History of the Soviet Union (1953–64) Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and Georgi Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union. However the central figure in the immediate post-Stalin period was the former head of the state security apparatus, Lavrentiy Beria. Stalin had left the Soviet Union in an unenviable state when he died. At least 2.5 million people languished in prison and in labor camps, science and the arts had been subjugated to socialist realism, and agriculture productivity on the whole was meager. The country had only one quarter of the livestock it
Premier of the Soviet Union the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Premier was tasked with resolving all state administrative duties within the jurisdiction of the USSR to the degree which were not the responsibility of the Supreme Soviet or the Presidium. The Premier managed the national economy, formulated the five-year plans and ensured socio-cultural development. When Nikolai Ryzhkov was replaced as premier by Valentin Pavlov, the Council of Ministers was renamed the Cabinet of Ministers. The premier's title was changed to Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, though most non-Soviet sources had referred to the job as "Premier" or "Prime Minister" for some time