Government of the Soviet Union

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Council of Ministers of the USSR (Russian: Совет Министров СССР, tr.: Soviet Ministrov SSSR[1]; sometimes the abbreviation Sovmin was used) was the Soviet government—the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union.[2] Between 1922 and 1946 it was named Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Совет Народных Комиссаров СССР, tr.: Sovet Narodnykh Komissarov SSSR, often abbreviated to Sovnarkom or SNK). The Council of Ministers of the USSR was formed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the first session of each convocation, i.e. every four years.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Sovnarkom

For more details on this topic, see Council of the People's Commissars.

According to the 1918 Constitution of the RSFSR, the govermnent of the Russian SFSR was named Council of People's Commissars (informally abbreviated Sovnarkom); a government minister was named People's Commissar (narkom) and ministries were called People's Commissariat (narkomat). The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars had a function similar to that of a prime minister.

This convention was established during the events of the Revolution of 1917, when the Congress of Soviets introduced the first Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Republic and elected Vladimir Lenin whe first Chairman of the Sovnarkom.

Upon the creation of the USSR in 1922, the Union's government was modelled after the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR; the role of the All-Union Sovnarkom was fixed in the Constitution of the USSR.

[edit] Sovmin

See also: Ministries of the Soviet Union

In 1946, the All-Union Sovnarkom was renamed as the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Russian: Совет Министров СССР, tr.: Sovet Ministrov SSSR), and the People's Commissars and People's Commissariats became Ministers and ministries.

The Union Republics soon followed suit, renaming their local govermnents and ministers accordingly.

[edit] Seat

The building of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was situated inside the Moscow Kremlin, next to the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

[edit] Repression of the arts

Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, referred to the Soviet government as the most philistine organization on earth, whose censors "cannot permit the individual quest, the creative courage, the new, the original, the difficult, the strange, to exist."[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ukrainian: ukРада Міністрів СРСР; Belarusian: Савет Міністраў СССР; Kazakh: ССРО Министрлер Советі / Кеңесі; Lithuanian: TSRS Ministrų Taryba; Moldovan: Совет Миништрилор ал УРСС; Latvian: PSRS Ministru Padome; Kyrgyz: СССР Министрлер Совети; Estonian: NSVL Ministrite Nõukogu
  2. ^ a b Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, entry on "Совет Министров СССР", available online here
  3. ^ Vladimir Nabokov (1981) Lectures on Russian Literature, lecture on Russian Writers, Censors, and Readers, p.15

[edit] External links

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