Council of Ministers of the USSR

the government of the USSR and the highest executive and administrative body of state authority.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR is formed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at a joint session of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities and consists of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, first vice-chairmen and vice chairmen, ministers of the USSR, and chairmen of the state committees of the USSR. Its composition is defined in article 12g of the Constitution of the USSR. The chairmen of the councils of ministers of the Union republics are ex officio members of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR, on the recommendation of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, may include in the government of the USSR the heads of other bodies and organizations of the USSR. A Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, consisting of the chairman, the first vice-chairmen, and vice-chairmen, functions as a standing body of the Council of Ministers of the USSR to deal with questions relating to guidance of the economy and with other matters of state administration (article 132 of the Constitution of the USSR).

The Constitution of the USSR defines the role and tasks of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in carrying out the functions of the socialist state of the whole people. According to article 136 of the Constitution of the USSR, the competence of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and its Presidium, the procedure for their work, relationships between the Council of Ministers and other state bodies, and the list of all-Union and Union-republic ministries and state committees of the USSR are defined, on the basis of the constitution, in the Law on the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The law, approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 5, 1978, provides that the Council of Ministers of the USSR is empowered to deal with all matters of state administration within the jurisdiction of the USSR insofar as, under the Constitution of the USSR, they do not come within the competence of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR or the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The Council of Ministers of the USSR, on the basis of, and in pursuance of, the laws of the USSR and other decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and its Presidium, issues decisions and ordinances and verifies their execution. The decisions and ordinances of the Council of Ministers of the USSR are binding on all bodies, organizations, officials, and citizens throughout the USSR.

The Council of Ministers of the USSR ensures direction of the national economy, social and cultural development, and other spheres of state administration. It directs the work of the branches of administration of all-Union subordination and exercises general direction of the branches of administration of Union-republic subordination. It organizes the management of industrial, constructional, and agricultural enterprises and amalgamations, transport and communications undertakings, banks, scientific institutions, and other organizations and institutions of all-Union subordination. The Council of Ministers defines the procedure of creating, reorganizing, or abolishing state enterprises, associations, and other organizations and institutions. It also defines the tasks and functions, organizational structures, and activities of bodies of state administration and takes steps to improve the system of bodies of state administration and the style and methods of their work.

Sessions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR are convened at least once every three months, and sessions of its Presidium are held on a regular basis and whenever necessary. The decisions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR that have a normative character or are of great economic or general importance are issued in the form of ordinances, which are published in the collection of ordinances of the government of the USSR. If there is an immediate need to make the ordinances public, they are disseminated by mass media.

V. I. Ul’ianov (Lenin) was chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR from Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917, and chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR from July 6, 1923, until Jan. 21, 1924. A. I. Rykov was chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR from Feb. 2, 1924, to Dec. 19, 1930, V. M. Molotov from Dec. 19, 1930, to May 6, 1941, and J. V. Stalin from May 6,1941, to Mar. 15, 1946.

J. V. Stalin was chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from Mar. 19, 1946, to Mar. 5, 1953, G. M. Malenkov from Mar. 6, 1953, to Feb. 8, 1955, N. A. Bulganin from Feb. 8, 1955 to Mar. 27,1958, and N. S. Khrushchev from Mar. 27,1958 to Oct. 15, 1964. A. N. Kosygin has been chairman since Oct. 15, 1964.