The
People's Commissariat of Nationalities (abbreviation transliterated as
Narkomnats), an organisation functioning from 1917 to 1924 in the early Soviet period of
Russian and
Soviet history, dealt with non-
Russian nationalities. Its head,
Joseph Stalin, as the People's Commissar of Nationalities (1917-1923), served as a member of the
Council of People's Commissars.