The RSFSR Council of People’s Commissars decree on creation of the State Planning Committee (Gosplan)

February 22, 1921 under the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was formed the State Planning Committee (Gosplan), which was entrusted to develop a single national plan for the development of national economy, as well as review and harmonization of the state plan with production programs and planning assumptions of various departments.

The system of state planning, and the creation of national planning authorities and relevant local bodies was initiated by the plan of the State Committee for Electrification of Russia. The Committee on Electrification, which had functioned from 1920 to 1921, was the prototype of the State Planning Committee.

From 1925 the State Planning Committee began to form plans for the annual development of the national economy of the Soviet Union, referred to as "control figures" that defined benchmarks for all branches of the economy. The work of the USSR Gosplan on planning of the economy was coordinated with the Central Statistical Office (CSO), Commissariat of Finance, the Supreme Council of National Economy, and later - with the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Science and Technology, State Bank and State Committee for the logistics of the Soviet Union.

Also in 1921, were formed local bodies of the Council of Labour and Defence of the USSR - regional economic meetings, designed to harmonize and strengthen the activities of all the local economic bodies, as well as the work of the provincial economic meetings. All state agencies and enterprises of the Union Republics, as well as the all-union companies and organizations operating on the territory of the Federal Republic, were obliged to submit to the national Planning Committee the requested information and materials.  

Regional and territorial planning committees considered the economic plans of all-Union and republican institutions and enterprises in the part related to their activities in the particular province or territory, and reported the results to the Planning Committee of the Union Republic. They also developed questions of the all-Union significance on the request of the Gosplan.

The main task of the USSR State Planning Committee from the late 1960's until its liquidation in 1991 was the development of state management plans which ensured a balanced development of national economy of the Soviet Union, continued growth and effectiveness of social production, increase of the living standards of the population and strengthening of the national defense.

Lit.: Байбаков Н. К. Государственное плановое руководство – важнейшее условие успешного развития экономики СССР // Плановое хозяйство. 1971. № 2; Директивы КПСС и советского правительства по хозяйственным вопросам. М., 1971. Т. 1; Лебединский Н. П. Государственный плановый комитет // Большая советская энциклопедия. Т. 18. М., 1930; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: ссылка; Ленин В. И. Об едином хозяйственном плане // Полное собрание сочинений. 5 изд. Т. 42 (Ноябрь 1920 – март 1921). М., 1970; Страницы памяти: Сб. воспоминаний работников Госплана СССР о Великой Отечественной войне / Сост. Н. И. Запрудский, Н. И. Московкин. М., 1982.