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Soviet Union [USSR] Ministerial System
Ministers were the chief administrative officials of the
government. While most ministers managed branches of the economy,
others managed affairs of state, such as foreign policy, defense,
justice, and finance. Unlike parliamentary systems in which
ministers are members of the parliament, Soviet ministers were not
necessarily members of the Supreme Soviet and did not have to be
elected. Soviet ministers usually rose within a ministry; having
begun work in one ministry, they could, however, be appointed to a
similar position in another. Thus, by the time the party appointed
an official to a ministerial position, that person was fully
acquainted with the affairs of the ministry and was well trained in
avoiding conflict with the party. Until the late 1980s, ministers
enjoyed long tenures, commonly serving for decades and often dying
in office.
Two types of ministries made up the ministerial system: allunion and union-republic. All-union ministries oversaw a particular
activity for the entire country and were controlled by the allunion party apparatus and the government in Moscow. Republic
governments had no corresponding ministry, although all-union
ministries had branch offices in the republics. Union-republic
ministries had a central ministry in Moscow, which coordinated the
work of counterpart ministries in the republic governments.
Republic party organizations also oversaw the work of the unionrepublic ministries in their domain.
The Constitution determined into which category certain
ministries fell. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a unionrepublic ministry, reflecting the republics' constitutional right
to foreign representation. Although the republics had foreign
ministries, the central Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow in
fact conducted all diplomacy for the Soviet Union
(see Soviet Union USSR - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
, ch. 10).
All-union ministries were more centralized, thus permitting
greater control over vital functions. Union-republic ministries
appeared to exercise limited autonomy in nonvital areas. In
practice, the central government dominated the union-republic
ministries, although in theory each level of government possessed
equal authority over its affairs.
Union-republic ministries offered some practical economic
advantages. Republic representatives in the union-republic
ministries attempted to ensure that the interests of the republics
were taken into account in policy formation. In addition, the
arrangement permitted the central ministry to set guidelines that
the republics could then adapt to their local conditions. The
central ministry in Moscow also could delegate some
responsibilities to the republic level.
The internal structures of both all-union and union-republic
ministries were highly centralized. A central ministry had large
functional departments and specialized directorates. Chief
directorates carried out the most important specialized functions
in larger ministries. Specialized functions included foreign
contracts, planning, finance, construction, personnel, and staff
services. The first department of any ministry, staffed by
personnel from the Committee for State Security (Komitet
gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti--KGB), controlled security.
State committees and government agencies similarly were
categorized as all-union and union-republic organizations. State
committees oversaw technical matters that involved many aspects of
government, such as standards, inventions and discoveries, labor
and social issues, sports, prices, and statistics. Other agencies,
such as the news agency
TASS (see Glossary) and the Academy of
Sciences, oversaw affairs under their purview.
Ministries and state committees not only managed the economy,
government, and society but also could make laws. Most ministries
and state committees issued orders and instructions that were
binding only on their organizations. Some ministries, however,
could issue orders within a legally specified area of
responsibility that were binding on society as a whole. These
orders carried the same force of law as acts of the Supreme Soviet.
For example, the Ministry of Finance set the rules for any form of
foreign exchange.
Data as of May 1989
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