First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union

First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union
Coat of arms
Residence	Moscow Kremlin
Precursor	Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Formation	14 May 1936
First holder	Valerian Kuibyshev
Final holder	Vladimir Velichko and Vitaly Doguzhiev
Abolished	26 November 1991
Succession	First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation

The office of First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union, also called First Vice Premier of the Soviet Union, was synonymous with vice-head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); a First Deputy Premier did not always serve in his post alone. A total of 26 individuals had held this post; 18 of them held other posts simultaneously with their First Deputy Premiership. The first officeholder was Valerian Kuibyshev, who was inaugurated in 1934 as First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Народных Комиссаров, abbreviated Sovnarkom). Lavrentiy Beria spent the shortest time in office and served for 113 days. At over seventeen years, Vyacheslav Molotov spent the longest time in office, and held his position through most of Joseph Stalin's tenure as Premier, as well as through the tenureships of Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin.

A First Deputy Premier was usually given responsibility over one specific area. For example, Kirill Mazurov was responsible for industry, and Dmitry Polyansky was agriculture. However, after Polyansky's departure in 1973 Mazurov was left the sole First Deputy Premier until Tikhonov was appointed in 1976.^[1]:34 An officeholder could also be responsible for coordinating the activities of ministries and state committees and other subordinate bodies of the Council of Ministers. To do this the First Deputy Premier had to give these bodies guidance in an expeditious manner to ensure the implementation of plans for economic and social development and to check if the orders and decisions of the Council of Ministers were being followed. If the Premier could not perform his duties one of the First Deputy Premiers would take on the role of acting Premier until the Premier's return.^[2] During the late 1970s, when the health of Premier Alexei Kosygin deteriorated, Nikolai Tikhonov, the First Deputy Premier, acted on his behalf during his absence. When Tikhonov took command of the Soviet economy, Kosygin served in a standby role. At a Central Committee plenum in June 1980, the Soviet economic development plan was outlined by Tikhonov, and not Kosygin.^[3]

Before the transformation of the Council of People's Commissars to the Council of Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров, abbreviated Sovmin) the post of vice-head of government was given to the Deputy Chairmen of the Sovnarkom;^[1]:281 however, there were three exceptions: Nikolai Voznesensky, Kuibyshev and Molotov were elected First Deputy Chairmen in the mid-1930s and the 1940s. There was no First Deputy Premier from 1935 to 1941 because no one was elected to the post. Molotov, one of two First Deputy Premiers under Stalin's tenure, nearly lost his position when Stalin, the Premier, took a vacation; Molotov, in his capacity as First Deputy Premier, committed what Stalin saw as grave policy violations.^[4] Stalin's successor, Malenkov, promoted Bulganin, Beria and Lazar Kaganovich to the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In a Council of Minister resolution it was stated that the Premier, the First Deputy Premiers and the Deputy Premiers made up the Presidium of the Council of Ministers.^[1]:30 The Presidium was later expanded to include individuals hand-picked by the Premier.^[1]:31 A decree had to be signed by the Premier or a First Deputy Premier, and in the case of the Premier's absence a First Deputy Premier would assume the duties of the Premier.^[1]:123 The First Deputy Prime Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров) were members of the Cabinet of Ministers (Russian: Кабинет Министров СССР), the executive and administrative body that replaced the Council of Ministers in 1990.^[5]

List of first deputies

Holder		Tenure (length of tenure)	Premier	Other offices held while First Deputy Premier
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1934 – 1935/1941 – 1946)
Valerian Kuybyshev (1888–1935)[6]		14 May 1934 – 25 January 1935 (256 days)	Vyacheslav Molotov	Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission[7]
Nikolai Voznesensky (1895–1950)[8]	—	10 March 1941 – 15 March 1946 (5 years, 5 days)	Vyacheslav Molotov	Chairman of the State Planning Commission[8]
			Joseph Stalin
Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986)[9]		16 August 1942 – 15 March 1946 (3 years, 211 days)	Joseph Stalin	People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs[10]
First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1946 – 1990)
Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986)[9]		19 March 1946 – 29 June 1957 (11 years, 106 days)	Joseph Stalin	Minister of Foreign Affairs[11]
			Georgy Malenkov
			Nikolai Bulganin
Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975)[12]		7 April 1950 – 8 February 1955 (4 years, 307 days)	Joseph Stalin	Minister of Defence[13]
			Georgy Malenkov
Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953)[10]		5 March 1953 – 26 June 1953 (113 days)	Georgy Malenkov	Minister of Internal Affairs[10]
Lazar Kaganovich (1893–1991)[14]		5 March 1953 – 29 June 1957 (4 years, 141 days)	Georgy Malenkov	Minister of Building Materials Industry[15] Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers for Labour and Wages[16]
			Nikolai Bulganin
			Nikita Khrushchev
Anastas Mikoyan (1895–1978)[17]		28 February 1955 – 15 July 1964 (9 years, 138 days)	Nikolai Bulganin	—
			Nikita Khrushchev
Mikhail Pervukhin (1904–1974)[18]	—	28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957 (2 years, 127 days)	Nikolai Bulganin	Chairman of the State Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers on Current Economic Planning[18] Minister of Medium Machine Building[18]
Maksim Saburov (1900–1977)[19]	—	28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957 (2 years, 127 days)	Nikolai Bulganin	Chairman of the State Planning Committee[19]
Joseph Kuzmin (1910–1996)[20]	—	28 February 1955 – 5 July 1957 (2 years, 127 days)	Nikolai Bulganin	Chairman of the State Planning Committee[20]
Frol Kozlov (1908–1965)[21]	—	31 March 1958 – 4 May 1960 (2 years, 34 days)	Nikita Khrushchev	Chairman of the State Planning Committee[21]
Alexei Kosygin (1904–1980)[22]		4 May 1960 – 15 October 1964 (4 years, 164 days)	Nikita Khrushchev	—
Dmitriy Ustinov (1908–1984)[23]		13 March 1963 – 26 March 1965 (2 years, 13 days)	Nikita Khrushchev	—
			Alexei Kosygin
Kirill Mazurov (1914–1989)[24]	—	26 March 1965 – 28 November 1978 (13 years, 247 days)	Alexei Kosygin	First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia[24]
Dmitry Polyansky (1917–2001)[25]	—	2 October 1965 – 2 February 1973 (7 years, 123 days)	Alexei Kosygin	—
Nikolai Tikhonov (1905–1997)[26]	—	2 September 1976 – 23 October 1980 (4 years, 51 days)	Alexei Kosygin	—
Ivan Arkhipov (1907–1998)[27]	—	27 October 1980 – 4 October 1986 (5 years, 342 days)	Nikolai Tikhonov	—
			Nikolai Ryzhkov
Heydar Aliyev (1923–2003)[28]		24 November 1982 – 23 October 1987 (4 years, 333 days)	Nikolai Tikhonov	First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party[29]
			Nikolai Ryzhkov
Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989)[30]		24 March 1983 – 2 July 1985 (2 years, 100 days)	Nikolai Tikhonov	Minister of Foreign Affairs[31]
Nikolai Talyzin (1929–1991)[32]	—	14 October 1985 – 1 October 1988 (2 years, 353 days)	Nikolai Ryzhkov	Chairman of the State Planning Committee[32]
Vsevolod Murakhovski (born 1926)[33]	—	1 November 1985 – 7 June 1989 (3 years, 218 days)	Nikolai Ryzhkov	Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture[33]
Yuri Maslyukov (1937–2010)[34]	—	5 February 1988 – 26 December 1990 (2 years, 324 days)	Nikolai Ryzhkov	Chairman of the State Planning Committee[35]
Lev Voronin (1928–2006)[36]	—	17 July 1989 – 26 December 1990 (1 year, 162 days)	Nikolai Ryzhkov	—
Vladilen Nikitin (born 1936)[37]	—	27 July 1989 – 30 August 1990 (1 year, 34 days)	Nikolai Ryzhkov	—
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers (1991)
Vladimir Velichko (born 1937)[38]	—	15 January 1991 – 26 November 1991 (315 days)	Valentin Pavlov	Minister of Heavy Machine Building[39]
			Ivan Silayev
Vitaly Doguzhiev (born 1935)[39]	—	15 January 1991 – 26 November 1991 (315 days)	Valentin Pavlov	—
			Ivan Silayev

See also

• Premier of the Soviet Union
• Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union
• List of leaders of the Soviet Union

References

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