The Council of People's Commissars (, translit. "Soviet narodnykh kommissarov" or Sovnarkom, also as generic SNK) was a government institution formed soon after the October Revolution during 1917. Created in the Russian Republic, the council began forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It evolved to become the highest executive authority of the government of the Soviet Union. The chairman of this council was thus the head of government, and was usually called "premier" or "prime minister" outside Russia and the Soviet Union.