Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union


The Central Executive Committee of the USSR, ''Tsentral'nyj ispolnitel'nyj komitet was the most authoritative governing body of the USSR during the interims of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets of the USSR. Established in 1922 by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets, in 1938 it was replaced by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of first convocation.
Initially the committee consisted of four members, after 1925 there were seven. Please note that Kazakh SSR and Kirgiz SSR were created in 1936 and did not have their representative in the committee.
Except for Kalinin and Petrovsky, most of the committee members were arrested during the Great Purge except for one who committed suicide. Among arrested were also former members of the committee. All the arrested in 1938 were executed by shooting.

Description

The Central Executive Committee was created with adaptation of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR in December of 1922.
By the 1924 Soviet Constitution, the Central Executive Committee comprised two chamber: the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. At the constituent republic level there operated a Central Executive Committee in each of the federal republics:

Presidium chairmen

The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee consisted of 21 members and included the Presidium of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. A representative of each constituent republic was elected one of the directors of the presidium.
As more entities were promoted to the status of constituent republics of the USSR, they received representation among the directors of the Presidium:

Soviet of Nationalities chairmen

The 1924 Soviet Constitution defined the powers of the CEC as: