1.
Vice President of the Soviet Union
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Under the 1924,1936 and 1977 Soviet Constitution these bodies served as the collective head of state of the Soviet Union. The Chairman of these bodies personally performed the ceremonial functions assigned to a single head of state. The Soviet Union was established in 1922, however, the countrys first constitution was adopted in 1924. Before that time, the 1918 Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was adopted as the constitution of the USSR, the CEC could also limit taxes. In periods between convocations of the Congress of Soviets the CEC held supreme power, in between sessions of the Congress of Soviets the CEC was responsible for all the affairs of the Congress of Soviets. The CEC and the Congress of Soviets was replaced by the Presidium, the Supreme Soviet was the highest organ of state power, and was the sole organ to hold legislative power in the Soviet Union. Sessions of the Supreme Soviet were convened by the Presidium twice a year, however, in the event of a disagreement between the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities the Presidium could form a conciliation commission. If this commission failed the Presidium could dissolve the Supreme Soviet, the Presidency was established in 1990 and the President would, according to the altered constitution, be elected by the Soviet people by direct and secret ballot. However, the first and only Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, was elected by the democratically elected Congress of Peoples Deputies, in connection with the dissolution of the Soviet Union national elections for the office of President never took place. To be elected to the office a person must have been a Soviet citizen and older than thirty-five, the same person could not be elected president for more than two terms. The Presidency was the highest state office, and was the most important office in the Soviet Union by influence and recognition, eclipsing that of Premier, with the establishment of the Presidency executive power was shared between the President and the Prime Minister. The first head of state was Mikhail Kalinin, who was inaugurated in 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, at over twenty years, Kalinin spent the longest time in office, he died shortly after his resignation in 1946. Andropov spent the shortest time in office, there have been four individuals appointed vice head of state. At over eight years, Vasily Kuznetsov spent the longest time in office, gennady Yanayev spent the shortest time in office
2.
Collective leadership in the Soviet Union
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Collective leadership or Collectivity of leadership, was considered an ideal form of governance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and other socialist states espousing communism. On the national level, the heart of the leadership was officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Vladimir Lenin was, according to Soviet literature, the example of a leader ruling in favour of the collective. At the 20th Party Congress, Stalins reign was criticised as the cult of the individual, Nikita Khrushchev, Stalins successor, supported the ideal of collective leadership but only ruled in a collective fashion when it suited him. In 1964, Khrushchev was ousted due to his disregard of collective leadership and was replaced in his posts by Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary, collective leadership was strengthened during the Brezhnev years and the later reigns of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Mikhail Gorbachevs reforms helped spawn factionalism within the Soviet leadership, the factions usually disagreed on how little or how much reform was needed to rejuvenate the Soviet system. Soviet ideologists believed that Vladimir Lenin, the first Soviet leader, after Stalins death, his successors, while vying for control over the Soviet leadership, promoted the values of collective leadership. Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov formed a collective leadership immediately after Stalins death, after the arrest of Beria, Nikita Khrushchev proclaimed collective leadership as the supreme principle of our Party. He further stated that only approved by the Central Committee could ensure good leadership for the party. In reality, however, Khrushchev promoted these ideas so that he could win support to remove his opponents from power, most notably Premier Malenkov. Khrushchev criticised Stalins rule during the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a cult of the individual and he accused Stalin of reducing the Partys activities and putting an end to Party democracy among others. In the three years following Stalins death, the Central Committee and the Presidium worked consistently to uphold the leadership lost under Stalin. Khrushchevs rule as First Secretary remained highly controversial throughout his rule in the Party leadership, the first attempt to depose Khrushchev came in 1957, when the Anti-Party Group accused him of individualistic leadership. The coup failed, but Khrushchevs position weakened drastically, however, Khrushchev continued to portray his regime as a rule of the collective even after becoming Chairman of the Council of Ministers, replacing Nikolai Bulganin. Most Western observers believed that Khrushchev had become the leader of the Soviet Union by the early 1960s. This campaign culminated in 1964 with the replacement of Khrushchev in his offices of First Secretary by Leonid Brezhnev, Brezhnev and Kosygin, along with Mikhail Suslov, Andrei Kirilenko and Anastas Mikoyan, were elected to their respective offices to form and lead a functioning collective leadership. One of the reasons for Khrushchevs ousting, as Suslov told him, was his violation of collective leadership, with Khrushchevs removal, collective leadership was again praised by the Soviet media, and it was claimed to be a return to Leninist norms of Party life. At the plenum which ousted Khrushchev, the Central Committee forbade any single individual to hold the office of General Secretary, the leadership was usually referred to as the Brezhnev–Kosygin leadership, instead of the collective leadership, by First World medias
3.
State Council of the Soviet Union
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The members of the council consisted of the President of the Soviet Union, and highest officials from the Soviet Union Republics. This committee was transformed into the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet Economy, also chaired by Silayev. Its function was to coordinate economic policy across the Soviet Union, as Chairman of both COMSE and the IEC, Silayev presided over a quickly disintegrating Soviet Union. On 6 September 1991 a presidential decree gave the IEC the same authority as the Cabinet of Ministers. When he first took office, Silayev wanted to reduce the powers of the central government and this view changed, he demanded that Yeltsin give back much of the authority of the central government which he had usurped following the August Coup. In this he failed, and his position as Russian SFSR Premier was severely weakened as a result. Silayev, as overseer of the economy, was given the task of initiating economic reforms in the Soviet Union in a way that both the central government and the Soviet republics. Silayev tried to maintain an integrated economy while initiating the marketisation of the economy, on 19 December COMSE was dissolved by a presidential decree, and Gorbachev resigned as Soviet President on 25 December. The next day,26 December 1991, Silayev resigned from his post as IEC Chairman, and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved by the Council of Republics
4.
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated in English as CPSU, was the founding and ruling political party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The party was founded in 1912 by the Bolsheviks, a group led by Vladimir Lenin which seized power in the aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917. The party was dissolved on 29 August 1991 on Soviet territory soon after a failed coup détat and was abolished on 6 November 1991 on Russian territory. The highest body within the CPSU was the party Congress, which convened every five years, when the Congress was not in session, the Central Committee was the highest body. Because the Central Committee met twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Orgburo. The party leader was the head of government and held the office of either General Secretary, Premier or head of state, or some of the three offices concurrently—but never all three at the same time. The CPSU, according to its party statute, adhered to Marxism–Leninism, a based on the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx. The party pursued state socialism, under which all industries were nationalized, a number of causes contributed to CPSUs loss of control and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some historians have written that Gorbachevs policy of glasnost was the root cause, Gorbachev maintained that perestroika without glasnost was doomed to failure anyway. Others have blamed the stagnation and subsequent loss of faith by the general populace in communist ideology. The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the worlds first constitutionally socialist state, was established by the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the October Revolution. Immediately after the Revolution, the new, Lenin-led government implemented socialist reforms, including the transfer of estates, in this context, in 1918, RSDLP became Russian Communist Party and remained so until 1997. Lenin supported world revolution he sought peace with the Central Powers. The treaty was voided after the Allied victory in World War I, in 1921, Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy, a system of state capitalism that started the process of industrialization and recovery from the Civil War. On 30 December 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire in the Soviet Union, on 9 March 1923, Lenin suffered a stroke, which incapacitated him and effectively ended his role in government. He died on 21 January 1924 and was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, after emerging victorious from a power struggle with Trotsky, Stalin obtained full control of the party and Stalinism was installed as the only ideology of the party. The partys official name was All-Union Communist Party in 1925, Stalins political purge greatly affected the partys configuration, as many party members were executed or sentenced for slave labour. Happening during the timespan of the Great Purge, fascism had ascened to power in Italy, seeing this as a potential threat, the Party actively sought to form collective security alliances with Anti-fascist western powers such as France and Britain
5.
History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is generally conceived as also covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. The history of the regional and republican branches of the party does however differ from the all-Russian, over twenty Party organizations were represented. In the eyes of the Bolsheviks the conference had, therefore, moreover, the conference declared the Mensheviks expelled from the party. Stalin and Sverdlov won election to the Central Committee despite their non-attendance at the conference, the elected alternate members of the Central Committee included Mikhail Kalinin. For the direction of work in Russia a practical center was set up, with Stalin at its head. Sverdlov, Spandaryan, S. Ordzhonikidze, M. Kalinin and Goloshchekin, I hope you will rejoice with us over the fact. In the summer of 1912, Lenin moved from Paris to Galicia in order to be nearer to Russia. An important instrument used by the Bolshevik Party to strengthen its organizations and to spread its influence among the masses was the Bolshevik daily newspaper Pravda and it was founded, according to Lenins instructions, on the initiative of Stalin, Olminsky and Poletayev. Pravda was intended as a legal, mass working-class paper founded simultaneously with the new rise of the revolutionary movement and its first issue appeared on May 51912. Previous to the appearance of Pravda, the Bolsheviks already had a newspaper called Zvezda. Zvezda had played an important part at the time of the Lena events and it printed a number of political articles by Lenin and Stalin. But the Party felt that with the revolutionary upsurge, a weekly newspaper no longer met the requirements of the Bolshevik Party, according to the analysis of the Party leadership, a daily mass political newspaper designed for the broadest sections of the workers was needed. Whilst the average circulation of Pravda was 40,000 copies per day, the circulation of Luch, in Moscow, the party launched Nash Put as a workers newspaper in September 1913. It was banned after just a few editions were published, another legally functioning central organ of the Party was the Bolshevik group in the Fourth State Duma. In 1912 the government decreed elections to the Fourth Duma, the RSDLP decided to participate in the elections. The RSDLP acted independently, under its own slogans, in the Duma elections, the slogans of the Bolsheviks in the election campaign were a democratic republic, an 8-hour day and the confiscation of the landed estates. The elections to the Fourth Duma were held in the autumn of 1912, in reply, the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP, on Stalins proposal, called upon the workers of the large factories to declare a one-day strike. Placed in a position, the government was forced to yield
6.
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
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The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments. It elected the Presidium serving as the head of state of the Soviet Union, formed the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Court. The administrative units of the type would send in the same number of members regardless of their size or population. Under the Soviet constitutions of 1936 and 1977, the Supreme Soviet was imbued with great lawmaking powers, after 1989 it consisted of 542 deputies. The meetings of the body were more frequent, from six to eight months a year. The presidium carried out the operations of the Supreme Soviet when it was not in session. Beside the Supreme Council, in the Soviet Union supreme councils also existed in each of union, the supreme councils of republican level also were headed by their presidiums, but all those councils consisted of one chamber. All republics in the Soviet Union were soviet, yet 15 were of union level, while the other, autonomous republics, were subordinated to the union republics
7.
Soviet of the Union
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Until Glasnost and the 1989 elections however, only candidates approved by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were permitted to participate in the elections. As opposed to the Soviet of Nationalities, the Soviet of the Union represented the interests of all of the people of the Soviet Union no matter what their nationality was. The Soviet of the Union had the rights and competence as the Soviet of Nationalities. The legality of action was questionable, since the Soviet Constitution did not allow a republic to unilaterally recall its deputies. However, by time the Soviet government had been rendered more or less impotent. Chairman of the Soviet of the Union 1977 Soviet Constitution 1936 Soviet Constitution
8.
Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union
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The Congress of Peoples Deputies of the Soviet Union was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991. The Congress of Peoples Deputies of the Soviet Union was created as part of Mikhail Gorbachevs reform agenda, and was enabled by Gorbachevs first constitutional change. The Congress consisted of 2,250 deputies elected in three different ways,750 deputies were elected according to the used in Soviet of the Union elections in the 1936–1989 period. 750 deputies were elected according to the used in Soviet of Nationalities elections in the 1936–1989 period. 750 deputies representing public organizations, such as the Communist Party, Komsomol, the election law would allocate a fixed number of seats to organizations – for example,100 to the Communist Party and 100 to Komsomol – and the organizations would appoint deputies to those seats. The congress would gather twice a year and would elect the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union consisting of a smaller number of deputies. The Supreme Soviet would then serve as a permanent legislature, deciding all but the most important issues, such as amendments to the Soviet constitution, the month-long nomination of candidates for the Congress of Peoples Deputies of the USSR lasted until 24 January 1989. For the next month, selection among the 7,531 districts nominees took place at meetings organized by constituency-level electoral commissions. On 7 March, a final list of 5,074 candidates was published, approximately 85% of these were members of the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union and 17% were women. In the two prior to the 1,500 districts polls, elections to fill 750 reserved seats of public organizations. The selection process was completed in April. In the 26 March general elections, voter participation was reported at 89. 8%, with this polling,1,958 – including 1,225 district seats – of the 2,250 CPD seats were filled. At its first session commencing on 25 May, the CPD proceeded to choose the 542 Supreme Soviet members from among 573 candidates, final results were announced on 27 May. The Supreme Soviet was convened for its first session on 3 June, on 21 July, the composition of the new Council of Ministers, headed by Nikolai Ryzhkov, was announced. Only one Congress was elected, in March 1989, the fundamental difference from previous elections in Soviet Union was that elections were actually competitive. Instead of one Communist Party-approved candidate for each seat, multiple candidates were allowed, a variety of different political positions, from Communist to pro-Western, were represented in the Congress, and lively debates took place with different viewpoints expressed. Congress of Peoples Deputies of Russia Congress of Soviets
9.
Soviet Union legislative election, 1989
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In 1989, elections were held for the Congress of Peoples Deputies of the Soviet Union. The main elections were held on 26 March and a round on 9 April. They were the first relatively free elections held in the Soviet Union. The elections were followed by elections in 1990, the last legislative elections to take place in the country. In January 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, under this concept the electorate would have a choice between multiple candidates per constituency, although all candidates would still have to be members of the CPSU. In December 1988, the 1977 Soviet Constitution was amended to create a new legislative body, the Congress of Peoples Deputies consisted of 2,250 deputies. Elections for the new legislature were set for March,1989, while the majority of CPSU-endorsed candidates were elected over 300 candidates won out over the endorsed candidates. Among them were Boris Yeltsin, who won over the CPSU-endorsed candidate to represent Moscows district with 89% of the vote and it was Yeltsins first return to political power after resigning from the Politburo in 1987. On a union republic level Yeltsin was also elected to the RSFSRs Congress and then, indirectly. The first session of the new Congress of Peoples Deputies opened in late May,1989. As it was the final group in the Soviet Union, those elected in 1989 played a vital part in continuing reforms. This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http, - Russia White, Stephen and Gordon Wightman. Gorbachevs Reforms, The Soviet Elections of 1989, tedin, Kent L. Popular Support for Competitive Elections in the Soviet Union. Lenins Tomb, The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, new York, Vintage Books, pp. 216–223. On This Day,1989, Millions of Russians go to the polls on BBC Gorbachev on 1989 in The Nation Yeltsin and the Soviet Elections in Workers World
10.
Constitution of the Soviet Union
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These three constitutions were,1924 Soviet Constitution 1936 Soviet Constitution 1977 Soviet Constitution These constitutions had most provisions in common. These provisions declared the leadership of the class and, in the latter two, the leading role of the CPSU in government and society. All the constitutions upheld the forms of social property, each of the constitutions called for a system of soviets, or councils, to exercise governmental authority. On the surface, the constitutions resembled many constitutions adopted in the West, the differences between Soviet and Western constitutions, however, overshadow the similarities. Soviet constitutions declared certain political rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and they also identified a series of economic and social rights, as well as a set of duties of all citizens. The legislature was to be elected at periodical elections, the special leading role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was mentioned in the constitutions. In fact, it was the leadership of the Party which made all the decisions in the country. During Perestroika in the late 1980s the constitution helped provide a framework for the emergence of extended democracy
11.
1977 Soviet Constitution
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The official name of the Constitution was Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The preamble stated that the aims of the dictatorship of the proletariat having been fulfilled, compared with previous constitutions, the Brezhnev Constitution extended the bounds of constitutional regulation of society. The first chapter defined the role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and established principles for the management of the state. The difference is that, according to the new Constitution, the government no longer represented the workers, later chapters established principles for economic management and cultural relations. The 1977 Constitution was long and detailed and it included twenty-eight more articles than the 1936 Soviet Constitution. The Constitution explicitly defined the division of responsibilities between the central and republic governments, for example, the Constitution placed the regulation of boundaries and administrative divisions within the jurisdiction of the republics. However, provisions established the rules under which the republics could make such changes, the laws of the USSR shall have the same force in all Union Republics. In the event of a discrepancy between a Union Republic law and an All-Union law, the law of the USSR shall prevail, the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a single entity and comprises the territories of the Union Republics. The sovereignty of the USSR extends throughout its territory, since 1977, October 7 was celebrated as Soviet Constitution day in the USSR. It was never observed in the Ukrainian SSR, the previous date for Soviet Constitution day had been December 5 from 1936 after the day the 1936 Soviet Constitution had been adopted. Adoption of the Constitution was an act of the Supreme Soviet. Amendments to the Constitution were likewise adopted by legislative act of that body, in addition, the leading boards of official organizations and even the Academy of Sciences could initiate amendments and other legislation. Soviet constitutions were frequently amended and had changed more often than the constitutions of most Western countries. The enabling legislation provided the specific and changing operating rules for government bodies. In October 1988, draft amendments and additions to the 1977 Constitution were published in the Soviet media for public discussion, following the public review process, the Supreme Soviet adopted the amendments and additions in December 1988. The amendments and additions substantially and fundamentally changed the electoral and political systems, the electoral process was constitutionally opened up to multiple candidacies, although not multi-party candidacies. A legislative body—the Supreme Soviet—was to convene for regular spring and fall sessions, unlike the old Supreme Soviet, however, the new Supreme Soviet was indirectly elected by the population, being elected from among the members of the Congress of Peoples Deputies. The Soviet Constitution included a series of civil and political rights, among these were the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly and the right to religious belief and worship
12.
Government of the Soviet Union
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The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the main body of the executive branch of government in the Soviet Union. Its head of government was the generally known in the West as the Premier of the Soviet Union. The members of the Soviet Government—peoples commissars, ministers, and heads of state committees—were recommended by the Premier, the Government of the Soviet Union exercised its executive powers in conformity with the Soviet Constitution and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. However eventually no new government was formed due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These were accompanied by a number of government ministers and state committee chairmen, recommended by the premier. The executive branch was responsible for both short- and long-term economic, social and cultural development, the Governments official residence was at the Kremlin Senate in Moscow. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics exercised its powers in conformity with the Soviet Constitution and legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviet. Its structure, operational procedures and decision-making processes were defined by the 1977 Soviet constitution, the decisions and ordinances of the Council of Ministers of the USSR shall be binding throughout the USSR—these decisions and ordinances were binding throughout the country. The Government also controlled trade and had directed the general development of the Soviet armed forces. The Government managed the internal sphere of the Union of Soviet of Socialist Republics social policy and it was responsible for implementing measures which would either promote or ensure the well-being of Soviet citizens through economic, social and economic development. For instance, the Government controlled the State Bank and was responsible for the organisation of state insurance, both the five-year plan and the budget needed approval from the Supreme Soviet to be implemented. It was responsible for socialist property, public order and the protection of its citizens, the Government was responsible to the Soviet Parliament, and the parliament could in theory force the resignation of the Government as a whole or any Government appointees by a simple majority vote. The Premier and the members of the Government were jointly responsible for decisions passed by the Government and were responsible for their respective portfolios. The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, literally head of state, appointed government ministers, the Premier could recommend civil servants to government to the Presidium, which could then either pass or reject the nominee
13.
Premier of the Soviet Union
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The office of Premier of the Soviet Union was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Twelve individuals became premier over the span of the office. Two of the twelve died in office of natural causes. The first premier was Lenin, who was inaugurated in 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, ivan Silayev spent the shortest time in office at 126 days in 1991. At over fourteen years, Kosygin spent the longest time in office, the Council of Peoples Commissars was established on 8 November 1917 by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Government. The Council of Peoples Commissars published decrees and decisions that were binding throughout the Soviet Union, in 1946, the Council of Peoples Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers at both all-Union and Union Republic level. However Kosygins position was weakened when he proposed a reform in 1965. Under the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was the head of government of the USSR. The premier was responsible and accountable to the Supreme Soviet, the premier managed the national economy, formulated the five-year plans and ensured socio-cultural development. List of heads of state of the Soviet Union List of leaders of the Soviet Union Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union
14.
Council of People's Commissars
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The Council of Peoples Commissars was a government institution formed shortly after the October Revolution in 1917. Created in the Russian Republic, the council laid foundations in restructuring the country to form the Soviet Union and it evolved to become the highest government authority of executive power in the government of the Soviet Union. The chairman of council was thus the head of government. The constitution enabled the Sovnarkom to issue decrees carrying the force of law when the Congress was not in session. The Congress then routinely approved these decrees at its next session, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established in December 1922, the USSR Sovnarkom was modelled on the RSFSR Sovnarkom. It was transformed in 1946 into the Council of Ministers, the first council elected by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was composed as follows. Upon the creation of the USSR in 1922, the Unions government was modelled after the first Sovnarkom, the Soviet republics retained their own governments which dealt with domestic matters. In 1946, the Sovnarkoms were transformed into the Council of Ministers at both all-Union and Union Republic level
15.
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
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The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was the de jure government comprising the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union from 1946 until 1991. In 1946 the Council of Peoples Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers, the council issued declarations and instructions based on and in accordance with applicable laws, which had obligatory jurisdictional power over the territories of all republics within the Union. In 1991 the Council of Ministers was dissolved, and replaced by the newly established Cabinet of Ministers, there were seven chairmen of the Council of Ministers, in effect Premier of the Soviet Union. The Presidium of the Council of Ministers was the collective decision-making body of government, the Council of Peoples Commissars, the Soviet Government, was transformed into the Council of Ministers in March 1946 in all level of governance. At the same time The Peoples Commissariats were transformed into Ministries, malenkov lost the power struggle, and in 1955 he was demoted from his office as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He was succeeded in his post by Nikolai Bulganin, who in turn was removed and replaced by Khrushchev because of his support for the Anti-Party Group, which had tried to oust Khrushchev in 1957. Kosygin, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, was in charge of administration while Brezhnev. Kosygin resigned in 1980, to be succeeded by his First Deputy Chairman Nikolai Tikhonov, after five-years service, under the rules laid down by Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko Tikhonov was compelled to retire by Mikhail Gorbachev on 27 September 1985. Tikhonov was succeeded by Nikolai Ryzhkov, Ryzhkov was a half-hearted reformer, and was skeptical towards the de-nationalisation and the monetary reform of 1989, however, he did support the creation of a regulated market economy. In 1991 Ryzhkov was succeeded as Premier by Valentin Pavlov, the Council of Ministers was dissolved and replaced with the newly established Cabinet of Ministers. The Council of Ministers was the head of the executive branch. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers could also recommend people who he found suitable for membership of the Council of Ministers to the Supreme Soviet, the Council of Ministers laid down its functions on each first-convocation of a newly elected Supreme Soviet. Creation of necessary organisations within the Council of Ministers in the fields of economics, socio-cultural development, the Council of Ministers could also issue decrees and resolutions and later on verify their execution. All organisations were obliged to follow the decrees and resolutions issued by the All-Union Council of Ministers, the All-Union Council also had the power to suspend all mandates and decrees issued by itself or organisations subordinate to it. The Council coordinated and directed the work of the republics and union ministries, state committees. In 1946, the All-Union Council of Peoples Commissars became the Council of Ministers, whilst Peoples Commissars and Peoples Commissariats became Ministers, Ministers were important figures in day-to-day decision-making, with 73 percent of them elected full-members of the Central Committee at the 25th Party Congress. A large number of key ministries had been eliminated and replaced by a network of regional and local sovnarkhoz under the supervision of the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy. Khrushchevs economic reform proved disastrous as it severed regional economic relations and was abandoned by the Soviet Government following Khrushchevs ousting in 1964, the year later twenty-eight industrial ministries, eleven All-union and seventeen Union ministries were reestablished
16.
Law of the Soviet Union
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The Law of the Soviet Union was the law as it developed in the Soviet Union following the October Revolution of 1917. The Soviet legal system regarded law as an arm of politics, extensive extra-judiciary powers were given to the Soviet secret police agencies. Soviet law was rooted in pre-revolutionary Russian law and Marxism/Leninism, pre-revolutionary influences included Byzantine law, Mongol law, Russian Orthodox Canon law, and Western law. Western law was absent until the judicial reform of Alexander II in 1864. Despite this, the supremacy of law and equality before the law were not well-known concepts, the tsar was not bound by the law. Marxism/Leninism viewed law as a superstructure in the base and superstructure model of society, capitalist law was a tool of bourgeois domination and a reflection of bourgeois values. Since law was a tool to maintain class domination, in a classless society, like all other government institutions, the judiciary was officially subordinated to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In 1917, the Soviet authorities formally repealed all Tsarist legislation and this system abolished Western legal concepts including the rule of law, the civil liberties, the protection of law and guarantees of property. Crime was determined not as the infraction of law, but as any action which could threaten the Soviet state, for example, profiteering could be interpreted as a counter-revolutionary activity punishable by death. The deportation of the Kulaks in 1928–31 was carried out within the terms of Soviet Civil Code, some Soviet legal scholars even asserted that criminal repression may be applied in the absence of guilt. Martin Latsis, chief of the Ukrainian Cheka explained, Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what is his background, his education and these are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror, defense lawyers, who had to be party members, were required to take their clients guilt for granted. Soviet law is similar in this respect to civil law of European countries like France. Criminal cases consisted of an examination before the indictment and the actual trial. In the preliminary examination, the sledovatel interrogate the accused and the witnesses, the accused was informed of his/her rights before the examination. Before 1958, counsel was available during the trial. After 1958, counsel was available at the last stage of the examination after the accused was indicted
17.
Procurator General of the Soviet Union
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Offices of Public Procurators were and are still used in other countries adhering to the doctrine of Socialist law. The Office of Public Procurator of the USSR was created in 1936, and its head was called Public Procurator of the USSR until 1946, when it was changed to Procurator General of the USSR. The Procurator General was appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for a 7-year term and his deputies and Procurator General of the Military were appointed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on recommendation from Procurator General. The Procurator General appointed public procurators of the Soviet republics and, on their recommendation, public procurators of autonomous republics, krais, oblasts and he also issued orders and instructions for all of the offices of public procurators, instructed on differentiation of their competence, etc. The Procurator General had the right to present his issues to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet that needed to be solved in the manner or demanded interpretation of the law. The Procurator Generals participation in the sessions of the Supreme Court of the USSR was mandatory. Pyotr Krasikov Ivan Akulov Andrey Vyshinsky Mikhail Pankratov
18.
Leninism
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Functionally, the Leninist vanguard party was to provide the working class with the political consciousness and revolutionary leadership necessary to depose capitalism in Imperial Russia. As a political-science term, Leninism entered common usage in 1922, two years later, in July 1924, at the fifth congress of the Communist International, Grigory Zinoviev popularized the term Leninism to denote vanguard-party revolution. In the pamphlet What is to be Done, in the pamphlet Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action, Lenin said, Full, inner-party democratic debate was Bolshevik Party practice under Lenin, even after the banning of party factions in 1921. Although a guiding influence in policy, Lenin did not exercise absolute power, under Stalin, the inner-party practice of democratic free debate did not continue after the death of Lenin in 1924. Democracy for the exploiters will be, in one or another form, is a question of the specific national features of this or that capitalism. In the soviet political system, the party would be one of many political parties competing for elected power. Nevertheless, the circumstances of the Red vs, to feed the populaces of town and country, Lenin instituted War Communism as a necessary condition—adequate supplies of food and weapons—for fighting the Russian Civil War. Lenin regarded the appearance of new socialist states in the countries as necessary to the strengthening Russias economy. In that, he was encouraged by the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Italian insurrection and general strikes of 1920, and industrial unrest in Britain, France, and the U. S. Lenin vs. To that end followed proposals reducing the powers of Party posts. Lenin advised Trotsky to emphasize Stalins recent bureaucratic alignment in such matters, despite advice to refuse any rotten compromise, Trotsky did not heed Lenins advice, and General Secretary Stalin retained power over the Communist Party and the bureaucracy of the soviet government. In the course of instituting government policy, Stalin promoted the doctrine of Socialism in One Country, hence, revolutionary workers should politically ally with peasant political organisations, but not with capitalist political parties. The Oppositionists Until exiled from Russia in 1929, Leon Trotsky helped develop and led the Left Opposition with members of the Workers Opposition, the Decembrists, the Stalinist economic policy vacillated between appeasing capitalist kulak interests in the countryside, and destroying them. Initially, the Stalinists also rejected the national industrialisation of Russia, in both cases, the Left Opposition denounced the regressive nature of the policy towards the kulak social class of wealthy peasants, and the brutality of forced industrialisation. Trotsky described the vacillating Stalinist policy as a symptom of the nature of a ruling bureaucracy. The anti–Trotsky campaign culminated in the executions of the Moscow Trials, in political practice, Leninism, despite its origin as Communist revolutionary praxis, was adopted throughout the political spectrum. In Singapore, the Peoples Action Party was organised Leninist political party featuring internal democracy, the PAP initiated single-party dominance in the government and popular politics of Singapore. In Marxist philosophy, the term Left communism identifies a range of the Communist political perspectives that are the left-wing among Communists, Left communism criticizes the political ideas that the Bolshevik Party practiced at certain periods of their history as a revolutionary vanguard party
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Stalinism
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Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented by Joseph Stalin. These included not only people but also working-class people accused of counter-revolutionary sympathies. Rapid industrialization was accompanied with mass collectivization of agriculture and rapid urbanization, rapid urbanization converted many small villages into industrial cities. After the American private enterprises completed their tasks, Soviet state enterprises took over, the term came into prominence during the mid-1930s, when Lazar Kaganovich, a Soviet politician and associate of Stalin, reportedly declared, Lets replace Long Live Leninism with Long Live Stalinism. Stalin initially met this usage with hesitancy, dismissing it as excessively praiseful, Stalinism usually denotes a style of a government, and an ideology. From 1917 to 1924, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin often appeared united, in his dispute with Leon Trotsky, Stalin de-emphasized the role of workers in advanced capitalist countries. Also, Stalin polemicized against Trotsky on the role of peasants, as in China, in Stalins view, counterrevolutionary elements will try to derail the transition to full Communism, and the state must be powerful enough to defeat them. For this reason, Communist regimes influenced by Stalin have been described as totalitarian. Soviet puppet Sheng Shicai extended Stalinist rule in Xinjiang province in the 1930s, Sheng conducted a purge similar to Stalins Great Purge in 1937. Stalin blamed the Kulaks as the inciters of reactionary violence against the people during the implementation of agricultural collectivisation, in response, the state under Stalins leadership initiated a violent campaign against the Kulaks, which has been labeled as classicide. Those targeted by the purge were often expelled from the party, in the 1930s, Stalin apparently became increasingly worried about the growing popularity of the Leningrad party boss Sergei Kirov. After the assassination of Kirov, which may have been orchestrated by Stalin, Stalin invented a detailed scheme to implicate opposition leaders in the murder, including Trotsky, thereafter, several trials known as the Moscow Trials were held, but the procedures were replicated throughout the country. Article 58 of the code, which listed prohibited anti-Soviet activities as counterrevolutionary crime, was applied in the broadest manner. The Russian word troika gained a new meaning, a quick, Stalins hand-picked executioner, Vasili Blokhin, was entrusted with carrying out some of the high-profile executions in this period. Many military leaders were convicted of treason and a purge of Red Army officers followed. The repression of so many formerly high-ranking revolutionaries and party members led Leon Trotsky to claim that a river of blood separated Stalins regime from that of Lenin. In August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico, where he had lived in exile since January 1937, this eliminated the last of Stalins opponents among the former Party leadership. With the exception of Vladimir Milyutin and Joseph Stalin himself, all of the members of Lenins original cabinet who had not succumbed to death from natural causes before the purge were executed
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Economy of the Soviet Union
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The economy of the Soviet Union was based on a system of state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, industrial manufacturing and centralized administrative planning. The economy was characterised by control of investment, public ownership of industrial assets, macroeconomic stability, negligible unemployment. Beginning in 1928, the course of the economy was guided by a series of Five-Year Plans. By the 1950s, the Soviet Union had, during the few decades. Impressive growth rates during the first three Five-Year Plans are particularly notable given that this period is nearly congruent with the Great Depression, during this period the Soviet Union encountered a rapid industrial growth while other regions were suffering from crisis. Nevertheless, the base upon which the Five-Year Plans sought to build meant that, at the commencement of Operation Barbarossa. The major strength of the Soviet economy was its enormous supply of oil and gas, as Daniel Yergin notes, the Soviet economy in its final decades was heavily dependent on vast natural resources–oil and gas in particular. However, Yergin goes on, world oil prices collapsed in 1986, after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he began a process of economic liberalisation towards a mixed economy. The complex demands of the economy and inflexible administration overwhelmed and constrained the central planners. Corruption and data fiddling became common practice among the bureaucracy by reporting fulfilled targets and quotas, from the Stalin-era to the early Brezhnev-era, the Soviet economy grew much slower than Japan and slightly faster than the United States. GDP levels in 1950 were 510 in the USSR,161 in Japan and 1456 in the US, by 1965 the corresponding values were 1011,587, and 2607. The USSRs relatively small consumer sector accounted for just under 60% of the countrys GDP in 1990, while the industrial and agricultural sectors contributed 22%, agriculture was the predominant occupation in the USSR before the massive industrialization under Joseph Stalin. The service sector was of low importance in the USSR, with the majority of the force employed in the industrial sector. The labor force totaled 152.3 million people, major industrial products included petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, lumber, mining, and defense industry. Based on a system of ownership, the Soviet economy was managed through Gosplan, Gosbank. Beginning in 1928, the economy was directed by a series of five-year plans, for every enterprise, planning ministries defined the mix of economic inputs, a schedule for completion, all wholesale prices and almost all retail prices. The planning process was based around material balances—balancing economic inputs with planned output targets for the planning period, from 1930 until the late 1950s, the range of mathematics used to assist economic decision-making was, for ideological reasons, extremely restricted. Industry was long concentrated after 1928 on the production of goods through metallurgy, machine manufacture
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Agriculture in the Soviet Union
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Agriculture in the Soviet Union was mostly collectivized, with some limited cultivation of private plots. It is often viewed as one of the more inefficient sectors of the economy of the Soviet Union, a number of food taxes were introduced in the early Soviet period despite the Decree on Land that immediately followed the October Revolution. The forced collectivization and class war against kulaks under Stalinism greatly disrupted farm output in the 1920s and 1930s, despite immense land resources, extensive farm machinery and agrochemical industries, and a large rural workforce, Soviet agriculture was relatively unproductive. Output was hampered in many areas by the climate and poor worker productivity, however, Soviet farm performance was not uniformly bad. The 1976–1980 five-year plan shifted resources to agriculture, and 1978 saw a record harvest, conditions were best in the temperate chernozem belt stretching from Ukraine through southern Russia into the east, spanning the extreme southern portions of Siberia. In addition to cereals, cotton, sugar beets, potatoes, grains were mostly produced by the sovkhozes and kolkhozes, but vegetables and herbs often came from private plots. Thus Soviet agriculture was off to a stressful internecine start even after war was pushed to a bloody conclusion. Both grain production, and the number of farm animals rose above pre-civil war levels by early 1931, at the same time, individual farming and khutirs were liquidated through class discrimination identifying such elements as kulaks. In the Soviet propaganda kulaks were portrayed as counterrevolutionaries and organizers of anti-Soviet protests, in Ukraine the Turkic name korkulu was adopted, which meant dangerous. The word itself is foreign to Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, struggle with kulaks in Ukraine was taking place more intensely than anywhere else in the Soviet Union. Coincidentally with the start of First pyatiletka, a new commissariat of the Soviet Union was created, Stalins revolution is often regarded as one of the factors which led to the severe Soviet famine of 1932–33, better known in Ukraine as the Holodomor. Official Soviet sources blamed the famine on counterrevolutionary efforts by the Kulaks, a plausible alternative explanation, supported by some historians, is that the famine occurred at least in part due to poor weather conditions and low harvests. The famine started in Ukraine in the winter of 1931 and despite the lack of any official reports the spread by word of mouth rapidly. During that time restrictions on travel were set by authorities. Only next year in 1932-33 the famine spread outside of Ukraine to agricultural regions of Russia and Kazakhstan, the famine led to the introduction of the internal passport system, due to the unmanageable flow of migrants to the cities. The famine finally ended in 1933, after a successful harvest, during the Second Five-Year plan Stalin came up with another famous slogan in 1935, Life has become better, life has become more cheerful. In 1936, due to a poor harvest, fears of another famine led to famously long breadlines, however, no such famine occurred, and these fears proved largely unfounded. During the Second Five-Year Plan, under the policy of cultural revolution, citing Siegelbaums Stakhanovism in her book Everyday Stalinism, Fitzpatrick wrote
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