Creation and activities of the State Defense Committee and other emergency bodies during the war. State Defense Committee of the USSR - abstract Education of the State Defense Committee of the USSR

Date the article was sent to the editor:

07-05-2015

Publication date:

09-05-2015

Annotation.

The creation and activities of the State Defense Committee reflected the peculiarities of public administration in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, in which conditions it was necessary to concentrate all resources to win the war. In the pre-war years, a system of governing the country finally took shape, in which the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks determined public policy and actually headed the party-state administration. The creation of the State Defense Committee on June 30, 1941 fully reflected this trend and, during the war, concentrated all power in the state as an emergency party-state body. Declassified archival documents about the activities of the State Defense Committee create new opportunities for studying its activities. The article presents a description of the creation, composition, areas of activity and an overview of the materials of the official record keeping of the State Defense Committee. The article describes the State Defense Committee, and the representation of publications of documents on activities in scientific research, and identifies the possibilities of attracting new materials. The latter is due to the fact that almost the entire array of documents on activities has been declassified and creates opportunities for further research into the history of the State Defense Committee.

Abstract.

The creation and activity of the State Defense Committee (SDC) reflected the peculiarities of the state administration in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945 during which the concentration of all the resources were needed to gain the victory. Before the war the country’s system of administration were fully formed, and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks defined the state politics and headed the state administration. The creation of the SDC in June, 30, 1941 fully reflected this tendency and in the conditions of the war took all the state power as an emergency Party and State authorities. Unclassified archive documents about the SDC activity give new opportunities for studying its activity. The article tells about the characteristic features of creation, structure, directions of activity and a review of materials about the official paperwork of the State Defense Committee. The article characterizes the State Defense Committee, shows the documents about the activity of scientific research, defines the possibilities to use new materials. The latter comes out of the fact that all the documents are unclassified and gives many opportunities for the further studying of the SDC history.

Keywords:

The history of the Soviet state, The Great Patriotic War, public administration, emergency management agencies, party - government authorities, the military authorities, State Defense Committee, of the ICTs, organization of ICT activities, GKO order

The publication was prepared as part of the implementation of the Russian Humanitarian Foundation project No. 15-03-00624 “Source studies of the history of state and law of Russia (1917 - 1990s)

In the conditions of the Great Patriotic War in 1941 - 1945. a specially created management system was in effect, in which the State Defense Committee occupied a dominant position from June 30, 1945 to September 4, 1945. The history of the activities of the State Defense Committee is very interesting and indicative, since this body reflected the features and combined in its organization two principles - the party and the state, characteristic of management mechanisms in Soviet society. But, at the same time, this is a unique experience in creating, organizing and ensuring fairly effective management in wartime.

Within the framework of this article, we will dwell on the issues of the creation and place of the State Defense Committee in the system of party and government administration during the Great Patriotic War, the features of its activities and the acts issued, as well as the state of research on the issue and the availability of those declassified in the early 2000s. GKO documents.

Creation of the State Defense Committeewas due to the fact that the beginning of the Great Patriotic War showed clearly that the pre-war command and administrative control system, even in the conditions of the military-mobilization orientation of its orientation and activities, was not able to withstand the large-scale military aggression of Nazi Germany. What was required was a restructuring of the entire system of political and public administration of the USSR, the creation in the country of new emergency authorities capable of ensuring comprehensive and coordinated control of the front and rear and “transforming the country into a single military camp in the shortest possible time.” On the second day of the war, the body of the highest collective strategic leadership of the active army was created - the Headquarters of the High Command. And although the Headquarters “had all the powers in the strategic leadership of troops and naval forces, it did not have the opportunity to exercise power and administrative functions in the sphere of civil administration.” Headquarters also “could not act as a coordinating principle in the activities of civilian government and management structures in the interests of the active army, which, naturally, complicated the strategic leadership of troops and naval forces.” The situation at the front was rapidly deteriorating and this “pushed the highest party and state leadership of the USSR to form a power structure that could become higher in status not only than the Headquarters of the High Command, but also all leading party authorities, government bodies and administration.” The decision to create a new emergency body was considered and approved by its resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

The creation of the State Defense Committee was formalized by a joint resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 30, 1941. It established two fundamentally important provisions: “To concentrate all power in the state in the hands of the State Defense Committee” (clause 2) and “Oblige all citizens and all party, Soviet, Komsomol and military bodies to unquestioningly implement the decisions and orders of the State Defense Committee” (clause 2). The composition of the State Defense Committee was represented by the leadership of the party and state - members and candidate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks: I.V. Stalin (chairman), V.M. Molotov, K.E. Voroshilov, G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria. Subsequent changes in the composition of the State Defense Committee took place in the same personnel vein: in 1942, N.A. joined the committee. Voznesensky, L.M. Kaganovich, A.I. Mikoyan, and in 1944 N.A. Bulganin replaced K.E. Voroshilov. The State Defense Committee was abolished by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of September 4, 1945 with the wording - “In connection with the end of the war and the end of the state of emergency in the country, recognize that the continued existence of the State Defense Committee is not necessary, whereby the State Defense Committee and all its transfer the affairs to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR."

It should be noted that the creation of state bonds was not an exceptional phenomenon in national history state and law. Its organization can be considered in the context of a certain continuity in the creation of similar emergency and special bodies in the history of our country. They existed in Russian Empire, and then at earlier stages of the existence of the RSFSR and the USSR. So, for example, in Russia the Council of State Defense was created on June 8, 1905 and operated until August 12, 1909, and during the First World War a Special Meeting was created to discuss and consolidate measures for the defense of the state (1915-1918) . After the October Revolution of 1917, among the political and administrative structures of the Soviet government there were: the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense (1918-1920), the Council of Labor and Defense (1920-1937), the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1937 - June 1941).

The place of the State Defense Committee in the system of party and government administration of the USSRduring the Great Patriotic War, it was determined by its characteristics as a body that was complex in its political and managerial nature - it simultaneously combined party leadership and state administration of the country. At the same time, the main question is whether to maintain or abandon in war conditions the old system that had developed by the early 1940s. administrative-command system of party-Soviet governance in the country. She was actually represented by one person - V.I. Stalin, who relied on a narrow circle of party functionaries and at the same time leaders higher authorities state power and administration that are part of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

Studies of the activities of the State Defense Committee note and focus on one of its important features, namely that the previously existing Soviet emergency bodies, unlike the State Defense Committee, did not replace the activities of party bodies in war conditions. On this occasion N.Ya. Komarov emphasizes that “emergency authorities during the civil and Great Patriotic Wars differed very significantly, and primarily in their methods of activity. The main feature of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was that it did not replace party, government and military bodies. Fundamental issues of conducting armed struggle were considered at that time at the Politburo and plenums of the Central Committee, at congresses of the RCP (b), at meetings of the Council of People's Commissars. During the Great Patriotic War, no plenums, much less party congresses, were held; all cardinal issues were resolved by the State Defense Committee. The tasks of strengthening the country's defense capability, which had become urgently on the agenda, were considered by Stalin in the closest unity of the political, economic and military spheres, which made it possible, from the point of view of the chairman of the State Defense Committee, to concentrate the country's political and military efforts on solving urgent problems of defense of our state, on increasing the combat effectiveness of the army and navy. This, finally, ensured the reality of implementing the unity of political, economic and military leadership of the entire system of socialist social relations.”

The question posed is answered more convincingly by the team of authors of the newest study - “The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” (2015). Considering the place of the “Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in the system of strategic leadership of the country and the armed forces” in the 11th volume of this publication, the team of authors who prepared it notes: “The Politburo transferred power functions to a new emergency authority - the State Defense Committee... I.V. Stalin and his closest associates, by placing all power on the State Defense Committee and becoming part of it, thereby radically changed the power structure in the country, the system of state and military administration. In fact, all decisions of the State Defense Committee, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and draft decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR were approved by a narrow circle statesmen: V.M. Molotov, G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, K.E. Voroshilov, L.M. Kaganovich, and then I.V. Stalin made a decision on behalf of which body it would be advisable to issue this or that administrative document.” It is also emphasized that in the new conditions of governing the country, “the leading role in both the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command belonged to members of the Politburo. Thus, the GKO included all members of the Politburo, with the exception of N.A. Voznesensky, and at Headquarters the Politburo was represented by three members of the highest party body: I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov and K.E. Voroshilov. Accordingly, the resolutions of the State Defense Committee were actually also resolutions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. ... Members of the Politburo, State Defense Committee and Headquarters, representing the unified state-political and strategic center of the country's leadership, possessed all available information about the state of affairs in the country and at the front, so they could quickly resolve urgent issues. Thanks to this, the process of making important decisions was significantly accelerated, which had a positive impact on the general situation at the front and in the rear. Despite the violation of the principles of internal party democracy, such an approach was justified by the specifics of wartime, when the issues of organizing the country’s defense and mobilizing all forces to repel the enemy came to the fore.” At the same time, “the decisive word in both the Politburo and the State Defense Committee remained with the head of the country.”

This allows us to talk about the party-state nature of the State Defense Committee, the creation and activities of which reflected the final formation of the state in the 1930s. system of governing the country, in which the leading role was played by the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, represented by its General Secretary I.V. Stalin and members of the Politburo, and the Soviet state acted as a mechanism for legislative registration and implementation of the political decisions of the party. GKO was primarilyh emergency body of the party leadership in conditions of war and his activities fully corresponded to the principles of combining the general party leadership of the country and the use of the Soviet state apparatus to implement party decisions. This did not fundamentally change the previous style of leadership of the country - the State Defense Committee was primarily a body, albeit an emergency one, of the political, party leadership, committee discussed and made decisions on the main issues of governing the country in wartime conditions at the level of a very limited number of persons vested with the highest party power - “all officials of the newly formed body were members and candidate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.” GKO asemergency government body was characterized by the fact that in it, at the level of heads of the highest bodies of state power and management, who occupied key positions in them, areas of organizational and managerial activity were concentrated. This was also manifested in the organization of the activities of the State Defense Committee - the entire system of military and civilian administration was involved in the implementation of the decisions it made. At the same time, the State Defense Committee was “a center of emergency power and control, endowed with special powers” ​​and acted as “the main structure, including in the system of strategic management bodies of the country and its armed forces, whose decrees and orders were given the status of wartime laws, binding on everyone.” . At the same time, one should take into account the fair remark of military historians that “special emergency state bodies created in connection with the urgent need of wartime acted and were modified in connection with a perceived need. Then they were formalized according to the appropriate legislative procedure (GKO resolution), but without changing the Constitution of the USSR. Under them, new leadership positions, executive and technical apparatuses were established, and emergency management technology was developed in creative searches. With their help, it was possible to quickly solve the most pressing problems."

Directions and organization of activities of State Defense Committeescombined the principles of collegiality when discussing issues and unity of command when making decisions, and the committee itself acted “as a think tank and a mechanism for restructuring the country on a war footing.” At the same time, “the main direction of the GKO’s activities was the work of transferring the Soviet state from peacetime to wartime.” The committee's activities covered a complex range of issues in almost all areas of political and public administration of the country in wartime conditions.

In the organization and activities of the State Defense Committee, the leading role belonged to its chairman, I.V. Stalin, who during the war concentrated in his hands all the key party and state posts and at the same time was: Chairman of the State Defense Committee, Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Chairman of the Supreme Command Headquarters, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, people's commissar defense of the USSR, Chairman of the Transport Committee of the State Defense Committee. I.V. Stalin and his deputy V.M. Molotov “carried out not only leadership over the activities of this emergency body, but also strategic leadership of the country, the armed struggle and the war as a whole. All resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee were signed by them. At the same time, V.M. Molotov, also as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, led the country’s foreign policy activities.” Military historians also pay attention to the advantages of unity of command in war conditions and emphasize that “having received unlimited powers, J.V. Stalin was able to use them rationally: he not only united, but also implemented huge military-political, administrative and administrative potential of state power and management in the interests of achieving the strategic goal - victory over Nazi Germany and its allies."

Members of the State Defense Committee were assigned to the most responsible areas of work. At the first meeting of the State Defense Committee - July 3, 1941 - “seven resolutions of the State Defense Committee were approved on the responsibility for the assigned area of ​​​​each member of the State Defense Committee. ... Members of the State Defense Committee G.M. Malenkov, K.E. Voroshilov and L.P. Beria, along with his main responsibilities in the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, the People’s Commissariats and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, through the State Defense Committee, received new permanent or temporary assignments.” Beria in the military-industrial bloc oversaw the people's commissariats (mortar weapons, ammunition for the tank industry), and also, in accordance with the GKO decree of August 29, 1941, was appointed GKO commissioner on armament issues and was responsible “for the implementation and overfulfillment by industry of production plans of all types weapons." G.M. Malenkov supervised the production of all types of tanks. Marshal K.E. Voroshilov was engaged in military mobilization work. As necessary, assignments were redistributed among committee members.

Working groups and structural divisions were created and operated under the State Defense Committee. The working groups were the first structural elements of the State Defense Committee apparatus and comprised a team of qualified specialists - 20-50. More stable structural divisions of the State Defense Committee were committees, commissions, councils, groups, and bureaus created as needed. The committee included: Group of State Defense Authorities (July - December 1941), Evacuation Committee (July 16, 1941 - December 25, 1945), Committee for the evacuation of food and manufactured goods from front-line zones (from September 25, 1941), Trophy Commission (December 1941 - April 5, 1943), Unloading Committee railways(December 25, 1941 - February 14, 1942), Transport Committee (February 14, 1942 - May 19, 1944), GKO Operations Bureau (from October 8, 1942), Trophy Committee (from April 5, 1943), Council on radar (from July 4, 1943), Special Committee on Reparations (from February 25, 1945), Special Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy (from August 20, 1945).

Of particular importance in the organizational structure of the State Defense Committee was the institution of its representatives, who, as representatives of the committee, were sent to enterprises, front-line areas, etc. Military historians note that “the establishment of the institution of State Defense Committee commissioners became a powerful lever for the implementation of not only its decisions. At large enterprises, in addition to those authorized by the State Defense Committee, there were party organizers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Komsomol Organizers of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, authorized representatives of the NKVD, and authorized representatives of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. In other words, there was a whole army of controllers on issues of performance discipline. It should be noted that most often, the authorized representatives of the State Defense Committee, who had incomparably greater rights and opportunities than the heads of enterprises, provided them with invaluable practical assistance. But there were also those who, without understanding the technological processes of production, using intimidation and threats, caused confusion. In such cases, a reasoned report to the chairman of the State Defense Committee quickly resolved conflict situation» .

The territorial structures of the State Defense Committee were the City Defense Committees - local emergency authorities, the decision to create which was made by the committee on October 22, 1941. City defense committees were created by decision of the State Defense Committee, were exclusively subordinate to it, and their most important decisions were approved by them. Researchers of the GKO activities note that “city defense committees had the right to declare the city in a state of siege, evacuate residents, give enterprises special tasks for the production of weapons, ammunition, equipment, form people’s militia and destruction battalions, organize the construction of defensive structures, mobilize the population and transport, create or abolish institutions and organizations. The police, formations of the NKVD troops and volunteer work detachments were placed at their disposal. In conditions of a critically difficult situation, local emergency authorities ensured unity of government, uniting civil and military power. They were guided by the resolutions of the State Defense Committee, decisions of local party and Soviet bodies, military councils of fronts and armies. Under them, there was also an institution of commissioners, operational groups were created to urgently resolve military issues, and public activists were widely involved.”

Giving a general assessment of the organization of the activities of the State Defense Committee, military historians emphasize: “The most characteristic features of the development of the State Defense Committee were: the forced necessity and some spontaneity of the creation of its organizational and functional structures; lack of experience in the formation and structural development of such a government body; management of the structural development of the State Defense Committee by the first person of the party and state - I.V. Stalin; lack of directly subordinate bodies; leadership of the active army, society and the national economy through regulations that had the force of wartime laws, as well as through constitutional authorities; the use of the structures of the highest bodies of the party, state and executive power of the USSR as executive and technical apparatuses; lack of pre-officially approved tasks, functions and powers of the State Defense Committee and its apparatus.”

Decrees and orders of the State Defense Committeedocumented his decisions. Their preparation was not specifically regulated: depending on the complexity of the issues under consideration, they were resolved as quickly as possible or the problem was studied and, if necessary, written reports, information, proposals and other documents submitted from the relevant civil or military authorities were requested and heard. Then the issues were discussed by committee members and decisions were made on them. At the same time, a number of decisions that primarily fell within the competence of the Council of People's Commissars were made individually by V.I. Stalin. The decisions made until the end of 1942 were formalized by A.N. Poskrebyshev (head of the Special Department of the Central Committee), and then - the Operational Bureau of the State Defense Committee. The resolutions of the State Defense Committee were signed by I.V. Stalin, and other members of the committee had the right to sign operational directive documents (orders). It should be noted that the Politburo did not previously review or approve the decisions of the State Defense Committee, although the Politburo retained preliminary consideration and approval of draft resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, joint resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, as well as individual decisions of the Secretariat and the Organizing Bureau Party Central Committee.

Resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee were not subject to publication - they were classified as “Top Secret”, and individual acts were supplemented with the label “Of Special Importance”. Only a few decisions of the State Defense Committee were brought to the attention of the population - published in the open press. In total, during the period of activity of the State Defense Committee from June 30, 1941 to September 4, 1945 (1629 days of work), 9971 resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee were followed. “They cover all aspects of state activity during the war. The content of the documents, as a rule, depended on the developing military-political situation on the Soviet-German front, in the country and in the world, the military-political and strategic goals of operations, campaigns and the war in general, as well as on the state of one’s own economy.” Resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee, after they were signed, were sent for execution to the people's commissars, first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the union republics, regional committees, regional committees

Study of the activities of State Defense Committeesuntil the beginning of the 2000s. limited by the availability of the source base - the secrecy of the committee's documents, which also limited the possibilities of research. But even at the same time, historians and legal historians, to one degree or another, turned to the history of the State Defense Committee and illuminated, within the limits available to them, certain aspects of the activities of the State Defense Committee. In this regard, the studies of N.Ya. are interesting. Komarov - in 1989, his article “The State Defense Committee decides ... Some issues of organizational building and strengthening combat Soviet army during the Great Patriotic War,” which outlined the principled position and highlighted the main aspects of the activities of the State Defense Committee. In 1990, his documentary work “The State Defense Committee Resolves: Documents” was published. Memories. Comments".

Carrying out work on declassifying documents in 1990 - early 2000. provided researchers with access to previously closed archival documents. The latter was reflected in an increase in research interest in the study of GKO - works devoted to its activities appeared, as well as publications of documents. Among them, the work of Yu.A. is of interest. Gorkova - “The State Defense Committee decides... (1941-1945). Figures, documents" (2002), based on previously closed materials from the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, the personal archives of I.V. Stalin, G.K. Zhukova, A.M. Vasilevsky, A.I. Mikoyan and allowing us to understand the range of directions and content of the activities of the State Defense Committee. In 2015, the work of a team of military historians, unique in terms of its richness of material and level of analysis, was published - “The State Defense Committee in the system of emergency bodies for the strategic leadership of the country and the armed forces”, included Volume 11 (“Policy and strategy of Victory: strategic leadership of the country and the Armed Forces of the USSR during the war”) of a twelve-volumepublications "The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" in (M., 2011-2015). Without dwelling on the characteristics of this publication, we note that for the first time the activities of the State Defense Committee received a systematic Scientific research in the context of the functioning of the entire mechanism of party, military, and civil governance in the country.

The potential of researching documents on the activities of State Defense Committees is far from exhausted. Currently, the GKO materials are mostly open and are stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (formerly the Central Party Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the CPSU Central Committee) - fund 644. Only 98 resolutions and orders of the GKO and partially 3 more documents have not been declassified . The website of the Federal Archival Agency of the Russian Federation contains lists of GKO documents available to researchers.

So, the State Defense Committee was formed as an emergency party-state body that headed the system of public administration of the USSR in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945. The study of his activities was reflected in the studies of historians and legal historians of the 1960-1990s, devoted to the organization of government in the country during the Great Patriotic War, but they were extremely limited in their sources - materials on the activities of the State Defense Committee were mostly classified. This limitation of research capabilities for working with documents on the activities of the State Defense Committee was overcome in the 2000s. with the removal of the classification of secrecy, which ensured the emergence of new works and created opportunities for recreating both the history of the activities of the State Defense Committee and the picture of governance in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. generally.

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