GKO defense. State Defense Committee

State Defense Committee

GKO - created at the time of the Great Patriotic War emergency governing body of the country. The need for creation was obvious, since in war time it was required to concentrate all power in the country, both executive and legislative, in one governing body. Stalin and the Politburo actually headed the state and made all decisions. However, the decisions made formally came from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. To eliminate such a method of leadership, permissible in peacetime, but not meeting the requirements of the country's martial law, it was decided to create a GKO, which included some members of the Politburo, secretaries of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and Stalin himself, as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

The idea of ​​creating a GKO was put forward by L.P. Beria at a meeting in the office of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Molotov in the Kremlin, which was also attended by Malenkov, Voroshilov, Mikoyan and Voznesensky. Thus, the GKO was formed on June 30, 1941 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 CPSU (b). The need to create the GKO as the supreme governing body was motivated by the difficult situation at the front, which demanded that the leadership of the country be centralized to the maximum extent. The aforementioned resolution states that all GKO orders must be unquestioningly carried out by citizens and any authorities.

It was decided to put Stalin at the head of the GKO, in view of his undeniable authority in the country. Having made this decision, Beria, Molotov, Malenkov, Voroshilov, Mikoyan and Voznesensky in the afternoon of June 30 went to the "Blizhnyaya Dacha".

Stalin did not speak on the radio in the first days of the war, as he understood that his speech could further cause anxiety and panic among people. The fact is that he very rarely spoke in public, on the radio. In the pre-war years, this was only a few times: in 1936 - 1 time, in 1937 - 2 times, in 1938 - 1, in 1939 - 1, in 1940 - not a single one, until July 3, 1941 - not a single one. ...

Until June 28 inclusive, Stalin worked intensively in his Kremlin office and received a large number of visitors every day; on the night of June 28-29, he had Beria and Mikoyan, who left the office at about 1 am. After that, the entries in the visit log cease and for June 29-30 they are completely absent, which shows that Stalin did not receive anyone in his office in the Kremlin these days.

Having received on June 29 the first and still vague information about the fall of Minsk that had taken place the day before, he visited the People's Commissariat of Defense, where he had a difficult scene with G.K. Zhukov. After that, Stalin went to "Blizhnyaya Dacha" and locked himself there, not receiving anyone or answering phone calls. He remained in this state until the evening of June 30, when (at about 5 pm) a delegation (Molotov, Beria, Malenkov, Voroshilov, Mikoyan and Voznesensky) came to him.

These leaders informed Stalin about the created state governing body and invited him to become the chairman of the State Defense Committee, to which Stalin gave his consent. There, on the spot, powers were distributed among the members of the GKO.

The composition of the GKO was as follows: Chairman of the GKO - I. V. Stalin; Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee - VM Molotov. Members of the State Defense Committee: L. P. Beria (since May 16, 1944 - Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee); K. E. Voroshilov; G.M. Malenkov.

The composition of the GKO was changed three times (the changes were legislatively formalized by resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Council):

- On February 3, 1942, N. A. Voznesensky (at that time Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR) and A. I. Mikoyan became members of the State Defense Committee;

- On November 22, 1944, N. A. Bulganin became a new member of the GKO, and K. E. Voroshilov was removed from the GKO.

The vast majority of GKO resolutions dealt with topics related to the war:

- evacuation of the population and industry (in the first period of the Great Patriotic War);

- mobilization of industry, production of weapons and ammunition;

- handling captured weapons and ammunition;

- study and export to the USSR of captured samples of technology, industrial equipment, reparations (for final stage war);

- the organization of hostilities, the distribution of weapons, etc.

- appointment of authorized GKOs;

- the beginning of "work on uranium" (creation nuclear weapons);

- structural changes in the GKO itself.

The overwhelming majority of the decisions of the State Defense Committee were classified as “Secret”, “Top secret” or “Top secret / of special importance”.

Some decisions were open and published in the press - GKO Resolution No. 813 of 19.10.41 on the introduction of a state of siege in Moscow.

The State Defense Committee was in charge of all military and economic issues during the war. The leadership of the hostilities was carried out through the Headquarters.

On September 4, 1945, the State Defense Committee was abolished by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

| | Correct link to this article:

S.V. Kodan - State Defense Committee in the system of party leadership and government controlled in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945: creation, nature, structure and organization of activity // Genesis: historical research. - 2015. - No. 3. - P. 616 - 636. DOI: 10.7256 / 2409-868X.2015.3.15198 URL: https://nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=15198

The State Defense Committee in the system of party leadership and public administration in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945: creation, nature, structure and organization of activities

Sergey Kodan Doctor legal sciences Professor, Distinguished Lawyer Russian Federation, member of the Expert Council on Law of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation, Professor of the Department of Theory of State and Law of the Ural State law university, editor-in-chief of the journal "Genesis: Historical Research" 620137, Russia, Sverdlvskaya region, Yekaterinburg, st. Komsomolskaya, 21, office. 210 Kodan Sergei Vladimirovich Doctor of Law Professor, the department of Theory of State and Law, Merited Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Ural State Law Academy; Editor-in-Chief of the Scientific Journal “Genesis: historical studies” 620137, Russia, Sverdlvskaya oblast ", g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Komsomol" skaya, 21, of. 210 10.7256 / 2409-868X.2015.3.15198 Date of sending the article to the editor: 07-05-2015 Date of publication: 09-05-2015 Annotation. The creation and activities of the State Defense Committee reflected the peculiarities of state administration in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, in which conditions the concentration of all resources was required to win the war. In the pre-war years, the system of governing the country was finally formed, in which the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) determined public policy and actually headed the party-state administration. The creation of the GKO on June 30, 1941 fully reflected this tendency and in the conditions of the war, as an emergency party-state body, concentrated all power in the state. Declassified archival documents on the activities of the State Defense Committee create new opportunities for studying its activities. The article presents the characteristics of the creation, composition, directions of activity and an overview of the materials of the official office work of the State Defense Committee. The article describes the State Defense Committee, and the representation of publications of documents on activities in scientific research, the possibilities of attracting new materials are indicated. 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 GKOs. Keywords: history of the Soviet state, the Great Patriotic War, state administration, emergency control bodies, party and state administration bodies, military administration bodies, the State Defense Committee, the composition of the State Defense Committee, the organization of the State Defense Committee's activities, the decisions 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 within the framework of the project of the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation No. 15-03-00624 "Source study of the history of state and law of Russia (1917 - 1990s.) During the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945. there was a specially created control system in which the State Defense Committee occupied the leading position from June 30, 1945 to September 4, 1945. The history of the GKO's activity is very interesting and indicative, since this body reflected the peculiarities and combined two principles in its organization - the party and the state, which are characteristic of the mechanisms of management in Soviet society. But, at the same time, it is also a unique experience of creating, organizing and ensuring sufficiently effective management in wartime. Within the framework of this article, we will dwell on the issues of the creation and place of GKOs in the system of party and state administration during the Great Patriotic War, the peculiarities of its activities and issued acts, as well as the state of research of the problem and the availability of 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 clearly showed that the pre-war command-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. A restructuring of the entire system of political and state administration of the USSR was required, the creation of new emergency authorities in the country capable of providing comprehensive and coordinated control of the front and rear and "in the shortest possible lines to turn the country into a single military camp." On the second day of the war, a body of the highest collective strategic leadership of the active army was created - the Headquarters of the High Command. And although the Stavka "had all the powers in the strategic leadership of the troops and the forces of the fleet, it was not able to carry out power and administrative functions in the sphere of civil administration." The headquarters also "could not act as a coordinating element in the activities of civilian power and administrative structures in the interests of the active army, which, naturally, made it difficult to strategically command the troops and forces of the fleet." The situation at the front was rapidly deteriorating and this "pushed the top party-state leadership of the USSR to form a power structure that could become higher in status not only to the Headquarters of the High Command, but also to all leading party instances, state power and administration bodies." The decision to create a new emergency body was considered and approved by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). The creation of the GKO formalized 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 CPSU (b) of June 30, 1941. It established two fundamentally important provisions: "Concentrate all power in the state in the hands of the State Defense Committee" (p. 2) and "To oblige all citizens and all party, Soviet, Komsomol and military bodies to unquestioningly fulfill the decisions and orders of the State Defense Committee" (p. 2). The composition of the GKO was represented by the leadership of the party and the member states and candidate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b): I.V. Stalin (chairman), V.M. Molotov, K.E. Voroshilov, G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria. Subsequent changes in the composition of the GKO took place in the same personnel key: in 1942 N.A. 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 Soviet 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, to recognize that the further existence of the State Defense Committee is not necessitated, by virtue of which the State Defense Committee should be abolished and all of it to transfer cases to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. " It should be noted that the creation of GKO was not an exceptional phenomenon in national history state and law. Its organization can be viewed 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 it was created on June 8, 1905 and operated until August 12, 1909. national defense, and during the First World War, a Special Meeting was created to discuss and unite measures for the defense of the state (1915-1918). After October revolution In 1917, among the political and administrative structures of the Soviet power, 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 state administration of the USSRduring the Great Patriotic War, it was defined by its characteristics as a body that was complex in its political and administrative nature - it simultaneously combined both party leadership and state administration of the country. In this case, the main thing is the question of preserving or abandoning the previous one, which had developed by the beginning of the 1940s, in war conditions. administrative-command system of party-Soviet governance in the country. It was actually represented by one person - V.I. Stalin, who relied on a narrow circle of party functionaries and at the same time the leaders of the highest bodies of state power and administration, which are part of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Research into the activities of the GKO notes and focuses on one important feature of it, which is that the previously existing Soviet emergency bodies, in contrast to the GKO, did not replace the activities of party bodies under war conditions. On this occasion, N. Ya. Komarov emphasizes that “the emergency authorities during the years of the Civil and the Great Patriotic War differed very significantly, and above all in their methods of activity. Main feature The Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense was that it did not replace the party, government and military bodies. The fundamental questions of waging armed struggle were considered at that time at the Politburo and plenums of the Central Committee, at the congresses of the RCP (b), at meetings of the Council of People's Commissars. During the Great Patriotic War, no plenums, let alone party congresses, were held, all cardinal issues were decided by the State Defense Committee. The urgent tasks of strengthening the country's defense capability 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 GKO chairman, to concentrate the country's political and military efforts on solving urgent problems of protection our state, on increasing the combat capability of the army and navy. This, finally, ensured the reality of the implementation of the unity of political, economic and military leadership of the entire system of socialist social relations. " This question is answered more convincingly by a team of authors the latest research- "The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945." (2015). Considering the place of the "Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (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: Stalin and his closest associates, having entrusted all power to the GKO and joining 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 (Bolsheviks), the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, 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 JV 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 under the new conditions of governing the country, “the leading role both in the State Defense Committee and in the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command belonged to the members of the Politburo. So, the GKO included all members of the Politburo, with the exception of N.A. Voznesensky, and at the Headquarters of the Politburo it was represented by three members of the highest party body: I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov and K.E. Voroshilov. Accordingly, the decisions of the State Defense Committee were actually also decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). ... Members of the Politburo, GKO and Headquarters, representing the single 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 effect 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 repulse the enemy came to the fore. At the same time, "the decisive word both in the Politburo and in the State Defense Committee remained with the head of the country." The above allows us to speak about the party-state nature of the GKO, in the creation and activity of which the finally formed in the 1930s was reflected. the system of government of the country, in which the VKP (b) played the leading role in the person of 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 political decisions of the party. GKO was primarilyh emergency body of party leadership in the conditions of war and its 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 the decisions of the party. 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 candidates for members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)." GKO asemergency government characterized by the fact that at the level of the heads of the highest bodies of state power and administration, who held key positions in them, the directions of organizational and managerial activity were concentrated. This also manifested itself in the organization of the GKO's activities - the entire system of military and civilian control was involved in the implementation of its decisions. At the same time, the GKO was "a center of emergency power and management, endowed with special powers" and acted as "the main structure, including in the system of strategic leadership of the country and its armed forces, whose decisions and orders were given the status of wartime laws, binding on everyone." ... At the same time, one should take into account the just remark of military historians that “special emergency state bodies, created in connection with the urgent need for wartime, acted and changed in connection with a perceived need. Then they were formalized by the appropriate legislative order (GKO decree), but without changing the Constitution of the USSR. Under them, new leadership positions, executive and technical apparatus were established, and the technology of emergency management was developed in a creative search. With their help, it was possible to quickly solve the most pressing problems. " Directions and organization of GKO activitiescombined the principles of collegiality when discussing issues and one-man management when making decisions, and the committee itself acted "as a think tank and a mechanism for rebuilding the country on a military basis." At the same time, "the main direction of the GKO was the work on the transfer of the Soviet state from peacetime to wartime." The committee's activities covered a very complex set of issues in almost all areas of political and state administration of the country in wartime conditions. In the organization and activities of the GKO, 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, Chairman of the Supreme Command Headquarters, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b), a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, chairman of the Transport Committee of the State Defense Committee. I.V. Stalin and his deputy V.M. Molotov “exercised not only the leadership of the activities of this extraordinary body, but also the strategic leadership of the country, armed struggle and war as a whole. All decisions and orders of the State Defense Committee came out with their signatures. Moreover, V.M. Molotov also as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs directed the country's foreign policy. " a huge military-political, administrative and regulatory potential of state power and management in the interests of achieving a strategic goal - victory over Nazi Germany and its allies. " The members of the GKO were assigned to the most responsible areas of work. At the first meeting of the GKO - July 3, 1941 - “seven resolutions of the State Defense Committee on responsibility for the assigned area of ​​each member of the GKO were approved. ... Members of the State Defense Committee G.M. Malenkov, K.E. Voroshilov and L.P. Beria, along with his main duties 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, received new permanent or temporary assignments through the GKO. Beria in the military-industrial bloc supervised the people's commissariats (mortar weapons, ammunition for the tank industry), and in accordance with the GKO decree of August 29, 1941, he was appointed the GKO commissioner for armaments and was responsible "for the implementation and overfulfilment of production plans of all types by the industry. weapons ". G.M. Malenkov supervised the production of all types of tanks. Marshal K.E. Voroshilov was engaged in military mobilization work. As necessary, instructions were redistributed among the members of the committee. Working groups and structural divisions were created and operated under the GKO. Working groups were the first structural elements apparatus of the State Defense Committee and made up a team of qualified specialists - 20-50. More resilient structural units GKOs were committees, commissions, councils, groups, bureaus created as necessary. The committee included: the GKO Commissioners Group (July - December 1941), the Evacuation Committee (July 16, 1941 - December 25, 1945), the Committee for the evacuation of food and manufactured goods from the 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 (since July 4, 1943), the Special Committee on Reparations (since February 25, 1945), the Special Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy (since August 20, 1945). Of particular importance in the organizational structure of the GKO was the institution of its commissioners, who, as representatives of the committee, were sent to enterprises, to front-line areas, etc. Military historians note that “the establishment of the institute of GKO commissioners has become a powerful lever for the implementation of not only its decrees. At large enterprises, in addition to authorized GKOs, there were party organizers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Komsomol organizers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, plenipotentiary representatives of the NKVD, authorized by the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. In other words, there was a whole army of performance discipline supervisors. It should be noted that most often the authorized GKOs, 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 delving into the technological processes of production, acting intimidation and threats, caused confusion. In such cases, a reasoned report to the chairman of the GKO quickly allowed conflict situation» . The territorial structures of the GKO were the City Defense Committees - local emergency authorities, the decision to establish which the committee made on October 22, 1941. The City Defense Committees were created by the decision of the State Defense Committee, were exclusively subordinate to it, and their most important decisions were approved. Researchers of the State Defense Committee note that “city defense committees had the right to declare a city under siege, to evacuate residents, to give enterprises special assignments for the production of weapons, ammunition, equipment, to form militias and fighter battalions, to organize the construction of defensive structures, to mobilize the population, and transport, create or abolish institutions and organizations. At their disposal were the militia, the formations of the NKVD troops and volunteer workers' detachments. In a critically difficult situation, local emergency authorities ensured the unity of management, uniting civil and military power... They were guided by decisions of the State Defense Committee, decisions of local party and Soviet bodies, military councils of fronts and armies. They also had the institution of commissioners, task forces were created to urgently resolve military issues, and public activists were widely involved. " Giving a general assessment of the organization of the GKO activities, military historians emphasize: “The most characteristic features the development of the GKO were: a forced necessity and some spontaneity in the creation of its organizational and functional structures; lack of experience in the formation and structural development of such a government body; leadership of the structural development of GKOs by the first person of the party and the state - I.V. Stalin; lack of bodies of direct subordination; leadership of the army, society and the national economy through decrees 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 apparatus; lack of previously officially approved tasks, functions and powers of the State Defense Committee and its staff. " Resolutions and orders of GKOdocumented 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 there was a discussion of issues by members of the committee and decisions were made on them. At the same time, a number of decisions, which mainly belonged to the competence of the Council of People's Commissars, were made individually by V.I. Stalin. Decisions taken Until the end of 1942, A.N. Poskrebyshev (head of the Special Department of the Central Committee), and then - the Operational Bureau of the State Defense Committee. The decisions 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 preliminarily consider and did not approve the decisions of the GKO, although the Politburo retained a preliminary consideration and approval of draft resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), joint resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (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 labeled "Top Secret", and individual acts were supplemented with the "Special Importance" stamp. Only a few decisions of the State Defense Committee were brought to the attention of the population - they were published in the open press. In total, during the period of the GKO's activity from June 30, 1941 to September 4, 1945 (1629 days of work), 9,971 resolutions and orders of the GKO were followed. “They cover all aspects of the state's activity during the war. The content of the documents, as a rule, depended on the prevailing 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 war in general, as well as on the state of our 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 GKO activitiesuntil the early 2000s. was 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 historians of law, to one degree or another, turned to the history of GKOs, illuminating, within the limits available to them, certain aspects of the activities of GKOs. In this respect, the studies of N.Ya. Komarov - in 1989, his article was published in the Military Historical Journal “The State Defense Committee decides ... Soviet army during the Great Patriotic War ”, which outlined the principled position and highlighted the main aspects of the GKO activities. In 1990, his documentary work “The State Defense Committee decides: Documents. Memories. Comments ". 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 the publication of documents. Among them, the work of Yu.A. Gorkova - “The State Defense Committee decides ... (1941-1945). Figures, documents ”(2002), based on previously closed materials from the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation, the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense, personal archives of I.V. Stalin, G.K. Zhukova, A.M. Vasilevsky, A.I. Mikoyan and allows us to understand the range of directions and content of GKO activities. In 2015, a work of a team of military historians, unique in terms of material saturation 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", which was included Volume 11 ("The Politics and Strategy of Victory: Strategic Leadership of the Country and the Armed Forces of the USSR during the War") twelve-volumeeditions "The Great Patriotic War 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 GKO received a systematic Scientific research in the context of the functioning of the entire mechanism of party, military, civil administration in the country. The research potential of documents on the activities of GKOs is far from being exhausted. At present, the materials of the GKO are mostly open and are stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (the Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU) - 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 the researcher. So, the State Defense Committee was formed as an extraordinary party and state body that headed the system of state 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 historians of law of the 1960s-1990s, dedicated to the organization of government in the country during the Great Patriotic War, but they were extremely limited in the source - materials on the activities of the State Defense Committee were mostly classified. This limited research ability to work with documents on the activities of GKOs was overcome in the 2000s. with the removal of the secrecy stamp, which ensured the appearance of new works and created opportunities for reconstructing both the history of the GKO activity and the picture of management in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. generally. Bibliography . The atomic project of the USSR. Documents and materials in 3 volumes M.-Sarov, 2000. T. 1-3. . Arkhipova T.G. State apparatus of the RSFSR during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). M., 1981. . Bulletin of declassified documents of the federal state archives. M., 2005. Issue. 6. Electronic resource: http://www.rusarchives.ru/secret/bul6/pred.shtml . Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 In 12 volumes. M., 2015. T. 11. Politics and strategy of Victory: strategic leadership of the country and the Armed Forces of the USSR during the war. A team of authors. . S.I. Golotik State Defense Council // Higher and Central state institutions Russia. 1801 - 1917 SPb., 1998. T. 2. Higher state institutions. . Gorkov Yu.A. The State Defense Committee decides ... (1941-1945). Figures, documents. M., 2002. . Danilov V.N. The Soviet State in the Great Patriotic War: the Phenomenon of Emergency Organs of Power 1941-1945. Saratov, 2002. . History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. 1941-1945. M., 1960-1965. T. 1-6. . History Soviet state and rights. T. 3. The Soviet state and law on the eve and years of the Great Patriotic War (1836-1945). M., 1985. . Komarov N. Ya. The State Defense Committee decides ... (Some issues of organizational development and strengthening of the combat Soviet Army during the Great Patriotic War) // Military History Journal. 1989. # 3. . Komarov N.Ya. The State Defense Committee decides: Documents. Memories. Comments M., 1990. . Korneva N.M., Tyutyunnik L.I., Sayet L.Ya., Vitenberg B.M. A special meeting for discussing and combining measures for the defense of the state // Higher and central state institutions of Russia. 1801 - 1917 SPb., 1998. T. 2. Higher state institutions.

The GKO is an extraordinary supreme state body that concentrated all power during the Great Patriotic War. It was formed on 30.6.1 941, abolished on 4.9.1945. Chairman - I. V. Stalin.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

State Defense Committee (GKO)

was created by a joint decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on June 30, 1941 in order to implement measures to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR to repel the enemy, in view of the state of emergency created as a result of the attack of Nazi Germany on THE USSR. I.V. was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee. Stalin. Exercising full power in the state, the State Defense Committee issued resolutions binding on all party, Soviet, Komsomol and military bodies and citizens. The GKO had its own representatives on the ground. As a result of the tremendous organizational work of the party and Soviet bodies under the leadership of the State Defense Committee, a well-coordinated and rapidly growing military economy was created in the USSR in a short time, which ensured the supply of the Red Army with the necessary weapons and the accumulation of reserves for the complete defeat of the enemy. In connection with the end of the war and the end of the state of emergency in the country, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by a decree of September 4, 1945, recognized that the further existence of the State Defense Committee was not necessitated, by virtue of which the State Defense Committee was abolished, and all its affairs were transferred to the Council of People's Commissars THE USSR.

STATE DEFENSE COMMITTEE (GKO), the extraordinary highest state body in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. Formed on June 30, 1941 by a joint resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR consisting of I.V. Stalin (chairman), V.M.Molotov (deputy chairman), K.E. Voroshilov, G.M. Malenkov , L.P. Beria. In February 1942, A.I. Mikoyan, N.A.Voznesensky, L.M. Kaganovich were additionally introduced into the GKO, in November 1944 N.A.Bulganin was included instead of Voroshilov. The GKO was endowed with full power on the territory of the USSR, that is, all party, Soviet, military, public bodies and organizations, as well as citizens of the USSR, were obliged to unquestioningly fulfill its decisions and orders.

The prototype of the GKO was the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense of the period Civil War 1917-22. GKO supervised the activities of all government departments and institutions; carried out the reorganization of the state apparatus and central bodies of military command in connection with the specifics of wartime; determined the tasks of the military economy and concentrated the efforts of state, party and economic bodies on their implementation; introduced and canceled a state of siege; took measures to restore the destroyed by the war National economy; supervised the provision of the armed forces with personnel, weapons, military equipment, military equipment and food; took measures to strengthen law and order in the country and discipline in the army; made decisions on the creation of foreign military formations on the territory of the USSR, on the purchase of equipment, weapons and other property abroad, etc. The GKO carried out the military-strategic leadership of the armed struggle through the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. To guide the struggle of the population behind enemy lines in May 1942, by decision of the State Defense Committee, the Central Headquarters was created at the Headquarters of the Supreme Command. partisan movement and local headquarters of the partisan movement. Each member of the State Defense Committee was in charge of a certain range of issues (L.P. Beria - the production of weapons and ammunition; K.E. Voroshilov - the preparation of new military formations for the army; G.M. Malenkov - the production of aircraft and aircraft engines; A.I. Mikoyan - the production of food, fuel and clothing, etc.). The members of the State Defense Committee were not relieved of their party and government positions; working groups were created under them, which included prominent designers, engineers, planners, production workers and other specialists.

The decisions taken took effect immediately and were executed through the apparatus of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the people's commissariats, as well as through the authorized GKOs. Under the State Defense Committee, there were committees: transport, trophy, radar, a special committee (dealing with reparations, captured equipment, and so on). To control the current work of all the people's commissariats of the defense industry, the people's commissariats of communications, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, power plants, coal, oil and chemical industries in December 1942, the GKO Operations Bureau was formed as part of Beria (chairman), Malenkov, Mikoyan, N.A. Voznesensky and Bulganin. In the spring of 1944, the People's Commissariats of the rubber, paper-cellulose and electrical industries were additionally transferred to the jurisdiction of the Operations Bureau, and in August 1944 - issues related to the supply of the Red Army and defense industry enterprises with food and industrial goods.

After the end of World War II, the State Defense Committee was abolished by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of 4/4/1945. In total, during the war years, the State Defense Committee adopted about 10 thousand normative legal acts that had the force of wartime laws. Despite the subjectivity that took place in a number of cases when analyzing and assessing the military-political situation, excessive centralization in solving many issues, the creation and operation of the GKO contributed to the mobilization of the efforts of the peoples of the USSR to achieve victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Lit .: Belikov A.M. State Defense Committee and the Problems of Creating a Coherent Military Economy // Soviet rear in the Great Patriotic War. M., 1974. Book. 1; Komarov Ya. Ya. The State Defense Committee decides ...: Documents. Memories. Comments. M., 1990; Gorkov Yu.A. State Defense Committee (1941-1945): Figures. The documents. M., 2002.

Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation

University of Moscow

Department of History of State and Law

on the topic: "Formation of the State Defense Committee of the USSR and city defense committees"

Introduction

State Defense Committee, Supreme Command Headquarters and General Staff

State Defense Committee

Headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR

City Defense Committees

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The Great Patriotic War was a colossal test for our state and society. Today it is important to turn to the history of public administration during the years of the last war in order to comprehend the historical experience. The relevance of the research topic is as follows.

First, in-depth and complex study The topics of the activities of the emergency central bodies of state power in wartime allows you to more fully imagine and evaluate the essence, goals, objectives, priorities and features of the system of emergency state administration of the USSR in the period under study, to see the main directions, forms and methods of work of emergency structures for the leadership of the country and the army.

Secondly, an objective analysis of this large and socially significant problem is important not only in terms of deep understanding and assessment of the past, but also for determining the prospects for state building in the Russian Federation at the present stage. The rich historical experience that was acquired in the field of public administration during the war is very important for us today. In the interests of the stable development of the state and society, it is necessary to know the experience of managing the country in an emergency. Knowledge of the historical experience of the problem under study makes it possible to formulate the provisions of the national security concept of the Russian Federation that are adequate to the challenges of the time.

Thirdly, the appeal to this topic is associated with the ongoing rethinking of the events of World War II, the ambiguity of assessments of the activities of the emergency bodies of state power on the pages of various publications. Fourth, the urgency of the problem lies in the fact that, with all the variety of literature written on the Great Patriotic War, the system of central emergency authorities has not been fully considered, since archival documents were closed from the scientific community for a long time and therefore did not become an object of special study.

The purpose of the work is to study the process of creation and activities of the State Defense Committee and city defense committees in the system of emergency authorities of the USSR during the period under study.

Explore the theoretical foundations - the reasons, goals, objectives and principles of the creation and operation of the system of emergency authorities of the USSR in the period under study;

Determine the role and place of GKOs in the system of emergency authorities;

Consider the history of the city defense committees created during the Second World War.

1. State Defense Committee, Supreme Command Headquarters and General Staff

Picture 1

According to the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, the Supreme Soviet (Supreme Soviet) of the USSR was the highest body of state power in the USSR, which was elected for 4 years. The USSR Armed Forces elected the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces - supreme body authorities Soviet Union in the period between sessions of the sun. Also, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR elected the government of the USSR - the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (SNK). The Supreme Court was elected by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for a term of five years. The USSR Armed Forces also appointed the Prosecutor (Prosecutor General) of the USSR.

The 1936 Constitution, or the Stalinist Constitution, did not in any way provide for the procedure for exercising state and military administration of the country in wartime conditions.

In the presented diagram, the heads of the structures of power of the USSR are indicated in 1941. The Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces was endowed with the right to declare a state of war, general or partial mobilization, martial law in the interests of the country's defense and state security. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the highest executive body of state power, took measures to ensure public order, protect the interests of the state and protect the rights of the population, supervise the general construction of the USSR Armed Forces, and determine the annual contingent of citizens to be called up for active military service.

The Defense Committee (KO) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was in charge of and coordinating the issues of military development and direct preparation of the country for defense. Although before the war it was envisaged that with the outbreak of hostilities military control was to be carried out by the Main Military Council headed by the People's Commissar of Defense, this did not happen. The general leadership of the armed struggle of the Soviet people against the German fascist troops was assumed by the CPSU (b), or rather its Central Committee (Central Committee), headed by I.V. Stalin. The situation on the fronts was very difficult Soviet troops retreating everywhere. It was necessary to reorganize the highest bodies of state and military administration.

On the second day of the war, June 23, 1941, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Headquarters of the Main Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR was created. It was headed by the People's Commissar of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko. , i.e. military command and control bodies were reorganized. The reorganization of the system of state power took place on June 30, 1941, when by the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created - the extraordinary supreme state body of the USSR, which concentrated all power in the country. The GKO supervised all military and economic issues during the war, and the leadership of the hostilities was carried out through the Supreme Command Headquarters.

“There was no bureaucracy in both the Headquarters and the State Defense Committee. These were exclusively operational bodies. The leadership was concentrated in the hands of Stalin ... Life in the entire state and military apparatus was tense, the work hours were round-the-clock, everyone was in their offices. Nobody gave orders. that it should be so, but it happened ", - recalled the head of Logistics, General of the Army A.V. Khrulev. In the first months of the Great Patriotic War, there was a complete centralization of power in the country. Stalin I.V. concentrated immense power in his hands - while remaining General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), he headed the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the State Defense Committee, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and the People's Commissariat of Defense.

2. State Defense Committee

The State Defense Committee, created during the Great Patriotic War, was an emergency governing body that possessed full power in the USSR. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) I.V. Stalin became the Chairman of the State Defense Committee. , his deputy - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov. The GKO included L.P. Beria. (People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR), Voroshilov K.E. (chairman of the KO at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR), Malenkov G.M. (secretary, head of the personnel department of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)). In February 1942, the following were added to the GKO: N.A. Voznesensky. (1st Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) and Mikoyan A.I. (Chairman of the Committee for Food and Clothing Supply of the Red Army), Kaganovich L.M. (Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars). In November 1944 N.A. Bulganin became a new member of the State Defense Committee. (Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR), and Voroshilov K.E. was removed from the GKO.

The GKO was endowed with broad legislative, executive and administrative functions; it united the military, political and economic leadership of the country. Resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee had the force of wartime laws and were subject to unquestioning execution by all party, state, military, economic and trade union bodies. However, the USSR Armed Forces, the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, the USSR Council of People's Commissars, the People's Commissariats also continued to operate, carrying out the decisions and decisions of the State Defense Committee. During the Great Patriotic War, the State Defense Committee adopted 9,971 resolutions, of which approximately two-thirds dealt with the problems of the military economy and the organization of military production: the evacuation of the population and industry; mobilization of industry, production of weapons and ammunition; handling captured weapons and ammunition; organization of hostilities, distribution of weapons; appointing authorized T-bills; structural changes in the GKO itself, etc. The rest of the decisions of the GKO dealt with political, personnel, and other issues.

Functions of GKO: 1) management of the activities of government departments and institutions, directing their efforts to the full use of the material, spiritual and military capabilities of the country to achieve victory over the enemy; 2) mobilization of the country's human resources for the needs of the front and the national economy; 3) the organization of the uninterrupted operation of the defense industry of the USSR; 4) solving the issues of restructuring the economy on a military basis; 5) evacuation of industrial facilities from threatened areas and transfer of enterprises to liberated areas; 6) training of reserves and personnel for the Armed Forces and industry; 7) restoration of the economy destroyed by the war; 8) determination of the volume and timing of deliveries of military products by the industry.

Before the military leadership, the GKO set military-political tasks, improved the structure of the Armed Forces, determined the general nature of their use in war, and assigned leading cadres. The working bodies of the GKO on military issues, as well as the direct organizers and executors of its decisions in this area were the People's Commissariats of Defense (NKO of the USSR) and the Navy (NK of the USSR Navy).

From the jurisdiction of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the people's commissariats of the defense industry were transferred to the jurisdiction of the GKO: the People's Commissariat for Aviation Industry, the People's Commissariat for Tank Industry, the People's Commissariat for Defense, the People's Commissariat for Armaments, the People's Commissariat for Armaments, the People's Commissariat for Defense, and others. GKO resolutions on the production of military products. The plenipotentiaries had mandates, signed by the chairman of the GKO, Stalin, which clearly defined the practical tasks that the GKO set for its plenipotentiaries. As a result of the efforts undertaken, the output of military products in March 1942 only in the eastern regions of the country reached the pre-war level of its output throughout the territory of the Soviet Union.

During the war, in order to achieve maximum efficiency of management and adaptation to current conditions the structure of GKO has changed several times. One of the important subdivisions of the State Defense Committee was the Operations Bureau, created on December 8, 1942. The Operations Bureau included LP Beria, GM Malenkov, AI Mikoyan. and Molotov V.M. The tasks of this subdivision initially included coordination and unification of actions of all other subdivisions of the State Defense Committee. But in 1944 the functions of the bureau were significantly expanded.

It began to control the current work of all people's commissariats of the defense industry, as well as the drawing up and execution of plans for the production and supply of industries and transport. The Operations Bureau became responsible for supplying the army, in addition, it was entrusted with the duties of the previously abolished Transport Committee. “All members of the State Defense Committee were in charge of certain areas of work. So, Molotov was in charge of tanks, Mikoyan was in charge of supplies, fuel supply, lend-lease issues, sometimes he carried out individual orders from Stalin to deliver shells to the front. Malenkov was in charge of aviation, Beria was in charge of ammunition. Each one came to Stalin with his own questions and said: I ask you to make such and such a decision on such and such an issue ... "

To carry out the evacuation of industrial enterprises and the population from the front-line areas to the east, the Council for Evacuation was created under the State Defense Committee. In addition, in October 1941, the Committee for the evacuation of food supplies, industrial goods and industrial enterprises was formed. However, in October 1941, these bodies were reorganized into the Evacuation Department under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Other important subdivisions of the State Defense Committee were: the Trophy Commission, created in December 1941, and in April 1943 transformed into the Trophy Committee; A special committee that dealt with the development of nuclear weapons; A special committee dealt with issues of reparations, etc.

The State Defense Committee has become the main link in the mechanism of centralized management of the mobilization of the country's human and material resources for defense and armed struggle against the enemy. Having fulfilled its functions, the State Defense Committee was disbanded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on September 4, 1945.

3. Headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR

Initially, the supreme body of the strategic leadership of military operations of the Soviet Armed Forces was called the Headquarters of the High Command. It included members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Stalin I.V., Molotov V.M., Marshal of the Soviet Union Voroshilov K.E., Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Budyonny, People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov N.G. and Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Zhukov G.K. , led by People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. At the Headquarters, an institute of permanent advisers was formed in the composition of: Marshals of the Soviet Union B.M. Shaposhnikov. and Kulik G.I .; generals Meretskov K.A. , Zhigarev P.F., Vatutin N.F., Voronov N.N .; and also Mikoyan A.I., Kaganovich L.M., Beria L.P., Voznesensky N.A., Zhdanov A.A., Malenkov G.M., Mekhlis L.Z.

The Headquarters of the High Command was reorganized into the Headquarters of the High Command. It was headed by the chairman of the State Defense Committee, Stalin. By the same decree, Marshal B.M. Shaposhnikov, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, was introduced to the Headquarters. August 8, 1941 Stalin I.V. was appointed the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Since that time, the Headquarters of the Supreme Command was renamed into the Headquarters of the Supreme Command (VGK). It included: Stalin I., Molotov V., Timoshenko S., Budyonny S., Voroshilov K., Kuznetsov N., Shaposhnikov B. and Zhukov G.

At the final stage of the Great Patriotic War, the composition of the Supreme Command Headquarters was changed for the last time. By a decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR of February 17, 1945, the following composition of the Supreme Command Headquarters was determined: Marshals of the Soviet Union I.V. (chairman - Supreme Commander-in-Chief), Zhukov G.K. (Deputy People's Commissar of Defense) and Vasilevsky A.M. (Deputy People's Commissar of Defense), Army Generals Bulganin N.A. (member of the State Defense Committee and Deputy People's Commissar of Defense) and Antonov A.I. (Chief of the General Staff), Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov (People's Commissar of the USSR Navy).

The headquarters of the Supreme Command carried out the strategic leadership of the Red Army, the USSR Navy, border and internal troops, partisan formations ... The activities of the Stavka consisted in assessing the military-political and military-strategic situation, making strategic and operational-strategic decisions, organizing strategic regroupings and creating groupings of troops, organizing interaction and coordinating actions during operations between front groups, fronts, individual armies, as well as between active army and partisan detachments. In addition, the Headquarters supervised the formation and preparation of strategic reserves, the material and technical support of the Armed Forces, supervised the study and generalization of war experience, exercised control over the implementation of assigned tasks, and resolved issues related to military operations.

The headquarters of the Supreme Command led the fronts, fleets and long-range aviation, set tasks for them, approved plans of operations, provided them with the necessary forces and means, and led partisans through the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. An important role in directing the combat activities of the fronts and fleets was played by the General Headquarters directives, which usually indicated the goals and objectives of troops in operations, the main areas where it was required to concentrate the main efforts, the necessary density of artillery and tanks in the areas of breakthrough, etc.

In the early days of the war, in a rapidly changing situation, in the absence of stable communication with the fronts and reliable information about the position of the troops, the military leadership was systematically late in making decisions, so it became necessary to create an intermediate command authority between the Supreme Command Headquarters and the fronts. For these purposes, it was decided to send the leading employees of the People's Commissariat of Defense to the front, but these measures at the initial stage of the war did not yield any results.

Therefore, on July 10, 1941, by a GKO decree, three Main Commands of Troops were created in strategic directions: the North-Western direction, headed by Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. - coordination of actions of the Northern and North-Western Fronts, as well as the Northern and the Baltic fleets; The western direction, headed by Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. - coordination of the actions of the Western Front and the Pinsk Military Flotilla, and later - the Western Front, the Front of Reserve Armies and the Central Front; Southwest direction, headed by Marshal S.M. Budyonny - coordination of actions of the Southwestern, Southern, and later the Bryansk fronts, with the operational subordination of the Black Sea Fleet .

The tasks of the High Commands included the study and analysis of the operational-strategic situation in the direction zone, coordination of actions of troops in the strategic direction, informing the Stavka about the situation on the fronts, directing the preparation of operations in accordance with the plans of the General Headquarters, and leading partisan warfare behind enemy lines. In the initial period of the war, the High Commands were able to respond quickly to enemy actions, providing more reliable and precise command and control of troops, as well as organizing interaction between the fronts. Unfortunately, the Commanders-in-Chief of the strategic directions not only did not have sufficiently broad powers, but also did not have the necessary military reserves and material resources to actively influence the course of hostilities. The headquarters did not clearly define the range of their functions and tasks.

Often their activities were limited to the transfer of information from the fronts to the Headquarters and, conversely, the orders of the Headquarters to the fronts.

The commanders-in-chief of the troops of the strategic directions did not manage to improve the leadership of the fronts. The main commands of the troops of the strategic directions began to be abolished one by one. But the Supreme Command Headquarters did not finally abandon them. In February 1942, the Headquarters assigned the commander Western front General of the Army Zhukov G.K. duties of the Commander-in-Chief of the troops of the Western direction, to coordinate the hostilities of the Western and Kalinin Fronts during the Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation ... Soon the High Command of the troops of the South-West direction was restored. The commander in chief was appointed commander of the Southwestern Front, Marshal Timoshenko S.K., to coordinate the actions of the Southwestern and neighboring Bryansk fronts. And in April 1942, on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front, the High Command of the North Caucasian Direction was formed, headed by Marshal S.M. Budyonny, to whom the Crimean Front, the Sevastopol Defense Region, the North Caucasian Military District, the Black Sea Fleet and Azov military flotilla. Soon from such a management system, how little effective had to be abandoned. In May 1942, the Main Commands of the troops of the Western and North Caucasian directions were abolished, and in June - the South-Western directions.

The institute of representatives of the Supreme Command Headquarters appeared, which became more widespread during the years of the Great Patriotic War. The most trained military leaders were appointed representatives of the Headquarters, who were endowed with broad powers and were usually sent to where, according to the plan of the Supreme Command Headquarters, the main tasks at the moment were being solved. Representatives of the Supreme Command Headquarters on the fronts in different time were: Budenny S.M., Zhukov G.K., Vasilevsky A.M., Voroshilov K.E., Antonov A.I., Timoshenko S.K., Kuznetsov N.G., Shtemenko S.M., A. A. Novikov other. Supreme Commander-in-Chief - Stalin I.V. demanded from the representatives of the Headquarters constant reports on the progress of the tasks assigned, often summoning them to the Headquarters during operations, especially when something went wrong.

Stalin personally set specific tasks to his representatives, severely asking for omissions and miscalculations. The institute of representatives of the Supreme Command Headquarters significantly increased the effectiveness of strategic leadership, contributed to a more rational use of forces in operations conducted at the fronts, it was easier to coordinate efforts and maintain close interaction between the fronts, branches of the Armed Forces, branches of the armed forces and partisan formations. Representatives of the Headquarters, having great powers, could influence the course of battles, correct the mistakes of the front-line and army command in time. The Institute of Headquarters representatives existed almost until the end of the war.

Campaign plans were adopted at joint meetings of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the State Defense Committee and the Supreme Command Headquarters, although in the first months of the war the principle of collegiality was practically not observed. V further work The commanders of the fronts, branches of the Armed Forces and combat arms took an active part in preparing the operations. As the front stabilized and the strategic leadership system was reorganized, the command and control of troops was also improved. Operations planning began to be characterized by more coordinated efforts of the Supreme Command Headquarters, the General Staff, and the front headquarters.

The most expedient methods of strategic management were developed by the Supreme Command Headquarters gradually, as it accumulated combat experience and the growth of military art among the highest levels of command and staff. During the war, the methods of strategic leadership of the Supreme Command Headquarters were continuously developed and improved. The most important issues of strategic plans and plans of operations were discussed at its meetings, which in a number of cases were attended by the commanders and members of the military councils of the fronts, the commanders of the branches of the armed forces and combat arms. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief formulated the final decision on the issues under discussion personally.

Throughout the war, the Supreme Command Headquarters was located in Moscow, which was of great moral importance. The members of the Supreme Command Headquarters gathered in the Kremlin office of I.V. Stalin, but with the beginning of the bombings, she was transferred from the Kremlin to a small mansion on Kirov Street with a reliable working space and communications. The headquarters was not evacuated from Moscow, and during the bombing the work was moved to the Kirovskaya metro station, where the underground strategic command center of the Armed Forces was prepared. There were equipped offices of Stalin I.V. and Shaposhnikov B.M., the operational group of the General Staff and directorates of the People's Commissariat of Defense was located.

In Stalin's office I.V. members of the Politburo, GKO and Supreme Command Headquarters gathered at the same time, but the unifying body in war conditions was still the Supreme Command Headquarters, whose meetings could be held at any time of the day. Reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief were made, as a rule, three times a day. At 10-11 o'clock in the morning the chief of the Operations Directorate usually reported, at 16-17 o'clock - the chief of the General Staff, and at night the military leaders went to Stalin with the final report for the day.

The priority in resolving military issues belonged, of course, to the General Staff. Therefore, during the war, his superiors visited Stalin IV almost every day, becoming for him the main experts, consultants and advisers. Frequent visitors to the Supreme Command Headquarters were the People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. Kuznetsov. and the head of the Rear Services of the Red Army Khrulev A.V. On several occasions, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief met with the chiefs of the main directorates of the NKO, the commanders and chiefs of the combat arms. People's Commissars of the aviation, tank industry, weapons, ammunition and others came with them on issues related to the acceptance of military equipment or its supply to the troops. Leading designers of weapons and military equipment were often invited on these issues. Having fulfilled its functions, the Supreme Command Headquarters was abolished in October 1945.

4. City Defense Committees

City Defense Committee - Emergency authority in the largest cities of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War .

October 1941 adopted a resolution of the USSR State Defense Committee on the creation of city defense committees in a number of regions: "Local defense committees are created in the interests of concentrating all civil and military power and establishing the strictest order in the cities and adjacent areas, which represent the nearest rear area of ​​the front." Their decisions were binding on all organizations. The first secretaries of the regional committees became the chairmen of the committees (city committees ) VKP (b) , the composition necessarily included the chairman of the regional (city) Council of People's Deputies and the head of the local department of the NKVD .

In accordance with the decree, the city defense committees were formed on October 23-24. Without a permanent staff, they used the apparatus of regional and city party committees, Soviet bodies, NKVD directorates, as well as city headquarters of local air defense. ... City committees monitored the situation in cities, social problems, emergencies, the work of industry and others. Often they had to deal with purely military issues, including air defense.

After the outbreak of the war in 1941, special authorities were created in 60 cities of the front-line zone - city defense committees. In Stalingrad, the GKO was created on October 23, 1941 and operated until September 7, 1945. The composition of the Stalingrad City Defense Committee included: the first secretary of the regional committee and the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks A.S. Chuyanov, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Regional Council of Working People's Deputies I.F. Zimenkov, head of the regional department of the NKVD A.I. Voronin and the military commandant of the city G.M. Kobyzev, and from December 1941 - V.Kh. Demchenko.

Among the tasks of the City Defense Committee: carrying out measures for local anti-aircraft defense (MPO) and chemical defense (PVHO); preparation for the defense of the city in case of approaching the front line; ensuring uninterrupted supplies of products from the Kostroma enterprises to the operating units of the Red Army; maintaining the order established by the rules of wartime in the cities; conducting general compulsory military training of city residents and much more.

Per long years During the war, members of the City Defense Committees more than once had to deal with negligent or simply insufficiently thorough performance of their official duties by the leaders and ordinary ordinary employees of enterprises and institutions of cities. In these situations, wartime laws came to their aid.

Time itself judges the affairs of the heads of the Defense Committees, and it has shown that their selfless actions brought the longest result: the cities withstood and helped the whole country to survive these terrible times.

military defense high command armed

Conclusion

In conclusion, we will draw the main conclusions on the aspects that were touched upon in the abstract:

The Soviet state and its instrument, the state apparatus, were the organizers of the people's struggle against Nazi Germany and the victory over it.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a radical turn took place in the system of state power and administration of the Soviet Union - all the constitutional bodies of the central government (the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the highest party bodies headed by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks) underwent important changes. Politically and administratively, they were subordinated to the State Defense Committee, all their work was reorganized in accordance with the requirements of wartime.

The main feature of the state administration system in wartime was the creation and functioning of emergency authorities - GKOs in the center and city defense committees at the local level.

The extraordinary nature of public administration meant the creation of a system of bodies that operated not on a constitutional basis, but on an emergency basis. The central body of this kind was created on June 29

d. State Defense Committee, which, having supreme powers, coordinated the work of all branches of government, led the economy, army, society.

The criterion for the effectiveness of state administration in the war period, as you know, is the victory in the war. In this case, the price of victory is very important. In our country, it was huge, since the losses were prohibitively large. And, nevertheless, the Soviet government and the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) managed to unite the army and the people, recover from the heavy defeats of the first one and a half years of the war, and ultimately lead the country to victory. The results of the GKO's activities were summed up by the war.

The activity of the extraordinary central government during the war, especially in its first period, was not free from serious shortcomings and major miscalculations. The war exposed the weaknesses of the Soviet state and the dominant monopoly party system. In the fall of 1941 and 1942, the USSR was on the brink of a military disaster.

The Great Patriotic War was a serious test for the Soviet state. Of paramount importance in mobilizing the Soviet people for Victory was the organizing role of state power, of the entire system of state administration, which was of an extraordinary nature during the years of the last war.

Bibliography

1. Tenth session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: Stenogr. report. M., 1944. Kalinin M.I. Articles and speeches (1941-1946). - M. 1975. Eleventh session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: Stenogr. report. - M., 1945.

2. Work of the Soviets in the conditions of war: On the issue of increasing the authority of the village council; The Power of the Soviet State: Articles and Speeches (1941-1946). - M., 2005.

Abaev A.I. The working class of North Ossetia during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Ordzhonikidze, 2008.

Abdullaev Sh.M. State bodies authorities and public organizations of Dagestan in economic and socio-cultural construction in the 30s of the XX century. - Makhachkala, 2003.

Azovkin I.A. Local Councils in the system of government bodies. - M., 2001.

Azovkin H.A. Management and control in the activities of the highest authorities in the USSR. - M., 2006.

Azovkin H.A., Gaidukov D.A., Kirin V.N. The highest representative bodies of power in the USSR. - M., 2005.

Artamanov D.N. Institute of martial law under Soviet law. - M., 1993.

Bilenko S.B. From the history of the Soviet militia during the Great Patriotic War. - M., 2007;

Bilenko S.B. Soviet militia to defend the Fatherland (1941-1945). - M., 2006.

Bilenko S.B. Soviet militia: history and modernity. 1917-1987.-M., 2007.

Boffa D. History of the Soviet Union. From the Patriotic War to the position of the second world power. Stalin and Khrushchev, 1941-1964 -T. 2.- M., 2000.

Varyukhin G.A. On the study of the history of local Soviets during the Great Patriotic War. - Cheboksary, 2006.

Vasiliev V.I. The relationship between the highest and local bodies of state power and government in the Soviet socialist state. - M., 2004.

Vasiliev N.M. On improving the work of the Soviet state apparatus. - Chisinau, 2004.

A.P. Kositsyn History of the Soviet state and law. The Soviet state and law on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War (1936-1945). Book. 3. - M., 2005.

Manokhin V.M. Bodies of the Soviet state administration. - Saratov, 2002.