Rabkrin
Encyclopedia
Rabkrin, RKI or Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate (WPI) was a governmental establishment in Soviet Russia
and the early Soviet Union
responsible for scrutinizing the state, local and enterprise administrations during 1920-1934. It was established on February 7, 1920 to replace the People's Commissariat for State Control. As Isaac Deutscher wrote,
After failing its goals and having been severely criticized, among others by Vladimir Lenin
himself, in 1923 it was merged with the CPSU Party Control Committee
to become a joint control organ (PCC-WPI, TsKK-RKI) under a common chairman, to oversee state, economy, and Communist Party.
In 1934, at the 17th Party Congress
, Rabkrin was dissolved and its functions were passed to the Sovnarkom's State Control Commission.
The Rabkrin was also one of the early users of punched card
tabulating equipment, an early form of information technology
.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
and the early Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
responsible for scrutinizing the state, local and enterprise administrations during 1920-1934. It was established on February 7, 1920 to replace the People's Commissariat for State Control. As Isaac Deutscher wrote,
The Rabkrin ... was set up to control every branch of the administration, from top to bottom, with a view to eliminating the two major faults, inefficiency and corruption, which the Soviet civil service had inherited from its Tsarist predecessor. It was to act as the stern and enlightened auditor for the whole rickety and
creaking governmental machine; to expose abuses of power and red tape; and to train an élite of reliable civil servants for every branch of the government. The [Rabkrin] acted through teams of workers and peasants who were free at any time to enter the offices of any Commissariat and watch the work done there. ... The whole bizarre scheme of inspection was one of Lenin's pet ideas. Exasperated by the inefficiency and dishonesty of the civil service, he sought to remedy them by extreme and ruthless "control from below," and the [Rabkrin] was to be the means. ... The mill of officialdom, however, turned the workers themselves into bureaucrats. The Commissariat of the Inspectorate, as Lenin was to discover later on, became an additional source of muddle, corruption, and bureaucratic intrigue. ln the end it became an unofficial but meddlesome police in charge of the civil service.
After failing its goals and having been severely criticized, among others by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
himself, in 1923 it was merged with the CPSU Party Control Committee
CPSU Party Control Committee
Party Control Committee of the CPSU Central Committee was a supreme disciplinary organ within the hierarchy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
to become a joint control organ (PCC-WPI, TsKK-RKI) under a common chairman, to oversee state, economy, and Communist Party.
In 1934, at the 17th Party Congress
17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (b)
The 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during 26 January - 10 February 1934. The congress was attended by 1,225 delegates with a casting vote and 736 delegates with a consultative vote, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidate members.Nicknamed "The...
, Rabkrin was dissolved and its functions were passed to the Sovnarkom's State Control Commission.
The Rabkrin was also one of the early users of punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
tabulating equipment, an early form of information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
.
Heads
- Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
(1920-) - A. D. Tsyurupa (1922-)
- Valerian Kuybyshev (1923-)
- Sergo Ordzhonikidze (1926-1930)
- Yakov Yakovlev (deputy chairman)
- A. P. Rozengolts (deputy chairman)
- Andrei AndreyevAndrei AndreyevAndrey Andreyevich Andreyev was a Soviet politician....
(1930-) - Yan RudzutakYan RudzutakJānis Rudzutaks was a Latvian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician.Rudzutaks was born in the Kuldīga district of the Courland Governorate , into the family of a farm worker. In 1903, he started working in a factory in Riga. Two years later, he joined Latvian Social Democratic Labour Party...
(1931-1934)
See also
- People's ControlPeople's ControlThe People's Control was a semi-civic, semi-governmental organisation in the Soviet Union with the purpose of putting under scrutiny the activities or government, local administrations and enterprises...
- Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union