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

Since the Jewish topic has already been touched upon, I’ll post one piece of material that still hasn’t found its place. The issue of Jewish representation in the upper echelons of Soviet power is very vibrant to this day. Even I could not resist his seductive charms. Once I read the famous book “One Hundred and Forty Conversations with Molotov” by F. Chuev and one moment really confused me. Here it is: “They say it was the Jews who made the revolution, not the Russians. - Well, few people believe in this. True, in the first government, in the Politburo, the majority were Jews.” A very strange statement, because who, if not the “stone ass”, knows the true state of affairs - but here you go. And you can’t blame it on sclerosis.

In general, this is a very common misconception among a very wide public - that Jews constituted the majority in the Soviet leadership. I even read similar things from other friends of mine. I’ll say right away that the majority - both at the top of the party and in the government - has always been Russian. However, foreigners - including Jews - had a very wide representation in certain periods. In principle, quite a lot has already been written about the national composition of the party leadership, but regarding the government, I have only seen analyzes revolving around the first composition of the Council of People's Commissars (although, admittedly, I was not particularly interested in the plot itself). So I had the idea to dig around and find out how many Jews were part of the Soviet government. At the end of the search, the following article turned up: Jews in the leadership of the USSR (1917-1991). I thought that it exhausted the topic, and was very saddened for wasting my time, but not without pleasure I discovered that in relation to the government the text contained, albeit minor, omissions, and decided to abandon the work. But now, I think, I have brought it to the end, and I present the results to the public.

I’ll say right away that I was only interested in the composition of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR (1917-22) and the Council of People’s Commissars/CM of the USSR. Wikipedia tells us that “Before the creation of the USSR in 1922 and the formation of the Union Council of People's Commissars, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR actually coordinated the interaction between the Soviet republics that arose on the territory of the former Russian Empire.” Therefore, our chronological framework will cover the years 1917-1991. As for personalities, I will present it in the form of a simple chronological list - in dynamics it is somehow easier to perceive.

TROTSKY Lev Davydovich (BRONSTEIN Leiba Davidovich)
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR (November 1917 - March 1918).
People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR/USSR (August 1918 - January 1925).
People's Commissar of Railways of the RSFSR (March-December 1920).
Chairman of the Main Concession Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (June 1925 - 1927).

STEINBERG Isaac Zakharovich (Yitzkhok-Nachmen Zerahovich)
People's Commissar of Justice of the RSFSR (December 1917 - March 1918).

SVERDLOV Veniamin Mikhailovich (Binyamin Movshevich)
People's Commissar of Railways of the RSFSR (January-February 1918).

GUKOVSKY Isidor Emmanuilovich
People's Commissar for Financial Affairs of the RSFSR (March-August 1918).

LYUBOVICH Artemy Moiseevich
Acting People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR, USSR (March 1920 - May 1921, November 1927 - January 1928).

DOVGALEVSKY Valerian Savelievich (Saulovich)
People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR (May 1921 - July 1923).

SHEINMAN Aron Lvovich
Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the RSFSR, USSR (October 1921 - December 1924, January 1926 - October 1928).
People's Commissar of Internal Trade of the USSR (December 1924 - November 1925).

KAMENEV (ROSENFELD) Lev Borisovich
Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR/USSR (September 1922 - January 1926).
People's Commissar of Foreign and Domestic Trade of the USSR (January-November 1926).
Chairman of the Main Concession Committee of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (May 1929 - October 1932).

SOKOLNIKOV Grigory Yakovlevich (DIAMOND Girsh Yankelevich)
People's Commissar of Finance of the RSFSR/USSR (October 1922 - January 1926).

YAKOVLEV (EPSTEIN) Yakov Arkadievich
People's Commissar of Agriculture of the USSR (December 1929 - April 1934).

RUKHIMOVICH Moisey Lvovich
People's Commissar of Railways of the USSR (June 1930 - October 1931).
People's Commissar of the Defense Industry of the USSR (December 1936 - October 1937).

LITVINOV Maxim Maksimovich (WALLAH-FINKELSTEIN Meer-Genoch Moiseevich)
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR (July 1930 - May 1939).

KALMANOVICH Moisey Iosifovich
Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the USSR (October 1930 - April 1934).
People's Commissar of Grain and Livestock State Farms of the USSR (April 1934 - April 1937).

ROSENGOLTZ Arkady Pavlovich
People's Commissar of Foreign Trade of the USSR (November 1930 - June 1937).
Head of the Department of State Reserves under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (August-October 1937).

SHUMYATSKY Boris Zakharovich
“People's Commissar of Cinematography”: Chairman of Soyuzkino, Head of the Main Directorate of the Film Industry, Chairman of the State Directorate of the Film and Photo Industry under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (November 1930 - January 1938).

GOLTSMAN Abram Zinovievich
Head of the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (February 1932 - September 1933).

GOLOSCHYOKIN Philipp Isaevich (Shaya Isaakovich)
chief state arbiter at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (February 1933 - October 1939).

KLEINER Israel Mikhailovich (Srul Meilikhovich)
Chairman of the Committee for Procurement of Agricultural Products under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (April 1934 - December 1936).
People's Commissar of Procurement of the USSR (December 1936 - August 1937).

MARYASIN Lev Efimovich
Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the USSR (April 1934 - July 1936).

WEITZER Israel Yakovlevich
People's Commissar of Internal Trade of the USSR (July 1934 - October 1939).

YAGODA Genrikh Grigorievich (YEHUDAH Enoch Girshevich)
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR (July 1934 - September 1936)
People's Commissar of Communications of the USSR (September 1936 - April 1937).

KAGANOVICH Lazar Moiseevich
People's Commissar of Railways of the USSR (May 1935 - August 1937, April 1938 - March 1942, February 1943 - December 1944).
People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR (August 1937 - January 1939).
Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars/CM of the USSR (August 1938 - May 1944, December 1944 - March 1953).
People's Commissar of the Fuel Industry of the USSR (January-October 1939).
People's Commissar of the Oil Industry of the USSR (October 1939 - July 1940).
Minister of Construction Materials Industry of the USSR (March 1946 - March 1947).
Chairman of the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Material and Technical Supply of the National Economy (January 1948 - October 1952).
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (March 1953 - June 1957).
Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on labor and wages (May 1955 - May 1956).
Minister of Construction Materials Industry of the USSR (September 1956 - July 1957).

KAMINSKY (GOFMAN) Grigory Naumovich
Chief Sanitary Inspector of the USSR (1935 - June 1937).
People's Commissar of Health of the USSR (July 1936 - June 1937).

KRUGLIKOV Solomon Lazarevich
Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the USSR (July 1936 - September 1937).

KHALEPSKY Innokenty Andreevich
People's Commissar of Communications of the USSR (April-August 1937).
Special Representative of the USSR Council of People's Commissars for Communications (August-November 1937).

BRUSKIN Alexander Davidovich
People's Commissar of Mechanical Engineering of the USSR (October 1937 - June 1938).

KAGANOVICH Mikhail Moiseevich
People's Commissar of the Defense Industry of the USSR (October 1937 - January 1939).
People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry of the USSR (January 1939 - January 1940).

GILINSKY Abram Lazarevich
People's Commissar of the Food Industry of the USSR (January-August 1938).

GINZBURG Semyon Zakharovich
Chairman of the Committee for Construction Affairs under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (March 1938 - May 1939).
People's Commissar for Construction of the USSR (June 1939 - January 1946).
People's Commissar for the Construction of Military and Naval Enterprises of the USSR (January 1946 - March 1947).
Minister of Construction Materials Industry of the USSR (March 1947 - May 1950).

DUKELSKY Semyon Semyonovich
Chairman of the Committee for Cinematography under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR with the rank of People's Commissar (March 1938 - June 1939).
People's Commissar of the USSR Marine Fleet (April 1939 - February 1942).

BELENKY Zakhar Moiseevich
acting chairman of the Commission of Soviet Control under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (May 1938 - April 1939).

ANCELOVICH Naum Markovich
People's Commissar of the Forestry Industry of the USSR (October 1938 - October 1940).

PEARL Polina Semyonovna (KARPOVSKAYA Pearl Semyonovna)
People's Commissar of the Fishing Industry of the USSR (January-November 1939).

VANNIKOV Boris Lvovich
People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR (January 1939 - June 1941).
People's Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR (February 1942 - August 1945).
People's Commissar/Minister of Agricultural Engineering of the USSR (January-June 1946).
Head of the First Main Directorate under the Council of People's Commissars/CM of the USSR (August 1945 - March 1953).

COUNTRYWOMAN (ZALKIND) Rosalia Samoilovna
Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (May 1939 - August 1943).
Chairman of the Commission of Soviet Control under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (May 1939 - September 1940).

MEHLIS Lev Zakharovich
Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (September 1940 - May 1944).
People's Commissar/Minister of State Control of the USSR (September 1940 - June 1941, March 1946 - October 1950).

ZALTSMAN Isaac Moiseevich
People's Commissar of the Tank Industry of the USSR (July 1942 - June 1943).

RAISER David Yakovlevich (Usherovich)
Minister of Construction of Heavy Industry Enterprises (May 1950 - March 1953).
Minister of Construction of Metallurgical and Chemical Industry Enterprises of the USSR (April 1954 - May 1957).

DYMSHITTS Veniamin Emmanuilovich
Head of the Capital Construction Department of the USSR State Planning Committee - Minister of the USSR (June 1959 - April 1962).
First Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee - Minister of the USSR (April - July 1962).
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (July 1962 - December 1985).
Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR (July - November 1962).
Chairman of the National Economy Council of the USSR (November 1962 - October 1965).
Chairman of the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Material and Technical Supply (October 1965 - June 1976).

VOLODARSKY Lev Markovich (GOLDSTEIN Leiba Mordkovich)
Head of the Central Statistical Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Central Statistical Directorate of the USSR (August 1975 - December 1985).

KOTLYAR Nikolay Isaakovich
Minister of Fisheries of the USSR (January 1987 - November 1991).

RAEVSKY Vladimir Abramovich
Acting Minister of Finance of the USSR (November 1991 - March 1992).

Other authors (both yes and no), when listing Jews in the Soviet government, often include among them representatives of other peoples, mostly, funny as it may seem, Russians. The reasons for this are not clear to me personally - in most cases the origin can be established quite easily from reference literature and there is absolutely no need, in this situation, to voluntarily get into a puddle. But this phenomenon exists. I met the following “false Jews” from the People’s Commissars:

Efim Slavsky (born into a Ukrainian peasant family);
Rodion Malinovsky (his origins are very murky: the son of a Ukrainian cook, his father is unknown - they assume that he is from the Karaites, but these are not Jews, although they are Jews; the marshal’s daughter claims that her grandfather is a “Russian prince”);
Isidor Lyubimov (both Vaksberg and Solzhenitsyn list him as a Jew, although he was born a Bolshevik in the family of a Kostroma peasant. Apparently, the name is confusing);
Pavel Yudin (son of a Tula worker. The surname seems to be confusing here);
Ivan Teodorovich (from a Polish noble family);
Abrahamy Zavenyagin (some called Abram, although he is exactly Abrahamy; the son of a railway station driver in the Tula region);
Mikhail Frinovsky (from the family of a Penza teacher);
Vasily Rulev-Schmidt (from a poor family - father a peasant, mother a German cook);
Nikolai Krestinsky (“Molotov” touchingly notes: “...apparently, the former Jew, it seems, was baptized, that’s why Krestinsky. But maybe I’m mistaken. Master, such a gentleman.” I could have experimented and found out that the master is from noble family);
Georgy "Lomov" Oppokov (also from the nobility).

Rumors persistently circulate about Andropov’s Jewish origin - it’s truly amazing! However, while there is no direct reliable information, we will trust the official biography. In a similar way, Filipp Goloshchekin was included in the list, rather due to inertia - there is no documentary evidence of his “real name” and Jewish origin. But this one, since no one is arguing, let it be for now.

Another question arises about Khrushchev’s Ministry of Agriculture, Mikhail Olshansky - here he is, he doesn’t really correspond to the stereotype of Jewish appearance, and his surname is Belarusian in origin. It seems that no questions should arise, but the minister’s birthplace, Sarny, was at the beginning of the twentieth century. So in this case, the grandmother said two things in the literal sense. If anyone has confirmation or refutation of this guess, I would be very grateful.

Perhaps it is still worth dispelling a well-known misconception - despite numerous statements by publicists of the “Black Hundred” trend, the Bolshevik “tribune” Volodarsky, who was killed in the spring of 1918 in Petrograd, was never a member of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR (although he is credited with the fictitious post of “People’s Commissar for Press, Propaganda and Agitation” "). The fact is that after the Bolsheviks came to power, local councils began to form their own councils of people’s commissars, following the example of the center. And so Volodarsky was a member of the board of commissioners of the Union of Communes of the Northern Regions - there he was the commissioner for press, propaganda and agitation. That is, he is a regional “minister”, nothing more.

However, you will still find the surname “Volodarsky” in the list presented - just not at the beginning, but quite at the end. And for good reason: the statistician is the younger brother of the St. Petersburg “newspaper dictator.” This is how it happens in life :o)

This was the situation in the Council of Deputies with people's commissars and ministers of Jewish nationality. As you can see, nothing is really out of the ordinary, everything is quite decent. Much more decent than in sovereign and then independent Russia, where for 21 years only 12 people from this people were members of the highest executive body. So we need to take a closer look at the national policy of the current government! ;O)

ZY Of course, the representation of Jews at the government level is not limited to the named persons - there were people’s commissars “from them” in the Union republics, but this already requires a separate special immersion. The topic of Jewish leaders of the sectoral headquarters of other giant People's Commissariats also requires a separate special dive - these departments for the most part by the end of the 30s, during the Stalinist inflation of staff, took shape as independent People's Commissariats. The list of residents of the “Government House” shows that at this level the representation of Jews was much wider - approximately like with the “authorities”, the list of heads of local branches of which in the 20-30s speaks, in general, for itself. But, again, you need to study separately.

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

Emergence

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

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

Functions

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

Peculiarities

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

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

Compound

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

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

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

Changes

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

Council of People's Commissars (1917-1937) and its functional activities.

The history of Soviet public administration dates back to the Second Congress of Soviets. It gathered at a turning point, when Petrograd was in the hands of the rebel workers and peasants, and the Winter Palace, where the bourgeois Provisional Government met, had not yet been taken by the rebels. The creation of a new system of public administration began with the development and proclamation of certain political postulates. In this sense, the first “managerial” document of the new emerging government should be recognized as the appeal of the Second Congress of Soviets “To workers, soldiers, peasants!”, adopted at the first meeting of the congress on October 25, 1917. This document proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power, i.e. formation of the Soviet state. Here the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the new state were formulated:

the establishment of peace, the free transfer of land to the peasantry, the introduction of workers' control over production, the democratization of the army, etc. The next day, October 26, these programmatic theses were concretized and embodied in the first decrees of the Soviet government - “On Peace” and “On Land”. Another decree established the first Soviet government. The resolution of the congress stated: “To form, to govern the country until the convening of the Constituent Assembly, a temporary workers’ and peasants’ government, which will be called the Council of People’s Commissars. The management of individual branches of state life is entrusted to commissions, the composition of which must ensure the implementation of the program proclaimed by the congress.” The decree established the following people's commissariats: agriculture, labor, military and maritime affairs, trade and industry, public education, finance, foreign affairs, justice, food affairs, post and telegraph affairs, nationalities and railway affairs. Control over the activities of the people's commissars and the right to remove them belonged to the Congress of Soviets and its Central Executive Committee.

Soviet statehood was born under the strong influence of democratic sentiments that reigned in society. At the same II Congress of Soviets V.I. Lenin argued that the Bolsheviks were striving to build a state in which “the government would always be under the control of the public opinion of its country... In our opinion,” he said, “the state is strong in the consciousness of the masses. It is strong when the masses know everything, can judge everything and do everything consciously.” Such widespread democracy was supposed to be achieved by involving the masses in governing the state.

Is it natural for the emergence of a new government in Russia and the creation of a new management system? In the literature one can find a point of view about the illegality of the decisions of the Second Congress of Soviets due to its lack of representativeness. Indeed, representation at the congress was not national, but class-based: it was a congress of workers' and soldiers' deputies. The Peasant Congress of Soviets met separately, and the unification of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies took place only in January 1918. Nevertheless, such global changes in the life of the country could not happen without reason. The Second Congress of Soviets was, undoubtedly, the organ of the insurgent people, the organ of the revolutionary masses, representing practically the entire country and all more or less significant national regions. The congress expressed the will of the most organized and socially active part of society, which wanted changes for a better life and actively sought them. Although the congress was All-Russian, it was not and could not be nationwide.

The Soviet system of government was born in a multi-party system. According to researchers, there were about 300 political parties in Russia, which can be divided into regional, national and all-Russian. There were about 60 of the latter. The composition of the Second Congress of Soviets in terms of party affiliation was, as is known, mainly Bolshevik. But other socialist and liberal parties were also represented there. The Bolsheviks' positions were further strengthened when representatives of the right Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bundists left the congress. They demanded that the forum be suspended because, in their opinion, Lenin’s supporters had usurped power. More than 400 local Soviets from the largest industrial and political centers of the country were represented at the congress.

The congress formed the supreme and central authorities. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was declared the supreme body. He could resolve any issues of state power and administration. The Congress created the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), which performed the functions of supreme power between Congresses of Soviets. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee was created on the basis of proportional representation from all party factions of the congress. Of the 101 members of the first composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, 62 were Bolsheviks, 29 were left Socialist Revolutionaries, 6 were Menshevik internationalists, 3 were Ukrainian socialists and 1 Socialist Revolutionary maximalist. Bolshevik L.B. was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Kamenev. The central authority was the government formed by the decision of the Second Congress of Soviets - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom, SNK). It was also headed by the Bolshevik V.I. Lenin. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries and Menshevik Internationalists received an offer to join the government, but they refused. A distinctive feature of the new authorities and management was the combination of legislative and executive functions. Not only the resolutions of the Congress of Soviets and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, but also the decrees of the Council of People's Commissars and even acts of individual people's commissariats had the force of law.

Thus, the Second Congress of Soviets proclaimed the creation of a new state and formed the bodies of power and administration. At the congress, the most general principles of the organization of Soviet statehood were formulated and the beginning of the creation of a new system of public administration was laid.

The Bolsheviks, having seized power, looked for ways to expand its social base. For these purposes, they negotiated with the leaders of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries on the conditions for their entry into the Council of People's Commissars. At the beginning of November 1917, at a plenary meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, a compromise resolution “On the terms of the agreement of socialist parties” was adopted. It emphasized that an agreement is possible only if the Second Congress of Soviets is recognized as “the only source of power” and the “program of the Soviet government, as expressed in the decrees on land and peace,” is recognized.

Negotiations between the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries ended in December 1917 with the creation of a coalition government. Along with the Bolsheviks, the Council of People's Commissars included seven representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party. They headed the People's Commissariats of Agriculture (A.L. Kolegaev), Posts and Telegraphs (P.P. Proshyan), Local Government (V.E. Trutovsky), Property (V.A. Karelin) and Justice (I.Z. Steinberg) . In addition, V.A. Aglasov and A.I. Diamonds became people's commissars without a portfolio (with a casting vote). The first was a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the second - the People's Commissariat of Finance. The Left Social Revolutionaries, occupying important positions in the cabinet, like the Bolsheviks, were responsible for the key areas of government activity in the conditions of the revolution. This made it possible to expand the social basis of management processes and thereby strengthen state power. The alliance with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries left a noticeable mark on the management practice of the first months of Soviet power. Representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries were included not only in the central governing bodies, but also in the governments of national republics, the revolutionary committees of the bodies fighting counter-revolution, and the leadership of army units. With their direct participation, the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People” was developed and adopted by the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which proclaimed Russia a Republic of Soviets. Together with the Bolsheviks, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries unanimously voted in the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.

The bloc with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries allowed the Bolsheviks to solve the most important political and managerial task - to unite the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies with the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies. The unification took place at the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. At the congress, a new composition of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was elected, which included 160 Bolsheviks and 125 left Socialist Revolutionaries.

However, the alliance with the Left Social Revolutionaries was short-lived. On March 18, 1918, not recognizing the ratification of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries left the government

The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (Sovnarkom of the RSFSR, SNK of the RSFSR) is the name of the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from the October Revolution of 1917 to 1946. The SNK included people's commissars who led the people's commissariats (People's Commissariats, NK). Similar Councils of People's Commissars were created in other Soviet republics; During the formation of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was also created at the union level.

general information

The Council of People's Commissars (SNK) was formed in accordance with the "Decree on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars", adopted by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies on October 27, 1917.

Immediately before the seizure of power on the day of the revolution, the Bolshevik Central Committee instructed Kamenev and Winter (Berzin) to enter into political contact with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and begin negotiations with them on the composition of the government. During the Second Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks invited the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to join the government, but they refused. The factions of the right Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks left the Second Congress of Soviets at the very beginning of its work - before the formation of the government. The Bolsheviks were forced to form a one-party government.

The name "Council of People's Commissars" was proposed by Trotsky:

Power in St. Petersburg has been won. We need to form a government.

What should I call it? - Lenin reasoned out loud. Just not ministers: this is a vile, worn-out name.

It could be commissioners, I suggested, but now there are too many commissioners. Perhaps high commissioners? No, “supreme” sounds bad. Is it possible to say “folk”?

People's Commissars? Well, that'll probably do. What about the government as a whole?

Council of People's Commissars?

The Council of People's Commissars, Lenin picked up, is excellent: it smells terrible of revolution.

The Council of People's Commissars lost the character of a temporary governing body after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, which was legally enshrined in the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918. The body of general administration of the affairs of the RSFSR - which in the Constitution of the RSFSR was called the "Council of People's Commissars" or the "Workers' and Peasants' Government" - was the highest executive and administrative body of the RSFSR, having full executive and administrative power, the right to issue decrees having the force of law, while combining legislative, administrative and executive functions.

Issues considered by the Council of People's Commissars were decided by a simple majority of votes. The meetings were attended by members of the Government, the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the manager and secretaries of the Council of People's Commissars, and representatives of departments.

The permanent working body of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was the administration, which prepared issues for meetings of the Council of People's Commissars and its standing commissions, and received delegations. The administrative staff in 1921 consisted of 135 people. (according to data from the Central State Archive of the Russian Federation of the USSR, f. 130, op. 25, d. 2, pp. 19 - 20.)

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR dated March 23, 1946, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was transformed into the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.

[edit]Legislative framework of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR

According to the Constitution of the RSFSR of July 10, 1918, the activities of the Council of People's Commissars are:

management of general affairs of the RSFSR, management of individual branches of management (Articles 35, 37)

issuing legislative acts and taking measures “necessary for the correct and rapid flow of public life.” (v.38)

The People's Commissar has the right to individually make decisions on all issues within the jurisdiction of the commissariat, bringing them to the attention of the collegium (Article 45).

All adopted resolutions and decisions of the Council of People's Commissars are reported to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (Article 39), which has the right to suspend and cancel a resolution or decision of the Council of People's Commissars (Article 40).

17 people's commissariats are being created (in the Constitution this figure is indicated erroneously, since in the list presented in Article 43 there are 18 of them)..

on foreign affairs;

on military affairs;

on maritime affairs;

for internal affairs;

social security;

education;

Posts and telegraphs;

on nationalities affairs;

for financial matters;

communication routes;

agriculture;

trade and industry;

food;

State control;

Supreme Council of the National Economy;

healthcare.

Under each people's commissar and under his chairmanship, a collegium is formed, the members of which are approved by the Council of People's Commissars (Article 44).

With the formation of the USSR in December 1922 and the creation of an all-Union government, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR became the executive and administrative body of state power of the Russian Federation. The organization, composition, competence and order of activity of the Council of People's Commissars were determined by the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 and the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925.

From this moment on, the composition of the Council of People's Commissars was changed in connection with the transfer of a number of powers to the Union departments. 11 people's commissariats were established:

domestic trade;

finance

internal affairs

enlightenment

health

agriculture

social security

The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR now included, with the right of a decisive or advisory vote, representatives of the USSR People's Commissariats under the Government of the RSFSR. The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR allocated, in turn, a permanent representative to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. (according to information from the SU, 1924, N 70, art. 691.) Since February 22, 1924, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR have a single Administration. (based on materials from the USSR Central State Archive of Ordinance, f. 130, op. 25, d. 5, l. 8.)

With the introduction of the Constitution of the RSFSR on January 21, 1937, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was accountable only to the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, and in the period between its sessions - to the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.

Since October 5, 1937, the composition of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR has included 13 people's commissariats (data from the Central State Administration of the RSFSR, f. 259, op. 1, d. 27, l. 204.):

Food Industry

light industry

forestry industry

agriculture

grain state farms

livestock farms

finance

domestic trade

health

enlightenment

local industry

utilities

social security

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

All rulers of Russia Mikhail Ivanovich Vostryshev

CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN (1870–1924)

CHAIRMAN

COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS

VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN

Volodya Ulyanov was born on April 10/22, 1870 in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) in the family of a public school inspector.

Volodya's paternal grandfather Nikolai Vasilyevich Ulyanov, the son of a serf (there is no information about his nationality, presumably Russian or Chuvash), married late to the daughter of a baptized Kalmyk, Anna Alekseevna Smirnova. Son Ilya was born when his mother was 43 years old, and his father was over 60 years old. Soon Nikolai Vasilyevich died, Ilya was raised and trained by his elder brother Vasily, a clerk in the Astrakhan company “Brothers Sapozhnikov”.

Lenin's maternal grandfather Alexander Dmitrievich - Srul (Israel) Moishevich - Blank - a baptized Jew, a doctor, whose considerable fortune increased significantly after his marriage to the German Anna Grigorievna Grosskopf (the Grosskopf family also had Swedish roots). Lenin's early orphaned mother, Maria Alexandrovna, like her four sisters, was raised by her maternal aunt, who taught her nieces music and foreign languages.

In the Ulyanov family, through the efforts of Maria Alexandrovna, a special reverence for German order and accuracy was maintained. The children spoke foreign languages ​​(Lenin was fluent in German, read and spoke French, but knew English less well).

Volodya was a lively, lively and cheerful boy, he loved noisy games. He didn't play with toys so much as break them. At the age of five he learned to read, then he was prepared by the parish teacher of Simbirsk for the gymnasium, where he entered first grade in 1879.

“When he was still a child, he was taken to one of the best Russian ophthalmologists, who was then making waves throughout the Volga region, Kazan professor Adamyuk (senior),” recalled doctor M.I. Averbakh. – Without obviously having the opportunity to accurately examine the boy and seeing objectively at the bottom of his left eye some changes, mainly of a congenital nature (congenital optic fissure and posterior cone), Professor Adamyuk mistook this eye for poor vision from birth (the so-called congenital amblyopia). Indeed, this eye saw very poorly into the distance. The child's mother was told that the left eye was no good from birth and that such grief could not be helped. Thus, Vladimir Ilyich lived his whole life with the thought that he could not see anything with his left eye and existed only with his right one.”

Volodya Ulyanov was the first student at the gymnasium, which he entered in 1879. The director of the gymnasium, F.M. Kerensky, the father of the head of the 1917 Provisional Government, Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky, highly appreciated the abilities of Vladimir Ulyanov. The gymnasium gave Lenin a solid foundation of knowledge. The exact sciences were not of interest to him, but history, and later philosophy, Marxism, political economy, and statistics became the disciplines on which he read mountains of books and wrote dozens of volumes of essays.

His older brother A.I. Ulyanov was executed in 1887 for his participation in the assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander III. In 1887, Vladimir Ulyanov entered the law faculty of Kazan University; in December he was expelled from the university and expelled from the city for participating in the student movement. He was exiled to his mother's estate Kokushkino, where he read a lot, especially political literature.

In 1891, he passed the exams as an external student for the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, after which he served as an assistant attorney in Samara. But Vladimir Ilyich did not prove himself as a lawyer and already in 1893, leaving jurisprudence, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he joined the Marxist student circle of the Technological Institute.

In 1894, one of Lenin’s first works appeared, “What are “friends of the people” and how do they fight against the Social Democrats,” which argued that the path to socialism lies through the workers’ movement led by the proletariat. In April–May 1895, Lenin’s first meetings took place abroad with members of the “Emancipation of Labor” group, including G.V. Plekhanov.

In 1895, Vladimir Ilyich participated in the creation of the St. Petersburg “Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class”, then was arrested. In 1897, he was exiled for three years to the village of Shushenskoye, Yenisei province.

The conditions of exile in Shushenskoye were quite acceptable. Favorable climate, hunting, fishing, simple food - all this strengthened Lenin's health. In July 1898, he married N.K. Krupskaya, also exiled to Siberia. She was the daughter of an officer, a student of the Bestuzhev courses, who at one time corresponded with L.N. Tolstoy. Krupskaya became Lenin's assistant and like-minded person for the rest of his life.

In 1900, Lenin went abroad, where he stayed until 1917, with a break in 1905–1907. Together with Georgy Valentinovich Plekhanov and others, he began publishing the newspaper Iskra. At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, Lenin led the Bolshevik Party. Since 1905 in St. Petersburg, since December 1907 - again in exile.

At the end of August 1914, Lenin moved from Austria-Hungary to neutral Switzerland, where he put forward the slogan of defeating the Russian government and turning the imperialist war into a civil war. Lenin's position led him to isolation even in the social democratic environment. The leader of the Bolsheviks, apparently, did not consider the possible occupation of Russia by Germany as an evil.

In April 1917, having arrived in Petrograd, Lenin set out a course for the victory of the socialist revolution. After the July crisis of 1917, he was in an illegal position. He headed the leadership of the October Uprising in Petrograd.

At the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Vladimir Ilyich was elected chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense (since 1919 - STO). Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) and the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the USSR. From March 1918 he lived in Moscow. Played a decisive role in the conclusion of the Brest Peace. On August 30, 1918, he was seriously wounded during an attempt on his life.

In 1918, Lenin approved the creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, which widely and uncontrollably used methods of violence and repression. He also introduced war communism in the country - on November 21, 1918, he signed the decree of the Council of People's Commissars “On organizing the supply of the population with all products and items for personal consumption and household use.” Trade was prohibited, commodity-money relations were replaced by natural exchange, and surplus appropriation was introduced. Cities began to die out. However, Lenin's next step was the nationalization of industry. As a result of this grandiose experiment, industrial production in Russia virtually ceased.

In 1921, an unprecedented famine broke out in the Volga region. It was decided to partially resolve this problem by looting Orthodox churches, which, naturally, the parishioners resisted. Lenin took advantage of this to deal a decisive blow to the Russian Orthodox Church. On March 19, he wrote a secret letter to members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) about using resistance on the part of believers to the forcible confiscation of church valuables as a reason for mass executions of clergy, which was carried out.

The economic situation in the country was rapidly deteriorating. At the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, Lenin put forward a program of “new economic policy.” He understood that with the introduction of NEP, the “right” elements in the party would be revived, and at the same 10th Congress he eliminated the residual elements of democracy in the RCP (b), prohibiting the creation of factions.

The NEP in the economic field immediately gave positive results, and the process of rapid restoration of the national economy began.

In 1922, Lenin became seriously ill (syphilis of the brain) and since December of that year did not participate in political activities.

Portrait of V.I. Lenin. Artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. 1934

On January 27, from 10 a.m., troops and delegations of workers and peasants walked along Moscow’s Red Square past the coffin with Lenin’s body installed on a special pedestal. One of the banners read: “Lenin’s grave is the cradle of freedom for all mankind.” At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the troops took up arms “on guard”; Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Molotov, Bukharin, Rudzutak, Tomsky and Dzerzhinsky lifted the coffin and carried it to the mausoleum...

Muscovite Nikita Okunev writes in his diary: “By the time he was lowered into the grave, an order was given for all of Russia at 4 o’clock in the afternoon to stop all traffic (railroad, horse, steamship), and in factories and factories to sound whistles or horns for five minutes (at movement was also terminated during the same period). Afterwards, in a series of different anecdotes written about this unprecedented funeral, there was this: when Lenin lived, he was applauded, and when he died, all of Russia whistled without a break for 5 minutes... In the future, monuments to Lenin will probably be erected not only in cities, but also in every village."

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in Smolny. Artist Isaac Brodsky. 1930