   #copyright

Soviet Union

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Recent History

   Союз Советских Социалистических Республик
   Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik
   Other languages
   Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

   Flag of the Soviet Union Coat of arms of the Soviet Union
   Flag                     Coat of arms
   Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!
   ( Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!')
   (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!)
   Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944)
   Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991)
   Location of the Soviet Union
   Capital
   (and largest city) Moscow
   55°45′N 37°38′E
   Official languages None; Russian de facto
   Government Federation of Soviet Republics
    - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev
    - Last Premier Ivan Silayev
   Establishment October Revolution
    - Declared 30 December 1922
    - Recognized 31 January 1924
    - Dissolved 25 December 1991
   Area
    - Total 22,402,200 km² ( 1st)
   8,649,538 sq mi
    - Water (%) 0.5
   Population
    - July 1991 estimate 293,047,571 ( 3rd before collapse)
    - Density 13.08/km² ( not ranked)
   33.8/sq mi
   Currency Soviet ruble ( RUR)
   Time zone ( UTC+2 to +13)
   Internet TLD .su
   Calling code +7

   The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( abbreviated USSR) (Russian:
   Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, CCCP ( help· info));
   tr.: "Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, SSSR"), more
   commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a constitutionally socialist
   state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. From 1945 until its
   dissolution in 1991, it was one of the world's two superpowers, along
   with the United States.

   The USSR was created and expanded as a union of Soviet republics formed
   within the territory of the Russian Empire abolished by the Russian
   Revolution of 1917 followed by the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920. The
   geographic boundaries of the Soviet Union varied with time, but after
   the last major territorial annexations of the Baltic States, eastern
   Poland, Bessarabia, and certain other territories during World War II,
   from 1945 until dissolution the boundaries approximately corresponded
   to those of late Imperial Russia, with the notable exclusions of Poland
   and Finland.

   The Soviet Union became the primary model for future Communist states
   during the Cold War; the government and the political organization of
   the country were defined by the only permitted political party, the
   Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

   Established by four Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR grew to
   contain 15 constituent or union republics by 1956: Armenian SSR,
   Azerbaijan SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Estonian SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh
   SSR, Kyrgyz SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Russian
   SFSR, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR, Ukrainian SSR, and Uzbek SSR. The
   republics were part of a highly centralized federal union that was
   dominated by the Russian SFSR. After the USSR's collapse in 1991, all
   15 SSRs became independent countries.

   The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, and the successor states are a
   collection of 15 countries commonly dubbed, 'the former Soviet Union'.
   Eleven of these states are aligned through a loose confederation known
   as the Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS). Turkmenistan,
   originally a full member of the CIS, is now an associate member. The
   three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) did not join this
   Commonwealth; instead, they joined both the European Union and the NATO
   alliance in 2004. Russia and Belarus also belong to the Union of Russia
   and Belarus.

History

   The Soviet Union is traditionally considered to be the successor of the
   Russian Empire. The last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, ruled until March
   1917 and was executed with his family the following year. The Soviet
   Union was established in December 1922 as the union of the Russian
   (colloquially known as Bolshevist Russia), Ukrainian, Belarusian, and
   Transcaucasian Soviet republics ruled by Bolshevik parties.

   Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the
   Decembrist Revolt of 1825, and although serfdom was abolished in 1861,
   its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and
   served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament, the State Duma, was
   established in 1906, after the 1905 Revolution, but political and
   social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by
   military defeat and food shortages in major cities.

   A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime
   decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the toppling of the
   imperial government in March 1917 (see February Revolution). The
   tsarist autocracy was replaced by the Provisional Government, whose
   leaders intended to establish liberal democracy in Russia and to
   continue participating on the side of the Allies in World War I. At the
   same time, to ensure the rights of the working class, workers'
   councils, known as soviets, sprang up across the country. The
   Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, agitated for socialist
   revolution in the soviets and on the streets. They seized power from
   the Provisional Government in November 1917 (see October Revolution).
   Only after the long and bloody Russian Civil War of 1918-1921, which
   included foreign intervention in several parts of Russia, was the new
   Communist regime secure. The Red Army became infamous for burning
   entire villages full of people and sending the men to labor camps for
   sometimes harboring deserters from the army. The Cheka also had to put
   down numerous rebellions by the peasants because of food requisition.
   In a related conflict with Poland, the " Peace of Riga" in early 1921
   split disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and
   Soviet powers.

   From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the
   one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). After the
   extraordinary economic policy of War Communism during the Civil War,
   the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with
   nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the
   countryside was replaced by a food tax (see New Economic Policy).
   Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for
   Soviet leaders to contend for power in the years after Lenin's death in
   1924. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating his rivals
   within the party, notably Lenin's more obvious heir Leon Trotsky,
   Joseph Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet Union by the end of
   the 1920s.

   In 1928, Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a
   socialist economy, now, unlike the internationalism expressed by Lenin
   and Trotsky throughout the course of the Revolution, "in one country."
   In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises
   and undertook an intensive program of industrialization; in agriculture
   collective farms were established all over the country (see
   Collectivisation in the USSR). The Soviet Union became a major
   industrial power; but the plan's implementation produced widespread
   misery for segments of the population. Collectivization met widespread
   resistance from peasants, resulting in a bitter struggle against the
   authorities in many areas, famine, and estimated millions of deaths.
   Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Stalin's purge of the party
   (see Great Purges) eliminated many " Old Bolsheviks", who had
   participated in the Revolution with Lenin. Meanwhile, countless Soviet
   citizens were jailed and sent to Gulags (Chief Administration for
   Corrective Labor Camps), a vast network of forced-labor camps, or
   executed. Yet despite the turmoil of the mid- to late 1930s, the Soviet
   Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World
   War II.
   Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag, Berlin, raising the "Victory
   Banner" after the fall of Nazi Germany. Photograph by Yevgeniy Khaldey.
   Enlarge
   Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag, Berlin, raising the "Victory
   Banner" after the fall of Nazi Germany. Photograph by Yevgeniy Khaldey.

   The 1930s saw closer cooperation between Western countries and the
   USSR. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the USA and the USSR were
   established. Four years later, the USSR actively supported the Second
   Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War against Italian and German
   fascists. Nevertheless, after Great Britain and France concluded the
   Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany, the USSR dealt with the latter as
   well, both economically and militarily, by concluding the Nazi-Soviet
   Nonaggression Pact, which involved the engagement of Red Army into
   Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the invasion of Poland in 1939. In late
   November 1939, unable to gain control of the strategic port of Petsamo
   by diplomatic means, Stalin ordered the invasion of Finland. Although
   it has been debated whether the Soviet Union had the intention of
   invading Nazi Germany once it was strong enough, Germany itself broke
   the treaty and invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The Red Army stopped
   the Nazi offensive in the Battle of Stalingrad, lasting from late 1942
   to early 1943, being the major turning point, and drove through Eastern
   Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see Great
   Patriotic War). Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged
   from the conflict as an acknowledged superpower.

   During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and
   then expanded its economy, while maintaining its strictly centralized
   control. The Soviet Union aided postwar reconstruction in Eastern
   Europe while turning them into Soviet satellite states, set up the
   Warsaw Pact and Comecon, supplied aid to the eventually victorious
   Communists in the People's Republic of China, and saw its influence
   grow elsewhere in the world. Meanwhile, the rising tension of the Cold
   War turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and
   the United States, into foes.

   Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. In the absence of an acceptable
   successor, the highest Communist Party officials opted to rule the
   Soviet Union jointly, although a struggle for power took place behind
   the facade of collective leadership. Nikita Khrushchev, who won the
   power struggle by the mid-1950s, denounced Stalin's use of repression
   in 1956 and eased repressive controls over party and society (see
   de-Stalinization). At the same time, Soviet military force was used to
   suppress democratic uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956. During
   this period, the Soviet Union continued to realize scientific and
   technological pioneering exploits, in extenso, to launch the first
   artificial satellite Sputnik 1, living being Laika, and later, the
   first human being Yuri Gagarin into Earth's orbit. Khrushchev's reforms
   in agriculture and administration, however, were generally
   unproductive, and foreign policy towards China and the United States
   suffered reverses, including the actions that led to the Cuban Missile
   Crisis in 1962. Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership removed him
   from power in 1964.

   Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by
   collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established
   himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political
   life. Brezhnev presided over a period of Détente with the West while at
   the same time building up Soviet military strength; the arms buildup
   contributed to the demise of Détente in the late 1970s. Another
   contributing factor was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December
   1979.

   After some experimentation with economic reforms in the mid-1960s, the
   Soviet leadership reverted to established means of economic management.
   Industry showed slow but steady gains during the 1970s, while
   agricultural development continued to lag. Throughout the period, the
   Soviet Union maintained parity with the United States in the areas of
   military technology, but this expansion ultimately crippled the
   economy. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the
   birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership
   at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change.
   The long period of Brezhnev's rule had come to be dubbed one of
   "stagnation" (застой), with an aging and ossified top political
   leadership.

   Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly
   apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political
   structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that
   process. After the rapid succession of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin
   Chernenko, transitional figures with deep roots in Brezhnevite
   tradition, beginning in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev made significant changes
   in the economy (see Perestroika Glasnost) and the party leadership. His
   policy of glasnost freed public access to information after decades of
   government regulations.

   In the late 1980s, constituent republics of the Soviet Union started
   asserting sovereignty over their territories or even declaring
   independence, citing Article 72 of the USSR Constitution, which stated
   that any constituent republic was free to secede. Many held their first
   free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in
   1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation
   contradicting the Union laws in what was known as " The War of Laws."
   In 1989, Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic
   (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress
   of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the
   Congress. On June 12, 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty
   over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to
   supersede some of the USSR's laws. The period of legal uncertainty
   continued throughout 1991 as constituent republics slowly became
   de-facto independent.

   A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on March 17,
   1991, with the majority of the population voting for preservation of
   the Union in most republics. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor
   boost, and, in the summer of 1991, a new Union Treaty was designed and
   agreed upon by most republics which would have turned the Soviet Union
   into a much looser federation. The signing of the treaty, however, was
   interrupted by the August Coup - an attempted coup d'état against
   Mikhail Gorbachev by conservative members of the Communist Party,
   referred to as "Hardliners" by the Western media. After the coup
   collapsed, Yeltsin came out as a hero while Gorbachev's power was
   effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards
   the republics. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania immediately declared their
   independence, while the other 12 republics continued discussing new,
   increasingly looser, models of the Union.

   On December 8, 1991, Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed
   Belavezha Accords which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and
   established the Commonwealth of Independent States - CIS, in its place.
   While doubts remained over the authority of the Belavezha Accords to
   dissolve the Union, on December 21, 1991, the representatives of all
   Soviet republics except Georgia, including those republics that had
   signed the Belavezha Accords, signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which
   confirmed the dismemberment and consequential extinction of the USSR
   and restated the establishment of the CIS. The summit of Alma-Ata also
   agreed on several other practical measures consequential to the
   extinction of the Union. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev yielded to the
   inevitable and resigned as the president of the USSR, declaring the
   office extinct. He turned the powers that until then were vested in the
   presidency over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia. The following
   day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet
   Union, recognized the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolved
   itself. This is generally recognized as the official, final dissolution
   of the Soviet Union as a functioning state. Many organizations such as
   the Soviet Army and Police forces continued to remain in place in the
   early months of 1992 but were slowly phased out and either withdrawn
   from or absorbed by the newly independent states.

Politics

   The government of the Soviet Union administered the country's economy
   and society. It implemented decisions made by the leading political
   institution in the country, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
   (CPSU).

   In the late 1980s, the government appeared to have many characteristics
   in common with liberal democratic political systems. For instance, a
   constitution established all organizations of government and granted to
   citizens a series of political and civic rights. A legislative body,
   the Congress of People's Deputies, and its standing legislature, the
   Supreme Soviet, represented the principle of popular sovereignty. The
   Supreme Soviet, which had an elected chairman who functioned as head of
   state, oversaw the Council of Ministers, which acted as the executive
   branch of the government. The chairman of the Council of Ministers,
   whose selection was approved by the legislative branch, functioned as
   head of government. A constitutionally based judicial branch of
   government included a court system, headed by the Supreme Court, that
   was responsible for overseeing the observance of Soviet law by
   government bodies. According to the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the
   government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some
   authority over policy implementation and offering the national
   minorities the appearance of participation in the management of their
   own affairs.

   In practice, however, the government differed markedly from Western
   systems. In the late 1980s, the CPSU performed many functions that
   governments of other countries usually perform. For example, the party
   decided on the policy alternatives that the government ultimately
   implemented. The government merely ratified the party's decisions to
   lend them an aura of legitimacy. The CPSU used a variety of mechanisms
   to ensure that the government adhered to its policies. The party, using
   its nomenklatura authority, placed its loyalists in leadership
   positions throughout the government, where they were subject to the
   norms of democratic centralism. Party bodies closely monitored the
   actions of government ministries, agencies, and legislative organs.

   The content of the Soviet Constitution differed in many ways from
   typical Western constitutions. It generally described existing
   political relationships, as determined by the CPSU, rather than
   prescribing an ideal set of political relationships. The Constitution
   was long and detailed, giving technical specifications for individual
   organs of government. The Constitution included political statements,
   such as foreign policy goals, and provided a theoretical definition of
   the state within the ideological framework of Marxism-Leninism. The
   CPSU leadership could radically change the constitution or remake it
   completely, as it did several times throughout its history.

   The Council of Ministers acted as the executive body of the government.
   Its most important duties lay in the administration of the economy. The
   council was thoroughly under the control of the CPSU, and its chairman
   - the Soviet prime minister - was always a member of the Politburo. The
   council, which in 1989 included more than 100 members, was too large
   and unwieldy to act as a unified executive body. The council's
   Presidium, made up of the leading economic administrators and led by
   the chairman, exercised dominant power within the Council of Ministers.

   According to the Constitution, as amended in 1988, the highest
   legislative body in the Soviet Union was the Congress of People's
   Deputies, which convened for the first time in May 1989. The main tasks
   of the congress were the election of the standing legislature, the
   Supreme Soviet, and the election of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet,
   who acted as head of state. Theoretically, the Congress of People's
   Deputies and the Supreme Soviet wielded enormous legislative power. In
   practice, however, the Congress of People's Deputies met infrequently
   and only to approve decisions made by the party, the Council of
   Ministers, and its own Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, the
   Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet,
   and the Council of Ministers had substantial authority to enact laws,
   decrees, resolutions, and orders binding on the population. The
   Congress of People's Deputies had the authority to ratify these
   decisions.

   The judiciary was not independent. The Supreme Court supervised the
   lower courts and applied the law as established by the Constitution or
   as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight
   Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet
   Union lacked an adversarial court procedure known to common law
   jurisdictions. Rather, Soviet law utilised the system derived from
   Roman law, where judge, procurator and defense attorney worked
   collaboratively to establish the truth.

   The Soviet Union was a federal state made up of fifteen republics
   joined together in a theoretically voluntary union. In turn, a series
   of territorial units made up the republics. The republics also
   contained jurisdictions intended to protect the interests of national
   minorities. The republics had their own constitutions, which, along
   with the all-union Constitution, provide the theoretical division of
   power in the Soviet Union. In 1989, however, the CPSU and the central
   government retained all significant authority, setting policies that
   were executed by republic, provincial, oblast, and district
   governments.

Leaders of the Soviet Union

   The de facto leader of the Soviet Union was the First/General Secretary
   of the CPSU. The head of government was considered the Premier, and the
   head of state was considered the President. The Soviet leader could
   also have one (or both) of these positions, along with the position of
   General-Secretary of the party.

          List of Soviet Premiers
          (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
          (1923-1946); Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR
          (1946-1990); Prime Minister of the USSR (1991))

          List of Soviet Presidents
          (Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian
          Congress of Soviets (1917-1922); Chairman of the Central
          Executive Committee of the USSR (1922-1938); Chairman of the
          Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1938-1989);
          Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989-1990);
          President of the Soviet Union (1990-1991))

Foreign relations

   Map of Warsaw Pact member states.
   Enlarge
   Map of Warsaw Pact member states.

   Once denied diplomatic recognition by the capitalist world, the Soviet
   Union had official relations with the majority of the nations of the
   world by the late 1980s. The Soviet Union also had progressed from
   being an outsider in international organizations and negotiations to
   being one of the arbiters of Europe's fate after World War II. A member
   of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the Soviet Union
   became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
   which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions (see Soviet
   Union and the United Nations).

   The Soviet Union emerged from World War II as one of the two major
   world powers, a position maintained for four decades through its
   hegemony in Eastern Europe (see Eastern Bloc), military strength, aid
   to developing countries, and scientific research, especially into space
   technology and weaponry. The Soviet Union's growing influence abroad in
   the postwar years helped lead to a Communist system of states in
   Eastern Europe united by military and economic agreements. It overtook
   the British Empire as a global superpower, both in a military sense and
   its ability to expand its influence beyond its borders. Established in
   1949 as an economic bloc of Communist countries led by Moscow, the
   Soviet-dominated Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)
   served as a framework for cooperation among the planned economies of
   the Soviet Union, and, later, for trade and economic cooperation with
   the Third World. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw
   Pact. The Soviet economy was also of major importance to Eastern Europe
   because of imports of vital natural resources from the USSR, such as
   natural gas.

   Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward
   defense of its western borders and ensured its control of the region by
   transforming the East European countries into satellite states. Soviet
   troops intervened in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and cited the
   Brezhnev Doctrine, the Soviet counterpart to the U.S. Johnson Doctrine
   and later Nixon Doctrine, and helped oust the Czechoslovak government
   in 1968, sometimes referred to as the Prague Spring.

   In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the USSR's
   rapprochement with the West and what Mao perceived as Khrushchev's
   revisionism led to the Sino-Soviet split. This resulted in a break
   throughout the global Communist movement and Communist regimes in
   Albania and Cambodia choosing to ally with China in place of the USSR.
   For a time, war between the former allies appeared to be a possibility;
   while relations would cool during the 1970s, they would not return to
   normalcy until the Gorbachev era.

   During the same period, a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union
   and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in
   Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

   The KGB (Committee for State Security), served in a fashion as the
   Soviet counterpart to both the FBI and the CIA (Central Intelligence
   Agency) in the U.S. It ran a massive network of informants throughout
   the Soviet Union, which was used to monitor violations in law. The
   foreign wing of the KGB was used to gather intelligence in countries
   around the globe. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was
   replaced in Russia by the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the
   FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation).

   The KGB was not without substantial oversight. The GRU (Main
   Intelligence Directorate), not publicized by Russia until the end of
   the Soviet era during perestroika, was created by Lenin in 1918 and
   served both as a centralized handler of military intelligence and as an
   institutional check-and-balance for the otherwise relatively
   unrestricted power of the KGB. Effectively, it served to spy on the
   spies, and, not surprisingly, the KGB served a similar function with
   the GRU. As with the KGB, the GRU operated in nations around the world,
   particularly in Soviet bloc and client states. The GRU continues to
   operate in Russia today, with resources estimated by some to exceed
   those of the SVR .
   Gorbachev in one-on-one discussions with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
   Enlarge
   Gorbachev in one-on-one discussions with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

   In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the
   United States. It perceived its own involvement as essential to the
   solution of any major international problem. Meanwhile, the Cold War
   gave way to Détente and a more complicated pattern of international
   relations in which the world was no longer clearly split into two
   clearly opposed blocs. Less powerful countries had more room to assert
   their independence, and the two superpowers were partially able to
   recognize their common interest in trying to check the further spread
   and proliferation of nuclear weapons (see SALT I, SALT II,
   Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty).

   By this time, the Soviet Union had concluded friendship and cooperation
   treaties with a number of states in the non-Communist world, especially
   among Third World and Non-Aligned Movement states like India and Egypt.
   Notwithstanding some ideological obstacles, Moscow advanced state
   interests by gaining military footholds in strategically important
   areas throughout the Third World. Furthermore, the Soviet Union
   continued to provide military aid for revolutionary movements in the
   Third World. For all these reasons, Soviet foreign policy was of major
   importance to the non-Communist world and helped determine the tenor of
   international relations.

   Although myriad bureaucracies were involved in the formation and
   execution of Soviet foreign policy, the major policy guidelines were
   determined by the Politburo of the Communist Party. The foremost
   objectives of Soviet foreign policy had been the maintenance and
   enhancement of national security and the maintenance of hegemony over
   Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States and Western Europe
   were also of major concern to Soviet foreign policy makers, and
   relations with individual Third World states were at least partly
   determined by the proximity of each state to the Soviet border and to
   Soviet estimates of its strategic significance.

   After Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General
   Secretary of the CPSU in 1985, he introduced many changes in Soviet
   foreign policy and in the economy of the USSR. Gorbachev pursued
   conciliatory policies towards the West instead of maintaining the Cold
   War status quo. The Soviet Union ended its occupation of Afghanistan,
   signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States, and
   allowed its allies in Eastern Europe to determine their own affairs.
   The dismantling of the Berlin Wall beginning in November 1989
   dramatically signaled the end of the Soviet Union's external empire in
   Central and Eastern Europe. Two years later, the internal empire also
   came to an end.

   After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, Russia
   claimed to be the legal successor to the Soviet state on the
   international stage. In such way, Russia, voluntarily accepted all of
   USSR foreign debt and claimed USSR's foreign property as its own. To
   prevent subsequent disputes over Soviet Union property, "Zero Variant"
   treaty was suggested to new independent states. Ukrainian Parliament
   has not ratified this treaty. Several disputed legal regulation acts
   left after USSR dissolution, Russia simply claims that USSR should be
   read as Russia, while formally it is not. Russian foreign policy
   repudiated Marxism-Leninism as a guide to action, soliciting Western
   support for capitalist reforms in post-Soviet Russia.

   Currently the economy of Russia is growing rapidly. The fulfillment of
   the capitalist reforms started in the USSR under Gorbachev can be seen
   from the fact that in 2005 the Russian Federation became the third
   country by number of billionaires, who were able to benefit from their
   former connections in the Communist Party during the chaotic post-USSR
   sale of state property into private hands. The poverty rate, meanwhile,
   has increased substantially during that time.

Republics

   Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989
   Enlarge
   Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989

   The Soviet Union was a federation of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR).
   The first Republics were established shortly after the October
   Revolution of 1917. At that time, republics were technically
   independent from one another but their governments acted in closely
   coordinated confederation, as directed by the CPSU leadership. In 1922,
   four Republics ( Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belarusian SSR, and
   Transcaucasian SFSR) joined into the Soviet Union. Between 1922 and
   1940, the number of Republics grew to sixteen. Some of the new
   Republics were formed from territories acquired, or reacquired by the
   Soviet Union, others by splitting existing Republics into several
   parts. The criteria for establishing new republics were as follows:
    1. to be located on the periphery of the Soviet Union so as to be able
       to exercise their alleged right to secession;
    2. be economically strong enough to survive on their own upon
       secession; and
    3. be named after the dominant ethnic group which should consist of at
       least one million people.

   The system remained almost unchanged after 1940. No new Republics were
   established. One republic, Karelo-Finnish SSR, was disbanded in 1956,
   and the territory formally became the Karelian Autonomous Soviet
   Socialist Republic (ASSR) within the Russian SFSR. The remaining 15
   republics lasted until 1991. Even though Soviet Constitutions
   established the right for a republic to secede, it remained theoretical
   and very unlikely, given Soviet centralism, until the 1991 collapse of
   the Union. At that time, the republics became independent countries,
   with some still loosely organized under the heading Commonwealth of
   Independent States. Some republics had common history and geographical
   regions, and were referred by group names. These were Baltic Republics,
   Transcaucasian Republics, and Central Asian Republics. In its final
   state, the Soviet Union consisted of the following republics:

Economy

   The DneproGES, one of many hydroelectric power stations in the Soviet
   Union
   Enlarge
   The DneproGES, one of many hydroelectric power stations in the Soviet
   Union

   Prior to its collapse, the Soviet Union had the largest centrally
   directed economy in the world. The government established its economic
   priorities through central planning, a system under which
   administrative decisions rather than the market determined resource
   allocation and prices.

   Since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the country grew from a largely
   underdeveloped peasant society with minimal industry to become the
   second largest industrial power in the world. According to Soviet
   statistics, the country's share in world industrial production grew
   from 5.5% to 20% between 1913 and 1980. Although some Western analysts
   considered these claims to be inflated, the Soviet achievement remained
   remarkable. Recovering from the calamitous events of World War II, the
   country's economy had maintained a continuous though uneven rate of
   growth. Living standards, although still modest for most inhabitants by
   Western standards, had improved.

   Although these past achievements were impressive, in the mid-1980s
   Soviet leaders faced many problems. Production in the consumer and
   agricultural sectors was often inadequate (see Agriculture of the
   Soviet Union and shortage economy). Crises in the agricultural sector
   reaped catastrophic consequences in the 1930s, when collectivization
   met widespread resistance from the kulaks, resulting in a bitter
   struggle of many peasants against the authorities, famine, particularly
   in Ukraine (see Holodomor), but also in the Volga River area and
   Kazakhstan. In the consumer and service sectors, a lack of investment
   resulted in black markets in some areas.
   Soviet space station Mir was the world's most advanced space station
   until ISS.
   Enlarge
   Soviet space station Mir was the world's most advanced space station
   until ISS.

   In addition, since the 1970s, the growth rate had slowed substantially.
   Extensive economic development, based on vast inputs of materials and
   labor, was no longer possible; yet the productivity of Soviet assets
   remained low compared with other major industrialized countries.
   Product quality needed improvement. Soviet leaders faced a fundamental
   dilemma: the strong central controls of the increasingly conservative
   bureaucracy that had traditionally guided economic development had
   failed to respond to the complex demands of industry of a highly
   developed, modern economy.

   Conceding the weaknesses of their past approaches in solving new
   problems, the leaders of the late 1980s were seeking to mold a program
   of economic reform to galvanize the economy. The leadership, headed by
   Mikhail Gorbachev, was experimenting with solutions to economic
   problems with an openness ( glasnost) never before seen in the history
   of the economy. One method for improving productivity appeared to be a
   strengthening of the role of market forces. Yet reforms in which market
   forces assumed a greater role would signify a lessening of authority
   and control by the planning hierarchy, as well as a significant
   diminution of social services traditionally provided by the state, such
   as housing and education.

   Assessing developments in the economy was difficult for Western
   observers. The country contained enormous economic and regional
   disparities. Yet analyzing statistical data broken down by region was a
   cumbersome process. Furthermore, Soviet statistics themselves might
   have been of limited use to Western analysts because they are not
   directly comparable with those used in Western countries. The differing
   statistical concepts, valuations, and procedures used by Communist and
   non-Communist economists made even the most basic data, such as the
   relative productivity of various sectors, difficult to assess.

Geography

   The Soviet Union occupied the eastern portion of the European continent
   and the northern portion of the Asian continent. Most of the country
   was north of 50° north latitude and covered a total area of
   approximately 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500  sq mi). Due to
   the sheer size of the state, the climate varied greatly from
   subtropical and continental to subarctic and polar. 11% of the land was
   arable, 16% was meadows and pasture, 41% was forest and woodland, and
   32% was declared "other" (including tundra).

   The Soviet Union measured some 10,000 kilometres (6,200  mi) from
   Kaliningrad on the Gulf of Gdańsk in the west to Ratmanova Island ( Big
   Diomede Island) in the Bering Strait, or roughly equivalent to the
   distance from Edinburgh, Scotland, east to Nome, Alaska. From the tip
   of the Taymyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean to the Central Asian town
   of Kushka near the Afghan border extended almost 5,000 kilometres
   (3,100 mi) of mostly rugged, inhospitable terrain. The east-west
   expanse of the continental United States would easily fit between the
   northern and southern borders of the Soviet Union at their extremities.

Population and society

   This map shows the 1974 geographic location of various ethnic groups
   within the Soviet Union.
   Enlarge
   This map shows the 1974 geographic location of various ethnic groups
   within the Soviet Union.

   The Soviet Union was one of the world's most ethnically diverse
   countries, with more than 150 distinct ethnic groups within its
   borders. The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991. In
   the last years of the Soviet Union, the majority of the population were
   Russians (50.78%), followed by Ukrainians (15.45%) and Uzbeks (5.84%).
   Other ethnic groups included the Georgians, Estonians, Latvians,
   Lithuanians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Tajiks, Chechens, Hungarians, and
   others. Mainly because of differences in birth rates among the Soviet
   nationalities, the share of the population that was Russian steadily
   declined in the post-World War II period.

Nationalities

   The extensive multinational empire that the Bolsheviks inherited after
   their revolution was created by Tsarist expansion over some four
   centuries. Some nationality groups came into the empire voluntarily,
   others were brought in by force. Generally, the Russians and most of
   the non-Russian subjects of the empire shared little in
   common—culturally, religiously, or linguistically. More often than not,
   two or more diverse nationalities were collocated on the same
   territory. Therefore, national antagonisms built up over the years not
   only against the Russians but often between some of the subject nations
   as well.

   For many years, Soviet leaders maintained that the underlying causes of
   conflict between nationalities of the Soviet Union had been eliminated
   and that the Soviet Union consisted of a family of nations living
   harmoniously together. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the government
   conducted a policy of korenizatsiya (indigenization) of local
   governments in an effort to recruit non-Russians into the new Soviet
   political institutions and to reduce the conflict between Russians and
   the minority nationalities. One area in which the Soviet leaders made
   concessions perhaps more out of necessity than out of conviction, was
   language policy. To increase literacy and mass education, the
   government encouraged the development and publication in many of the
   "national languages" of the minority groups. While Russian became a
   required subject of study in all Soviet schools in 1938, in the mainly
   non-Russian areas the chief language of instruction was the local
   language or languages. This practice led to widespread bilingualism in
   the educated population, though among smaller nationalities and among
   elements of the population that were heavily affected by the
   immigration of Russians, linguistic assimilation also was common, in
   which the members of a given non-Russian nationality lost facility in
   the historic language of their group.

   The concessions granted national cultures and the limited autonomy
   tolerated in the union republics in the 1920s led to the development of
   national elites and a heightened sense of national identity. Subsequent
   repression and Russianization fostered resentment against domination by
   Moscow and promoted further growth of national consciousness. National
   feelings were also exacerbated in the Soviet multinational state by
   increased competition for resources, services, and jobs, and by the
   policy of the leaders in Moscow to move workers -- mainly Russians --
   to the peripheral areas of the country, the homelands of non-Russian
   nationalities.

   By the end of the 1980s, encouraged in part by Gorbachev's policy of
   glasnost, unofficial groups formed around a great many social,
   cultural, and political issues. In some non-Russian regions ostensible
   green movements or ecological movements were thinly disguised national
   movements in support of the protection of natural resources and the
   national patrimony generally from control by ministries in Moscow.

Religious groups

   Although the Soviet Union was officially atheist and suppressed
   religion, according to various Soviet and Western sources, over
   one-third of the people in the Soviet Union professed religious belief.
   Christianity and Islam had the most believers. The state was separated
   from church by the Decree of Council of People's Comissars on January
   23, 1918. Two-thirds of the Soviet population, however, had no
   religious beliefs. About half the people, including members of the CPSU
   and high-level government officials, professed atheism. For the
   majority of Soviet citizens, therefore, religion seemed irrelevant.
   Official figures on the number of religious believers in the Soviet
   Union were not available in 1989.

   Christians belonged to various churches: Orthodox, which had the
   largest number of followers; Catholic; and Baptist and various other
   Protestant sects.

   Government persecution of Christianity continued unabated until the
   fall of the Communist government, with Stalin's reign the most
   repressive. Stalin is quoted as saying that "The Party cannot be
   neutral towards religion. It conducts an anti-religious struggle
   against any and all religious prejudices." However in World War II the
   repression against the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily ceased as it
   was perceived as "instrument of patriotic unity" in the war against
   "the western Teutonics". Repression against Russian Orthodox restarted
   from ca. 1946 onwards and more forcibly under Nikita Khrushchev. In
   1914, before the revolution, there were over 54,000 churches, while
   during the early years of Stalin's reign that number was counted in the
   hundreds. By 1988 the number had decreased to roughly 7,000.
   Immediately following the fall of the Soviet government, churches were
   re-opening at a recorded rate of over thirty a week. Today there are
   nearly 20,000.

   Although there were many ethnic Jews in the Soviet Union, actual
   practice of Judaism was rare in Communist times. In 1928, Stalin
   created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the far east of what is now
   Russia to try to create a "Soviet Zion" for a proletarian Jewish
   culture to develop.

   The overwhelming majority of the Islamic faithful were Sunni. The
   Azerbaijanis, who were Shiite, were one major exception. Because
   Islamic religious tenets and social values of Muslims are closely
   interrelated, religion appeared to have a greater influence on Muslims
   than on either Christians or other believers. The largest groups of
   Muslims in the Soviet Union resided in the Central Asian republics
   (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and Kazakhstan,
   though substantial numbers also resided in Central Russia (principally
   in Bashkiria and Tatarstan), in the North Caucasian part of Russia
   (Chechnya, Dagestan, and other autonomous republics) and in
   Transcaucasia (principally in Azerbaijan but also certain regions of
   Georgia).

   Other religions, which were practiced by a relatively small number of
   believers, included Buddhism, Lamaism, and shamanism, a religion based
   on spiritualism. The role of religion in the daily lives of Soviet
   citizens thus varied greatly.

Holidays

   Date English Name Local Name Remarks
   January 1 New Year's Day Новый год Arguably the largest celebration of
   the year. Most of the traditions that were originally associated with
   Christmas in Russia ( Father Frost, a decorated fir-tree) moved to New
   Year's Eve after the Revolution and are associated with New Year's Eve
   to this day.
   February 23 Red Army Day День Советской Армии и Военно-морского флота
   ("Day of the Soviet Army and Navy") Formation of the Red Army in
   February 1918.

   Is currently called День защитника отечества ("Day of the Defender of
   the Fatherland") in Russia
   March 8 International Women's Day Международный женский день An
   official holiday marking women's liberation movement, popularly
   celebrated as a cross between American Mother's Day and Valentine's
   Day.
   April 12 Cosmonautics Day День космонавтики ("Day of Cosmonautics") The
   Day Yuri Gagarin became the first man in Space, in 1961.
   May 1 International Labor Day (May Day) Первое Мая - День международной
   солидарности трудящихся ("International Day of Worker's Solidarity")
   Celebrated on May 1 and May 2. Now called Праздник весны и труда
   ("Celebration of Spring and Labor").
   May 9 Victory Day День Победы End of Great Patriotic War, marked by
   capitulation of Nazi Germany, 1945
   October 7 USSR Constitution Day День Конституции СССР 1977 Constitution
   of the USSR accepted - December 5 previously
   November 7 Great October Socialist Revolution Годовщина Великой
   Октябрьской социалистической революции or Седьмое ноября Celebrating
   October Revolution of 1917. It has now been replaced with День
   примирения и согласия ("Day of Reconciliation and Agreement"),
   celebrated on a Nov. 7 (at least officially) before amendments in
   Labour Codex (adopted in December 2004, new holiday, which celebrates
   at November 4 is the People Unity Day ("День народного единства)" in
   Russia.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
