the Presidium of the government is a purely Soviet invention, whose existence was dictated by hard necessity. Feature of Council of Ministers of the USSR was his incredibly bloated staff. For example, at the end of the Brezhnev era, the government was composed of the following categories of officials: the President and Vice – 14, -64 Ministers, chairmen of state committees – 20, heads of administrative bodies – 4, chairmen of councils of Ministers of Union republics, 15. Total: 117 shower. It is clear that trying to sit and take in this part of the decision on each issue – the surest way to send yourself and colleagues to forced hospitalization in an asylum. Therefore, simultaneously with the birth of the Soviet Council of Ministers in March 1946, the light appeared and its Presidium.
All the post-Soviet Russian government was, however, bodies swollen not with the same personnel. But the habit of creating even more lightweight, the Bureau has not gone anywhere. When Yegor Gaidar is “vnutrenne the government” it was called differently- Board. But when Viktor Chernomyrdin decided to go back to mellifluous Soviet man of the name of the Bureau. If now the world was raging coronavirus, then I probably would put an end to their razmyshlenij on the establishment of the government mishustina of the Bureau. But as this virus is, unfortunately, yet refuses to cast out of our reality, to give an analogy more appropriate to the current political( and epidemiological) time.
In the UK a century ago had no problems with overly bloated Cabinet of Ministers: it consisted of about 20 people. But presidi to power in one of the most desperate and difficult moments of the First world war in December 1916, the new Prime Minister David Lloyd George created inside a regular government, and even the narrow “war Cabinet” of five members. The same was done and Winston Churchill during the Second world war. Writing these lines, I felt a sense of unease. Only ten days ago, I criticized Angela Merkel for the comparison coming from coronavirus threat with the Second world war. And now I’m doing about the same thing? It turns out that Yes. The level of looming danger, of course, is still not comparable to what had to pass our grandparents. But what else can you compare the scale of the management challenge the scale of the disruption of their traditional way of life? In our case, even with the era of post-Soviet chaos, when the country teetered on the brink of anarchy and total economic collapse. And in the case of foreign countries – really only with the Second world war.
the correctness of this analogy is reinforced by the fact that the body, whose direct political heir was the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers Bureau of the Union Council of people’s Commissars was created during the great Patriotic war. In times of acute crisis, the role of the small roster, but vested with broad powers of administrative structures increases dramatically. Of course, with regard to our current situation in these arguments there is a known share of conditionality. On paper, you can draw the most perfect, harmonious and efficient pattern of decision-making. But if the people responsible for the implementation of this scheme, are not able to work, management mechanism will still be spinning at idle. The previous Prime Minister Medvedev could not and did not like to make quick but well thought out meaningful solutions. The current Prime Minister Mishustin to do it and loves it and knows how – this was a period when the government Presidium did not exist. So, I’m sure, will continue.
But in the current situation all the administrative “stuff”, including the ability to make important decisions without collecting all the government and limiting it by the Bureau. Ahead of the Cabinet of Ministers and all of us a further extension, the tightening and extension limitsenforcement measures to combat coronaviruses. For example, in the public sphere has thrown the thesis of the need for temporary restriction of passenger and aircraft traffic in the country. I suspect that all this will soon come to life – as soon as our Parliament will vote for extending the powers of the government amendments to legislative acts on emergency situations. Russia, like the rest of the world, is now de facto in a situation of war. And what is opposing us all the enemy you can see is that the microscope does not make the situation easier. Glad that in such circumstances, the Prime Minister mishustina has full-fledged military headquarters.
