The appointment of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union was carried out by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The powers of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union included the following:[1]
Management of the activities of the government of the Soviet Union;
Organization of the work of the Council of Ministers and its Presidium and management of their meetings;
Coordination of the activities of their deputies;
Ensuring collegiality in the work of the Government;
Representation of the Soviet Union in international relations;
Taking decisions in urgent cases on certain issues of public administration.
Alexei Kosygin was a member of the government of the Soviet Union for over 40 years (from 1939 to 1980), 16 of which served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers
On October 14, 1964, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which relieved Nikita Khrushchev of his duties as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, recognized it inappropriate to further combine the highest party post and the post of head of government.[2]
Despite its broad powers, the personal power of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union was significantly limited. For example, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers did not have the right to independently appoint and dismiss members of the government of the Soviet Union – including ministers and chairmen of state committees – and other members of the government; this right belonged to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (and in the period between its sessions – the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet). The appointment of deputy ministers of the Soviet Union, deputy chairmen of state committees of the Soviet Union and members of collegiums of ministries and state committees, as well as issues of the country's economic policy and its implementation by central government bodies, were the subject of collegial consideration by members of the government. The same applied to decisions on the creation, reorganization, abolition, personnel and activities of subordinate bodies of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, including bodies created to systematically check the implementation of government decisions. These decisions were not taken by the head of government alone, but by a majority vote of the members of the Council of Ministers or its Presidium.[1] The limited influence that the head of the Soviet government could personally exert on the activities of members of the government and government agencies is illustrated by the words of Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, one of the initiators of the 1965 economic reform, said in an interview with the head of the government of Czechoslovakia, Lubomir Strougal in 1971:
Nothing left. Everything collapsed. All work was stopped, and the reforms fell into the hands of people who do not want them at all... The reform is torpedoed. The people with whom I worked out the materials of the congress have already been removed, and completely different people have been called. And I don't expect anything.
Here are lists of chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, first deputies and deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The list of the chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union is given in chronological order. Alphabetical lists of first deputies and deputies are given for each chairman. The dates of the person in office are indicated in parentheses.
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