TheCouncil of People's Commissars (CPC) (Russian:Совет народных комиссаров (СНК),romanized: Sovet narodnykh kommissarov (SNK)), commonly known as theSovnarkom (Совнарком), were the highestexecutive authorities of theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), theSoviet Union (USSR), and theSoviet republics from 1917 to 1946.
TheSovnarkom of the RSFSR was founded in theRussian Republic soon after theOctober Revolution in 1917 and its role was formalized in the1918 Constitution of the RSFSR to be responsible to theCongress of Soviets of the RSFSR for the "general administration of the affairs of the state". Unlike its predecessor theRussian Provisional Government which had representatives of various political parties, and except for the brief two-party cabinet with theLeft Socialist-Revolutionaries from December 1917 to March 1918, the Sovnarkom was a government of a single party, theBolsheviks. TheSovnarkom of the USSR andCongress of Soviets of the USSR founded in 1922 were modelled on the RSFSR system, and identical Sovnarkom bodies were founded in the Soviet republics andautonomous republics. The Sovnarkom evolved into the main executive of thegovernment of the Soviet Union with its head, thePremier of the USSR, serving ashead of government. The Sovnarkom issued decrees having the force of law when the Congress was not in session, and if these decrees were not approved at the Congress's next session, they were considered revoked.
The Sovnarkom was dissolved and transformed into theCouncil of Ministers in 1946.[1]
The first council elected by theSecond All-Russian Congress of Soviets in late 1917 was composed as follows. Many earlycommissars later opposed the party majority organized by Stalin and allegedly conspired with theTrotskyist opposition[2] or some other opposition group, which resulted in their expulsion from the party or being arrested. The party had banned factional opposition groups at theEleventh Party Congress during 1921.[3] Still, the original council included Left-Communists, Trotskyists and other ex-oppositionists. Most alleged conspirators were executed for treason during theGreat Purge, while some had sentences reduced to imprisonment.[4]
Upon the creation of the USSR in 1922, theSoviet Union's government was modelled after the first Sovnarkom. TheSoviet republics retained their own governments which dealt with domestic matters.
In 1946, the Sovnarkoms were transformed into theCouncil of Ministers (Sovmin) at bothall-Union andUnion Republic level.[1][5][6]
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