Special Committee

Background

Immediately after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (6 and 9 August 1945), Stalin elevated the nuclear project to the state's highest priority. Until then, Molotov had nominal oversight and Pervukhin handled practical coordination, but progress was slow. On 20 August 1945, GKO Resolution No. 9887 established the Special Committee and appointed Beria as its chairman.

Composition and Powers

The Special Committee included Malenkov, Voznesensky, Vannikov (People's Commissar for Armament), Kurchatov (scientific director), Kapitsa, and Pervukhin: covering party, government, and science. It held extraordinary powers to commandeer any resources in the government's possession for the atomic project, reporting directly to Stalin. The First Main Directorate (PGU), subordinated to the Committee, directed all research, design, construction, and production. The historian Zhores Medvedev called it an "atomic politburo."

Operations

The Committee leveraged NKVD intelligence networks (Klaus Fuchs and others) to obtain Manhattan Project design data, combining it with independent research by Kurchatov, Khariton, and Zel'dovich. Uranium mining and the construction of closed cities (Sarov, Chelyabinsk-40) relied on large-scale Gulag and forced labor. The RDS-1 test on 29 August 1949 ended the US nuclear monopoly; by 1953 the Committee had also overseen the RDS-6s thermonuclear test.

Dissolution

After Stalin's death in March 1953, Beria attempted to reorganize the Committee, but he was arrested on 26 June 1953 and executed. The Special Committee was dissolved the same day, and its functions and personnel were transferred to the newly created Ministry of Medium Machine Building, the dedicated nuclear industry ministry.