First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union

The office of First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union, also called First Vice Premier of the Soviet Union, was synonymous with vice-head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); a First Deputy Premier did not always serve in his post alone. A total of 26 individuals had held this post; 18 of them held other posts simultaneously with their First Deputy Premiership. The first officeholder was Valerian Kuibyshev, who was inaugurated in 1934 as First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Народных Комиссаров, abbreviated Sovnarkom). Lavrentiy Beria spent the shortest time in office and served for 113 days. At over seventeen years, Vyacheslav Molotov spent the longest time in office, and held his position through most of Joseph Stalin's tenure as Premier, as well as through the tenureships of Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin.

A First Deputy Premier was usually given responsibility over one specific area. For example, Kirill Mazurov was responsible for industry, and Dmitry Polyansky was agriculture. However, after Polyansky's departure in 1973 Mazurov was left the sole First Deputy Premier until Tikhonov was appointed in 1976. An officeholder could also be responsible for coordinating the activities of ministries and state committees and other subordinate bodies of the Council of Ministers. To do this the First Deputy Premier had to give these bodies guidance in an expeditious manner to ensure the implementation of plans for economic and social development and to check if the orders and decisions of the Council of Ministers were being followed. If the Premier could not perform his duties one of the First Deputy Premiers would take on the role of acting Premier until the Premier's return. During the late 1970s, when the health of Premier Alexei Kosygin deteriorated, Nikolai Tikhonov, the First Deputy Premier, acted on his behalf during his absence. When Tikhonov took command of the Soviet economy, Kosygin served in a standby role. At a Central Committee plenum in June 1980, the Soviet economic development plan was outlined by Tikhonov, and not Kosygin.

Before the transformation of the Council of People's Commissars to the Council of Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров, abbreviated Sovmin) the post of vice-head of government was given to the Deputy Chairmen of the Sovnarkom; however, there were three exceptions: Nikolai Voznesensky, Kuibyshev and Molotov were elected First Deputy Chairmen in the mid-1930s and the 1940s. There was no First Deputy Premier from 1935 to 1941 because no one was elected to the post. Molotov, one of two First Deputy Premiers under Stalin's tenure, nearly lost his position when Stalin, the Premier, took a vacation; Molotov, in his capacity as First Deputy Premier, committed what Stalin saw as grave policy violations. Stalin's successor, Malenkov, promoted Bulganin, Beria and Lazar Kaganovich to the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In a Council of Minister resolution it was stated that the Premier, the First Deputy Premiers and the Deputy Premiers made up the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. The Presidium was later expanded to include individuals hand-picked by the Premier. A decree had to be signed by the Premier or a First Deputy Premier, and in the case of the Premier's absence a First Deputy Premier would assume the duties of the Premier. The First Deputy Prime Ministers (Russian: Первый заместитель Председателя Совета Министров) were members of the Cabinet of Ministers (Russian: Кабинет Министров СССР), the executive and administrative body that replaced the Council of Ministers in 1990.