From the transcript of the report of V.M. Molotov "On the restructuring of the work of the Economic Council

Industrialization of the Soviet Union. New documents. New facts. New approaches. Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, M. 1999. Part II. pp. 166-170.

Archive RTSKHIDNI. F. 17. Op. 2. D. 661. L. 3-7. Printing house copy.

[...] What caused the reorganization of the Economic Council? In short, the reasons for the reorganization were that the business of economic management in the Council of People's Commissars and the Economic Council had become much more complicated. Suffice it to say that at present we have 23 allied people's commissariats, of which 20 are economic people's commissariats. In addition, we have 14 union-republican people's commissariats, of which 112 are economic people's commissariats. In addition to this, the Council of People's Commissars has 7 committees, 10 departments of an economic type, as well as the State Bank. The State Planning Commission, the Commission of Soviet Control, the State Arbitration and other institutions under the leadership of the Council of People's Commissars. It's only in the center. In addition, as you know, republican, regional and other local organizations and institutions.

The disaggregation of the people's commissariats and the increase in their number, the creation of a number of new committees and departments complicated the task of leading all these organizations on the part of the Council of People's Commissars and the Economic Council, not to mention the republican and local bodies. In this situation, it would be wrong to leave the present form of leadership of the people's commissariats in the field of economy, primarily in the field of industry and agriculture. At every step we see that this is to the detriment of the interests of the cause, since the Council of People's Commissars and the Economic Council are not truly coping with the tasks of leading them, which the Central Committee often and correctly points out to us.

This is especially true of the Economic Council, which is closely connected with the work of the economic people's commissariats and daily directs their work. In order to ensure the improvement of the management of the economic people's commissariats, it is necessary to know well the actual state of affairs in the people's commissariats, to identify their needs in time and help them in time in their work, and also to identify unused or poorly used opportunities in the people's commissariats, in our institutions and enterprises. In order to ensure the improvement of the management of economic life, differentiated and concrete management of the respective branches of industry and agriculture is now necessary, which we want to achieve by creating economic councils whose task is to direct certain branches of industry and agriculture. I must add that the initiative for this restructuring belongs to the Politburo of the Central Committee.

It can be said that we have already made attempts at some differentiation in the management of the economy, but we did it badly, without thinking it through to the end. We have a procedure according to which work is divided among the deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars in the following way: one deputy is in charge of one group of related people's commissariats, another deputy is in charge of another group of people's commissariats, and so on. But so far, little has come of this, since the deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars, in addition, are still busy with institutions directly subordinate to them: one is the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade, the other is the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade, the third is the chairman of the State Bank, etc. Such a combination, when the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars is forced to devote most of his time to one people's commissariat, which he directly supervises, does not make it possible to concentrate on the leadership of the corresponding group of people's commissariats subordinate to him, and therefore it should not be kept in the future.

What we mean is that the deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars should be exempted from holding more than one job as people's commissars.

The current situation has a negative impact on the work of the Economic Council. The Economic Council now includes deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars, the secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and some other comrades, each of whom has his own special tasks, and therefore cannot devote due attention to the preliminary preparation of questions being decided in the Economic Council. They participate in meetings of the Economic Council, but in most cases, they do not have the opportunity to properly familiarize themselves in advance and check the preparation of the questions put forward before the Economic Council by the people's commissariats. Under the present situation, there is no way to ensure that the reports of the people's commissars and their proposals to the Economic Council are preliminary checked and reported to the Economic Council with the appropriate conclusion of one of the deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars. The creation of economic councils should rectify this situation and eliminate the indicated shortcomings. Then the Economic Council can concentrate on the questions of coordinating the work between people's commissariats, but it must be admitted that in many cases we do not have real planned coordination of the work of individual people's commissariats. Only the daily inspection of the work of people's commissariats by the chairmen of economic councils—economic councils, in their turn, must rely in their work on the State Planning Commission and the Commission of Soviet Control—can ensure an improvement in economic management. Then it will be possible to properly coordinate the work of the economic people's commissariats. Then we will have a real economic plan and better assurance of its implementation.

According to the project, the Economic Council should consist of chairmen of economic councils, who should constitute the main group of workers of the Economic Council, in addition, the Economic Council should include the chairman of the State Planning Commission, the chairman of the Commission of Soviet Control, the secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the deputy chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars, released from other affairs and in charge of exclusively with the work of the Economic Council.

The project envisages the publication of six economic councils so far. As you know, these are the following tips:

Council for Metallurgy and Chemistry. This Council includes Narkomchermet and Narkomtsvetmet, as well as Narkomkhimprom and the Main Directorate for the Hydrolysis Industry.

Engineering Council. Three machine-building people's commissariats will be in the sphere of leadership of this Council: Narkomtyazhmash, Narkomsredmash, Narkomobshchemmash. In the future, it is possible that other machine-building people's commissariats will have to be created.

The Defense Industry Council, which will be in charge of 4 people's commissariats: the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry, the People's Commissariat for Armaments, the People's Commissariat for Ammunition and the People's Commissariat for Shipbuilding.

Fuel and Electrical Council. It will be in charge of three allied people's commissariats: Narkomugol, Narkomneft, Narkomelectro. In addition, he will be in charge of issues related to the work of the republican people's commissariats.

The Council on Consumer Goods should cover the work of all people's commissariats of the light and food industries. This includes the following people's commissariats: People's Commissariat of Textiles, People's Commissariat of Light Industry, People's Commissariat of Food Industry, People's Commissariat for Meat and Dairy Industry, People's Commissariat of Fish Industry.

Finally, the Council for Agriculture and Procurement. He should be in charge of three people's commissariats: the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, the People's Commissariat of State Farms and the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.

The Economic Councils must have operational functions. They must issue orders that are binding on the people's commissariats that they are in charge of. The general coordination of the work of people's commissariats should be carried out by the Economic Council, which issues binding instructions, orders and resolutions concerning the work of all economic people's commissariats.

The Economic Councils should consist of a small number of members from 3 to 5. The question of the chairmen and, in general, the composition of the Economic Councils should be discussed in detail in the Politburo.

Each Economic Council will have a small apparatus for preparing and verifying the decisions of the Soviets. In all their work the economic Soviets must rely on the State Planning Commission and the Commission of Soviet Control.

It is possible that some more economic councils will have to be set up in the future, since not all branches of the national economy are covered by the present reorganization project. Probably, the experience of the work of the Economic Soviets will show that some other clarifications and improvements are also needed, which cannot yet be taken into account at present. But it can be said with confidence that for the correct organization of economic management in the Council of People's Commissars and the Economic Council, the proposed measures will be of great positive significance.

Such, in brief words, are the proposals for reorganizing the work of the Economic Council.

Please approve the submitted project.

Notes :

1 *Vulture: Top secret.

2 * At the beginning of the III Five-Year Plan, at the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (January 12-19, 1938), the composition of the USSR government was approved, which included the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, his 4 deputies, as well as 21 people's commissars, chairman of the board of the State Bank, chairman Committee for Higher Education, Chairman of the Committee for Arts.

The Supreme Council approved the formation of new all-Union people's commissariats: the People's Commissariat for Mechanical Engineering, the People's Commissariat for the Navy, and the People's Commissariat for Procurement. There were eleven All-Union People's Commissariats in total. In addition, there were 10 union-republican people's commissariats. See: First session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. January 12-19, 1938 Verbatim record. M., 1938. S. 160‑169, 199.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 17. Op. 2. D. 661. L. 3-7. Printing house copy.