The State Defense Committee () was an extraordinary organ of state power in the Soviet Union during World War II with complete state power in the country.

General scope The Soviets set up the GKO on 30 June 1941, a week after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, by a joint decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The war situation at the front lines required a more centralized form of government. The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, however, continued unsuspended. On 18 June 1942, over a thousand members attended the 9th session of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow.Compare: Handbook on the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "Верховный Совет СССР, сессии [:] I созыв [:] всего 1143 депутата, 569 в Совете Союза и 574 в Совете Национальностей [...] 18.6.1942 [:] IX сессия (Москва)"

Geoffrey Roberts described the GKO as "a sort of war cabinet".

Composition Portrait Name Term of office Notes Took office Left office Duration Joseph Stalin 30 June 1941 4 September 1945 Chairman Vyacheslav Molotov 30 June 1941 4 September 1945 Deputy Chairman until 16 May 1944 Lavrentiy Beria 30 June 1941 4 September 1945 Representing State Security; Deputy Chairman from 16 May 1944 Georgy Malenkov 30 June 1941 4 September 1945 Representing Aviation Industry Kliment Voroshilov 30 June 1941 22 November 1944 Replaced by Bulganin Nikolai Voznesensky 3 February 1942 4 September 1945 Anastas Mikoyan 3 February 1942 4 September 1945 Lazar Kaganovich 20 February 1942 4 September 1945 Nikolai Bulganin 22 November 1944 4 September 1945 Replaced Voroshilov

See also Council of Labor and Defense

References

Bibliography Barber, John, and Harrison, Mark. (1991). The Soviet Home Front 1941–1945: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II. London: Longman. , . Werth, Alexander. (1964). Russia at War 1941–1945. New York: Carrol and Graf.

Further reading Glantz, David M. When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Overview of Eastern Front from Soviet side. Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Post-revisionist study of Stalin's wartime and post-war leadership.