Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR, ; : Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, SSSR), also called the Soviet Union (: Сове́тский Сою́з; : Sovetsky Soyuz), was a   that existed in  from 1922 to 1991.

Emerging from the following the  and the  of 1918–1921, the USSR was a union of several s, but the  Russia— after —continued to be commonly used throughout the state's existence. The geographic boundaries of the USSR varied with time, but after the last major territorial annexations of the, , , and certain other territories during , from 1945 until dissolution the boundaries approximately corresponded to those of late , with the notable exclusions of , most of , and. The Soviet Union became the primary model for future s during the ; the government and the political organization of the country were defined by the only political party, the.

From 1945 until its in 1991  —  a period known as the —the Soviet Union and the  were the two world s that dominated the global agenda of, , s, cultural exchange, scientific advancements including the pioneering of space exploration, and sports (including the  and various s).

Initially established as a union of four Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR grew to contain 15 constituent or "union republics" by 1956:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and. (From annexation of on,  up to reorganisation of  into  on , , the count of "union republics" was 16.)

History
The Soviet Union is traditionally considered to be the of the. The last Russian, , ruled until March 1917 when the Empire was overthrown and a short-lived democratic republic was established, the latter to be overthrown in November 1917 by. From 1917 to 1922, the predecessor to the Soviet Union was the (RSFSR), which was an independent country as well as other Soviet republics at the time. The Soviet Union was officially established in December 1922 as the union of the (colloquially known as ),, , and  Soviet republics ruled by  parties.

Revolution and the foundation of a Soviet state
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the of 1825, and although  was abolished in 1861, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament&mdash;the &mdash;was established in 1906 after the, but the Tsar resisted attempts to move from to. continued and was aggravated during by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.



A spontaneous popular uprising in, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the toppling of the imperial government in March 1917 (see ). The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the, whose leaders intended to establish in Russia and to continue participating on the side of the  in World War I. At the same time, to ensure the rights of the working class, workers' councils, known as , sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by, pushed for socialist revolution in the soviets and on the streets. They seized power from the Provisional Government in November 1917 (see ). Only after the long and bloody of 1918–1921, which included foreign intervention in several parts of Russia, was the new Soviet power secure. In, the "" in early 1921 split disputed territories in and  between Poland and Soviet Russia. The Soviet system of forced labor camps was first established in 1919 under the Cheka, but it was not until the early 1930s that the camp population reached significant numbers. By 1934 the Gulag, or Main Directorate for Corrective Labor Camps, then under the Cheka's successor organization the NKVD, had several million inmates. Prisoners included murderers, thieves, and other common criminals--along with political and religious dissenters

Unification of the Soviet Republics
On, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the , the , the  and the  approved the  and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were confirmed by the 1st of the USSR and signed by heads of delegations -, Mikha Tskhakaya,  and ,  respectively on ,. On, the USSR was recognized by the first major power of the time—the.

The intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was performed according to, documents of the Soviet government, signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the, that envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The Plan was developed in 1920 and covered a ten to 15 year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional, including ten large s, and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises. The Plan became the prototype for subsequent and was basically fulfilled by 1931.

Rule of Stalin
From its beginning years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the. After the economic policy of 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 ). Soviet leaders argued that one party rule was necessary because it ensured that 'capitalist exploitation' would not return to the Soviet Union and that the principles of would represent the people's will. 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. became the 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. This, unlike the expressed by  and  throughout the course of the Revolution, aimed at. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of ; in agriculture were established all over the country. It met widespread resistance from so-called s, more prosperous peasants, who withheld grain, resulting in a bitter struggle against the authorities and, causing hundreds of deaths. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Stalin's of the party eliminated many "" who had participated in the Revolution with Lenin. Meanwhile, countless Soviet citizens were jailed and sent to (Chief Administration for Corrective Labor Camps), a vast network of, or executed. Yet despite the turmoil of the mid- to late 1930s, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before.

The 1930s saw closer cooperation between the and the USSR. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the and the USSR were established. Four years later, the USSR actively supported the in the  against Italian and German. Nevertheless, after Great Britain and concluded the  with, the USSR dealt with the latter as well, both economically and militarily, by concluding the , which involved the occupation of , ,  and the  in 1939. In late November 1939, unable to force Finland into agreement to move its border 25 kilometres back from Leningrad by diplomatic means, ordered the. 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 in 1941. The stopped the Nazi offensive in the, lasting from late 1942 to early 1943, being the major turning point, and drove through  to  before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see ). Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged.

During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, while maintaining its. The Soviet Union aided post-war reconstruction in the countries of Eastern while turning them into Soviet, founded the  in 1955, later, the , supplied aid to the eventually victorious  in the , and saw its influence grow elsewhere in the world. Meanwhile, the rising tension of the turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the  and the, into enemies.

Post-Stalin Soviet Union
died on,. 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. , who had won the power struggle by the mid-1950s, in 1956 and eased repressive controls over party and society known as. At the same time, Soviet military force was used to suppress nationalistic uprisings in and  in 1956. During this period, the Soviet Union continued to realize scientific and technological pioneering exploits, in extenso, to launch the first artificial satellite, living being , and later, the first human being into Earth's orbit. was the first woman to fly in space aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963, and became the first person to walk in space on March 18 1965. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy towards China and the United States suffered difficulties, including those that led to the. Khrushchev was retired from power in 1964.

Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev presided over a period of  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 in December 1979.

Throughout the period, the Soviet Union maintained parity with or superiority to the 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 "standstill" (застой), with an aging and ossified top political leadership.

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; essentially the union did not produce enough grain to feed its growing population, and it was forced to import. Due to the poor quality of its products, the union was largely only able to export raw materials, notably oil. This led to a negative balance of payments and ultimately the union simply ran out of money.

Reforms of Gorbachev and Dissolution
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 and, transitional figures with deep roots in Brezhnevite tradition, beginning in 1985  made significant changes in the economy (see , ) and the party leadership. His policy of  freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship.

In the late 1980s, the constituent republics of the Soviet Union started legal moves towards or even declaration of over their territories, citing Article 72 of the USSR Constitution, which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede. On, a law was passed, that a republic could secede, if more than two thirds of that  republic's residents vote for it on a referendum. 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 "". In 1989, the, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. was elected the chairman of the Congress. On, , 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 independent.

A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on, , with the majority of the population voting for preservation of the Union in nine out of fifteen republics. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost, and, in the summer of 1991, the was designed and agreed upon by eight republics which would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the —an attempted against Gorbachev by hardline Marxist members of the government, who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. 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. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared restoration of full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example), while the other 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union.

On, , the presidents of , and  signed the  which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the  (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the Belavezha Accords to dissolve the Union, on, , the representatives of all Soviet republics except , including those republics that had signed the Belavezha Accords, signed the , which confirmed the dismemberment and consequential extinction of the USSR and restated the establishment of the CIS. The summit of also agreed on several other practical measures consequential to the extinction of the Union. On, 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, president of. The following day, the, 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 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 (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, and its standing legislature, the , represented the principle of popular sovereignty. The Supreme Soviet, which had an elected chairman who functioned as head of state, oversaw the, which acted as the executive branch of the government. The chairman of the Council of Ministers, whose selection was approved by the Supreme Soviet, 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, the government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some authority over policy implementation and offering the 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  authority, placed its loyalists in leadership positions throughout the government, where they were subject to the norms of. 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. 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 —was always a member of the. 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, 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 known to  jurisdictions. Rather, Soviet law utilized the, where judge, procurator and defense attorney worked collaboratively to establish the truth.

The Soviet Union was a  made up of fifteen republics joined together in a theoretically voluntary union; it was this theoretical situation that formed the basis of the and s' membership in the. 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. All the republics except Russian SFSR had their own communist parties. 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. The head of government was considered the Premier, and the head of state was considered the chairman of the Presidium. The Soviet leader could also have one (or both) of these positions, along with the position of General Secretary of the party. The last leader of the Soviet Union was Mikhail Gorbachev, serving from 1985 until late December 1991.


 * (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))
 * (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))


 * (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))
 * (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


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 the world's fate after. A member of the at its foundation in 1945, the Soviet Union became one of the five permanent members of the  which gave it the right to  any of its resolutions (see ).

January 1949:
 * 🇧🇬
 * 🇭🇺
 * 🇵🇱
 * 🇷🇴
 * Soviet Union
 * Soviet Union

February 1949:
 * 🇦🇱 Albania - (Albania, although it had not formally revoked its membership as of mid-1987, stopped participating in Comecon activities in 1961.)

1950: 1962: 1972: 1978:
 * East Germany
 * 🇲🇳
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba
 * Vietnam

Source:

The Soviet Union emerged from as one of the world's two superpowers, a position maintained for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe (see ), military strength, economic 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 as a global superpower, both in a military sense and its ability to expand its influence beyond its borders. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CAME), (Russian: Совет экономической взаимопомощи - СЭВ), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organization of communist states and a kind of Eastern Bloc equivalent to—but more geographically inclusive than—the European Economic Community. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact, though Comecon's membership was significantly wider.[1]

The descriptive term Comecon was often applied to all multilateral activities involving members of the organization, rather than being restricted to the direct functions of Comecon and its organs.[2] This usage was sometimes extended as well to bilateral relations among members, because in the system of socialist international economic relations, multilateral accords — typically of a general nature — tended to be implemented through a set of more detailed, bilateral agreements.[1]

Established in 1949 the Soviet-dominated (COMECON) led by Moscow, served as a framework for cooperation among the planned economies of the Soviet Union, and, later, for trade and economic cooperation with the. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the. 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 s. Soviet troops intervened in the and cited the, the Soviet counterpart to the U.S.  and later , and helped oust the  government in 1968, sometimes referred to as the.

In the late 1950s, a confrontation with regarding the USSR's rapprochement with  and what  perceived as Khrushchev's  led to the. This resulted in a break throughout the global movement and Communist regimes in  and  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 normality until the era.

During the same period, a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of in  sparked the  in 1962.

The (Committee for State Security) served in a fashion as the Soviet counterpart to both the  and the  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 (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the  (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation).

The KGB was not without substantial oversight. The (Main Intelligence Directorate), not publicized by the Soviet Union until the end of the Soviet era during, was created by Lenin in 1918 and served both as a centralized handler of  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 satellite states. The GRU continues to operate in Russia today, with resources estimated by some to exceed those of the SVR.

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the United States, and eventually overtaking it. It perceived its own involvement as essential to the solution of any major international problem. Meanwhile, the gave way to  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, , ).

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 states like  and. 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 succeeded  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, signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States, and allowed its allies in Eastern Europe to determine their own affairs.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, was internationally recognised to be the legal successor to the Soviet state on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt, and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own. To prevent subsequent disputes over Soviet property, "zero variant" agreements were proposed to ratify with newly independent states the status quo on the date of dissolution. ( is the last former Soviet republic not to have entered into such an agreement.) The end of the Soviet Union also raised questions about treaties it had signed, such as the ; Russia has held the position that those treaties remain in force, and should be read as though Russia were the signatory.

Republics


The Soviet Union was a sort of federation that is also called Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR). The first Republics were established shortly after the 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 (,, , and ) 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 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,, 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 s 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. Some republics had common history and geographical regions, and were referred by group names. These were, , and. In its final state, the Soviet Union consisted of the following republics:

Republics of the Soviet Union

 * 1) Armenian SSR
 * 2) Azerbaijan SSR
 * 3) Byelorussian SSR
 * 4) Estonian SSR
 * 5) Georgian SSR
 * 6) Kazakh SSR
 * 7) Kyrgyz SSR
 * 8) Latvian SSR
 * 9) Lithuanian SSR
 * 10) Moldavian SSR
 * 11) Russian SFSR
 * 12) Tajik SSR
 * 13) Turkmen SSR
 * 14) Ukrainian SSR
 * 15) Uzbek SSR

Economy


Prior to its collapse, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy in the world, and the largest centrally directed economy. The government established its economic priorities through, a system under which administrative decisions rather than the market determine resource allocation, as well as prices of every good or service in the nation. The Bureau of Central Planning, comprised of a few thousand of the brightest minds in the Soviet Union, was responsible for making these decisions.

After 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 and agricultural sectors was often inadequate (see  and ). Crises in the agricultural sector reaped catastrophic consequences in the 1930s, when met widespread resistance from the, resulting in a bitter struggle of many peasants against the authorities, and famine, particularly in  (see ), but also in the Volga River area and Kazakhstan. In the consumer and service sectors, a lack of investment resulted in s in some areas.

In addition, since the 1970s, the growth rate had slowed substantially (See ). 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 () 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 were 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 an continent and the northern portion of the n 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 ). Due to the sheer size of the state, the varied greatly from  and  to  and. 11% of the land was, 16% was s and , 41% was and , and 32% was declared "other" (including ).

The Soviet Union measured some 10,000 kilometres (6,200 ) from on the  in the west to Ratmanova Island  in the, or roughly equivalent to the distance from , east to. From the tip of the Peninsula on the  Ocean to the Central Asian town of  near the  border extended almost 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of mostly rugged, inhospitable terrain. The east-west expanse of the continental would easily fit between the northern and southern borders of the Soviet Union at their extremities.

Population and society


The Soviet Union was one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with more than 200 distinct ethnic groups within its borders. The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991, having been the 3rd most populous nation after China and India for decades. In the last years of the Soviet Union, the majority of the population were (50.78%), followed by  (15.45%) and  (5.84%). Other ethnic groups included, , , , , , , , , , , and as well as , , s, , , , , s, , , , s, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , s, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 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. , and  shared close cultural ties while, generally, the other subjects of the empire shared little in common—,, or. 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 (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 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, unofficial groups formed around a great many social, cultural, and political issues. In some non-Russian regions ostensible s 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 secular, supported ideology and suppressed religion, according to various Soviet and Western sources, over one-third of the people in the Soviet Union professed religious belief. and had the most believers. The by the Decree of Council of People's Comissars on,. 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. Official figures on the number of religious believers in the Soviet Union were not available in 1989.

Christians belonged to various churches:, which had the largest number of followers; ; and and various other  denominations.

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." In, however, the repression against the temporarily ceased as it was perceived as "instrument of patriotic unity" in the war against "the western ". Repression against Russian Orthodox restarted from ca. 1946 onwards and more forcibly under. 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 in the Soviet Union, actual practice of  was rare in Communist times. In 1928, Stalin created the 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. The Azerbaijanis, who were, 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 ) 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, , and , a religion based on spiritualism. The role of religion in the daily lives of Soviet citizens thus varied greatly.

Culture


The of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the USSR's 70-year existence. During the first eleven years following the Revolution (1918–1929), there was relative freedom and artists experimented with several different styles in an effort to find a distinctive Soviet style of art. Lenin wanted art to be accessible to the Russian people. The government encouraged a variety of trends. In art and literature, numerous schools, some traditional and others radically experimental, proliferated. Communist writers and  were active during this time. Film, as a means of influencing a largely illiterate society, received encouragement from the state; much of director 's best work dates from this period.

Later, during 's rule, Soviet culture was characterised by the rise and domination of the government-imposed style of, with all other trends being severely repressed, with rare exceptions (e.g. 's works). Many writers were imprisoned and killed. Also religious people were persecuted and either sent to Gulags or killed, though the ban on the Orthodox Church was temporarily lifted in the 1940s, in order to rally support for the Soviet war against the invading forces of. Under Stalin, prominent symbols that were not in line with communist ideology were destroyed, such as Orthodox Churches and Tsarist buildings.

Following the of the late 1950s and early 1960s, censorship was diminished. Greater experimentation in art forms became permissible once again, with the result that more sophisticated and subtly critical work began to be produced. The regime loosened its emphasis on ; thus, for instance, many protagonists of the novels of author concerned themselves with problems of daily life rather than with building socialism. An underground dissident literature, known as, developed during this late period. In architecture Khrushchev era mostly focused on functional design as opposed to highly decorated style of Stalin's epoch.

In the second half of 1980s, 's policies of and  significantly expanded  in the media and press, eventually resulting in the complete abolishment of censorship, total freedom of expression and freedom to criticise the government.

The following articles contain information on specific aspects of Soviet culture: