Premier of the Soviet Union

The Premier of the Soviet Union (Russian: Глава Правительства СССР) was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The office had four different names throughout its existence: Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1923–1946), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1946–1991), Prime Minister (January – August 1991) and Chairman of the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy (August–December 1991). Long before 1991, most non-Soviet sources referred to the post as "Premier" or "Prime Minister."

Premier of the Soviet Union
Глава Правительства СССР
Coat of arms of the Soviet Union
Longest serving
Alexei Kosygin
15 October 1964 – 23 October 1980
StyleMr Premier
(informal)
His Excellency
(diplomatic)
TypeHead of government
Reports toSupreme Soviet
ResidenceKremlin Senate, Moscow
AppointerSupreme Soviet
Formation6 July 1923 (1923-07-06)
First holderVladimir Lenin
Final holderIvan Silayev
Abolished26 December 1991 (1991-12-26)
SuccessionPrime Minister of Russia
DeputyFirst Deputy Premier

Twelve individuals held the post. Of these, two died in office of natural causes (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin), three resigned – Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Ivan Silayev – and three were concurrently party leader and head of government (Lenin, Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev). By this account, Ivan Silayev spent the shortest time in office at 119 days. At more than 16 years, Kosygin spent the longest time in office.

History

Lenin's First Government was created on 6 July 1923 by the Central Executive Committee with Lenin as its first chairman. The government was empowered to initiate decrees and legislation that were binding throughout the USSR.[1] After the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, Kosygin was appointed head of government. However, Kosygin's prestige was weakened when he proposed the economic reform of 1965.[2] Upon Valentin Pavlov's ascension to the premiership, the Council of Ministers was abolished and replaced with the Cabinet of Ministers. After the August coup of 1991, the majority of the cabinet members endorsed the coup, leading the Cabinet of Ministers dissolving and being replaced by the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy in 1991. The government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic began seizing Soviet ministries in the aftermath of the coup, and by December 1991 the Soviet government had completely lost control of itself and shut down entirely.[3]

Under the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the head of government was the leader of the highest executive and administrative organ of state. The head of government was appointed by and accountable to the Supreme Soviet (and its Presidium).[4] The head of government was tasked with resolving all state administrative duties within the jurisdiction of the USSR to the degree which were not the responsibility of the Supreme Soviet or its Presidium. The head of government managed the national economy, formulated the five-year plans and ensured socio-cultural development.[5] It functioned as the most influential office of government until the establishment of the Office of the President of the Soviet Union in 1990.

List of officeholders
No.[lower-alpha 1] Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)		 Term Electorate Cabinets Ref.
Took office Left office Duration
1
Vladimir Lenin
(1870–1924)		6 July 192321 January 1924 †228 days–Lenin I–II[6]
2
Alexei Rykov
(1881–1938)		2 February 192419 December 19306 years, 320 days1924
1925
1927
1929		Rykov I–II–III–IV–V[7]
3
Vyacheslav Molotov
(1890–1986)		19 December 19306 May 194110 years, 138 days1931
1935
1936
1937		Molotov I–II–III–IV[8]
4
Joseph Stalin
(1878–1953)		6 May 19415 March 1953 †11 years, 303 days1946
1950		Stalin I–II–III[9]
5
Georgy Malenkov
(1902–1988)		6 March 19538 February 19551 year, 339 days1954Malenkov I–II[10]
6
Nikolai Bulganin
(1895–1975)		8 February 195527 March 19583 years, 47 days1958Bulganin[11]
7
Nikita Khrushchev
(1894–1971)		27 March 195815 October 19646 years, 202 days1962Khrushchev I–II[10]
8
Alexei Kosygin
(1904–1980)		15 October 196423 October 198016 years, 8 days1966
1970
1974
1979		Kosygin I–II–III–IV–V[12]
9
Nikolai Tikhonov
(1905–1997)		23 October 198027 September 19854 years, 339 days1984Tikhonov I–II[13]
10
Nikolai Ryzhkov
(born 1929)		27 September 198514 January 19915 years, 109 days1989Ryzhkov I–II[13]
11
Valentin Pavlov
(1937–2003)		14 January 199128 August 1991[lower-alpha 2]226 days–Pavlov[14]
12
Ivan Silayev
(born 1930)		28 August 199125 December 1991119 days–Silayev[15]

See also
Politics of the Soviet Union
 
Leadership
Communist Party
General Secretary
Legislature
  • Congress of Soviets
    (Central Executive Committee)
Supreme Soviet
  • Soviet of the Union
  • Soviet of Nationalities
  • Presidium
Congress of People's Deputies
Governance
Constitution
  • Official names
  • 1924
  • 1936
  • 1977
Government
  • Ministries
  • State Committees
  • Cabinets
Premiership
Judiciary
  • Law
  • Supreme Court
    • Military Collegium
  • People's Court
  • Procurator General
Ideology
Society
Economy
  • Agriculture
  • Consumer goods
  • Five-Year Plan
  • Kosygin reform
  • New Economic Policy
  • Science and technology
  • Era of Stagnation
  • Material balance planning
  • Transport
  • War communism
Culture
  • Demographics
  • Education
  • Family
  • Phraseology
  • Religion
Repression
 Soviet Union portal
  • Other countries

Notes
  1. These numbers are not official.
  2. On August 19, 1991, due to the illness of Valentin Pavlov, the duties of the head of the government of the USSR were assigned to First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Doguzhiyev.

References

Citations
  1. Центральный Исполнительный Комитет съезда Советов. Статья №38 от Декабрь 1977 «Суверенные права союзных республик». (Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets. Article #38 of December 1924 Sovereign Rights of the Member Republics. ).
  2. Brown 2009, p. 403.
  3. Ferdinand 1993, p. 133.
  4. Верховный Совет СССР. Федеральный конституционный закон №130 от 7 октября 1977 «Совета Министров СССР». (Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Article #130 of 7 October 1977 The Council of Ministers of the USSR. ).
  5. Верховный Совет СССР. Федеральный конституционный закон №131 от 7 октября 1977 «Совета Министров СССР». (Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Article #131 of 7 October 1977 The Council of Ministers of the USSR. ).
  6. Cull, Culbert & Welch 2003, p. 182.
  7. Phillips 2000, p. 82.
  8. Phillips 2000, p. 89.
  9. Totten & Bartrop 2008, p. 76.
  10. Duiker & Spielvogel 2006, p. 572.
  11. Trahair & Miller 2004, p. 69.
  12. Trahair & Miller 2004, p. 37.
  13. Ploss 2010, p. 219.
  14. Валентин Сергеевич Павлов [Valentin Sergeyevich Pavlov] (in Russian). RU: Hrono. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  15. Иван Степанович Силаев [Ivan Stepanovich Silayev] (in Russian). RU: Hrono. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

Sources
  • Brown, Archie (2009). The Rise & Fall of Communism. Bodley Head. ISBN 978-0061138799.
  • Bonnell, Victoria; Cooper, Ann (1994). Russia at the Barricades: Eyewitness Accounts of the August 1991 coup. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1563242717.
  • Coppa, Frank (2006). Encyclopedia of Modern Dictators: From Napoleon to the Present. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-0820450100.
  • Cull, Nicholas; Culbert, David; Welch, David (2003). Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576078204.
  • Duiker, William; Spielvogel, Jackson (2006). The Essential World History. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0495902270.
  • Dyker, David (1992). Restructuring the Soviet economy (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0415067614.
  • Fainsod, Merle; Hough, Jerry F. (1979). How the Soviet Union is Governed. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674410305.
  • Ferdinand, Maria Feldbrugge Joseph (1993). Russian Law: The End of the Soviet System and the Role of Law (1st ed.). Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0792323587.
  • Garcelon, Marc (2005). Revolutionary Passage: From Soviet to Post-Soviet Russia, 1985–2000. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1592133628.
  • Harris, Jonathan (2005). Subverting the System: Gorbachev's Reform of the Party's Apparat, 1986–1991. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742526792.
  • Kotz, David Michael; Weir, Fred (2007). Russia's Path from Gorbachev to Putin: The Demise of the Soviet System and the New Russia (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0415701471.
  • Phillips, Steven (2000). Lenin and the Russian Revolution. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-32719-4.
  • Ploss, Sidney (2010). The Roots of Perestroika: The Soviet Breakdown in Historical Context. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786444861.
  • Rappaport, Helen (1999). Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576070840.
  • Sebag-Montefiore, Simon (2005). Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-1400042302.
  • Service, Robert (2000). Lenin: A Biography. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674008281.
  • Service, Robert (2009). History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0674034938.
  • Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674016972.
  • Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A–L. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0313346422.
  • Trahair, Richard; Miller, Robert (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1929631759.
  • Young, Gregory; Braden, Nate (2005). The Last Sentry: The True Story That Inspired the Hunt for Red October. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1591149927.
  • Zemtsov, Ilya (1989). Chernenko, the Last Bolshevik: The Soviet Union on the eve of Perestroika. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0887382604.

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