Editing Soviet Union (section)

== Government and politics ==
{{Main|Politics of the Soviet Union|Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union}}
There were three power hierarchies in the Soviet Union: the legislature represented by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the government represented by the [[Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union|Council of Ministers]], and the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU), the only legal party and the final policymaker in the country.<ref name="Sakwa">Sakwa, Richard. ''Soviet Politics in Perspective''. 2nd ed. London – N.Y.: Routledge, 1998.</ref>

=== Communist Party ===
{{Main|Communist Party of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:MoskauRoterPlatzSeptember1990.jpg|left|thumb|Military parade on the [[Red Square]] in Moscow, 7 November 1964]]
At the top of the Communist Party was the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]], elected at [[Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party Congresses]] and Conferences. In turn, the Central Committee voted for a [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] (called the Presidium between 1952 and 1966), [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]] and the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|general secretary]] (First Secretary from 1953 to 1966), the ''de facto'' highest office in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book |author=Law, David A. |title=Russian Civilization |publisher=Ardent Media |year=1975 |pages=193–194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3ky9qBavl4C |isbn=978-0-8422-0529-0 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055909/http://books.google.com/books?id=f3ky9qBavl4C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Depending on the degree of power consolidation, it was either the Politburo as a collective body or the General Secretary, who always was one of the Politburo members, that effectively led the party and the country<ref>{{cite book |author=Zemtsov, Ilya |title=Chernenko: The Last Bolshevik: The Soviet Union on the Eve of Perestroika |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |year=1989 |page=325 |url=https://archive.org/details/chernenkolastbol00zemt |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-88738-260-4 |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> (except for the period of the highly personalized authority of Stalin, exercised directly through his position in the Council of Ministers rather than the Politburo after 1941).<ref>{{cite book |author=Knight, Amy |title=Beria: Stalin's First Lieutenant |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1995 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxiuUGRQhUIC |isbn=978-0-691-01093-9 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055028/http://books.google.com/books?id=PxiuUGRQhUIC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> They were not controlled by the general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization was [[democratic centralism]], demanding strict subordination to higher bodies, and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Hough, Jerry F. |author2=Fainsod, Merle |title=How the Soviet Union is Governed |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1979 |page=486 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38gMzMRXCpQC |isbn=978-0-674-41030-5 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512054528/http://books.google.com/books?id=38gMzMRXCpQC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Communist Party maintained its dominance over the state mainly through its control over the [[Nomenklatura|system of appointments]]. All senior government officials and most deputies of the Supreme Soviet were members of the CPSU. Of the party heads themselves, Stalin (1941–1953) and Khrushchev (1958–1964) were Premiers. Upon the forced retirement of Khrushchev, the party leader was prohibited from this kind of double membership,<ref>{{cite book |author=Service, Robert |title=History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century |publisher=[[Penguin Books Ltd]] |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ |isbn=978-0-14-103797-4 |page=378 |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511090135/http://books.google.com/books?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ&dq |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> but the later General Secretaries for at least some part of their tenure occupied the mostly ceremonial position of [[Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]], the nominal [[List of heads of state of the Soviet Union|head of state]]. The institutions at lower levels were overseen and at times supplanted by [[Kraikom|primary party organizations]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Конститутион оф тхе Руссиян Федератион: витх комментариес анд интерпретатион |publisher=Brunswick Publishing Corp |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mQjvzP8VSYC |isbn=978-1-55618-142-9 |page=82 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512045452/http://books.google.com/books?id=3mQjvzP8VSYC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

However, in practice the degree of control the party was able to exercise over the state bureaucracy, particularly after the death of Stalin, was far from total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that were at times in conflict with the party,<ref>{{cite book |author=Ōgushi, Atsushi |title=The Demise of the Soviet Communist Party |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |pages=31–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7mDUC1nOZsC |isbn=978-0-415-43439-3 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512042443/http://books.google.com/books?id=N7mDUC1nOZsC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> nor was the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although [[Ban on factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|factions were officially banned]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Taras, Ray |author-link=Raymond Taras |title=Leadership change in Communist states |publisher=Routledge |year=1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AlcVAAAAIAAJ |isbn=978-0-04-445277-5 |page=132 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512053745/http://books.google.com/books?id=AlcVAAAAIAAJ&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Government ===
{{Main|Government of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Supreme Soviet 1982.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Grand Kremlin Palace]], the seat of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]], 1982]]
The Supreme Soviet (successor of the [[Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union|Congress of Soviets]]) was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history,<ref>{{cite book |author1=F. Triska, Jan |author2=Slusser, Robert M. |title=The Theory, Law, and Policy of Soviet Treaties |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=1962 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theorylawpoli00tris/page/63 63]–64 |url=https://archive.org/details/theorylawpoli00tris |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-8047-0122-8 |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party. However, its powers and functions were extended in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including the creation of new state commissions and committees. It gained additional powers relating to the approval of the [[Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union|Five-Year Plans]] and the [[government budget]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Deb, Kalipada |title=Soviet Union to Commonwealth: Transformation and Challenges |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |year=1996 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvK6r-8Ogg0C |isbn=978-81-85880-95-2 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512053347/http://books.google.com/books?id=IvK6r-8Ogg0C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Supreme Soviet elected a [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet|Presidium]] (successor of the [[Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union|Central Executive Committee]]) to wield its power between plenary sessions,<ref name="Benson, Shirley-2001" /> ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the [[Supreme Court of the Soviet Union|Supreme Court]],<ref>{{cite book |title=The Communist World |publisher=Ardent Media |year=2001 |page=441 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9FFVgu-Ff0C |isbn=978-0-271-02170-6 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512051205/http://books.google.com/books?id=h9FFVgu-Ff0C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Procurator General of the Soviet Union|Procurator General]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph Marie Feldbrugge, Ferdinand |title=Russian Law: The End of the Soviet System and the Role of Law |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |year=1993 |page=205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWt7MN3Dch8C |isbn=978-0-7923-2358-7 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512041218/http://books.google.com/books?id=JWt7MN3Dch8C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union|Council of Ministers]] (known before 1946 as the [[Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union|Council of People's Commissars]]), headed by the [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Chairman]] (Premier) and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society.<ref name="Benson, Shirley-2001">{{cite book |author=Benson, Shirley |title=Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower |publisher=[[Penn State University Press]] |year=2001 |pages=XIV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQeahlZdM7sC |isbn=978-0-271-02170-6 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910233718/https://books.google.com/books?id=dQeahlZdM7sC&dq |archive-date=10 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> State and party structures of the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|constituent republics]] largely emulated the structure of the central institutions, although the Russian SFSR, unlike the other constituent republics, for most of its history had no republican branch of the CPSU, being ruled directly by the union-wide party until 1990. Local authorities were organized likewise into [[Raikom|party committees]], [[Soviet (council)|local Soviets]] and [[executive committee]]s. While the state system was nominally federal, the party was unitary.<ref>{{cite book |author1=White, Stephen |author2=J. Gill, Graeme |author3=Slider, Darrell |title=The Politics of Transition: Shaping a post-Soviet Future |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsoftransi0000whit/page/108 108] |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsoftransi0000whit |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-521-44634-1 |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref>

The state security police (the [[KGB]] and [[:Template:Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies|its predecessor agencies]]) played an important role in Soviet politics. It was instrumental in the [[Red Terror]] and [[Great Purge]],<ref>{{cite book |author1=P. Hoffmann, Erik |author2=Laird, Robin Frederick |title=The Soviet Polity in the Modern Era |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |year=1984 |pages=313–315 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63_obglArrMC |isbn=978-0-202-24165-4 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512045329/http://books.google.com/books?id=63_obglArrMC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> but was brought under strict party control after Stalin's death. Under [[Yuri Andropov]], the KGB engaged in the suppression of political dissent and maintained an extensive network of informers, reasserting itself as a political actor to some extent independent of the party-state structure,<ref>{{cite book |author1=P. Hoffmann, Erik |author2=Laird, Robin Frederick |title=The Soviet Polity in the Modern Era |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |year=1984 |pages=315–319 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63_obglArrMC |isbn=978-0-202-24165-4 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512045329/http://books.google.com/books?id=63_obglArrMC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> culminating in the anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking party officials in the late 1970s and early 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Soviet Polity in the Modern Era |journal=[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]] |year=2005 |volume=1 |page=742}}</ref>

=== Separation of power and reform ===
{{Main|Perestroika}}
[[File:RIAN archive 699872 Dushanbe riots, February 1990.jpg|thumb|Nationalist anti-government [[1990 Dushanbe riots|riots in Dushanbe]], [[Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic|Tajikistan]], 1990]]
The [[Constitution of the Soviet Union|constitution]], which was promulgated in [[1924 Soviet Constitution|1924]], [[1936 Soviet Constitution|1936]] and [[1977 Soviet Constitution|1977]], did not limit state power.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sakwa, Richard |author-link=Richard Sakwa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vX1U5G_xnqcC |title=Soviet Politics in Perspective |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-415-07153-6 |page=106 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512042437/http://books.google.com/books?id=vX1U5G_xnqcC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> No formal [[separation of powers]] existed between the Party, Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers<ref>{{cite book |author=Kucherov, Samuel |title=The Organs of Soviet Administration of Justice: Their History and Operation |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Archive Publishers]] |year=1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMUAAAAIAAJ |page=31 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512060346/http://books.google.com/books?id=ssMUAAAAIAAJ&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> that represented executive and [[legislative]] branches of the government. The system was governed less by statute than by informal conventions, and no settled mechanism of leadership succession existed. Bitter and at times deadly power struggles took place in the Politburo after the deaths of Lenin<ref>{{cite book |author=Phillips, Steve |title=Lenin and the Russian Revolution |publisher=[[Heinemann (book publisher)|Heinemann]] |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_na0zfdhKQMC |isbn=978-0-435-32719-4 |page=71 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055812/http://books.google.com/books?id=_na0zfdhKQMC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Stalin,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year=2005 |title=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |page=1014}}</ref> as well as after Khrushchev's dismissal,<ref>{{cite book |author=Service, Robert |title=History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century |publisher=[[Penguin Books Ltd]] |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ |page=379 |isbn=978-0-14-103797-4 |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511090135/http://books.google.com/books?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ&dq |archive-date=11 May 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> itself due to a decision by both the Politburo and the Central Committee.<ref name="Khrushchev, Nikita-2007" /> All leaders of the Communist Party before Gorbachev died in office, except [[Georgy Malenkov]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Polley, Martin |title=A–Z of modern Europe since 1789 |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/azofmoderneurope0000poll |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-415-18597-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/azofmoderneurope0000poll/page/88 88] |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> and Khrushchev, both dismissed from the party leadership amid internal struggle within the party.<ref name="Khrushchev, Nikita-2007">{{cite book |author=Khrushchev, Nikita |year=2007 |title=Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, Volume 3: Statesman |publisher=[[Pennsylvania State University Press]] |isbn=978-0-271-02935-1 |page=674 |author-link=Nikita Khrushchev}}</ref>

Between 1988 and 1990, facing considerable opposition, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] enacted reforms shifting power away from the highest bodies of the party and making the Supreme Soviet less dependent on them. The [[Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union|Congress of People's Deputies]] was established, the majority of whose members were directly elected in competitive elections held in March 1989, the first in Soviet history. The Congress now elected the Supreme Soviet, which became a full-time parliament, and much stronger than before. For the first time since the 1920s, it refused to rubber stamp proposals from the party and Council of Ministers.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]] |title=Gorbachev's Reform Dilemma |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/18.htm |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623125043/http://countrystudies.us/russia/18.htm |archive-date=23 June 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the [[President of the Soviet Union]], concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government,<ref>{{cite book |author=Polmar, Norman |title=The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute]] |year=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkGDkpkQh-sC |isbn=978-0-87021-241-3 |page=1 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904015129/https://books.google.com/books?id=tkGDkpkQh-sC&dq |archive-date=4 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> now renamed the [[Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR]], to himself.<ref>{{cite book |author=McCauley, Martin |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycCZqmhhceMC |isbn=978-0-582-78465-9 |page=490 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904015129/https://books.google.com/books?id=ycCZqmhhceMC&dq |archive-date=4 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Tensions grew between the Union-wide authorities under Gorbachev, reformists led in Russia by [[Boris Yeltsin]] and controlling the newly elected [[Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR]], and communist hardliners. On 19–21 August 1991, a group of hardliners staged a [[1991 Soviet coup attempt|coup attempt]]. The coup failed, and the [[State Council of the Soviet Union]] became the highest organ of state power 'in the period of transition'.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[Government of the USSR]]: [[Gorbachev, Mikhail]] |script-title=ru:УКАЗ: ПОЛОЖЕНИЕ О МИНИСТЕРСТВЕ ЮСТИЦИИ СССР |trans-title=Law: About state governing bodies of USSR in a transition period on the bodies of state authority and administration of the USSR in Transition |url=http://www.sssr.su/zopp.html |date=21 March 1972 |publisher=sssr.su |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425162517/http://www.sssr.su/zopp.html |archive-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, only remaining President for the final months of the existence of the USSR.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vincent Daniels, Robert |title=A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev |publisher=[[University Press of New England]] (UPNE) |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTIZ2dvDKF0C |isbn=978-0-87451-616-6 |page=388 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512041324/http://books.google.com/books?id=gTIZ2dvDKF0C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Judicial system ===
{{Main|Law of the Soviet Union}}
{{See also|Socialist law}}
The judiciary was not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts ([[People's Court (Soviet Union)|People's Court]]) 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 used the [[inquisitorial system]] of [[Roman law]], where the judge, [[Procurator General of the Soviet Union|procurator]], and defence attorney collaborate to "establish the truth".<ref>{{cite web |author=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/288956/inquisitorial-procedure |title=Inquisitorial procedure (law) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=30 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222225224/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/288956/inquisitorial-procedure |archive-date=22 December 2010 |url-status=live |author-link=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

===Human rights===
{{main|Human rights in the Soviet Union}}
[[Human rights]] in the Soviet Union were severely limited. The Soviet Union was a [[totalitarian state]] from [[History of the Soviet Union (1927–53)|1927 until 1953]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=totalitarianism {{!}} Definition, Examples, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/totalitarianism |access-date=3 January 2021 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Rutland, Peter (1993). The Politics of Economic Stagnation in the Soviet Union: The Role of Local Party Organs in Economic Management |year=1993 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=9 |isbn=978-0-521-39241-9 |quote=after 1953 ...This was still an oppressive regime, but not a totalitarian one."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Krupnik, Igor (1995). "4. Soviet Cultural and Ethnic Policies Towards Jews: A Legacy Reassessed". In Ro'i, Yaacov (ed.). Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-714-64619-0. "The era of 'social engineering' in the Soviet Union ended with the death of Stalin in 1953 or soon after; and that was the close of the totalitarian regime itself."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=von Beyme, Klaus (2014). On Political Culture, Cultural Policy, Art and Politics |date=19 November 2013 |publisher=Springer |page=65 |isbn=978-3-319-01559-0 |quote=The Soviet Union after the death of Stalin moved from totalitarianism to authoritarian rule.}}</ref> and a [[one-party]] state until 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 October 2017 |script-title=ru:Закон СССР от 14 марта 1990 г. N 1360-I "Об учреждении поста Президента СССР и внесении изменений и дополнений в Конституцию (Основной Закон) СССР" |language=ru |title=Zakon SSSR ot 14 marta 1990 g. N 1360-I "Ob uchrezhdenii posta Prezidenta SSSR i vnesenii izmeneniy i dopolneniy v Konstitutsiyu (Osnovnoy Zakon) SSSR" |trans-title=Law of the USSR of March 14, 1990 N 1360-I "On the establishment of the post of President of the USSR and amendments and additions to the Constitution (Basic Law) of the USSR" |url=http://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1977/zakony/185465/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010070843/http://constitution.garant.ru/history/ussr-rsfsr/1977/zakony/185465/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 October 2017 |access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref> [[Freedom of speech]] was suppressed and dissent was punished. Independent political activities were not tolerated, whether these involved participation in free [[labour union]]s, private [[corporation]]s, independent churches or opposition [[political parties]]. The [[freedom of movement]] within and especially outside the country was limited. The state restricted rights of citizens to [[private property]].

{{Excerpt|Human rights in the Soviet Union|Soviet concept of human rights and legal system|this=The remainder of this section is}}

=== Foreign relations ===
{{Main|Foreign relations of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Soekarno and Voroshilov.jpg|thumb|[[Sukarno]] and [[Voroshilov]] in a state meeting on 1958]]
[[File:Soviet stamp 1974 for friendship between USSR and India 4k.jpg|thumb|upright|Soviet [[Postage stamps and postal history of Russia#Soviet Union|stamps]] 1974 for friendship between the USSR and [[India]]]]
[[File:President Ford informally concludes the Vladivostok Summit - NARA - 7062568.jpg|thumb|[[Gerald Ford]], [[Andrei Gromyko]], [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and [[Henry Kissinger]] speaking informally at the [[Vladivostok Summit]] in 1974]]
[[File:RIAN archive 330109 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush.jpg|thumb|Mikhail Gorbachev and [[George H. W. Bush]] signing bilateral documents during Gorbachev's official visit to the United States in 1990]]
During his rule, Stalin always made the final policy decisions. Otherwise, Soviet foreign policy was set by the commission on the Foreign Policy of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], or by the party's highest body the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]]. Operations were handled by the separate [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]. It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (or Narkomindel), until 1946. The most influential spokesmen were [[Georgy Chicherin]], [[Maxim Litvinov]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[Andrey Vyshinsky]], and [[Andrei Gromyko]]. Intellectuals were based in the [[Moscow State Institute of International Relations]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ulam |first=Adam B. |author-link=Adam Ulam |title=Expansion and coexistence: the history of Soviet foreign policy, 1917–73 |date=1974}}</ref>
* Comintern (1919–1943), or [[Communist International]], was an international communist organization based in the Kremlin that advocated [[world communism]]. The Comintern intended to 'struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state'.<ref>{{cite book |first=Harold Henry |last=Fisher |title=The Communist Revolution: An Outline of Strategy and Tactics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2umAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13 |year=1955 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |page=13}}</ref> It was abolished as a conciliatory measure toward Britain and the United States.<ref>Duncan Hallas, ''The Comintern: The History of the Third International'' (1985).</ref>
* [[Comecon]], the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ({{langx|ru|Совет Экономической Взаимопомощи}}, {{translit|ru|Sovet Ekonomicheskoy Vzaimopomoshchi}}, {{lang|ru|СЭВ}}, {{translit|ru|SEV}}) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under Soviet control that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with several communist states elsewhere in the world. Moscow was concerned about the [[Marshall Plan]], and Comecon was meant to prevent countries in the Soviets' sphere of influence from moving towards that of the Americans and Southeast Asia. Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's reply to the formation in Western Europe of the Organization for European Economic Co-Operation (OEEC),<ref>"Germany (East)", Library of Congress Country Study, [http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html Appendix B: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501075842/http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html |date=1 May 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Michael C. |last=Kaser |title=Comecon: Integration problems of the planned economies |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1967 |page=}}</ref>
* The [[Warsaw Pact]] was a [[collective defence]] alliance formed in 1955 among the USSR and its [[satellite state]]s in Eastern Europe during the Cold War.<ref name="Reinalda-2009">{{cite book |first=Bob |last=Reinalda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln19AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA369 |title=Routledge History of International Organizations: From 1815 to the Present Day |year=2009 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-02405-6 |page=369 |access-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101212444/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln19AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA369 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Amos |last=Yoder |url=https://archive.org/details/communismintrans00yode |title=Communism in Transition: The End of the Soviet Empires |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8448-1738-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/communismintrans00yode/page/58 58] |access-date=1 January 2016 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Comecon, the regional economic organization for the [[socialist state]]s of Central and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact was created in reaction to the integration of [[West Germany]] into [[NATO]].{{sfn|Crump|2015|p=}}<ref name="Reinalda-2009" /> Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Pact's primary function was to safeguard the [[Soviet Empire|Soviet Union's hegemony]] over its [[Soviet Bloc|Eastern European]] satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/warsaw-pact-ends |title=Warsaw Pact ends |website=HISTORY|date=13 November 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Reinalda-2009" />{{sfn|Crump|2015|pp=1, 17}}
* The [[Cominform]] (1947–1956), informally the Communist Information Bureau and officially the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties, was the first official agency of the international Marxist-Leninist movement since the dissolution of the Comintern in 1943. Its role was to coordinate actions between Marxist-Leninist parties under Soviet direction. Stalin used it to order Western European communist parties to abandon their exclusively parliamentarian line and instead concentrate on politically impeding the operations of the [[Marshall Plan]], the U.S. program of rebuilding Europe after the war and developing its economy.<ref>Michał Jerzy Zacharias, "The Beginnings of the Cominform: The Policy of the Soviet Union towards European Communist Parties in Connection with the Political Initiatives of the United States of America in 1947." ''Acta Poloniae Historica'' 78 (1998): 161–200. {{ISSN|0001-6829}}</ref> It also coordinated international aid to Marxist-Leninist insurgents during the Greek Civil War in 1947–1949.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Nikos |last=Marantzidis |title=The Greek Civil War (1944–1949) and the International Communist System |journal=[[Journal of Cold War Studies]] |volume=15 |number=4 |date=2013 |pages=25–54 |doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00394}}</ref> It expelled Yugoslavia in 1948 after [[Josip Broz Tito]] insisted on an independent program. Its newspaper, ''For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!'', promoted Stalin's positions. The Cominform's concentration on Europe meant a deemphasis on world revolution in Soviet foreign policy. By enunciating a uniform ideology, it allowed the constituent parties to focus on personalities rather than issues.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Heinz |last=Timmermann |title=The cominform effects on Soviet foreign policy |journal=[[Studies in Comparative Communism]] |volume=18 |number=1 |date=1985 |pages=3–23 |doi=10.1016/0039-3592(85)90053-5}}</ref>

==== Early policies (1919–1939) ====
{{further|International relations (1919–1939)#Soviet Union}}
[[File:1987 CPA 5896.jpg|thumb|upright|1987 Soviet stamp]]
The Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Soviet Union intensely debated foreign policy issues and changed directions several times. Even after Stalin assumed dictatorial control in the late 1920s, there were debates, and he frequently changed positions.<ref>Ulam, ''Expansion and Coexistence'' (1974) pp. 111–179.</ref>

During the country's early period, it was assumed that Communist revolutions would break out soon in every major industrial country, and it was the Russian responsibility to assist them. The [[Comintern]] was the weapon of choice. A few revolutions did break out, but they were quickly suppressed (the longest lasting one was in Hungary)—the [[Hungarian Soviet Republic]]—lasted only from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919. The Russian Bolsheviks were in no position to give any help.

By 1921, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin realized that capitalism had stabilized itself in Europe and there would not be any widespread revolutions anytime soon. It became the duty of the Russian Bolsheviks to protect what they had in Russia, and avoid military confrontations that might destroy their bridgehead. Russia was now a pariah state, along with Germany. The two came to terms in 1922 with the [[Treaty of Rapallo, 1922|Treaty of Rapallo]] that settled long-standing grievances. At the same time, the two countries secretly set up training programs for the illegal German army and air force operations at hidden camps in the USSR.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=1986524 |title=Rapallo Reexamined: A New Look at Germany's Secret Military Collaboration with Russia in 1922 |journal=Military Affairs |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=109–117 |last1=Mueller |first1=Gordon H. |year=1976 |doi=10.2307/1986524}}</ref>

Moscow eventually stopped threatening other states, and instead worked to open peaceful relationships in terms of trade, and diplomatic recognition. The United Kingdom dismissed the warnings of [[Winston Churchill]] and a few others about a continuing Marxist-Leninist threat, and opened trade relations and ''de facto'' diplomatic recognition in 1922. There was hope for a settlement of the pre-war Tsarist debts, but it was repeatedly postponed. Formal recognition came when the new [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] came to power in 1924.<ref>Christine A. White, ''British and American Commercial Relations with Soviet Russia, 1918–1924'' (UNC Press Books, 2017).</ref> All the other countries followed suit in opening trade relations. [[Henry Ford]] opened large-scale business relations with the Soviets in the late 1920s, hoping that it would lead to long-term peace. Finally, in 1933, the United States officially recognized the USSR, a decision backed by the public opinion and especially by US business interests that expected an opening of a new profitable market.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=42860014 |title=American Business and the Recognition of the Soviet Union |journal=Social Science Quarterly]] |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=349–368 |last1=Wilson |first1=J. H. |year=1971}}</ref>

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin ordered Marxist-Leninist parties across the world to strongly oppose non-Marxist political parties, labour unions or other organizations on the left, which they labelled [[social fascists]]. In the usage of the Soviet Union, and of the Comintern and its affiliated parties in this period, the epithet ''[[Fascist (insult)|fascist]]'' was used to describe capitalist society in general and virtually any [[anti-Soviet]] or anti-Stalinist activity or opinion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Richter |first=Michael |year=2006 |chapter=Die doppelte Diktatur: Erfahrungen mit Diktatur in der DDR und Auswirkungen auf das Verhältnis zur Diktatur heute |language=de |trans-chapter=The double dictatorship: Experiences with dictatorship in the GDR and effects on the relationship to dictatorship today |title=Lasten diktatorischer Vergangenheit – Herausforderungen demokratischer Gegenwart |trans-title=Burdens of a dictatorial past – challenges of a democratic present |editor1-last=Besier |editor1-first=Gerhard |editor2-last=Stoklosa |editor2-first=Katarzyna |publisher=LIT Verlag |pages=195–208 |isbn=978-3-8258-8789-6}}</ref> Stalin reversed himself in 1934 with the [[Popular Front]] program that called on all Marxist parties to join with all [[anti-Fascist]] political, labour, and organizational forces that were opposed to [[fascism]], especially of the [[Nazi]] variety.<ref>Chris Ward, ''Stalin's Russia'' (2nd ed. 1999) pp. 148–188.</ref><ref>Barbara Jelavich, ''St.Petersburg and Moscow: Czarist and Soviet Foreign Policy, 1814–1974'' (1974) pp. 342–346.</ref>

The rapid growth of power in Nazi Germany encouraged both Paris and Moscow to form a military alliance, and the [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance]] was signed in May 1935. A firm believer in collective security, Stalin's foreign minister [[Maxim Litvinov]] worked very hard to form a closer relationship with France and Britain.<ref>Haslam, Jonathan (1984). ''The Soviet Union and the Struggle for Collective Security in Europe, 1933–1939''. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 52–53. {{ISBN|978-0-333-30050-3}}</ref>

In 1939, half a year after the [[Munich Agreement]], the USSR attempted to form an anti-Nazi alliance with France and Britain.<ref>{{cite book |first=Louise Grace |last=Shaw |title=The British Political Elite and the Soviet Union, 1937–1939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAmDj-U-1fAC&pg=PA103 |year=2003 |page=103 |publisher=[[Psychology Press]] |isbn=978-0-7146-5398-3 |access-date=17 September 2019 |archive-date=17 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617200516/https://books.google.com/books?id=iAmDj-U-1fAC&pg=PA103 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Adolf Hitler]] proposed a better deal, which would give the USSR control over much of Eastern Europe through the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. In September, Germany invaded Poland, and the USSR also invaded later that month, resulting in the partition of Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of [[World War II]].<ref>D.C. Watt, ''How War Came: the Immediate Origins of the Second World War 1938–1939'' (1989).</ref>

==== World War II (1939–1945) ====
{{Main|Causes of World War II|Diplomatic history of World War II#Soviet Union}}
Up until his death in 1953, [[Joseph Stalin]] controlled all foreign relations of the Soviet Union during the [[interwar period]]. Despite the increasing build-up of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]'s war machine and the outbreak of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the Soviet Union did not cooperate with any other nation, choosing to follow its own path.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beloff |first=Max |title=The Foreign Policy Of Soviet Russia (1929–1941), Volume Two |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1949 |page=2}}</ref> However, after [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Soviet Union's priorities changed. Despite previous conflict with the [[United Kingdom]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] dropped his post war border demands.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.e-ir.info/2011/11/23/the-evolution-of-stalins-foreign-policy-during-word-war-two/ |website=E-International Relations |title=The Evolution of Stalin's Foreign Policy during World War Two |last=Strachan |first=Frederick |date=23 November 2011 |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213005104/https://www.e-ir.info/2011/11/23/the-evolution-of-stalins-foreign-policy-during-word-war-two/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Cold War (1945–1991) ====
{{Main|Origins of the Cold War|Cold War}}
The [[Cold War]] was a period of [[geopolitical]] tension between the [[United States]] and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the [[Western Bloc]] and the [[Eastern Bloc]], which began following [[World War II]] in 1945. The term ''[[Cold war (general term)|cold war]]'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two [[superpowers]], but they each supported major regional conflicts known as [[proxy war]]s. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary [[Allies of World War II|alliance]] and [[Allied-occupied Germany|victory]] against [[Nazi Germany]] in 1945. Aside from the [[Nuclear arms race|nuclear arsenal development]] and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as [[psychological warfare]], propaganda campaigns, [[Cold War espionage|espionage]], far-reaching [[Economic sanctions|embargoes]], rivalry at [[Politics and sports|sports events]] and technological competitions such as the [[Space Race]].

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Subdivisions of the Soviet Union|Soviet republic (system of government)|Republics of the Soviet Union}}
Constitutionally, the USSR was a federation of constituent Union Republics, which were either unitary states, such as [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]] or [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]] (SSRs), or federations, such as [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]] or [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasia]] (SFSRs),<ref name="Sakwa" /> all four being the founding republics who signed the [[Treaty on the Creation of the USSR]] in December 1922. In 1924, during the [[National delimitation in the Soviet Union|national delimitation]] in Central Asia, [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic|Uzbekistan]] and [[Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic|Turkmenistan]] were formed from parts of Russia's [[Turkestan ASSR]] and two Soviet dependencies, the [[Khorezm People's Soviet Republic|Khorezm]] and [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic|Bukharan PSPs]]. In 1929, [[Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic|Tajikistan]] was split off from the Uzbekistan SSR. With the constitution of 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved, resulting in its constituent republics of [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenia]], [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]] and [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan]] being elevated to Union Republics, while [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakhstan]] and [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic|Kirghizia]] were split off from the Russian SFSR, resulting in the same status.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Simon |title=Russian Republics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LyqIDCc-cSsC |year=2005 |page=21 |publisher=Black Rabbit Books |isbn=978-1-58340-606-9 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512041101/http://books.google.com/books?id=LyqIDCc-cSsC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In August 1940, [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldavia]] was formed from parts of Ukraine and [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|Soviet-occupied Bessarabia]], and Ukrainian SSR. [[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|Estonia]], [[Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Latvia]] and [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|Lithuania]] were also [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|annexed by the Soviet Union]] and turned into SSRs, which was [[State continuity of the Baltic states|not recognized by most of the international community]] and was considered an [[Occupation of the Baltic states|illegal occupation]]. After the [[Soviet invasion of Finland]], the [[Karelo-Finnish SSR]] was formed on annexed territory as a Union Republic in March 1940 and then incorporated into Russia as the [[Karelian ASSR]] in 1956. Between July 1956 and September 1991, there were 15 union republics (see map below).<ref>{{cite book |last=Feldbrugge |first=Ferdinand Joseph Maria |title=Russian Law: The Rnd of the Soviet system and the Role of Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWt7MN3Dch8C |year=1993 |page=94 |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-7923-2358-7 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512041218/http://books.google.com/books?id=JWt7MN3Dch8C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

While nominally a union of equals, in practice the Soviet Union was dominated by [[Russians]]. The domination was so absolute that for most of its existence, the country was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as 'Russia'. While the Russian SFSR was technically only one republic within the larger union, it was by far the largest (both in terms of population and area), most powerful, and most highly developed. The Russian SFSR was also the industrial center of the Soviet Union. Historian Matthew White wrote that it was an open secret that the country's federal structure was 'window dressing' for Russian dominance. For that reason, the people of the USSR were usually called 'Russians', not 'Soviets', since 'everyone knew who really ran the show'.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Great Big Book of Horrible Things |last=White |first=Matthew |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |year=2012 |page=368 |isbn=978-0-393-08192-3 |title-link=The Great Big Book of Horrible Things}}</ref>

{{USSR Map}}