Renaming People's Commissariats into ministries. Council of People's Commissars of the USSR

After the transformation of the People's Commissariats of the USSR into ministries of the USSR and the renaming of the People's Commissars of the USSR into Ministers of the USSR. The official reason for this transformation was the introduction of names of government bodies generally accepted in international practice. At the same time, in order to promote Soviet ideology, the Soviet press emphasized the differences in the purpose and functions of ministries in capitalist society and the USSR:

In the Soviet Union, ministries<...>carry out the tasks and functions of a new, higher type of state - a state of the dictatorship of the working class.<...>Ministries are active implementers of the policies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which constitutes the vital basis of the Soviet system.<...>Ministries in bourgeois states form an inseparable part of the bureaucratic apparatus of the exploiting state. Bourgeois ministries do not manage the economy. Their main task is to ensure the protection of the interests of capitalists and landowners and their property. The modern bourgeois state apparatus, including ministries, is the main instrument of the ruling cliques of monopoly capital to suppress the working masses. The composition of bourgeois ministries and their tasks clearly reflect the class essence and functions of the exploitative state. The Ministries of Military and Foreign Affairs carry out the expansionist and aggressive foreign policy of the bourgeoisie.

The ministries of the USSR inherited from the People's Commissariats a division into two types. All-Union ministries The USSR led subordinate enterprises and organizations through its representatives and their apparatus in the union republics. Union-Republican ministries interacted with the republican ministries of the same name, which are part of the republican governments.

Governing bodies

Composition of ministries in the USSR Government

The heads of ministries (USSR ministers) were always part of the Council of Ministers, but the number of ministries and their names changed throughout the entire period of the Soviet government.

A particularly rapid reorganization of the entire system of management of the national economy of the USSR occurred during the economic reform of 1957. All industrial ministries were abolished; management of enterprises and organizations was transferred to national economic councils formed in economic administrative regions. At the end of 1963, the Council of Ministers of the USSR included only three all-Union ministries (foreign trade, maritime and communications) and 8 union-republican ones (higher and secondary specialized education, health care, foreign affairs, culture, defense, communications, agriculture and finance).

After the reform was curtailed in 1965, economic councils at all levels were abolished, and almost all sectors of the country's national economy were returned under the control of ministries.

see also

Other central government bodies of the USSR
  • People's Commissariat of the USSR

Literature

  • Ministries in the USSR. M.: Gosyurizdat, 1960
  • Legal status of the ministries of the USSR: under. ed. Yu.M. Kozlova. M.: Legal literature, 1971
  • Pronina, B.C. Central bodies of management of the national economy. M.: Legal literature, 1971
  • Davitnidze, I.L. Boards of ministries (legal status and organization of work). M.: Legal literature, 1972
  • Nikolaeva, M.N. Regulatory acts of ministries and departments of the USSR. M.: Legal literature, 1975
  • Sukharkova A.I. Types of departments of the USSR // Management and law. - M.: Publishing house Mosk. University, 1977, Issue. 3. - pp. 268-278
  • General Regulations on the Ministries of the USSR: approved. Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated July 10, 1967 No. 640 (as amended and additionally introduced by Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers dated September 2, 1982 N 816 - SP USSR, 1982, N 25, Art. 130)
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Notes


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State governing body. It was intended to distribute control of individual industries between people's commissars (now ministers) and other government officials.

History of education

Initially, the People's Commissariats were created in 1917 at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. All newly created organizations were part of the Soviet government, which at that time was headed by V.I. Lenin.

In 1918, the Constitution of the RSFSR enshrined the system of People's Commissariats, which also explained what a "People's Commissariat" was, the definition of the abbreviation, goals, functionality, etc. Then there were 18 People's Commissariats in all sectors of the state.

Already in 1922, many changes were made to this system. The number of commissariats was reduced to ten, but they covered the entire Soviet Union completely. Half of them became all-Union, and the other half - united. In 1923, the Regulations on the People's Commissariats were published, which spelled out points regarding the order of interaction between the people's commissariats of all union republics. The People's Commissariat, the definition of which implied complete management of its industry, was now vested with the authority to issue resolutions, orders and instructions.

In 1936, the next changes in the constitutional system affected the People's Commissariat - this was the transformation of the joint commissariats into union-republican ones. Thus, ten union-republican and eight all-union commissariats were formed. The developing national economy in the next ten years subjected the People's Commissariats to another reshuffle. And in 1946, a new law changed the name of the commissariats, now the People's Commissariat is a ministry.

Commissariats structure

The People's Commissariat was the main body in the state administration of each individual sphere of life of the USSR. The head of the commissariat was the people's commissar. All commissars of the various people's commissariats were additionally united into the Council of People's Commissars.

Each union republic had its own people's commissariats and councils of people's commissars.

Each people's commissariat consisted of departments:

Business management;

Employee training;

On the legislative side;

For financial matters;

On encryption of secret information;

On the management of educational institutions;

For legal issues.

The staff number reached 150-170 people in each People's Commissariat.

Directions

The decree of 1917 determined the following areas of work of the People's Commissariats:

Internal Affairs (or NKVD);

Agriculture;

Labor education;

Military and naval affairs;

Education;

Finance;

Relations with foreign countries;

Advocacy;

Food;

Post and telegraph;

Railway affairs.

In 1932, they were joined by 3 more commissariats: heavy, light and forestry industries.

Salaries of People's Commissars

The People's Commissariat is part of the state management system, therefore, the salaries of the management staff should have been high by modern standards. However, at that time things were different: in November 1917, Lenin signed a decree on remuneration for the work of people's commissars and other government employees.

According to this decree, each People's Commissar received 500 rubles monthly. If his family included disabled citizens (children, pensioners or disabled people), then for each such person the People's Commissar was also paid an additional 100 rubles monthly. By all estimates, the income of the People's Commissar's family was equal to the income of the average worker.

The People's Commissariat is the definition of the “progenitors” of currently existing and functioning ministries, the structure and work of which has been preserved for a century and has undergone only minor changes.

It was first elected at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8 (October 26, old style) 1917, chaired by Vladimir Lenin, as a provisional workers' and peasants' government (until the convening of the Constituent Assembly). The management of individual branches of state life was carried out by commissions. Government power belonged to the board of chairmen of these commissions, that is, the Council of People's Commissars. Control over the activities of the people's commissars and the right to remove them belonged to the All-Russian Congress of Councils of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and its Central Executive Committee (CEC).

After the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets on January 31 (January 18, old style) 1918 decided to abolish the word “temporary” in the name of the Soviet government, calling it the “Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of the Russian Soviet Republic.”

According to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, adopted by the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on July 10, 1918, the government was called the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

In connection with the formation of the USSR in December 1922, a union government was created - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, chaired by Vladimir Lenin (first approved at the second session of the USSR Central Executive Committee in July 1923).

In accordance with the Constitution of the USSR of 1924, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was the executive and administrative body of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, formed by a resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR for the term of office of the Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars of the union and autonomous republics - the Central Executive Committee of the corresponding republics. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was supposed to regularly report on the work done at the Congresses of Soviets of the USSR and sessions of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

The competence of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR included the organization of direct management of the national economy and all other sectors of state life. This leadership was carried out through central sectoral bodies - non-unified (union) and united (union-republican) People's Commissariats of the USSR. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR supervised the activities of the People's Commissariats, reviewed their reports, and resolved disagreements between individual departments. He approved concession agreements, resolved disputes between the Councils of People's Commissars of the Union republics, considered protests and complaints against the decisions of the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR and other institutions under it, against the orders of the People's Commissars, approved the staff of all-Union institutions, and appointed their leaders.

The responsibility of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR included the adoption of measures to implement the national economic plan and the state budget and to strengthen the monetary system, to ensure public order, to carry out general management in the field of external relations with foreign states, etc.

Legislative work was also entrusted to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR: it preliminary considered draft decrees and resolutions, which were then submitted for approval by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and its presidium; from the beginning of the 1930s, all bills had to be previously submitted for consideration to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, although this was not provided for by the constitution .

The Constitution of 1936 added to the definition of the place of government in the state mechanism. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was defined as "the highest executive and administrative body of state power." The word "supreme" was absent from the 1924 Constitution.
According to the Constitution of the USSR of 1936, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the union and autonomous republics were formed, respectively, by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Supreme Councils of the union and autonomous republics.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was formally responsible to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (SC) and accountable to it, and in the period between sessions of the Supreme Council it was responsible to the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council, to which it was accountable. The Council of People's Commissars could issue decrees and orders binding on the entire territory of the USSR on the basis and in pursuance of existing laws and verify their implementation.

Orders, as state acts, began to be issued by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in 1941.

To successfully implement the functions assigned to it, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR could create committees, directorates, commissions and other institutions.

Subsequently, a large network of special departments emerged in various branches of public administration, operating under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

The chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR were Vladimir Lenin (1923-1924), Alexei Rykov (1924-1930), Vyacheslav Molotov (1930-1941), Joseph Stalin (1941-1946).

In the post-war period, in order to introduce names generally accepted in international state practice, by the law of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 15, 1946, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the People's Commissariats into ministries.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Firstly, in 1946 the Council of People's Commissars was renamed the Council of Ministers.

The official explanation is because the name of the organ no longer reflects the essence of its work. In general, they didn’t explain it at all.

Another official one - since in the first years of Soviet power, commissars were not only central workers, but also some local figures. To avoid any confusion. To divide the departments, they came to the traditional understanding - not a people's commissar, but a minister, not a Council of People's Commissars, but a Council of Ministers.

There is another explanation, unofficial. During the creation of the 1936 Constitution, it was said that this was a normal parliamentary model, which is characteristic of any state, with its own parliament and government, in which ministers traditionally work. That is, there is a rejection of revolutionary phraseology.

Now the Council of People's Commissars has lost its revolutionary flavor, and we call it in the old regime way - the Council of Ministers.

It’s not very clear; on the one hand, this is disaggregation and, at the same time, strengthening of ministries. In 1940, when the articles of the Constitution concerning the list of people's commissariats were last changed, the number of all-Union people's commissariats was about 24 people's commissariats, in 1947 - 36 ministries. For example, the People's Commissariat of the Oil Industry was divided - the People's Commissariat of the Oil Industry of the eastern regions and the People's Commissariat of the Oil Industry of the western regions. The same thing with the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry (eastern regions + southern and western regions).

On the other hand, some people's commissariats are being abolished. Even before the transformation of the People's Commissariats into ministries in 1946:

§ The People's Commissariat of the Navy is abolished.

§ The People's Commissariat of Defense is renamed the People's Commissariat of the Armed Forces. From that moment on, he exists like this. Unites the leadership of the fleet and ground forces.

The latest changes, which were prepared at the beginning of 1953, even before Stalin’s death, and which were put into effect after his death in March 1953, indicate a reduction in central departments. When changes were made to the 1936 Constitution in March, we had only 12 all-Union ministries. That is, they reduced it by 3 times.

The process thus proceeded first towards disaggregation, towards increasing the number, and so the reverse process also proceeded. There are even fewer of them than in 1940.

Repurposing. After the war, many military people's commissariats were repurposed into peacetime ministries. The People's Commissariat of Mortar Weapons, the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry, the People's Commissariat of Ammunition - all these commissariats, that is, ministries, are being transformed into the Machine-Building People's Commissariat - Heavy Engineering, Transport Engineering, Agricultural Engineering.

Armed forces

Change of central control. The liquidation of two people's commissariats and the creation of one.

Demobilization. First - the older ages, then - further down the line. Let's say that students are the first line, and candidates of science are the second. Summon the first one first, then the next one. As for demobilization, the order is reversed: first, the second and third stages are demobilized, and then the first.

During demobilization, measures were taken to provide employment for demobilized soldiers. We are faced with a very big problem - crime in overcoats. If you don’t demobilize a former soldier or officer... People’s character has not changed, war cripples the psyche. If there’s a clap, it means they’re going to kill – it’s a reflex.

If you are used to getting what you need with a weapon in your hands...

Moreover, during the war they were provided with at least everything necessary, but now they need to be employed. And if they are not demobilized and employed, they will not forget their military habits. They can continue to fight.

If a demobilized person was disabled, unable to work, and there was no one to take care of him, even according to the law of 1943, he was subject to forced placement in a special sanatorium. The beggary of people in uniform and decorations does not make the city beautiful. If there is nothing to live on, the state takes care of them. The sanatoriums are not in the most prestigious areas, but these are sanatoriums, not camps. This is a marginal element. Place it somewhere where it will not engage in illegal activities.

In addition, feeding an extra person - a disabled war veteran - is a difficult task.

After the war, military tribunals do not stop working. After the war, many war criminals were convicted: those who were extradited to Soviet power from abroad. According to the verdict of the military tribunal, former Cossack atamans, Krasnov, for example, were executed.

Law enforcement

Transport tribunals have been repurposed. Before the war, specialized transport courts, which became tribunals during the war for expedited trials. After the war, such a need disappeared and military railway tribunals and military water transport tribunals again received the name linear transport courts.

Prosecutor's office

In 1947, the Prosecutor of the USSR began to be called the Prosecutor General of the USSR.

Ordinary people's courts

After the war, the first elections to the people's court were held. There was no time to implement this measure before the war. After the war this became possible. Elections for people's judges were a complex campaign:

Preparation of candidates for people's judges. Form a contingent that will be represented for the elections. There were problems here. Many law schools were closed during the war - the occupation, universities in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkov, etc. couldn't work. The number of lawyers is no more than 10,000 graduates per year throughout the USSR. There was no one to choose in this regard.

Therefore, many former front-line soldiers took accelerated courses and were presented as candidates for people's judges.

How long were you elected? According to the Constitution and the Principles of the Judicial System of 1938, they were elected for three years. Until 1936, they were elected only for a year. Three years – more responsibility and more opportunities. He is not a temporary worker, he sits quite firmly, he will have time to get into the swing of things.

Elections were held, judges were elected, and after the end of the Second World War re-elections were held regularly.


Related information.


The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was transformed into the Council of Ministers of the USSR by the law on the transformation of the union government of March 15, 1946. In accordance with the law, people's commissariats at all levels were transformed into corresponding ministries, and people's commissars became ministers. After the renaming, the powers and composition of the Soviet government of the USSR did not change.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR was empowered, in accordance with the 1977 Constitution, to resolve all issues of public administration. The activities of the Council of Ministers were regulated by the law “On the Council of Ministers of the USSR”. The sphere of competence of the Council of Ministers included, in particular: the development of state plans for the economic and social development of the USSR and the state budget, the adoption of measures to protect the interests of the state, the protection of socialist property and public order, and the implementation of general management of the construction of the Armed Forces.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR was abolished in 1990 in connection with the establishment of the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR under the President of the USSR. The activities of the Council of Ministers were associated with the longest period of economic growth in the history of the Soviet Union.