List of governments of the Soviet Union explained

The Government of the Soviet Union (Russian: Правительство СССР, Pravitel'stvo SSSR), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly abbreviated to Soviet Government, was the main executive institution of government in the former Soviet Union. It was led by a chairman, but the office was commonly referred to as Premier of the Soviet Union. The premier was nominated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) at the 1st Plenary Session of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of national elections. Certain governments, such as Ryzhkov's II, had more than 100 other government members, serving as first deputy premiers, deputy premiers, government ministers or heads of state committees/commissions; they were chosen by the premier and confirmed by the Supreme Soviet. The Government of the Soviet Union exercised its executive powers in conformity with the constitution of the Soviet Union and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet. The first government was led by Vladimir Lenin, and the last government was led by Ivan Silayev.

Following the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR of 1922, the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic, Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The treaty established the government, which was later legitimised by the adoption of the first Soviet constitution in 1924. The 1924 constitution made the government responsible to the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union. In 1936, the state system was reformed with the enactment of a new constitution. It abolished the Congress of Soviets and established the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in its place. At the 1st Plenary Session of the II Supreme Soviet in 1946 the government was renamed Council of Ministers. Minor changes were introduced with the enactment of the 1977 constitution. The CPSU's 19th All-Union Conference voted in favor of amending the constitution. It allowed for multi-candidate elections, established the Congress of People's Deputies and weakened the party's control over the Supreme Soviet. Later on 20 March 1991 the Supreme Soviet on Mikhail Gorbachev's suggestion amended the constitution to establish a presidential system. The Council of Ministers was abolished and replaced by a Cabinet of Ministers that was responsible to the President of the Soviet Union. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers was the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union. The government was forced to resign in the aftermath of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, in which Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov participated in. In its place the Soviet state established what was supposed to be a transitory committee headed by Silayev to run the basic governmental functions until a new cabinet was appointed. On 26 December 1991 the Supreme Soviet dissolved the Soviet Union and therefore, the government of the Soviet Union.

Governments

Government	Premier	First Deputy Premier(s)	Took office	Left office	Legislature
Lenin I	Vladimir Lenin	None	6 July 1923	21 January 1924	Congress of Soviets I
Rykov I	Alexei Rykov	None	23 January 1924	2 February 1924	Congress of Soviets I
Rykov II		None	2 February 1924	20 May 1925	Congress of Soviets II
Rykov III		None	13 May 1925	18 April 1927	Congress of Soviets III
Rykov IV		None	18 April 1927	20 May 1929	Congress of Soviets IV
Rykov V		None	20 May 1929	19 December 1930	Congress of Soviets V
Molotov I	Vyacheslav Molotov	None	19 December 1930	8 March 1931	Congress of Soviets V
Molotov II		Valerian Kuybyshev	8 March 1931	28 January 1935	Congress of Soviets VI
Molotov III		None	28 January 1935	5 December 1936	Congress of Soviets VII
		None	5 December 1936	12 December 1938	Supreme Soviet I
Molotov IV		Nikolai Voznesensky	12 December 1937	6 May 1941
Stalin I	Joseph Stalin	Vyacheslav Molotov	6 May 1941	10 February 1946
		Nikolai Voznesensky
Stalin II		Vyacheslav Molotov	10 February 1946	12 March 1950	Supreme Soviet II
Stalin III		Vyacheslav Molotov	12 March 1950	5 March 1953	Supreme Soviet III
		Nikolai Bulganin
Malenkov I	Georgy Malenkov	Vyacheslav Molotov	6 March 1953	14 March 1954
		Nikolai Bulganin
		Lavrentiy Beria
		Lazar Kaganovich
Malenkov II		Vyacheslav Molotov	14 March 1954	8 February 1955	Supreme Soviet IV
		Nikolai Bulganin
		Lazar Kaganovich
Bulganin	Nikolai Bulganin	Vyacheslav Molotov	8 February 1955	27 March 1958
		Lazar Kaganovich
		Anastas Mikoyan
		Mikhail Pervukhin
		Maksim Saburov
		Joseph Kuzmin
Khrushchev I	Nikita Khrushchev	Anastas Mikoyan	27 March 1958	18 March 1962	Supreme Soviet V
		Frol Kozlov
		Alexei Kosygin
Khrushchev II		Anastas Mikoyan	18 March 1962	14 October 1964	Supreme Soviet VI
		Alexei Kosygin
		Dmitriy Ustinov
Kosygin I	Alexei Kosygin	Anastas Mikoyan	14 October 1964	12 June 1966
		Dmitriy Ustinov
		Kirill Mazurov
		Dmitry Polyansky
Kosygin II		Kirill Mazurov	12 June 1966	14 June 1970	Supreme Soviet VII
		Dmitry Polyansky
Kosygin III		Kirill Mazurov	14 June 1970	16 June 1974	Supreme Soviet VIII
		Dmitry Polyansky
Kosygin IV		Kirill Mazurov	16 June 1974	4 March 1979	Supreme Soviet IX
		Nikolai Tikhonov
Kosygin V		Nikolai Tikhonov	4 March 1979	23 October 1980	Supreme Soviet X
Tikhonov I	Nikolai Tikhonov	Ivan Arkhipov	23 October 1980	11 April 1984	Supreme Soviet X
		Heydar Aliyev
		Andrei Gromyko
Tikhonov II		Ivan Arkhipov	11 April 1984	27 September 1985	Supreme Soviet XI
		Heydar Aliyev
		Andrei Gromyko
Ryzhkov I	Nikolai Ryzhkov	Ivan Arkhipov	27 September 1985	17 July 1989
		Heydar Aliyev
		Nikolai Talyzin
		Vsevolod Murakhovsky
		Yuri Maslyukov
Ryzhkov II		Vsevolod Murakhovsky	17 July 1989	14 January 1991	Supreme Soviet XII-XIII
		Yuri Maslyukov
		Lev Voronin
		Vladilen Nikitin
Pavlov	Valentin Pavlov	Vladimir Velichko	14 January 1991	28 August 1991
		Vitaly Doguzhiev
Silayev	Ivan Silayev	None	28 August 1991	25 December 1991

Statistics

Government	Length of tenure	No. of first deputies	No. of deputies	No. of ministers	No. of ministries	No. of committees
Lenin I		—	5	19	12	1
Rykov I		—	4	18	11	1
Rykov II		—	4	20	11	1
Rykov III		—	5	24	11	1
Rykov IV		—	4	18	11	1
Rykov V		—	4	25	13	1
Molotov I		—	3	13	11	1
Molotov II		1	5	36	22	1
Molotov III		—	4
Molotov IV		1	10
Stalin I		2	15
Stalin II		1	15
Stalin III		2	14
Malenkov I		4	9
Malenkov II		3	6
Bulganin		6	9
Khrushchev I		3	8
Khrushchev II		3	9
Kosygin I		4	9
Kosygin II		2	9
Kosygin III		2	12
Kosygin IV		2	13
Kosygin V		1	13
Tikhonov I		3	17
Tikhonov II		3	11
Ryzhkov I		5	20	140	71	4
Ryzhkov II		4	17	56	37	2
Pavlov		2	3	46	36	1
Silayev		—	5	16	9	1

See also

• • • • Premier of the Soviet Union

External links

• Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1917–1964 and 1964–1991