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Premier of the Soviet Union

The Premier of the Soviet Union was the head of government. Most western countries use the term "Prime Minister". In the former Soviet Union the job had many names:

  1. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1917–1946)
  2. Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1946–1991)
  3. Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1991)
  4. Chairman of the Interstate Economic Committee of the USSR—Prime Minister of the Economic Community (1991)

List of Premiers

#
[note 1]		 Name
(birth–death) 		Tenure Electorate Cabinets
1 Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1922–1946)
Vladimir Lenin
(1870–1924)[1]		 30 December 1922 – 21 January 1924 — Lenin I–II
Regarded as the first Soviet Premier; led the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) through the Russian Revolution (February and October Revolution)[2] and successfully created the world's first socialist state, the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR),[3] and established the Soviet Union in 1922.[4]
2 Alexey Rykov
(1881–1938)[5]		   2 February 1924 – 19 December 1930 1929 Rykov I
A member of the moderate faction within the Bolshevik Party. He was forced, along with other moderates, to "admit their mistakes" to the party and, in 1930, Rykov lost his premiership because of it.[6]
3 Vyacheslav Molotov
(1890–1986)[7]		   19 December 1930 – 6 May 1941 1937 Molotov I
He oversaw Stalin's collectivization of agriculture, the implementation of the First Five-Year Plan, industrialization of the USSR and the Great Purge of 1937–38.[8] Despite the great human cost,[9] the Soviet Union under Molotov's nominal premiership made great strides in the adoption and widespread implementation of agrarian and industrial technology.[10]
4 Joseph Stalin
(1878–1953)[11]		 6 May 1941 – 15 March 1946 1946 Stalin I
Led the country through the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and started the country's reconstruction period. He renamed the office of the People's Commissars to the Council of Ministers of the USSR.[12]
Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1946–1991)
Joseph Stalin
(1878–1953)[11]		 15 March 1946 – 5 March 1953 1950 Stalin II
After the war Stalin installed communist governments in most of Eastern Europe, forming the Eastern Bloc,[12] behind what was referred to as an "Iron Curtain" of Soviet rule during the long period of antagonism between the Western world and the USSR, known as the Cold War.[13]
5 Georgy Malenkov
(1902–1988)[14]		   6 March 1953 – 8 February 1955 1954 Malenkov I–II
Took over after Stalin's death, but lost in the ensuing power struggle against Nikita Khrushchev. He continued to hold the office of premier until Khrushchev started the process of de-Stalinization. He was replaced on Khrushchev's orders by Nikolai Bulganin.[15]
6 Nikolai Bulganin
(1895–1975)[16]		 90px 8 February 1955 – 27 March 1958 1958 Bulganin I
Oversaw the period of de-Stalinization.[17] While being a strong supporter of Khrushchev at first, he started doubting some of his more radical policies and, accused of being a member of the Anti-Party Group, was eventually replaced by Khrushchev himself.[18]
7 Nikita Khrushchev
(1894–1971)[14]		   27 March 1958 – 14 October 1964 1962 Khrushchev I–II
Led the country through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Oversaw plenty of reforms and policy innovations, such as the 1961 monetary reform. His increasingly erratic behaviour led to his removal by the nomenklatura both as premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party.[17]
8 Alexei Kosygin
(1904–1980)[19]		   15 October 1964 – 23 October 1980 1966, 1970, 1974, 1979 Kosygin I–V
Was one of three leading members of the "collective leadership" with Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolai Podgorny. He ruled through the era known as the Era of Stagnation.[20] Kosygin initiated three large scale economic reforms under his leadership; the 1965, the 1973–74 and the 1979 reform.[21] He retired from office in October 1980 and died two months later.[22]
9 Nikolai Tikhonov
(1905–1997)[23]		 — 23 October 1980 – 27 September 1985 1984 Tikhonov I–II
After Kosygin's departure, Tikhonov became the new premier;[24] he held the office through the rules of Brezhnev's late rule, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko and the very beginning of Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure.[25] In between Andropov's last days and Chernenko's rise to power, Tikhonov was the de facto 'leader of the Soviet Union'.[26]
10 Nikolai Ryzhkov
(1929–)[23]		 27 September 1985 – 14 January 1991 1989 Ryzhkov I–II
Ryzhkov supported Gorbachev's attempt to revive and restructure the Soviet economy through decentralising planning and introducing new technology. However, he resisted Gorbachev's later attempts to introduce market mechanisms into the Soviet economy.[27] He was forced to resign when his office as Chairman of the Council of Ministers was dissolved.[28]
11 Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1991)
Valentin Pavlov
(1937–2003)[29]		 — 14 January 1991 – 22 August 1991 — Pavlov I
Pavlov was elected to the new position of Prime Minister as a compromise candidate. He carried out a highly unsuccessful 1991 monetary reform which failed[30] and led him to join the State Committee of the State of Emergency. The State Committee attempted to depose Gorbachev on 19 August. With the collapse of the coup, Pavlov was arrested on 29 August.[31]
12 Chairman of the Interstate Economic Committee of the USSR—Prime Minister of the Economic Community (1991)
Ivan Silayev
(1930–2023)[32]		 — 6 September 1991 – 25 December 1991 — Silayev I
After the August Coup of 1991, the Soviet government lost much of its power over the republics. Silayev was unable, together with Gorbachev, to hold the Soviet state together which eventually led to its demise.[33]

Notes

  1. ↑ These numbers are not official.

References

  1. ↑ John Cull, Nicholas; Culbert, David Holbrook; Welch, David (2003). Propaganda and mass persuasion: a historical encyclopedia, 1500 to the present. ABC-CLIO. p. 182. ISBN 1576078205.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ D. Young, Gregory; Braden, Nate (2005). The last sentry: the true story that inspired the hunt for Red October. Naval Institute Press. p. 40. ISBN 1591149924.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Service, Robert (2000). Lenin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0674008286.
  4. ↑ "Образование СССР" (in Russian). Hrono.info. Retrieved 24 September 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. ↑ Phillips, Steven (2000). Lenin and the Russian Revolution. Heinemann. p. 82. ISBN 0435327194.
  6. ↑ Rappaport, Helen (1999). Joseph Stalin: a biographical companion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 238–239. ISBN 1576072088.
  7. ↑ Phillips, Steven (2000). Lenin and the Russian Revolution. Heinemann. p. 89. ISBN 0435327194.
  8. ↑ Hough, Jerry F.; Fainsod, Merle (1979). How the Soviet Union is governed. Harvard University Press. p. 295. ISBN 0674410300.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Sebag-Montefiore, Simon (2005). Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. Vintage Books. p. 125. ISBN 1400076781.
  10. ↑ Sebag-Montefiore, Simon (2005). Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. Vintage Books. p. 236. ISBN 1400076781.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Totten, Samuel; Robert Bartrop, Paul; L. Jacobs, Steven (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 76. ISBN 978-0313346422.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0674016971.
  13. ↑ Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. p. 503. ISBN 0674016971.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 J. Duiker, William; J. Spielvogel, Jackson (2006). The Essential World History. Cengage Learning. p. 572. ISBN 0495097292.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Coppa, Frank J. (2006). Encyclopedia of modern dictators: from Napoleon to the present. Peter Lang. pp. 170–171. ISBN 0820450103.
  16. ↑ Trahair, R.C.S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 69. ISBN 0313319553.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Gorbachev, Mikhail (26 April 2007). "The first steps towards a new era". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  18. ↑ Coppa, Frank J. (2006). Encyclopedia of modern dictators: from Napoleon to the present. Peter Lang. p. 38. ISBN 0820450103.
  19. ↑ Trahair, R.C.S. (2004). Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 37. ISBN 0313319553.
  20. ↑ Brown, Archie (2009). The Rise & Fall of Communism. Bodley Head. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-845-95067-5.
  21. ↑ ютуба, любитель (17 December 2010). "30 лет назад умер Алексей Косыгин" [A reformer before Yegor Gaidar? Kosygin died for 30 years ago]. Newsland (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  22. ↑ Вергасов, Фатех. "Организация здорового накала" (in Russian). pseudology.org. Retrieved 4 Sep 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ploss, Sidney (2010). The roots of perestroika: the Soviet breakdown in historical context. McFarland & Company. p. 219. ISBN 978-0786444861.
  24. ↑ Zemtsov, Ilya (1989). Chernenko: the last Bolshevik : the Soviet Union on the eve of Perestroika. Transaction Publishers. p. 119. ISBN 0887382606.
  25. ↑ Service, Robert (2009). History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century. Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 403–404. ISBN 978-0141037974.[dead link]
  26. ↑ Zemtsov, Ilya (1989). Chernenko: the last Bolshevik : the Soviet Union on the eve of Perestroika. Transaction Publishers. p. 146. ISBN 0887382606.
  27. ↑ Garcelon, Marc (2005). Revolutionary passage: from Soviet to post-Soviet Russia, 1985–2000. Temple University Press. pp. 128–129. ISBN 1592133622.
  28. ↑ Harris, Jonathan (2005). Subverting the System: Gorbachev's Reform of the Party's Apparat, 1986–1991. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 133. ISBN 0742526798.
  29. ↑ "Валентин Сергеевич Павлов" [Valentin Sergeyevich Pavlov] (in Russian). Hrono.ru. Retrieved 6 December 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  30. ↑ Dyker, David A. (1992). Restructuring the Soviet economy. Routledge. pp. 207–208. ISBN 0415067618.
  31. ↑ Bonnell, Victoria E.; Cooper, Ann (1994). Russia at the barricades: eyewitness accounts of the August 1991 coup. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 63–64. ISBN 1563242710.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ "Иван Степанович Силаев" [Ivan Stepanovich Silayev] (in Russian). Hrono.ru. Retrieved 6 December 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  33. ↑ Kotz, David Michael; Weir, Fred (2007). Russia's path from Gorbachev to Putin: the demise of the Soviet system and the new Russia. Taylor & Francis. p. 122. ISBN 978-0415701471.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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