The Gosplan economist who co-signed wartime decrees with Stalin
On the evening of June 21, 1941, Poskrebyshev whispered: 'The boss just had an agitated talk with Timoshenko... It's coming — a German attack.' Chadayev asked, 'On us?' 'Who else?'
A Soviet economist and state official who served as Deputy Chairman of Gosplan (1938–1949) while simultaneously managing the entire government document apparatus as Administrator of Affairs of the Sovnarkom (1940–1949). His signature appeared alongside Stalin's on thousands of wartime decrees, and he helped coordinate evacuation planning and early resource allocation for the atomic project. After the war he chaired Gosplan RSFSR and later served as Deputy Chairman of Gosplan USSR (1962–1975), spending his entire career inside the planning apparatus and authoring the major study 'The Economy of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.'
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1930–1932Deputy Chairman, Gosplan of the Udmurt ASSR
- 1933–1937Senior economist, deputy sector chief of production economics, Gosplan USSR
- 1937–1939Deputy Chairman, Gosplan RSFSR → Deputy Premier RSFSR and Chairman, Gosplan RSFSR
- 1939–1940Deputy Chairman, Commission of Soviet Control, Sovnarkom USSR
- 1940–1949Administrator of Affairs, Sovnarkom (Council of Ministers) USSR
- 1949–1962Deputy Chairman, Gosplan RSFSR → Deputy Premier RSFSR and Chairman, Gosplan RSFSR → First Deputy Chairman, Gosplan RSFSR
- 1962–1975Deputy Chairman, Gosplan (State Planning Committee) USSR
Related historical events
- 1928–1937The Five-Year Plans and the Soviet TransformationDeputy Chairman of Gosplan
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarWartime government decision coordinationDuring the war, he coordinated government paperwork and decisions, and co-signed some decrees with Stalin.
- 1943–1949The Soviet Atomic ProjectHelped allocate resources for the atomic projectHe helped allocate resources for the early atomic project.
Wartime government paperwork and coordination
From 1940 to 1949 Chadayev headed the Administration of Affairs of the USSR Council of People's Commissars, later the Council of Ministers, and also directed the Council of People's Commissars secretariat. In the introduction to excerpts from Chadayev's memoirs published in 2012, historian Georgy Kumanev says that Chadayev oversaw the preparation and circulation of central-government documents and handled assignments from government and party officials with the government apparatus. Chadayev recalled that the workload surged after the war began and that he sometimes prepared a report or draft document within minutes. Kumanev relates Chadayev's account that he attended Politburo and Council of People's Commissars meetings, as well as State Defense Committee meetings during the war, and kept minutes and shorthand records. Some major government decisions, especially decrees appointing generals and admirals, were published with signatures by both Stalin and Chadayev. The post did not make him the sole decision-maker, but placed him in the paperwork and inter-agency process through which decisions were prepared and transmitted.\n\nChadayev's memoirs offer an insider's account of the leadership's internal work, but his assessment of Stalin was strongly laudatory. Kumanev notes that Chadayev said little about Stalin's shortcomings. Specific scenes and conversations in the recollections should be read with that perspective and the retrospective character of the account in mind.