Premier of the Soviet Union
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Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР; Predsedatel' Soveta Narodnykh Komissarov SSSR) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР; Predsedatel' Soveta Ministrov SSSR) (1946-1991), who was the head of government in the Soviet Union.
However, the most important decisions were passed jointly with the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, the latter being more influential in such cases. After Lenin's death the key position in the Politburo and the country was the General Secretary.
As some Soviet leaders held both positions at the same time, the western press often referred to the General Secretary as the "premier of the Soviet Union" regardless of whether the man actually held the office. For example Leonid Brezhnev was often referred to by the title without ever holding the office.
[edit] Premiers of the Soviet Union
| T# | A# | Name | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR | |||||
| 1 | Vladimir Lenin |  |
6 July 1923 | 21 January 1924 | |
| 2 | Alexey Rykov |  |
2 February 1924 | 19 December 1930 | |
| 3 | Vyacheslav Molotov |  |
19 December 1930 | 6 May 1941 | |
| 4 | Joseph Stalin |  |
6 May 1941 | 15 March 1946 | |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR | |||||
| 4 | 1 | Joseph Stalin | |
19 March 1946 | 5 March 1953 |
| 5 | 2 | Georgy Malenkov | 6 March 1953 | 8 February 1955 | |
| 6 | 3 | Nikolay Bulganin |  |
8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| 7 | 4 | Nikita Khrushchev |  |
27 March 1958 | 15 October 1964 |
| 8 | 5 | Alexei Kosygin |  |
15 October 1964 | 23 October 1980 |
| 9 | 6 | Nikolai Tikhonov |  |
23 October 1980 | 27 September 1985 |
| 10 | 7 | Nikolai Ryzhkov | |
27 September 1985 | 14 January 1991 |
| Prime Minister of the USSR | |||||
| 11 | 1 | Valentin Pavlov | |
14 January 1991 | 22 August 1991 |
| 12 | 2 | Ivan Silayev | |
6 September 1991 | 25 December 1991 |
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