The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive authorities of the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

(RSFSR), the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(USSR), and the Soviet republics from 1917 to 1946. The Sovnarkom of the RSFSR was founded in the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

soon after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in 1917 and its role was formalized in the 1918 Constitution of the RSFSR to be responsible to the Congress of Soviets of the RSFSR for the "general administration of the affairs of the state". Unlike its predecessor the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

which had representatives of various political parties, and except for the brief two-party cabinet with the

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Pro ...

from December 1917 to March 1918, the Sovnarkom was a government of a single party, the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. The Sovnarkom of the USSR and Congress of Soviets of the USSR founded in 1922 were modelled on the RSFSR system, and identical Sovnarkom bodies were founded in the Soviet republics and autonomous republics. The Sovnarkom evolved into the main executive of the

government of the Soviet Union The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, All-Union Supreme Soviet. It ...

with its head, the Premier of the USSR, serving as

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

. The Sovnarkom issued decrees having the force of law when the Congress was not in session, and if these decrees were not approved at the Congress's next session, they were considered revoked. The Sovnarkom was dissolved and transformed into the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

in 1946.

Original People's Commissars

The first council elected by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets in late 1917 was composed as follows. Many early

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...

s later opposed the party majority organized by Stalin and allegedly conspired with the

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

opposition or some other opposition group, which resulted in their expulsion from the party or being arrested. The party had banned factional opposition groups at the Eleventh Party Congress during 1921. Still, the original council included Left-Communists, Trotskyists and other ex-oppositionists. Most alleged conspirators were executed for treason during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, while some had sentences reduced to imprisonment.

All-Union Sovnarkom

Upon the creation of the USSR in 1922, the Soviet Union's government was modelled after the first Sovnarkom. The Soviet republics retained their own governments which dealt with domestic matters.

Sovmin

In 1946, the Sovnarkoms were transformed into the

(Sovmin) at both

all-Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Union Republic level.

Councils by administrative division

Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union The Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union was the highest collegial body of executive and administrative authority of the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1946. As the government of the Soviet Union, the Council of People's Commissars of ...

Soviet republics

Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the government of Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1946. It was established by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasant ...

Council of People's Commissars of the Lithuanian SSR The Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR () or Council of People's Commissars in 1940–46 () was the Cabinet (government), cabinet (executive branch) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. Its structure and functions ...

Council of People's Commissars (Latvia) The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Soviet republics from 1917 ...

* Council of People's Commissars (Estonia)

Autonomous republics

* Council of People's Commissars (Adjara) * Council of People's Commissars (

Volga German The Volga Germans (, ; ) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in th ...

) * Council of People's Commissars (Bashkorstan) * Council of People's Commissars (Buryat-Mongolia) * Council of People's Commissars (Mountainous) * Council of People's Commissars (Dagestan) * Council of People's Commissars (Kabardin-Balkaria), including Kabardin (1944–1957) * Council of People's Commissars (Cossack) * Council of People's Commissars (Kalmykia) * Council of People's Commissars (Karakalpakistan) * Council of People's Commissars (Komi) * Council of People's Commissars (Crimea) * Council of People's Commissars (Mari) * Council of People's Commissars (Mordva) * Council of People's Commissars (Nakhichevan) * Council of People's Commissars (North Osetia) * Council of People's Commissars (Tatarstan) * Council of People's Commissars (Tuva) * Council of People's Commissars (Udmurtia) * Council of People's Commissars (Chechnia-Ingushetia) * Council of People's Commissars (Chuvashia) * Council of People's Commissars (Yakutia) * Council of People's Commissars (Abkhazia), including as autonomous

Short-lived early soviet republics

* Council of People's Commissars (Donetsk-Krivoi Rog) * Council of People's Commissars (Odessa), initially as Rumcherod * Council of People's Commissars (Poland) * Council of People's Commissars (Galicia) * Council of People's Commissars (

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

) * Council of People's Secretaries (

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party m ...

)

References

External links

Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1917–1964
an

*
Lenin as Head of Government
', an English-language Soviet book on Lenin's activities as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars {{Authority control Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 1917 establishments in Russia 1946 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Government agencies established in 1917 Government agencies disestablished in 1946