The Soviet period in the history of our country is replete with all sorts of abbreviations that were found everywhere: in the names of state authorities, in party institutions, in the names of specialized law enforcement facilities and simply in the names of public organizations of various levels. One of them was the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The decoding of the name of this body means the scope of its powers and their level.
Creating a new management system
Since the October coup d'état in 1917, power in the country passed into the hands of the Bolshevik Party. Their primary task was the formation of new authorities that would fulfill their task of turning the country into a dictatorship of the proletariat. The head of the party, V. I. Lenin, having studied the principles of the structure of power in European states, did not recognize the principle of separation of powers. In addition, he believed that in the conditions of the formation of a new state, this principle can only do harm, not allowing the necessary and short terms to carry out the necessary transformations and properly control them. At his suggestion, fully approved by the leaders of the party, a special body appears, combining the features of both legislative andexecutive and judicial power. So, what is the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the period from 1917 to 1937?
Features of the Soviet model of state power
Initially, its competence extended to the territory of the RSFSR, while representatives of Ukraine, Belarus and the republics of Transcaucasia could also be members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The abbreviation stands for "All-Russian Central Executive Committee", thereby emphasizing its dominant position among all authorities of the Soviet republic.
At the end of 1917, there were slight changes in the functional powers of this institute: the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was formed, which became the operational unit of the committee. Quite often, the powers of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee were used by completely different authorities, although in hierarchy they were all below it.
The initiative was intercepted by the Council of People's Commissars, in other words, the Government of the country. All resolutions of this body had such a legislative form as the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. If you carefully understand, these are laws adopted by the highest legislative body. Comparing with the present, we can say that these are legal acts issued by the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Structural and functional perturbations
During its rather short history, the committee underwent numerous reforms and changes in the scope of its powers, and already at the Eighth Congress of Soviets the boundaries of its actions were determined by the legislative framework, but after some time it wasreturned control and executive functions. At the same time, it was recognized that the All-Russian Congress of Soviets was the country's supreme authority, and in the intervals between its meetings, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The transcript may be somewhat discouraging, but the letter "I" denoting "executive" actually suggested that the committee takes part in the appointment of members of the Council of People's Commissars, which was the main executive body of the Soviet government. The constitution, adopted in 1918, placed the All-Russian Central Executive Committee at the highest legislative level in second place in the organizational structure of power in the RSFSR, and then in the USSR.
Building and Subordination
The Second Constitution, adopted in 1925, finally approved the established system of state power of the RSFSR and the USSR: since that period, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee had several divisions and departments. The structure of this important institution of the state was threefold:
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Departments (financial, Cossack, propaganda, communications, etc. - about ten in total).
- Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
- Secretariat of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
However, structural changes occurred almost constantly: for example, in the period from 1923, the so-called Small Presidium began to operate. Its organization was connected with the fact that the number of appeals to the committee's bodies had increased significantly, and there was a need to increase the amount of work. Later, this unit was liquidated in connection with the transfer of part of the powers to other institutions of power. By the time of liquidation, the structure of the committee had the following structure:
- SecretariatPresidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
- Reception of the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
- Finance, Human Resources and Outreach Team.
Similarities and differences between the authorities of the Russian Empire and the USSR
If we draw a parallel between similar bodies of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee can be put on a par with the tsarist Senate, the scope of authority and the organizational structure of these authorities was almost identical with some minor differences. In both cases, there was no separation of powers, and one institution of the state performed a lot of various actions, often duplicating and replacing the work of another. In the second case, it acquired a more orderly character. In order to more clearly imagine all the cumbersomeness of the administrative apparatus in the RSFSR and the USSR, it can be noted that there was also a Central Executive Committee, along with the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The decoding of the first from the second differs only in the name "All-Russian", and the functions were almost identical. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR continued to work until 1938, when a permanent Supreme Soviet was created - the main authority of the country of Soviets.