Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union

In a nutshell

The Central Executive Committee of the USSR (Russian: Центральный исполнительный комитет СССР, IPA: ), which may be abbreviated as the CEC (Russian: ЦИК, IPA: ), was the supreme governing body of the USSR in between sessions of the All-Union Congress of Soviets from 1922 to 1938. The Central Executive Committee elected the Presidium, which, like its parent body, was the delegated governing authority when the other was not in session. Although the Presidium had a group of collective chairmen from each republic, the chairman from the Russian SFSR was often recognized as first among equals and was considered as the ceremonial head of state of the USSR. The Central Executive Committee also elected the Council of People's Commissars which was its executive and administrative organ. The Central Executive Committee of the USSR was established in 1922 by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets, and was replaced by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1938.

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Initially the committee had four co-chairs, after 1925 there were seven. The Kazakh and Kirghiz SSRs were created in 1936 and did not have co-chairs in the committee, as it dissolved just two years later.

Description

The Central Executive Committee was created with the adoption of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR in December 1922. The Central Executive Committee was elected by the Congress of Soviets to govern on its behalf whenever the Congress of Soviets was not in session. The Central Executive Committee was convened by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee, which was elected by the Central Executive Committee to govern on its behalf whenever it was not in session.

The Central Executive Committee of the USSR should not be confused with the Central Executive Committees that operated in each of the Soviet Union's constituent republics. These were:

The All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the RSFSR
The All-Byelorussian Central Executive Committee in the Byelorussian SSR
The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee in the Ukrainian SSR
The All-Caucasian Central Executive Committee of the Transacaucasian SFSR

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List of the Central Executive Committees of the Soviet Union

Central Executive Committee of the First Congress of Soviets (elected on 30 December 1922)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 30 December 1922
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 6 July 1923
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 6–12 November 1923
Central Executive Committee of the Second Congress of Soviets (elected on 2 February 1924)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 2 February 1924
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 17–29 October 1924
- 3rd session (Tbilisi) – 3–7 March 1925
Central Executive Committee of the Third Congress of Soviets (elected on 20 May 1925)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 21 May 1925
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 12–25 April 1926
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 14–25 February 1927
Central Executive Committee of the Fourth Congress of Soviets (elected on 26 April 1927)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 27 April 1927
- 2nd session (Leningrad) – 15–20 October 1927
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 11–21 April 1928
- 4th session (Moscow) – 3–15 December 1928
Central Executive Committee of the Fifth Congress of Soviets (elected on 28 May 1929)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 29 May 1929
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 29 November – 8 December 1929
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 4–12 January 1931
Central Executive Committee of the Sixth Congress of Soviets (elected on 17 March 1931)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 18 March 1931
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 22–28 December 1931
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 23–30 January 1933
- 4th session (Moscow) – 28 December 1933 – 4 January 1934
Central Executive Committee of the Seventh Congress of Soviets (elected on 6 February 1935)
- 1st session (Moscow) – 7–8 February 1935
- 2nd session (Moscow) – 10–17 January 1936
- 3rd session (Moscow) – 11–14 January 1937
- 4th session (Moscow) – 7–9 July 1937

Leadership

Chairmen

The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee consisted of 21 members and included the President of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. A representative of each constituent republic (initially four) was elected one of the directors of the presidium.

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic: Mikhail Kalinin (December 30, 1922 – January 12, 1938)
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic: Grigory Petrovsky (December 30, 1922 – January 12, 1938)
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic: Alexander Chervyakov (December 30, 1922 – June 16, 1937)
Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic:
- Nariman Narimanov (December 30, 1922 – March 19, 1925)
- Gazanfar Musabekov (May 21, 1925 – June 1937)

As more entities (usually previously Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics) were promoted to the status of constituent republics of the USSR, they received representation among the directors of the Presidium:

Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (from 1924): Fayzulla Khodzhayev (May 21, 1925 – June 17, 1937)
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (from 1925): Nedirbay Aytakov (May 21, 1925 – 21 July 1937)
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (from 1929):
- Nusratullo Maksum (March 18, 1931 – January 4, 1934)
- Abdullo Rakhimbayev (January 4, 1934 – September 1937)

Presidium secretaries

1922–1935 Avel Yenukidze
1935–1937 Ivan Akulov
1937–1938 Aleksandr Gorkin

Soviet of the Union chairmen

Soviet of Nationalities chairmen

1927–? Mykola Skrypnyk

Powers

The 1924 Soviet Constitution defined the powers of the CEC as:

Calling of the Congresses of Soviets
Election of the Council of the People's Commissars (Sovnarkom)
Adoption of decrees and legislative acts
Legislative and administrative actions assigned to it

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