envoy of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in Turkestan. This is evidenced by a secretarial note made in accordance with V.I. Lenin's instructions on the text letters 32.

According to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs G.V. Chicherin, he was “almost in continuous contact” with V.I. Lenin on all foreign policy issues. “In the first years of the existence of our republic,” recalled G.V. Chicherin, “I talked to him on the phone several times a day, sometimes having very long telephone conversations with him, in addition to frequent direct conversations, and often discussing everything with him details of any important current diplomatic affairs. Immediately grasping the essence of each issue and immediately giving it the broadest political coverage, Vladimir Ilyich always in his conversations made the most brilliant analysis of the diplomatic situation, and his advice (often he immediately offered the very text of the answer to another government) could serve as examples of diplomatic art and flexibility" 33.

The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars directly directed all the most important foreign policy actions and negotiations Soviet republic both with diplomatic and semi-official representatives of foreign states, representatives of bourgeois business circles. Under the leadership of V.I. Lenin and with his personal participation, the establishment and establishment of political and economic ties between Soviet Russia and the countries of Western Europe and the East, Scandinavia and the USA took place 34. In this regard, the following document, in particular, deserves some attention. “Vladimir Ilyich!” wrote L. K. Marten on October 28, 1922. “I kindly ask you to give me a little time to talk with you about issues of our American policy. I allow myself to make this request to you, considering Your personal participation in resolving these issues is extremely important" 36. As can be seen from the explanations given below by L. K. Martens to this letter, it reflects, of course, only a small episode, and the opinion expressed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on this matter and the instructions he made in this regard to the relevant leadership -

32 TsPA IML, f. 5, op. 1, d. 460, l. 21.

33 "Memories of V.I. Lenin." T. 3. M. 1969, pp. 483 - 484.

34 See "Lenin's foreign policy of the Soviet country. 1917 - 1924". M. 1969;

35 L. K. Marten - head of the Soviet mission to the USA in 1919 - 1920, to establish trade relations between the RSFSR and the USA; in 1921 - 1922 - Member of the board of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Supreme Economic Council.

36 TsPA IML, f. 5, op. 1, no. 469, pp. 5 - 5 rev. Subsequently (apparently at the request of the archive workers of the Lenin Institute), an explanation was made on the back of the original letter in the hand of L. K. Martens, which, in view of his undoubted interest, is given here: “This letter concerns the proposal that I intended make Bl.[?]. When handing it over to Lenin through Gorbunov, I told the latter about Bl. and expressed my opinion about the need to take his proposal more seriously. Gorbu[unov] called Chicherin by phone in my presence and asked his opinion about Bl. . Chicherin told him that Bl[en] is a “nonentity” and that I take him seriously only because of my “gullibility.” Gorbunov on the same day conveyed to Lenin the contents of his conversation with me. Two or two later Three days after this, Lenin asked Gorb[unov] to tell me that he considered my point of view on issues of our American policy to be correct and that we need to make every effort to get closer to America." Further, L. K. Marten wrote that at the request of V. I. Lenin, Bld. was accepted by Litvinov. “The attitude of the NKID towards Bl. changed sharply after that and Litv[inov] agreed to agree to Bl.’s proposal to convene a small unofficial Russian-American commission on neutral ground, which would outline a plan for further negotiations. In this sense, L[itvi]nov drew up a memorandum, which was handed over to Bl. unsigned."

giving Soviet leaders are clear and do not require lengthy comments 37 . But at the same time, this small episode is very indicative, in our opinion, for the entire extensive foreign policy activity of V.I. Lenin.

The founder of the Soviet state and the author of the historical Decree on Peace, who formulated and scientifically substantiated in his works and many acts of the Soviet government the basic principles of socialist foreign policy, including the principle of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems when resolving any, large or small, diplomatic issues appears in the relevant documents and testimonies of contemporaries as the true leader of a fundamentally new foreign policy and diplomacy of the world's first socialist state, since its creation invariably aimed at ensuring and strengthening peace and friendship between all peoples.

Issues of foreign policy and nation-state building, elimination of devastation, hunger, fuel crisis and restoration National economy, the organization of Soviet healthcare and the deployment of cultural construction, the development of domestic science and the development of the country’s natural resources, the development and implementation of the famous GOELRO plan, called by V.I. Lenin “the second program of the party”... It is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to even list all the most various state issues that the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars had to resolve and which were constantly in his field of vision. “The whole country was before his eyes,” V. A. Smolyaninov, deputy manager of the Council of Labor and Defense for economic and economic construction, later recalled. “He felt her heartbeat every minute.” “What can you hear about Kashira?” he asked me over the phone. morning. - How is the construction going? Have the transformers arrived from Sweden? And how are things on Volkhov and in Shatura? Vladimir Ilyich always kept the GOELRS plan at hand. He wanted electricity to quickly enter into life, into the life of the people "38. And not only electricity... Having reliably protected schools and other educational institutions from the influence of the church, declaring museums, libraries, theaters, the press and all other public property cultural values, led by V.I. Lenin, the Soviet government, through the People's Commissariat of Education, headed by A.V. Lunacharsky, immediately began organizing enormous work to eliminate the most difficult legacy of the bourgeois-landowner system - illiteracy, and began to build a new, socialist culture 39. “Dear Vladimir Ilyich!” wrote A.V. Lunacharsky on May 3, 1920. “You promised me to pay some attention to my Red Army economy. Therefore, I kindly ask you to receive Comrade Elena Konstantinovna Malinovskaya regarding some issues related to the fate of the theaters "It will be very easy for you to give us some support and help get this thing on wheels." There is no doubt that the People's Commissariat for Education and the theaters of Soviet Russia received the support they needed from the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars - on the text of A.V. Lunacharsky's letter, in accordance with the instructions of V.I. Lenin, one of the secretaries of the Council of People's Commissars made

37 L. K. Martens’ letter to V. I. Lenin dated October 28, 1922 refers to the period of the beginning of the Soviet-American economic rapprochement and the creation of Amtorg (American Trading Society), which was actually the trading apparatus of the People's Commissariat foreign trade in the USA (see V.A. Shishkin. The Soviet state and Western countries in 1917 - 1929. L. 1969, p. 367 et seq.).

38 "Our Ilyich. Muscovites about Lenin. Memories. Letters. Greetings." M. 1969, p. 333.

39 See I. S. Smirnov. Lenin and Soviet culture. M. 1960.

an eloquent note: “Requests on Wednesday or Thursday” 40. How many such important state affairs were there that V.I. Lenin had to “put on wheels”... A colossal volume; the exceptional intensity and extreme diversity of forms of daily state activity of the head of the first Soviet government is well known 41 . Therefore, we will give just two more examples.

“We, the doctors who had to take up the task of organizing Soviet medicine,” recalled one of the leaders of the Medical and Sanitary Department of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, A. N. Vinokurov, “imagined such a centralized medical body in the form of the “Committee for the Protection of Public Health.” "On this issue, Comrades Barsukov, Weger and I,” continued A. N. Vinokurov, “were with Vladimir Ilyich, who ... decisively spoke out against the immediate organization of a centralized bureaucratic apparatus. He indicated that it was first necessary to create medical boards under central institutions, replacing the old ones with them medical departments, having strengthened them with medical forces, create local medical departments under the Soviets instead of the old zemstvo medicine, try to split off the left revolutionary part of it from the Pirogov Medical Society, which united mainly zemstvo and city medical forces, and rely on it, as in the fight against counter-revolutionary doctors, so in the creation of Soviet medicine. This was the broadly conceived program that was proposed to us by Vladimir Ilyich for the construction of Soviet medicine" 42.

In accordance with the instructions of V.I. Lenin, the issue of creating the People's Commissariat of Health was resolved. Continuing to carry out explanatory work among doctors and other medical workers, Bolshevik doctors from the Medical and Sanitary Department of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee already at the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918 successfully carried out V.I. Lenin’s instructions on the need to replace the old medical departments of a number of central departments with new, Soviet ones medical colleges and were the core of the Provisional Council of Medical Colleges formed on December 22, 1917. Officially formalized by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars dated January 24, 1918, signed by V.I. Lenin, the Council of Medical Colleges subsequently did significant work to eliminate various old bureaucratic medical institutions that had taken a counter-revolutionary position, and to attract the main medical forces of the country to the side of the Soviet government. And soon after the move of the Soviet government from Petrograd to Moscow, on May 24, 1918, the Council of Medical Colleges heard at its meeting a report from Dr. V.M. Bonch-Bruevich about her conversation as a representative of the Council with the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin on issues of medicine and sanitation and on the transformation of the Council of Medical Colleges into the Commissariat of People's Health 43. And a month and a half after the Soviet government repeatedly reviewed the memo and draft decree submitted by the Council of Medical Colleges on the creation of the People's Commissariat of Health, July 11, 1918, V. I. Lenin

40 TsPA IML, f. 5, op. 1, d. 469, l. 1.

41 A striking evidence of the colossal work carried out by the founder and leader of the world’s first socialist state is the “Archive of V.I. Lenin”, restored through the many years of efforts of the employees of the Central Committee of the IML under the Central Committee of the CPSU (see V.A. Lyubisheva. Reconstruction of the archive of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of V. I. Lenin, "Questions of History", 1969, No. 4, pp. 38 - 50).

42 Scientific reference office of the sector of works of V. I. Lenin IML under the Central Committee of the CPSU, fund of memories of V. I. Lenin. A. N. Vinokurov. Lenin as leader of the Council of People's Commissars and the Small Soviet, l. 3.

43 TsGA RSFSR, f. 482, op. 1, d. 1 a, l. 46.

signed a decree on the establishment of the Non-Native Commissariat of Health, which united under its jurisdiction all branches of medicine in the country and launched extensive activities to protect the health of workers of the Republic of Soviets 44.

V.I. Lenin paid special attention to the development of domestic science, providing all possible support to innovative scientists, comprehensive study and development of the country's natural resources 45. It was thanks to the direct participation of the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars and his constant assistance, wrote the first secretary of the Council of People’s Commissars, later an academician, N.P. Gorbunov, “the foundation was laid and the progress was given to such undertakings as, for example, radiotelephone construction... the use of oil shale and sapropels, mechanization of wood procurement, production of chemically pure reagents in Russia, research of the Kursk magnetic anomaly, irrigation of the Mugan hungry steppes, diesel locomotives, Volkhov construction, electric ploughing, establishment of the state electrical engineering research institute, education of the electrical engineering faculty of the Moscow Higher Technical School, agricultural exhibition. There is almost not a single undertaking in Soviet Russia in the field of scientific and technical work that would not be associated with the name of Vladimir Ilyich." 46 Thus, on October 9, 1919, the Board of the Main Petroleum Committee heard an extraordinary report from the prominent geologist I. M. Gubkin about his conversation with the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars about the oil fields that were being explored at that time, and in particular about the oil outcrops 70 versts west of Orenburg. Let us recall that this was a time when the fate of the Soviet Republic was being decided in fierce battles on the fronts of the civil war. And during this tense period, in I. Lenin, continuously leading the defense of the Country of Soviets, at the same time thought about its future, consistently directed the construction of the economic foundations of a new, socialist Russia. This is convincingly evidenced by the resolution of the Board of the Main Petroleum Committee, according to I. M. Gubkin, adopted in full accordance with the instructions of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. “As a result of the wishes expressed by V.I. Lenin,” the text of the resolution read, “to check the validity of signs of oil in the 70th century. west of Orenburg, to instruct engineer Spasibukhov, who is traveling to the Temir region, to inspect the named place in the Orenburg region and give his opinion on this issue" 47.

Almost every day the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was busy with numerous matters related to resolving a variety of issues state life countries. Vladimir Ilyich looked through current papers, documents, made notes, wrote resolutions and telegrams, talked on the phone, gave orders to all people's commissariats, got acquainted with the agendas and materials for the upcoming meetings of the Soviet government and its standing commissions - the STO and the Small Council of People's Commissars, gave the necessary instructions government staff.

“Whenever you go over in your memory the intensity and activity of Vladimir Ilyich’s work, his ebullient energy that he showed in such diverse areas of work, the energy that infected everyone around him and seemed to never rest, you just wonder and ask yourself: were those 24 hours contained in

44 See “Decrees of Soviet Power”. T. III. M. 1964, pp. 3 - 5; B. M. Potulov. V.I. Lenin and the health of the Soviet people. L. 1967.

45 For more details, see A.V. Koltsov. Lenin and the formation of the Academies of Sciences as the center of Soviet science. L. 1969.

46 "Memories of V.I. Lenin." T. 3. M. 1969, pp. 435 - 436.

47 TsPA NML, f. 461, d. 987, l. 8.

imagine the same day in the life of Vladimir Ilyich as ours? Just think: Vladimir Ilyich so actively led the Politburo of the Central Committee, the Council of People's Commissars, the STO, the work of the Small Council of People's Commissars, he directly delved into and led the most important sectors of state life, taking an active part in the work of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs, the People's Commissariat of Food, the Supreme Economic Council, the State Planning Committee, fuel institutions, scientific institutes and a number of other bodies" 48. The truth of these words of Ya. I. Gindin, one of the veterans of the Bolshevik party, who was a member of the Small Council of People's Commissars in the 20s, can be easily seen from the biographical chronicle of the life and work of V. I. Lenin, prepared by employees of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, a list of what the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars did in one of his ordinary and by no means the most intense working days in the Kremlin...

This day, February 25, 1921, as always, began with viewing newspapers and correspondence. And today a mountain of papers awaited the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on his desk. Latest newspaper issues; foreign publications, telegrams, reports from the People's Commissariat, daily telephone messages from the People's Commissariat of Railways with introductions about the movement of grain cargo by rail to Moscow and Petrograd... Here, as if in focus, everyone converged critical issues life of the country - military, economic, diplomatic, cultural" And it seemed impossible to immediately understand this stream of paper and quickly accept what was necessary, often the only correct solution. But the Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars L.A. Fotieva, leaving V.I. Lenin's office after the message about urgent matters and about the execution of the orders made the day before, she knew: in a few hours everything would be read and covered with pencil marks, underlining, exclamation marks and question marks. V. I. Lenin’s ability to instantly grasp the content of a newspaper article, letter or document, barely glancing at it, was truly amazing. “If it weren’t for seeing this amazing reading of documents dozens and hundreds of times, it would have been impossible to believe,” V.D. Bonch-Bruevich, the first manager of the Soviet government, later recalled. “You had to have that amazingly sophisticated memory, instantaneous perception, which was with Vladimir Ilyich..." 49.

From 11 a.m. V.I. Lenin wrote a letter to the chairman of the State General Planning Commission G., M. Krzhizhanovsky with proposals on the structure, composition, plan and methods of its work, the formation of subcommittees, etc.; read and made notes on the report of V. A. Avanesov on the causes of the fuel crisis, with a description of the work of the fuel organs; signed a certificate to the authorized representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the People's Commissariat of Food, Klytin, who was sent to the Tver province: to supervise the procurement of hay. At the same time, V.I. Lenin wrote a telegram to Kharkov to Kh. Rakovsky with a request to convey his warmest greetings to the V All-Ukrainian Congress. Soviets.

During the same day (from 12 to 16 hours. 30 minutes:) V. I. Lenin chaired a meeting of the Plenum of the Party Central Committee, at which the following issues were considered: on the fuel situation; Tsektran statement (transferred to the party congress); About work water transport(draft appeal to all party organizations): N. Bukharin’s theses on party building for the Tenth Party Congress; on the protection of grain routes coming from Siberia; about the demobilization of the army; about former Wrangel soldiers; about Georgia. Having received a letter from Kh. Rakovsky during the meeting with a proposal to use the grain fund of Ukraine for exchange with

48 Ya. I. Gindin. Memories of Lenin. M. 1933, p. 44.

49 V. D. Bonch-Bruevich. Memories of V.I. Lenin. M. 1969, pp. 235 - 236.

border, V.I. Lenin, in a reply telegram to Kharkov, gives instructions on the procedure for distributing harvested grain in Ukraine.

And at 18 o’clock on the same February 25, as usual, V.I. Lenin, as chairman, opened the next meeting of the Council of Labor and Defense. In the emergency conditions of the first post-revolutionary years, at meetings of the Soviet government and the STO, dozens of issues were often considered. Today, the agenda of the meeting includes 12 different issues of state and economic life of the country: on the transfer of the South-Eastern railway from the authority of the central lecturer to the southern sector; on the production of fabrics to supply demobilized Red Army soldiers; on supplying the workers of Moscow and Petrograd; on the use of mobilized citizens; regulations on regional economic bodies; about bread rations for parts of the Caucasus Front; about the situation in Donbass; on labor supply construction work in the Urals, etc. Presiding at a meeting of the Labor Council. and Defense, V; I. Lenin writes notes during a discussion of T. S. Eismont’s report on the production of fabrics to supply demobilized Red Army soldiers; instructs the secretary to tell I.A. Teodorovich that tomorrow morning until 3 o’clock. he is busy and asks to remind him tomorrow evening about Teodorovich’s request to set an appointment time; handed over to the secretary a note he had received from A. M. Lezhava about Ruzicka’s request to accept him for a report on his trip with the note: “We must accept. Remind me”; wrote a note to N.P. Gorbunov in response to his message that Professor N. had arrived with instructions to talk with this professor in general and in particular about Grozny and Baku, about the oil industry, the threat of flooding, etc.; conveyed to A. M. Anikst his letter to G. M. Krzhizhanovsky about the general planning commission, asking with a note whether he could deliver or send this letter to Krzhizhanovsky, and when he could do this; signed a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars authorizing the People's Commissariat of Justice to issue an award at the expense of its estimate to the chairman of the Vyatka Council of People's Court. And after the end of the STO meeting, late in the evening, V.I. Lenin, together with N.K. Krupskaya, visited the dormitory of the All-Russian Art and Theater Workshops (VKHUTEMAS) and talked with students about studies, literature and art 50.

And so on day after day, month after month. Almost every day V.I. Lenin presided over meetings of the governing bodies of the party and the Soviet state, at which all the main issues of the political, military, economic and cultural life of the country were decided. “Vladimir Ilyich was an outstanding chairman,” recalled Ya. I. Gindin. “Opening the meetings, Vladimir Ilyich quickly ran through the agenda, asked about the issues being removed, always put all statements on the order of the day for a brief discussion... On the removed issues, he immediately ordered the secretariat, sitting on his right hand at a separate table, to release the summoned speakers, to call for additional ones, if necessary... After this, Vladimir Ilyich began discussing individual issues, and at the beginning of the discussion, his first duty was to ask whether all interested parties were present and whether all members of the Council of People's Commissars had the appropriate materials. The regulations were always very strict, although, of course, they changed depending on the nature of the issues. Vladimir Ilyich himself often spoke out last" 51 .

Presiding over meetings of the Council of People's Commissars or STO, V.I. Lenin led an extremely large and tense

50 "The day of the month of work of V.I. Lenin. January - February 1921." M. 1934, pp. 95 - 97; V. I. Lenin. PSS. T. 42, pp. 592 - 593.

51 Ya. I. Gindin. Decree. cit., pp. 15 - 16.

work. According to the apt definition of E.D. Stasova, “Vladimir Ilyich knew how to split and even split his attention.” Listening attentively to the speakers and speakers in the debates, V.I. Lenin immediately, at the meetings, managed to read and make decisions on various documents, write his small, well-known notes (it was forbidden to talk at the meetings), in which he consulted with the participants in the meetings, asking for their opinion, he made proposals and instructions for resolving the discussed and other issues. “This sometimes seemed implausible,” G. M. Leplevsky, a member of the Small Council of People’s Commissars from 1921 to 1923, later wrote, “and caused amazement, especially when Vladimir Ilyich, in his speeches, accurately and sharply noted both the positive and negative aspects in the speeches of those or other comrades" 52. V. I. Lenin, looking at his watch, constantly reminded those who liked lengthy speeches: “This, comrades, is not a rally; there is no need to engage in agitation, you only need to talk about business” 53 . And he looked with annoyance at the speaker uttering “winged words” to cover up his inability to approach the issue in a businesslike manner. “Under Lenin, the Council of People’s Commissars was efficient and lively,” recalled A.V. Lunacharsky. “Already under him, external methods for considering cases were established: extreme rigor in determining the time of speakers, whether they were their own speakers or speakers from outside, whether they were participants in the discussion. "Extreme conciseness and efficiency were required from each speaker. A kind of condensed mood reigned in the Council of People's Commissars; it seemed that time itself had become denser, so many facts, thoughts and decisions were contained in every minute" 54 .

The meetings of the Council of People's Commissars and the STO, led by V.I. Lenin, were a real school of public administration for everyone people's commissars and other Soviet leaders. “It was the first and only university in the world at that time where people’s commissars studied how to build workers’ and peasants’ power,” G.I. Petrovsky, who headed the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs in the first years of Soviet power, later wrote.

As an experienced captain, V.I. Lenin quickly and confidently led meetings of the Council of People's Commissars through the “reefs” of ambiguities, disputes and contradictions. “Lenin... always knew how to turn the discussion onto specific tracks,” recalled one of the veterans of the Bolshevik Party, in those years Deputy People’s Commissar for National Affairs S.S. Pestkovsky. “If the speaker or one of the speakers “floated,” Lenin always “knew how to turn the steering wheel towards the pier.” 56 A vivid description of how uniquely and skillfully V.I. Lenin led the work of the Soviet government was left by N.A. Semashko, the first people’s commissar of health: “During the debates, Vladimir Ilyich loved to listen, “what others will say." Closely squinting one eye and staring at the other, he listened intently to the speaker, inexorably correcting those who were verbose. Sometimes there were no people willing to speak on some report. Then Vladimir Ilyich loved to “challenge”... And then, as chairman, he summarized. There was also something extremely characteristic and remarkable in this resume. Usually, many chairmen “robbed” the ora-

52 "Memories of V.I. Lenin." T. 4. M. 1969, p. 137.

53 N. L. Meshcheryakov. From memories of Lenin. "Press and Revolution". 1924, book. 2, pp. 12 - 13.

54 "That's how Lenin was." M. 1965, p. 390.

55 G. I. Petrovsky. Under the leadership of the great leader. "Pravda", 20.IV.1955.

56 Scientific reference office of the sector of works of V. I. Lenin IML under the Central Committee of the CPSU, fund of memories of V. I. Lenin. S. S. Pestkovsky. Lenin in the period 1917 - 1920, l. 16.

tors: they will take one thing from one, another from another, and make proposals that can possibly unite larger number participants. It didn’t work out that way for Lenin: he gave not a compromise, but a sharp and definite directive. And the speeches of the speakers gave him material only for greater argumentation of his proposal" 57.

The organization and strict, businesslike order in the work of the Council of People's Commissars, led by V.I. Lenin, were invariably combined with a free, comradely atmosphere. V.I. Lenin, who, as is known, enjoyed exceptional authority, did not impose his opinion on the participants in the meeting, and always followed the principle of collective leadership. “Vladimir Ilyich never resolved issues in which the collective was interested, individually, as Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars. He encouraged the initiative of each worker, did not put pressure on him with his authority, but convinced. Flattery, sycophancy, servility were unthinkable in Lenin’s circle. At meetings of the Council of People’s Commissars or Council of Defense, all speakers freely expressed their opinions on the issues discussed. Issues were decided by voting. Fierce disputes often occurred; it happened that a majority vote of the members of the Council of People's Commissars made a decision with which Vladimir Ilyich did not agree... However, if the issue was of fundamental importance, Lenin, acting within the framework of party and Soviet norms, he continued to defend his opinion, transferred the issue to a higher authority, to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, to the Politburo at the Plenum of the Central Committee and sometimes reached the party congress,” 58 recalls L. A. Fotieva.

Numerous testimonies are known about the modesty and tact of V.I. Lenin, his attentive attitude to the opinions of members of the government and other participants in the meetings of the Council of People's Commissars, about his amazing ability to clearly organize a deep and comprehensive discussion of key problems of state life and quickly find the necessary solution. Here's just one of them. A. A. Andreev writes: “Clarity of thought, quick orientation in all matters, integrity, strict adherence to the norms of comradely, collective work, extraordinary sensitivity, the ability to quickly grasp what is right and what is wrong, the courage and breadth of his approach to all issues, the extraordinary ability to quickly weigh everything, take into account all the circumstances, the ability to draw attention to the most important - this is what general outline Lenin was at meetings, in a business setting" 59.

In an atmosphere of creative enthusiasm and genuine integrity emanating from V.I. Lenin, each of those present at the government meeting, whether a people's commissar or an invitee on any issue, made his contribution to the friendly, collective work of the Soviet government. “They worked in the Council of People’s Commissars quickly, they worked cheerfully, they worked with jokes,” recalled A.V. Lunacharsky. “Lenin began to laugh good-naturedly when he caught someone in a curious contradiction, and the whole long table of the largest revolutionaries and new people of ours laughed behind him.” time - whether over the jokes of the chairman himself, who was very fond of making jokes, or one of the speakers. But now, after this stormy laughter, the same cheerful seriousness set in again and the river of reports, exchange of opinions, decisions flowed just as quickly, quickly" 60 .

Carrying out enormous and varied activities as head of the first Soviet government, V.I. Lenin tirelessly took care of increasing the level of party leadership of the state apparatus.

57 N. A. Semashko. Ilyich is leading the meeting. "Izvestia", 14.II.1960.

58 "Memories of V.I. Lenin." T. 4, M. 1969, p. 122.

59 Ibid., p. 48.

60 "That's how Lenin was." M. 1965, p. 391.

government, persistently and consistently fought for the establishment of democratic centralism and socialist legality as the most important principles of the activity of a new, socialist type of state. Day after day, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars paid extremely great attention to ensuring the clear and coordinated functioning of all links of the proletarian apparatus of power, and steadily sought every possible improvement in its structure, forms and methods of work 61 . Already in the very first months of the existence of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin took a number of steps in this direction, including very significant ones. It is enough to recall the well-known rules written by V.I. Lenin himself “on how to put issues on the agenda,” that is, the rules for preparing and documenting meetings of the Council of People's Commissars, approved on December 18, 1917 62 . Together with numerous other instructions of V.I. Lenin, decisions and decrees of the Soviet government, subsequently adopted on the initiative and under the leadership of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, this Leninist instruction formed the basis for the daily activities of the Council of People's Commissars, STO and the Small Council of People's Commissars and became a model for organizing the work of the people's collegiums commissars and all other bodies of the Soviet state apparatus in the center and locally 63.

In the practical activities of the working apparatus of the Council of People's Commissars and the people's commissariats, there were no trifles for V.I. Lenin. Thus, on March 28, 1918, the Collegium of the People’s Commissariat for Postal and Telegraph Affairs, having discussed at its meeting “Comrade Lenin’s request about the commissariat’s official time,” decided: “Comrade Zalezhsky is instructed to clarify the issue and give personal explanations to Comrade Lenin” 64. In an effort to ensure the greatest possible efficiency and effectiveness of the activities of the Soviet government apparatus, V.I. Lenin delved into all the details of the daily work of the Administration of the Council of People's Commissars 65 and paid great attention to the education of the employees of the Council of People's Commissars apparatus. Correctly maintaining minutes of government meetings, how to draw up agendas for meetings of the Council of People's Commissars and the STO, making entries in various office journals, drawing up and sending official papers and letters - everyday

61 For more details, see E. B. Genkina. Lenin - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and STO. From the history of the state activities of V.I. Lenin in 1921 - 1922. M. 1960; hers. State activities of V. I. Lenin (1921 - 1923). M. 1969; B. M., Shekhvatov. Lenin and the Soviet State. The activities of V. I. Lenin to improve public administration in 1921 - 1922. M. 1960; E. N. Gorodetsky. The birth of the Soviet state. M. 1965; E. V. Klopov. Lenin in Smolny. M. 1965; M. P. Iroshnikov. Creation of the Soviet central state apparatus. Ed. 2nd. L. 1967; V. M. Shapko. V. I. Lenin’s justification of the principles of state leadership. M. 1968; R. M. Savitskaya. Essay on the state activities of V. I. Lenin. March-July 1918. M. 1969.

62 "Lenin collection" XXI, p. 96. This is a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, obliging all people's commissars to strictly implement Lenin's instructions (for which they were also required to sign a special subscription - TsPA IML, f. 19, op. 1, d. 29, l 22) was subsequently steadily implemented. Thus, on May 28, 1918, answering the question of the People’s Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky, whether draft decrees on the transfer to the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat of Education of all educational institutions and on the prohibition of the sale and export abroad of objects of art and antiquities (these issues were considered by the Soviet government on May 30 and 31, 1918), one of the secretaries of the Council of People's Commissars wrote in a reply note: “Anatoly Vasilyevich! Isn’t it necessary on these new issues conclusions of any commissioners, for example, finance and control? Then it would be possible to transfer it now, otherwise there will be a delay, we do not have the right (according to the instructions of the Council of People's Commissars) to put it on the agenda without a conclusion, and if we did, the Council of People's Commissars would decide to transfer it to corresponding conclusion" (ibid., d. 126. l. 59).

63 See L.I. Antonova. Organizational forms of law-making activity of the Council of People's Commissars (1917 - 1922). "Practical Studies", 1968, No. 3; E. I. Korenevskaya. Organizational and legal forms of activity of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (1917 - 1922). "Soviet State and Law", 1968, No. 7.

64 TsGANKH, f. 3527. op . 4. d. 1. l. 11 rev.

65 See, for example, TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 2, d. 347, l. 273.

The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars taught the work culture to young employees of the secretariat, reception and other departments of the Administration. V.I. Lenin combined his readiness to always provide the necessary assistance to those who needed it with sincere respect and attention to honest and conscientious workers.

At the same time, V.I. Lenin was characterized by a strict and demanding attitude towards compliance with the order established in the work of the Council of People's Commissars. From every Soviet and party worker, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars demanded full responsibility, independence and initiative in the implementation of decisions made. He never reprimanded leaders big and small for anything more than for “handlessness.” V.I. Lenin mercilessly fought against bribery, red tape and bureaucracy, mismanagement and laxity, in whatever forms they appeared. So, on July 20, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars, having heard at its meeting a statement by V. I. Lenin about the failure of the People's Commissar of Foreign Trade M. G. Vronsky to fulfill the instructions of the Council of People's Commissars of May 15 to convene a commission to develop a normal concession agreement with foreigners, decided to put M G. Vronsky, the apparently completely unacceptable delay he made in fulfilling the instructions of the Council of People's Commissars, and reprimand him for this 66.

V. I. Lenin attached particular importance to checking the execution ("Check people and check the actual execution of the case- this, this again, only this is now the crux of all work, all policy") 67, constant and careful monitoring of how the decisions of the Soviet government and its personal instructions were practically carried out, and was extremely demanding when it came to timely and accurate execution of even the smallest matters, such as the timely transmission of a telephone message or the delivery of a package, not to mention issues of serious importance 68 .

As you know, each protocol of the Council of People's Commissars was accompanied by an execution sheet, which indicated what had been done on its individual points. In accordance with the instructions of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, a round-the-clock watch was established in the telephone room at his office 69; employees of the Administration kept special journals, systematically reviewed by V.I. Lenin, where all received and sent telegrams and telephone messages were noted 70. People's Commissars and employees of the Soviet government apparatus regularly reported to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars on the work done. “If one of us did not have time or forgot to report on the execution that day, in the morning of the next day on this employee’s desk there was a small note from Vladimir Ilyich reminding who and what should be reported today. We called these small notes “Ilyichevkas” and tried to work so that there were as few reminders as possible" 71, -

71 "Lenin - the leader of October." Memoirs of Petrograd workers. L. 1956, p. 271.

trusted them with responsible work. IN the most difficult conditions In the first years of the existence of the workers' and peasants' government, a huge amount of work was done to organize and establish the activities of the Soviet state apparatus, the pace of which, according to the confessions of the people who participated in it, sometimes seemed incomprehensible. This work was largely successful precisely because of the great and sincere trust that V.I. Lenin placed in both responsible and ordinary employees. “This trust, the attention with which Vladimir Ilyich listened to the opinions of his comrades,” wrote N.P. Gorbunov, “the increased appreciation with which he approached individual, even ordinary workers, entrusting them with often very responsible tasks - all this created a special enthusiasm for work among everyone who came into contact with him" 72 .

In parallel with the daily management of the activities of the Soviet government and its working apparatus, V.I. Lenin, with the assistance of the employees of his secretariat, carefully reviewed the huge correspondence received in his name from all over Russia (only for the period from January 1 to November 1, 1921, for example, the reception of the Council of People's Commissars received over 9 thousand letters, requests, statements, etc.) 73, participated in various conferences and congresses of mass organizations of workers, spoke to workers, soldiers and peasants at rallies and meetings in factories and factories, in military parts of willows in villages near Moscow. “There was no case when Vladimir Ilyich referred to being busy, despite his incredible workload or health condition. There was no case when he refused to speak, and Lenin never kept himself waiting or was late for meetings. He was the embodiment of modesty, a model of party discipline... always before the meeting or after, he easily, comradely talked with the workers, interested in their thoughts, moods, needs, asking how the workers assessed this or that measure of the Soviet government" 74, recalls K. T. Sverdlova, usually informing the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars at which meeting or rally he was to speak by decision of the Moscow City Party Committee or the Propaganda Department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Only since the move of the Council of People's Commissars from Petrograd to Moscow, that is, from March 1918 to 1923, V.I. Lenin spoke, according to incomplete data, in Moscow and the Moscow region about 250 times 75.

And with all this, the head of the first Soviet government always found time in his packed working day to receive numerous visitors - peasant walkers, delegations of workers and front-line soldiers, Soviet and party workers, representatives of the intelligentsia and other circles of the population, figures of the international labor movement, foreign journalists and diplomats. As S. S. Pestkovsky notes in his memoirs, “the method of personal communication was Ilyich’s main method in training personnel. Every day he received a large number of individual comrades and delegations. And after each meeting with him, both individual comrades and delegations left the office better Bolsheviks than they entered" 76. Usually V.I. Lenin received two or three people

72 "Memories of V.I. Lenin." T. 3. M. 1969, p. 60.

73 "Brief description of the activities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars (BSNK, MSNK and STO)." M. 1921, p. 126. In accordance with the special order of V.I. Lenin dated January 18, 1919, the reception staff of the Council of People's Commissars had to report to him about all written complaints within 24 hours, and about oral ones - within 48 hours. (see L. A. Fotieva. From the life of V. I. Lenin. M. 1967, p. 90).

74 Scientific reference office of the sector of works of V. I. Lenin IML, fund of memories of V. I. Lenin. K. T. Sverdlova. Memories of Lenin, l. 8.

75 "Workers and peasants of Russia about Lenin." M. 1958, p. 6.

76 S. S. Pestkovsky. Decree. cit., l. 14.

per day, but often there were significantly more visitors in the reception room of the Council of People's Commissars. Thus, on February 9, 1921, the reception with the head of the Soviet government lasted over four hours. V.I. Lenin received eight people on this day: Deputy People's Commissar of Agriculture V.V. Obolensky (Osinsky), member of the board of the People's Commissariat of the RKI A.K. Pikes, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Comintern Bela Kun, Siberian peasant O.I. Chernov, deputy People's Commissar of Education M.N. Pokrovsky, Chairman of the Cheka F.E. Dzerzhinsky, Plenipotentiary Representative of the RSFSR in Latvia Ya.S. Ganetsky, member of the Hindu Communist Party comrade. Roya 77. “Why is Lenin great?” O. I. Chernov later recalled his meeting with Vladimir Ilyich on that day in a surprisingly figurative and at the same time precise manner. “But here’s what. He didn’t listen to me, of course, as an extraordinary person, but through me he listened to the entire peasantry" 78.

An organic connection with the masses, faith in their creative energy and experience were the most complete expression of proletarian democracy and a characteristic feature of the Leninist style of state leadership, a principle that V.I. Lenin himself steadily followed and which he persistently instilled in all workers of the Soviet state apparatus that was emerging in those years .

And at the same time, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars continued to conduct intense creative work, developing ways and methods of building a new, socialist Russia, developing the doctrine of the Soviet state - the main instrument of socialist transformations in the country. In works included in the treasury of Marxism-Leninism, such as “Rough outline of the draft party program”, “Immediate tasks of Soviet power”, “On democracy and the socialist character of Soviet power”, “Proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky”, “Theses and report on bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat", "On "leftist" childishness and petty-bourgeoisism", "The Great Initiative", "Economics and politics in the era of the dictatorship of the proletariat", "On the food tax", "On cooperation", "On our revolution", “How can we reorganize the Rabkrin”, “Less is better” and other works V. I. Lenin showed the fundamental difference between Soviet power and any bourgeois-parliamentary republic, gave an exhaustive analysis of the essence and characteristic features of the Soviet state, revealed its inextricable connection With working masses and the leading, guiding role of the Communist Party, developed the most valuable provisions on the laws and stages of development of the Soviet socialist statehood. The theoretical and practical issues of socialist construction, the doctrine of Soviet socialist democracy as a fundamentally new democracy, were deeply and comprehensively developed by V.I. Lenin, higher type became a program of action for the Communist Party and the Soviet people.

The first communist in history to head a proletarian state, V.I. Lenin was the embodiment of a truly people's leader. His activity as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars was and remains an unsurpassed example of the new, socialist style of government. "The immortal ideas and deeds of Lenin, the great feat of his life serve for Soviet people and for the working people of the whole world an inexhaustible source of inspiration and optimism" 79 Libmonster (the whole world). Google. Yandex

Permanent link for scientific papers (for citation):

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...

1. Organize the Solovetsky special-purpose forced labor camp and two transit and distribution points in Arkhangelsk and Kemi.
2. Organization and management specified in Art. I will be entrusted with the camp and transit and distribution points to the OGPU.
3. All lands, buildings, living and dead equipment that previously belonged to the former Solovetsky Monastery, as well as the Pertominsky camp and the Arkhangelsk transit and distribution point, should be transferred free of charge to the OGPU.
4. At the same time, transfer the radio station located on the Solovetsky Islands to the OGPU for use.
5. Oblige the OGPU to immediately begin organizing the labor of prisoners for the use of agricultural, fishing, forestry and other industries and enterprises, exempting them from paying state and local taxes and fees.

Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Rykov
SNK Business Manager Gorbunov
Secretary Fotieva

Right:
Secretary of the special department of the OGPU I. Filippov

The copy from the copy is correct:
Secretary of the Management of Social Camps of the ON OGPU Vaskov

List of names of members of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR who adopted the Resolution "On the organization of the Solovetsky forced labor camp"

Bogdanov Peter | Bryukhanov Nikolay | Dzerzhinsky Felix | Dovgalevsky Valerian | Kamenev Lev (Rosenfeld) | Krasin Leonid | Krestinsky Nikolay | Kursky Dmitry | Lenin Vladimir | Lunacharsky Anatoly | Orakhelashvili Mamiya | Rykov Alexey | Semashko Nikolay | Sokolnikov Grigory (Brilliant Girsh) | Stalin (Dzhugashvili) Joseph | Trotsky (Bronstein) Lev | Tsyurupa Alexander | Chicherin Georgy | Chubar Vlas | Yakovenko Vasily

Not being “people’s” commissars, two more comrades had a hand in preparing the documents and decisions:

And finally, the document’s fidelity to the Resolution (or the correctness of the Resolution in the document?) was confirmed by comrades from the “authorities”:

Fillipov I. | Rodion Vaskov

"People's" commissars at the time of the creation of SLON:
half of them will die from the bullets of their “comrades-in-arms”

"Do not be afraid of enemies - in the worst case, they can kill you. Do not be afraid of friends - in the worst case, they can betray you. Fear the indifferent - they do not kill or betray, but only with their tacit consent do they exist in the land of betrayal and murder." ( Yasensky Bruno)

Beloborodov Alexander Georgievich(1891 –1938) - Regicide, signed the decision to execute royal family. Replaced Dzerzhinsky as People's Commissar of VnuDel of the RSFSR (08/30/1923). Under him, the Directorate of Northern Camps was located on Solovki. Shot.

Bogdanov Peter(1882-1939) - Soviet statesman, engineer. Member of the RSDLP since 1905. In 1917, before. Gomel Revolutionary Committee. Member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1927-30. Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Central Executive Committee of the USSR. Arrested in 1937. Shot.

Bryukhanov Nikolay(1878 - 1938) - Soviet statesman. People's Commissar of Food of the USSR (1923-1924), Deputy People's Commissar of Finance of the USSR (1924-1926), People's Commissar of Finance of the USSR (1926-1930). Arrested on February 3, 1938. Shot.

Dzerzhinsky Felix(1877 - 1926) - Soviet statesman. Polish nobleman. The head of a number of people's commissariats, the founder of the Cheka, one of the organizers of the "Red Terror", who believed that "the Cheka must defend the revolution, even if its sword accidentally falls on the heads of the innocent."

Dovgalevsky Valerian(1885 - 1934) - Soviet statesman, diplomat. Member of the Communist Party since 1908, electrical engineer. From 1921 People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR, in 1923 Deputy People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs of the USSR. He was a member of the USSR Central Executive Committee. Died. He was buried near the Kremlin wall.

Kamenev (Rosenfeld) Lev(1883 - 1936) From an educated Russian-Jewish family, the son of a machinist. On September 14, 1922, he was appointed deputy. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (V. Lenin) of the RSFSR. 1922 It was he who proposed the appointment of Joseph Stalin Secretary General Central Committee of the RCP(b). Convicted in 1936. Shot.

Krasin Leonid(1870 - 1926) He is also Nikitich, Horse, Yuhanson, Winter, Kurgan. Soviet statesman. Born into the family of a minor official. In 1923 he became the first People's Commissar of Foreign Trade of the USSR. Died in London. He was buried near the Kremlin wall.

Krestinsky (?) Nikolai(1883-1938), party member since 1903. From the nobility, son of a gymnasium teacher. Since 1918, People's Commissar of Finance of the RSFSR. In May 1937 he was arrested. The only one refused to admit guilt: “I also did not commit any of the crimes that are charged to me personally.” Sentenced and executed in 1938.

Kursky Dmitry(1874 - 1932), People's Commissar of Justice of the RSFSR, first prosecutor of the RSFSR. Born into the family of a railway engineer. In 1918, he was a member of the commission on organizing intelligence agencies in Soviet Russia (together with Dzerzhinsky and Stalin). Member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (1921) and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1923). Committed suicide (1932).

Lenin Vladimir(1870 - 1924), Soviet politician and statesman, revolutionary, founder of the Bolshevik Party, one of the organizers and leaders of the October Rebellion of 1917, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (government) of the RSFSR and the USSR. Chief organizer of Elephant.

Lunacharsky Anatoly(1875 - 1933), - Soviet writer, political figure, translator, publicist, critic, art critic. Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1930), People's Commissar of Education (1917-1929). Died in France. He was buried near the Kremlin wall.

Orakhelashvili Mamia (Ivan)(1881 - 1937) - Soviet party leader. Born into a noble family. Studied at Faculty of Medicine Kharkov University. From July 6, 1923 to May 21, 1925 - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In April 1937 he was deported to Astrakhan. In 1937 he was arrested and executed.

Rykov Alexey(1875 - 1938), party member since 1898. Born in Saratov. Since 1921, deputy Pred. SNK and STO of the RSFSR, in 1923-1924. - USSR and RSFSR. Signed the decree on the creation of SLON. Expelled from the party (1937) and arrested. Shot on March 15, 1938.

Semashko Nikolay(1874 - 1949) - Soviet party and statesman. Nephew of the revolutionary G. Plekhanov. In Switzerland he met Lenin (1906). Since 1918 People's Commissar of Health of the RSFSR. Professor, academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1944) and the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR (1945). He died a natural death.

Sokolnikov Grigory (Brilliant Hirsch)(1888 - 1939) - Soviet state. activist Member and can. member of the Politburo (1917, 1924-1925). People's Commissar of Finance of the RSFSR (1922) and the USSR (1923-1926). Arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison (1937). According to the official version, he was killed by prisoners in the Verkhneuralsk political isolation ward (1939). Shot on July 29, 1937, the corpse was burned. The ashes were thrown into a pit at the Donskoy Monastery cemetery in Moscow.

All these comrades are commissars of the Council of People's Commissars, members of the government - the same Leninist government that launched the state mechanism of terror with the first stop at Solovki, in SLON. All these “comrades” are directly involved in the adoption of the Resolution. Active position or criminal connivance. Question for the Court: what was each of them doing on November 2, 1923?