Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
| Premier of the Soviet Union Глава Правительства СССР |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| Residence | Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow |
| Precursor | Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR |
| Formation | 30 December 1922 |
| First holder | Vladimir Lenin |
| Final holder | Ivan Silayev |
| Abolished | 25 December 1991 |
| Succession | Prime Minister of the Russian Federation |
The office of Premier of the Soviet Union (Russian: Глава Правительства СССР) was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Twelve individuals became premier over the time span of the office. Two of the twelve premiers died in office of natural causes (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin), three resigned (Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Ivan Silayev), and three held the offices of party leader and premier simultaneously (Lenin, Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev). The first premier was Lenin, who was inaugurated in 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. Ivan Silayev spent the shortest time in office at 126 days in 1991. At over fourteen years, Kosygin spent the longest time in office, and became the only premier to head more than two government cabinets; he died shortly after his resignation in 1980.
The Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) was established on 8 November 1917 by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) Government. Article 38 of the 1924 Soviet Constitution stated that the Council's powers, functions and duties were given to it by the Central Executive Committee (CEC) which supervised the Council's work and legislative acts. The Council of People's Commissars published decrees and decisions that were binding throughout the Soviet Union. In 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers (Sovmin) at both all-Union and Union Republic level.
...
Wikipedia