It was known as the People's Commissariat for Education (Russian: Народный комиссариат просвещения), or Narkompros, until 1946.

Narkompros was a Soviet agency founded by the State Commission on Education (Russian: Государственная комиссия по просвещению) and charged with the administration of public education and most of other issues related to culture.

Despite Lunacharsky's efforts to protect most of the avant-garde artists such as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin and Vsevolod Meyerhold, the official policy after Joseph Stalin put him in disgrace.

Narkompros had a number of sections, in addition to the main ones related to general education, e.g., Some of these evolved into separate entities, others discontinued.

[2] The following persons headed the Commissariat/Ministry as commissars (narkoms) and ministers:[3][4][circular reference] The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education of the Russian Empire, which was formed by combining: and directed the spiritual affairs of all faiths in Russia and the institutions of public education and science, trying to restore rights in East Slavic culture of Russian Federation.