The State Defense Committee (russian: Государственный комитет обороны - ГКО, translit=Gosudarstvennyĭ komitet oborony - GKO) was an extraordinary organ of state power in the
USSR during the
German-Soviet War (Great Patriotic War) which held complete state power in the country.
General scope
The Soviets set up the GKO on 30 June 1941 (a week after
Nazi Germany invaded the
Soviet Union on 22 June 1941) by a compound decision of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the
Council of People's Commissars (''Sovnarkom''), and the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee direct ...
. The war situation at the front lines required a more centralized form of government. The
Supreme Soviet, however, continued unsuspended. On 18 June 1942 over a thousand members attended the 9th session of the
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ...
in
Moscow.
Geoffrey Roberts sees the GKO as "a sort of
war cabinet".
Composition
The initial composition of the committee was such:
* Chairman -
Joseph Stalin
* Deputy Chairman -
Vyacheslav Molotov (until May 16, 1944)
* other members -
Lavrentiy Beria,
Kliment Voroshilov,
Georgy Malenkov (Aviation Industry)
Handbook on the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
/ref>
On February 3, 1942 the chairman of Gosplan, Nikolai Voznesensky, and Anastas Mikoyan
Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (; russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; hy, Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Armenian Communist revolutionary, Old Bolshevik an ...
were made members of the committee, while on February 20, 1942 Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich, also Kahanovich (russian: Ла́зарь Моисе́евич Кагано́вич, Lázar' Moiséyevich Kaganóvich; – 25 July 1991), was a Soviet politician and administrator, and one of the main associates of ...
( Narkom of Transportation) was appointed member. On November 22, 1944, Nikolai Bulganin (Chairman of Gosbank) replaced Voroshilov in the committee.
See also
* Council of Labour and Defence
References
Bibliography
*Barber, John, and Harrison, Mark. (1991). ''The Soviet Home Front 1941–1945: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II''. London: Longman. , .
*Werth, Alexander. (1964). ''Russia at War 1941–1945''. New York: Carrol and Graf.
Further reading
Glantz, David M. ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler''. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Overview of Eastern Front from Soviet side.
Roberts, Geoffrey. ''Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Post-revisionist study of Stalin's wartime and post-war leadership.
{{Authority control
State Committees of the Soviet Union
1941 establishments in the Soviet Union
1945 disestablishments in the Soviet Union