People's Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs of the RSFSR, known shortly as the Narkompochtel, was the central organ of government of the RSFSR that was in charge of the organisation and development of the different forms of communication, including postal service. It was founded in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 from the Russian Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs and retained its organisational structure.

History

On 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia and set up the Council of People's Commissars. The Council took control of the former Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. On 9 November 1917, the People's Commissar for Posts and Telegraphs issued a decree dissolving the former administration, which also concluded: I declare that no so-called initiatory groups or committees for the administration of the department of Posts and Telegraphs can usurp the functions belonging to the central power and to me as People's Commissar. After the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government undertook a number of measures for establishing the socialist organisation of communications. In 1917 and 1918, there was nationalisation of the means of communication that were given the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs. On 16 April 1918, the Council of People’s Commissars issued a decree that was signed by V. I. Lenin. The document laid the foundations for setting up the postal and telegraph department. According to another decree, of 21 November 1918, post offices became responsible for the distribution of Soviet periodicals in addition to the delivery of letters. In 1918 and 1919, the Commissariat's official publication was Pochtovo-Telegrafnyi Zhurnal (Post and Telegraph Journal). Following a Lenin's proposal, a resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars in January 1921 initiated the organisation of radiotelephone offices. In 1922, the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy set up the Electrotechnical Trust for Weak-current Plants. The trust supervised the operation of enterprises that were engaged in production of communication equipment. In the same year, the world’s first radio broadcast station was opened in Moscow; its power was 12 kilowatts. In the early 1920s, use of airplanes began for transporting mail. On 12 November 1923, the Commissariat was replaced with the People's Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs of the USSR.

Philatelic policy

The early Soviet government organised production and distribution of postage stamps of the RSFSR. Official state policy toward philately and collector's organisations included both financial and propagandistic aims. To carry out this policy, the Commissariat organised the Russian Bureau of Philately. Similar to other governments in the world, the Soviet authorities considered stamp collectors as a source of revenue for various relief funds. For example, in December 1921 four semi-postal stamps were produced by the State Printers. They had denominations of 2,250 rubles, of which 2,000 rubles contributed to famine aid.

List of chiefs

The first Commissar was Nikolai Glebov-Avilov, who sat on Sovnarkom in 1917. After that, the post was taken up by four other officers: