The article deals with the organizational structure, legal basis, forms and methods of state control in the period 1917-1991. Eight stages of control systems development in the USSR are distinguished, their peculiarities in connection with the political and economic situation in the country are analyzed. It is shown that the main dominant feature of numerous reorganizations of the system of state control in all periods was the desire for its universality, totality (spreading to all types and forms of state administration and economic activity) under the aegis of party bodies.