Presidents of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - list, features and interesting facts

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in fact, was considered the leader of the Soviet state, beginning in 1936 and ending in 1989. During this period, it was the highest state position in the USSR. The election of the chairman took place at a joint meeting in which all the chambers that were members of the Supreme Council took part.

Who was the first?

Presidents of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR appeared in the Soviet state in 1936. This post was introduced in accordance with the new Constitution. In fact, they became successors to the leaders of the Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. So called a similar post earlier. In fact, both at home and abroad, the person who held this position was considered the head of state. And in the West he was often called the president of the Soviet republic.

At the same time, the public head of the state functioned officially in the USSR. The decision was taken collectively by all who were members of the presidium, without exception. It was this body that jointly adopted decrees that determined the development and organization of the entire country, appointed and dismissed state husbands, awarded orders and medals.

At the same time, in fact, most of the powers were in the hands of the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, the head of the Council of People's Commissars possessed no less levers of government.

Throughout the history of the USSR, the posts of the party secretary general and chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR were repeatedly combined. In particular, such a situation has been observed since the 1970s until the liquidation of the post with short breaks.

This post was finally abolished after the adoption of amendments and changes to the 1988 Constitution. All the powers of the presidium were transferred to the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. When the post of the president of the USSR was established, the people who held this post had only representation functions. Basically they consisted in conducting joint meetings of the chambers.

The first was Mikhail Kalinin

The first in the history of the Soviet state, this post was taken by Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin. After the adoption of the already mentioned Constitution, he was elected chairman at the starting session of the Supreme Council, which took place at the very beginning of 1938.

Kalinin was a vivid representative of the revolutionary movement. A prominent party and state figure. It was soon after the Communists came to power that they began to be called "the All-Russia Starost."

His first deputy Kalinin appointed a deputy of the council Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik, who later took his place in this post.

When the war with fascist Germany ended, it became clear that Kalinin was seriously ill. He was dismissed from the post, which took Shvernik. Less than three months later, the first chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suddenly died of intestinal cancer.

Party Long-Liver

After Kalinin and Shvernik, it was the turn of the Presidium to come to the record holder for the length of his stay in the Politburo of the Communist Party Central Committee, the hero of the war, Kliment Voroshilov.

Despite the fact that Voroshilov participated in the formation of the execution lists (his signatures are on 185 lists, according to which more than 18,000 people were shot), in the year of Stalin's death he was elected the new chairman of the Supreme Council. On the other hand, this is understandable. At that time, the policy of debunking the cult of personality in the USSR had not yet come, and among the leaders of the regime, reliable and reliable people were needed.

During the war with the Germans Voroshilov commanded the Leningrad Front. At the post of the head of the presidium he stayed for 7 years, afterwards remaining his member.

Dear Leonid Ilyich

In 1960 Voroshilov was succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev. The chairmen of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the list of which is given in this article, have since then repeatedly held the post of secretary general. The first in this field was Brezhnev, who became general secretary in 1964. The election of Brezhnev as chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR took place when he was 54 years old.

In 1964, he was succeeded by one of the most famous and influential Soviet politicians at that time, who began his career under Lenin, Anastas Mikoyan. He worked on this post for a year and a half.

The Age of Podgorny

In December 1965, Nikolai Podgorny was elected to this post. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was a member of the Ukrainian Communist Party Committee, who specialized in leading positions in the field of light industry.

Colleagues treated him differently. For example, Mikoyan directly accused him of lying and despised for it. He told a story about how during the war Podgorny was instructed to evacuate a sugar factory in Voronezh. A dangerous task was carried out, however, Nikolai Viktorovich, fearing for his life, himself never visited the factory, having reported that he personally led the evacuation. Mikoyan could not stand such lies.

Podgorny chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ceased to be in 1977, having worked in this position for almost 12 years. He lost his post at the 25th Party Congress, when Brezhnev's close associates feared that Podgorny, taking advantage of the poor health of the Secretary-General, could claim his place. Therefore, during the congress, some of the party members spoke out in favor of Brezhnev combining both these posts. As a result, Leonid Ilyich returned to the post to which this article is devoted. He became chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1977 - 1982). In 1982, he died. The policy at that time turned 75 years old.

During this period, he was assisted by Mohammed Gettuyev, deputy chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Tradition of combining

After Brezhnev, it became a party tradition to combine the post to which this article is devoted, and the post of Party Secretary General.

If you do not count Vasily Vasilyevich Kuznetsov, who temporarily held this post from November 1982 to June 1983, from February to April 1984 and from March to July 1985, almost all the subsequent leaders of the Soviet state adhered to this trend.

In power scouts

In the summer of 1983, the actual head of state was the ex-head of the Soviet state security bodies, Yuri Andropov. True, Yuri Vladimirovich could not actively fulfill his duties. Shortly after the appointment, he showed a serious illness. He worked almost without leaving home. Soon he died because of kidney failure, he was tormented by gout for many years.

The short epoch of Konstantin Chernenko

In April 1984, he was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko. He ruled one year and 25 days, died of heart failure.

The born diplomat

In July 85, the post of the head of the presidium was occupied by Andrei Gromyko. Andrei Andreevich was a diplomat who began his career in party commissions even before the war, under Malenkov and Molotov. Soon Gromyko began to represent the interests of the Soviet Union in several important international organizations - the Security Council and the United Nations.

Then, for almost 30 years, he was the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was during his diplomatic career that perhaps the most intense stages of the "cold" war occurred. Relations with the United States of America and the emerging North Atlantic Alliance were as tight as possible. One has only to remember that in the early 60's the world stood on the threshold of the beginning of the atomic war. However, the leaders of the USSR and the United States in the end did not allow the most fatal development of events. A significant role in this was played by the diplomats who guided these processes.

It is noteworthy that shortly before his appointment at a meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, it was Gromyko who proposed the young general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of general secretary.

Gorbachev, on receiving the first post in the party, dismissed Gromyko from the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Appointing a younger and more promising, as it seemed to him, Edward Shevardnadze. Gromyko, in return, received the post of chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Council, which by that time had almost completely lost its independence and significance. In fact, Gromyko served as a wedding general.

The last chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

Gromyko was replaced in this post by Mikhail Gorbachev. He became chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1985-1988). The first deputy was appointed prominent party leader Anatoly Lukyanov, who later emerged as part of the State Emergency Committee, but amnestied by the decision of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, like many other coup participants.

By that time, the situation worsened in many national republics. There were youth's speeches against the current authorities in Kazakhstan, the Karabakh and Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts have already arisen. The situation in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Transnistria worsened. The situation in most of the Soviet republics was unsettling.

At the same time, Gorbachev took important steps towards the resolution of the Cold War. In particular, perpetual agreements on actual disarmament were signed. They stipulated that countries begin to dispose of medium- and shorter-range missiles. The US president Ronald Reagan also signed his signature under the agreement.

However, democratic reforms and the outlined restructuring did not allow Gorbachev to stay in power for too long. Yes, and the very position of chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Council was soon abolished. So Gorbachev became the last politician who ever occupied it.

Here is who held this post in different years:

• Mikhail Kalinin;
• Nikolay Shvernik;
• Kliment Voroshilov ;
• Leonid Brezhnev;
• Anastas Mikoyan;
• Nikolai Podgorny;
• Vasily Kuznetsov;
• Yuri Andropov;
• Konstantin Chernenko;
• Andrei Gromyko;
• Mikhail Gorbachev.

The president of the USSR came to replace the chairman of the presidium. They became Gorbachev himself. And then Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, turned over several pages of Russian history.

Finally, the powers of the head of state, Gorbachev, removed himself in 1991, after the official signing of the Belovezhsky Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR.