Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The historical state of the superpower (1945-1991)
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Soviet Union / USSR / USSR
Flag Emblem
Motto : “ Workers of all countries, unite! "
Hymn : " The Internationale " (1922-1944) "The State Anthem of the USSR " (1944-1991)
Map of the USSR (1945–1991)
←   ←   ←   ←  ↓ December 30, 1922  - December 26, 1991
Capital	Moscow
Largest cities	Moscow , Leningrad , Kiev , Tashkent , Baku , Kharkov , Minsk , Gorky , Novosibirsk , Sverdlovsk [1]
Languages)	Russian [~ 1] ( de facto ) national languages in the respective union and autonomous republics ( de jure )
Official language
Religion	absent ( atheism , see religion in the USSR )
Currency unit
Area	22 402 200 km² [~ 2]
Population	293,047,571 people [~ 3]
Form of government	federal one-party (until 1990 [~ 4] ) Soviet republic (1922-1936) [~ 5] parliamentary republic (1936-1991)
Time Zones	+ 2 ... + 12 [~ 6]
Internet domain	.su
Telephone code	+7
Heads of state
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
• 1922-1924 (actually - until March 7, 1923)	Vladimir Lenin
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) / CPSU
• 1924-1953 (actually - from March 1923)	Joseph Stalin
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR , Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU
• 1953—1955	George Malenkov
First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
• 1953-1964	Nikita Khrushchev
First / General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
• 1964-1982	Leonid Brezhnev
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
• 1982-1984	Yuri Andropov
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
• 1984-1985	Konstantin Chernenko
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee / President of the USSR
• 1985-1991	Mikhail Gorbachev
Continuity
Russian Federation (successor state)  →
Predecessors and successors
Founding states Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (1917-1922) Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic States after the collapse of the USSR ( UN members ) [~ 7] The Republic of Azerbaijan Republic of Armenia Republic of Belarus Republic of Georgia The Republic of Kazakhstan Kyrgyz Republic Latvian republic Republic of Lithuania The Republic of Moldova Russian Federation The Republic of Tajikistan Turkmenistan The Republic of Uzbekistan Ukraine Republic of Estonia

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ^{[~ 8]} , abbreviated as USSR , Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ^{[ 2]} , is a state that existed from 1922 to 1991 in Eastern Europe , Northern , and parts of Central and East Asia . At the time of collapse, the USSR occupied almost ¹ ⁄ ₆ of the Earth’s inhabited land ^[3] with a population of 294 million people, as well as the 2nd place in the world in terms of industrial production - 16.5% of the world volume and 7th place in the world in national income level(3.4%) ^[4] . It was formed on the territory that by 1917 the Russian Empire occupied without Finland , part of the Polish kingdom and some other territories.

After the October Socialist Revolution in 1917 and the victory of the Communists in the Civil War , on December 30, 1922, the USSR was formed by combining the RSFSR , the Ukrainian SSR , the Belorussian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR into one state with unified authorities with the capital in Moscow , retaining de jure for each Union Republic the right to freely withdraw from the Union ^[5] .

June 22, 1941 Germany, with the support of allies, attacked the USSR . The Great Patriotic War began , after a victory in which he became, along with the USA , a superpower ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} . The Soviet Union dominated the world system of socialism , and was also a co-founder of the UN , a permanent member of the UN Security Council with the right of veto.

According to the 1977 Constitution, the USSR was proclaimed a single union multinational ^[10] socialist ^[11] state . Union republics were considered sovereign states ^[12] . The order of the republics leaving the Union since 1990 was regulated by a special law ^[13] . The Union Republic had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude agreements with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives, participate in the activities of international organizations ^[14] . Among the 50 founding countries of the UN, along with the USSR were two of its union republics: the BSSRand Ukrainian SSR .

Due to a number of reasons, in particular: the low efficiency of the economic system, the strong dependence on energy prices, the arms race that is unbearable for the USSR, the massive shortage of goods, ethnic tensions and other problems, an economic and political crisis occurred in the USSR in the second half of the 1980s (see Reasons for decay ). The internal political confrontation intensified. Attempts to reform the Soviet system : democratization, the transition to a market economy and a multi-party system, did not help resolve the accumulated contradictions and ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR. In 1988-1991, a series of legislative conflicts occurred between the Union Center and the Union Republics .

On March 17, 1991, an All-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held , in which 77.85% of the citizens of the Soviet republics who took part in the referendum called for maintaining the union as a renewed Federation of Equal Socialist Sovereign Republics ^{[~ 9]} . The introduction of a state of emergency on August 19, 1991 provoked a confrontation between the authorities of the USSR and the RSFSR, which led to mass demonstrations in Moscow at the White House in support of the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin . The general indecision of the leadership of the GKChP of the USSR led to their defeat and self-dissolution. On December 8, 1991, the three Founding States signed the Agreementson the termination of the USSR and the creation of the CIS ^[15] . December 26, 1991, the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the termination of the USSR ^[16] .

The Russian Federation ^{[~ 10]} was recognized as the de facto ^[17] successor state of the USSR in international legal relations ^{[~ 11]} and took its place in the UN Security Council ^{[~ 12]} . At the same time, according to the current legislation of Ukraine , the latter is the successor of the rights and obligations of both the USSR and the USSR ^[18] . Between states there is an open question about the state debt of the USSR ^[19] .

Geography of the USSR

Located on an area of ​​22.4 million square kilometers ^[20] , the Soviet Union was the largest state in the world ^[21] . It occupied almost a sixth of the land ^[21] , and its size was comparable to the size of North America . The European part made up a quarter of the country's territory and was its cultural and economic center. The Asian part (to the Pacific Ocean in the east and to the border with Afghanistan in the south) was much less populated ^[21] . The length of the Soviet Union was more than 10 thousand kilometers from east to west (through 11 time zones ) and almost 7.2 thousand kilometersfrom north to south ^[22] . In the country there were five climatic zones .

The Soviet Union had the longest border in the world (over 60,000 km) and bordered on Norway , Finland , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Romania , Turkey , Iran , Afghanistan , China , Mongolia , North Korea , Japan and the USA (from 1945 to 1991 years) ^[22] .

The longest river of the Soviet Union was the Ob with the Irtysh (5410 km). The highest mountain is the peak of Communism (7495 m) in the Tajik SSR. The USSR had access to the world's largest lake - the Caspian Sea (together with Iran), and on its territory was located the deepest and largest freshwater lake in the world in volume - Lake Baikal .

History of the USSR

Background

The formation of the USSR (1922-1923)

On December 29, 1922, at the conference of delegations from congresses of the Soviets of the RSFSR , USSR , BSSR and ZSFSR , the USSR Education Agreement was signed ^[23] . This document was approved on December 30, 1922 by the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets and signed by the heads of delegations ^[24] . This date is considered the date of formation of the USSR, although the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Government) and people's commissariats (ministries) were created only on July 6, 1923. The emergence of the USSR was the result of certain historical factors, the main of which was the Great October Socialist Revolution ^[25]. Among the reasons for the formation of the USSR there were external factors: the threat of a new military intervention, the economic isolation of the Soviet country, attempts to pressure the West ^[25] . By 1922, the centralization of the country's defense leadership was achieved throughout the space ^[25] . The transformation of federal relations between the Soviet republics began in the spring of 1922 ^[25] .

Formally, only 4 union republics initially belonged to the USSR ^[23] , however, some other republics already had contractual relations among themselves ^[24] , so the real picture of interstate relations at the time of the formation of the USSR looked like this ^[24] :

• Russian SFSR
  • Bashkir SR
  • Mountain ASSR
  • Autonomous Dagestan SSR
  • Autonomous Kyrgyz SSR
  • Autonomous Crimean SSR
  • Autonomous Tatar SSR
  • Turkestan SSR
  • Yakut ASSR
• Transcaucasian SFSR
  • Armenian SSR
  • Azerbaijan SSR
    • Nakhchivan SR
  • Georgian SSR
    • SSR Abkhazia
• Ukrainian SSR
• Belorussian SSR

In subsequent years, this system was streamlined. During the national-territorial delimitation of the peoples of Central Asia , the Bukhara Socialist Soviet Republic and the Khorezm Socialist Soviet Republic (formed after the establishment of pro-Soviet power in the former vassals of the Russian Empire, the Bukhara emirate and the Khiva khanate were liquidated, in their place were formed new union republics. The status of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was determined for the Nakhichevan Soviet Republic. The Transcaucasian SFSR was disbanded, the SSR directly entering it received the Union status, and the Abkhazia (negotiated with Georgia) was demoted to the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The final approval at the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR, held in January 1924 and finally approved the Basic Law of the USSR ^[25] . The Basic Law of the USSR of 1924 approved the creation of a new state that has no analogues in the history of the device ^[25] . By value, the Constitution was an alliance agreement adopted at a congress of Soviets. Subsequently, reference to the union treaty in official circulation was minimized ^[25]. Soviet constitutional construction was initiated by the adoption of the Basic Law. The Constitution of the USSR reflected the continuity of the basic foundations with the Constitution of the RSFSR ^[25] . The constitution defined the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a federal state. There was a serious difference between the federal structure in the RSFSR and the Soviet Union. ^{[25] The} RSFSR was defined by a state with autonomous territories, and the USSR by a union state. The constitution determined the sovereignty of each union republic. This Leninist approach, reflected in the Constitution, was different from confederation and autonomy. Articles 1 and 2 of the constitution define the rights of the Soviet Union ^[25]. The powers that were assigned to the main organs of power of the USSR were divided into two main areas. These areas concerned foreign policy and economic issues. The competence of the central organs of the USSR included issues related to inter-republic relations ^[25] . The management of the armed forces was also referred to as Allied authority. The Basic Law not only secured the rights of the Union for state building, but guaranteed the rights of union republics. The powers of the Union included changing the borders of the USSR, as well as the admission of new republics to the USSR. The national economy and major industries remained under the jurisdiction of the Union. The Constitution of the Union Republics secured economic rights ^[25]. The competence of the Union included issues of creating a system of legal proceedings, criminal and civil legislation of the USSR. The Union authorities set the basis for education, labor protection and public health. The Basic Law has assigned the Union important functions that enable it to ensure statehood in the country. A separate chapter in the Constitution provided for the rights and guarantees of the republics ^[25] .

The pre-war period (1923-1941)

In domestic politics, the Bolsheviks began a series of fundamental social reforms, which made it possible to drastically reduce the level of social inequality and illiteracy of the population, and to ensure wide access to education, healthcare, social protection and higher government posts for loyal Bolsheviks ^{[26] [27]}

The end of the intervention and civil war made it possible to carry out military reform and significantly reduce the size of the Red Army ^[25] . The number of armed forces of the USSR in 1925 decreased by 10 times and amounted to just over half a million people ^[25] . A solution to this problem was found by introduction. In 1924, this problem was solved by creating a new principle for the formation of the Red Army - the so-called mixed system, by creating, along with the standing forces in the Red Army, the so-called territorial units ^[25] .

The solution of the housing problem in the USSR was carried out at first by confiscation and “ compaction ” of housing previously occupied by the “ bourgeoisie ”, later, after the civil war, mass housing construction began, with most of the housing allocated by the state free of charge ^[28] .

In the second half of the 1920s, the folding of the new economic policy (NEP) began, and then the implementation of forced industrialization ^[29] and collectivization . To ensure high rates of industrialization, agricultural collectivization was carried out everywhere , providing a channel for pumping financial, material and labor resources from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector, and accompanied by dispossession  - the destruction of the prosperous peasantry. In 1932-1933, the country was seized by mass famine , which led to severe social upheaval and the death of millions of people in Ukraine, Belarus, and the North Caucasus , Volga region , Southern Urals , Western Siberia and Kazakhstan . On the other hand, in a longer time perspective, industrialization and enlargement of agricultural production contributed to the fact that the gross agricultural product in the Soviet Union increased by 41% by 1940 compared with 1913 ^[30] , returning to the level of collectivization eve under a significantly smaller proportion of workers employed in agricultural production and the strengthening of the role of the state in the production and distribution of food ^{[31] [32]} .

In the conditions of the defeat of the communist movement in Europe, and in connection with the Nazis coming to power in Germany (1933), the leadership of the CPSU (b) and the NKVD launched large-scale political repressions in the USSR in the mid-1930s, which reached their peak in 1937-1938 ( Great terror ), the Gulag system has grown . Stalin destroyed the internal opposition in the party ( Moscow Trials ), conducted a mass purge in the NKVD and the Red Army ( Tukhachevsky Case ), as well as a number of so-called "National operations . " As a result of the mass repressions of 1937-1938, according to researchers, about 700 thousand people were shot ^[33] .

USSR in the Second World War (1939-1945)

In 1939 it was signed the Soviet-German treaties (including the so-called Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact ), divided the spheres of influence in Europe , according to which a number of Eastern European territories defined as the sphere of interests of the USSR. At the beginning of World War II, on September 17, 1939, the USSR invaded the eastern territories of Poland and annexed the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus , which at that time were part of the Polish Republic ; this territorial change is regarded differently: both as “ return ” ^[34] and as “ annexation ” ^[35]. Already in October 1939, the city of Vilna and the Vilnius region were transferred to Lithuania ^[36] . On September 22, in Brest, Brigade Commander Semyon Krivoshein together with General Heinz Guderian hosted a joint parade of Soviet and German troops , and on September 28 the USSR and Germany signed a Friendship Agreement ^[37] .

In 1940, the USSR included Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Bessarabia (annexed by Romania in 1918 and Northern Bukovina , the Moldavian , Latvian , Lithuanian (including the three regions of the Byelorussian SSR , which became part of the Lithuanian SSR in 1940), and the Estonian SSR . The accession of the Baltic States to the USSR is regarded by various sources as “voluntary accession” and as “annexation” ^{[38] [39] [40] [41]} .

In 1939, the USSR presented Finland with an ultimatum to change its policy, but Finland refused ^[42] . The Soviet Union launched after the ultimatum of the Soviet-Finnish War ( November 30 1939 - March 12, 1940 ) became the reason for the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations ^[43] . As a result of the war, the Karelian Isthmus , Ladoga, Salla from Kuolajärvi and the western part of the Fishing Peninsula departed from Finland to the USSR . On March 31, 1940, the Karelian-Finnish SSR was formed ^[44] (with its capital in Petrozavodsk) from the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and territories transferred from Finland (except for the Fishing Peninsula, which became part of the Murmansk Region ).

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, violating the earlier non-aggression pact ^[45] .

The Red Army suffered crushing defeats in the summer-autumn battles of 1941. Towards the end of autumn, German troops approached Moscow, where the Battle of Moscow unfolded ^[45] . Soviet troops managed to defend the capital, inflict the first major defeat on the German army and carry out a counterattack, pushing German troops 150-200 km away from the capital. However, during the summer – autumn 1942 campaign , the enemy managed to defeat the Red Army on the southern flank of the front and reach the Volga ^[45] . In late 1942 — early 1943, a large-scale battle of Stalingrad unfolded , ending in the defeat of the German army ^[45]. Soviet troops went on the counterattack, in the summer of 1943 they defeated the German army in the Battle of Kursk , completing a radical turning point in the war ^[45] .

During the 1944 campaign, the Red Army inflicted German troops number of major defeats on , completely freeing the territory of the USSR and transferring hostilities to the territory of European countries. In June 1944, when some Soviet units had already crossed the Romanian border, the Anglo-American allies opened a second front in Europe. In early 1945, the Red Army defeated German troops in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and by May took Berlin. On May 9, 1945, Germany surrendered ^[46] . This day is celebrated in Russia as Victory Day. .

In August 1945, according to an agreement with the allies of the USSR, he entered the war against Japan . Japanese troops were defeated in Manchuria, the Red Army also occupied southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered, and the Second World War ended.

The contribution of the USSR to the victory over Nazism was decisive ^{[47] [48] [49]} . It was on the Eastern Front of World War II that the largest land and air battles in world history took place ^[50] . According to indicators of the number of Wehrmacht units participating in the war against the USSR and the losses suffered by them, the Great Patriotic War is the main part of World War II : about 80% of all Wehrmacht units fought on the Eastern Front ^{[48] [51] [52]}  - German losses on the Soviet the German front accounted for about 75% of all irretrievable combat losses of Germany ^[53] , the Wehrmachtand his allies lost 80% of all combat-ready units, 607 divisions were defeated. ^{[54] [55] [56]}

The war caused enormous damage to the entire population of the Soviet Union, led to the deaths of 26.6 million people ^[57] , the mass destruction of civilians in the territories occupied by Germany, the destruction of most of industry - on the one hand; on the other, it contributed to the creation of significant military-industrial potential in the eastern regions, the acquisition of significant territories, the victory over Nazism , the increase of the USSR’s influence in the world, the world socialist system was formed, which included countries of a socialist orientation; The USSR became a superpower , one of the founders of the UN , a permanent member of the Security Council with the right of veto.

In 1941-1945, a number of peoples were deported ^[58] from their places of traditional residence. In July - August 1945, at the Potsdam meeting, the leaders of the three powers - the USSR, the USA and England - determined the fundamentals of the world order ^[25] . In August 1945, the USSR entered the war with Japan, defeated Japanese troops in Manchuria, after which Japan surrendered on September 2.

In 1944-1947, the USSR included:

• Tuva People’s Republic ^[59] , which received the status of an autonomous region within RSFSR ;
• The northern part of East Prussia, which became part of the RSFSR as Kaliningrad region ;
• Transcarpathia ^[60] ( Transcarpathian region Ukrainian SSR );
• Pechenga , which became part of the Murmansk region;
• Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands , which formed the South Sakhalin Region as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, and in the post-war years, were included in the Sakhalin Region , which was withdrawn directly to the RSFSR ^[61] .

At the same time, the Bialystok region , parts of the Grodno and Brest regions of the BSSR , as well as parts of the Lviv and Drohobych regions of the Ukrainian SSR became part of Poland.

The post-war period (1945-1953)

After victory in the war, the USSR economy was demilitarized and restored in areas affected by the occupation. By 1950, industrial production increased by 73% compared with the pre-war ^[62] . In 1946-1947 there was a mass famine in the USSR ^[63] . Then the food situation stabilized, cards for food and industrial goods were canceled , and monetary reform was carried out ^[64], which allowed to stabilize the financial situation. After the war, emergency and other organs that corresponded to the needs of wartime were abolished. The powers of the abolished T-bills were given to the Council of People's Commissars. Military-industrial commissariats have been transformed into governing bodies of peaceful industries and production ^[25] . The experience of the war, new weapons and military equipment had a significant impact on the state of the Armed Forces of the USSR ^[25] .

In accordance with the decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, the USSR established control over the respective occupation zones in Germany and Austria in 1945-1949. The establishment of communist regimes began in a number of Eastern European countries , as a result of which the military-political bloc of allied states of the USSR was created ( Warsaw Pact ) ^[65] . The emergence after the Second World War in Europe and Asia of a large group of states, which became known as the countries of people's democracy, led to the development of cooperation and mutual assistance of the states of the world socialist system ^[25]. After the end of World War II, a period of global political and ideological confrontation began between the USSR and other socialist countries, on the one hand, and the countries of the West, on the other, which was called the Cold War in 1947 ^[66] , accompanied by an arms race and local conflicts in various areas of the globe ^[67] .

Khrushchev Thaw (1953-1964)

At the XX Congress of the CPSU ( 1956  ), N. S. Khrushchev criticized the personality cult of I. V. Stalin ^[68] .

The concentration of scientific and production forces, material means in certain areas of science and technology made it possible to achieve significant achievements: the world's first nuclear power plant was created ( 1954  ), the first artificial Earth satellite was launched ^[69] ( 1957  ), the first manned spacecraft with astronaut ( 1961  ) and others.

In the foreign policy of this period, the USSR supported the political regimes of socialist orientation around the world. In 1956, Soviet troops participated in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary . In 1962, disagreements between the USSR and the United States nearly led to a nuclear war (see Caribbean Crisis ).

In 1960, a diplomatic conflict began with China , which split the world communist movement.

The reign of Leonid Brezhnev: The era of "Stagnation" (1964-1985)

In 1964, Khrushchev was removed from power. The new first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee , in fact the head of state, was Leonid Brezhnev .
The period of the 1970s and 1980s in the sources of that time was called the era of developed socialism .

During Brezhnev’s reign , world oil prices tripled ^[70] and due to the discovery of new fields in Western Siberia, development in the USSR fell somewhat dependent on the result of the produced oil, which slowed down reforms and led to economic degradation ^[70] . During the period of stagnation, the Unified Electric Power System of the country was created, combining 78 energy systems and providing electricity to both the territory of the USSR and the territory of Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany and Finland ^[71] .
The stagnation was also characterized by a record pace of housing construction: approximately 60 million m² per year , which from 1964 to 1985 amounted to one billion two hundred million square meters of living space, of poor quality, but well-maintained by Soviet standards, which is an absolute record of the Soviet era and forms the basis of modern housing stock of post-Soviet Russia, where the pace of housing construction over a similar period of time is much lower ^[72] . The economic situation was characterized by increasing lines for scarce goods ^[70] . However, in comparison with previous periods, “stagnation” was one of the most economically favorable. So, Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966-1970) became the most successful in Soviet history and received^{[ where from? ] the} name is "golden" ^[70] . During the years of stagnation, there was a serious growth of Soviet industry, which generally outstripped the pace of industrial development in the United States during this period: if in 1960 the volume of industrial production was about 55% of production in the United States, then in 1980 it was already more than 80% ^[73] . In 1980, the XXII Summer Olympics was held in Moscow ^[74] .

The population of the USSR from December 1945 to December 1991 increased by 170% ^[75] .

Along with this, there was a decisive turn in the direction of coagulation of the remains of the thaw. With Brezhnev coming to power , state security agencies intensified the fight against dissent - the first sign of this was the Sinyavsky-Daniel process (1965) ^[76] . In 1968, the USSR army entered Czechoslovakia with the goal of suppressing political reform ( Prague Spring ). As a sign of the final elimination of the "thaw" was perceived the resignation of A. T. Twardowski from the post of editor of the journal "New World" in 1970 .

In 1975 there was an armed manifestation of disobedience from a group of Soviet military sailors on a large anti-submarine ship (BOD) of the USSR Navy Storozhevoy. The leader of the uprising was the political commander of the ship, captain of the 3rd rank Valery Sablin . According to Sablin, the rebellion was aimed at reviving Leninist principles in the cause of socialism.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, Jewish emigration has been coming from the USSR. Many famous writers, actors, musicians, athletes, scientists emigrated.

In the area of ​​foreign policy, steps have been taken to achieve political detente in the 1970s. US-Soviet strategic offensive arms limitation agreements were concluded (admittedly, accelerated installation begins in 1967 intercontinental missiles in underground mines ), which, however, were not supported by adequate confidence and control measures.

The USSR’s support for communist parties and national liberation movements around the world, economic injections and significant arms supplies (Vietnam, Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.) allowed the USSR to have an unprecedented sphere of influence in its entire history ^[77] , including dozens of countries ( Eastern and Central Europe, Southeast Asia, some African countries). An important area of ​​USSR foreign policy was the strengthening of economic ties and the provision of military assistance, which established and maintained relations with friendly governments ^[25] .

A dissident movement appeared , names such as Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn became known . Since 1965, the USSR provided military assistance to North Vietnam in the fight against the USA and South Vietnam ^[78] , which lasted until 1973 and ended in the defeat of South Vietnam and the American military group supporting it, the withdrawal of American troops and the unification of Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (see War in Vietnam ). In 1979, the USSR introduced a limited military contingent inDRA at the request of the Afghan government (see Afghan war (1979-1989) ) ^[79] , which led to the end of detente and the resumption of the Cold War .

Perestroika ( 1985 - 1991 )

In March 1985, after the death of K.U. Chernenko , M.S. Gorbachev came to power in the country . In 1985-1986, Gorbachev and his associates in the leadership pursued a policy of accelerating socio-economic development ^[80] (the so-called " Acceleration ") - an anti - alcohol campaign , "the fight against unearned income ”, and the introduction of state acceptance.

After the January plenum of 1987, the country's leadership launched more radical reforms: in fact, “ perestroika ” was announced as the new state ideology — a combination of economic and political transformations that resulted in a sharp destabilization of the country's socio-political and economic life, the destruction of the Soviet system, and the transition to capitalism and the collapse of the USSR. As a result of the policy of "perestroika", the USSR in the early 90s remained in Europe outside any political alliances ^[25] .

During perestroika (from the second half of 1989 , after the first Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR ^[81] ), the political confrontation between the forces advocating a socialist path of development and movements connecting the country's future with the organization of life on the principles of capitalism , as well as the confrontation over issues the future image of the Soviet Union, the relationship of the Union and republican bodies of state power and administration.

The collapse of the Soviet Union (1990-1991)

Carrying Mikhail Gorbachev policy restructuring has led to a loss of control in the country's political and economic spheres, a sharp aggravation of the internal political situation, a series of inter-ethnic conflict, the disintegration of the ATS and Comecon , Soviet republics striving for independence and, ultimately, the signing of the Agreement establishing the CIS and the cessation of the existence of the USSR.

In 1987, a number of ethnic conflicts erupted in the territory of the USSR, the most acute ^[82] of which is the Karabakh conflict , beginning in 1988 there were mass pogroms of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis ^{[83] [84] [85] [86]} . In 1989, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR announced the accession of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijan SSR begins a blockade. In April 1991, a war actually begins between the two union republics.

In 1989, the Warsaw Treaty Organization and CMEA collapsed .

On April 3, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a special law that governed the procedure for secession of a union republic from the USSR ^[13] .

On December 3, 1990, President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev raised the question of reorganizing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into the Union of Sovereign States , which granted broad rights to union republics.

On March 17 1991 the year took place on Soviet Union referendum in which 77.85% of the citizens of the Soviet republics, who took part in the referendum were in favor of preserving the Union as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics, as well as for the preservation of the socialist system. Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia boycotted the referendum.

On the night of August 18-19, 1991, conservative members of the Soviet government opposing the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the country and the transition to capitalism, the KGB blocked Gorbachev at his government residence in Foros , where he and his family were on vacation, and formed the State emergency Committee (emergency Committee). The committee included: Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanayev, Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Boris Pugo, Prime Minister of the USSR Valentin Pavlov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Kryuchkov and others. Troops were sent to Moscow via Central TelevisionThe Vremya news program read out the decision of the State Emergency Committee on the preservation of the current Constitution of the USSR and the suppression of all forms of anti-constitutional sentiment ^[87] . Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin led the opposition, declaring the actions of members of the State Emergency Committee an attempted coup ( August Coup ). The confrontation between the two political forces led to mass demonstrations in Moscow in support of Yeltsin. The general indecision of the leadership of the GKChP led to their defeat and self-dissolution, former members of the GKChP were arrested and dismissed from the government of the USSR, but in February 1994, after the collapse of the USSR, they were granted amnesty .

After the defeat of the Emergency Committee , on August 24, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed the independence of Ukraine , which was then confirmed on December 1, 1991 at the All-Ukrainian referendum . However, according to some opinions, the referendum on Ukraine’s independence was circumvented by the procedure prescribed by the USSR Law “On the Procedure for Solving Issues Related to the Exit of the Union Republic from the USSR” (the time frame for the referendum was violated, the question of secession from the USSR was not clearly formulated , in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic the referendum was not held separately) ^{[88] [89]} .

On December 8, 1991, the heads of the three founding republics of the USSR Boris Yeltsin , Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich signed the Agreement (known as the Bialowieza Agreement ), which announced the termination of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States .

On December 10, the Supreme Council of Ukraine, with reservations, ratified the agreement on the creation of the CIS ^[90] . 288 deputies voted for ratification, 10 voted against and 7 abstained. Immediately after this, Kravchuk had a telephone conversation with Shushkevich, who at that moment was conducting a meeting of the Supreme Council of Belarus ^[91] . After the end of this conversation, Belarusian deputies put the agreement to a vote. 263 deputies voted for ratification, 1 voted against and 2 abstained ^{[91] [92]} .

On December 11, the Constitutional Oversight Committee of the USSR issued a statement stating that some union republics were not entitled to resolve issues relating to the rights and interests of other union republics and therefore stated in the Bialowieza Agreement that “the USSR as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality ceases to exist ”, can only be considered as a political assessment of a situation that has no legal force. The statement also said that the authorities of the USSR can cease to exist only "after a constitutional decision on the fate of the USSR."

On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Council of the RSFSR ^[93] . The Russian parliament ratified the document by an overwhelming majority of votes: “for” - 188 votes, “against” - 6 votes, “abstained” - 7 ^[94] . The legitimacy of this ratification has raised doubts among some members of the Russian parliament, since according to the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the RSFSR in 1978, consideration of this document was exclusively the responsibility of the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, since it affected the state structure of the republic as part of the USSR and thereby changes to the Russian constitution ^{[95] [96]} .

On the same day, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR adopted a resolution on the denunciation of the 1922 Treaty on the Formation of the USSR ^[97] . A number of lawyers believe that the denunciation of the union treaty was meaningless, since it lost its force in 1924 with the adoption of the first constitution of the USSR ^{[91] [98]} .

On December 21, 1991, at the meeting of the presidents in Alma-Ata ( Kazakhstan ), another 8 republics joined the CIS: Azerbaijan , Armenia , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Moldova , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , the Alma-Ata Declaration and the protocol to the Bialowieza Agreement on creation were signed CIS ^[99] . CIS leaders decided to support Russia in continuing its membership of the USSR in the UN, including permanent membership in the Security Council and other international organizations ^[100].

On December 23, the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR ratified the Bialowieza Agreement along with the Alma-Ata Protocol ^[101] .

On December 25, USSR President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced the termination of his activities as President of the USSR in connection with the creation of the CIS and signed a decree resigning from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armed Forces and transferred strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Boris Yeltsin ^[102] . On the same day, the agreement on the creation of the CIS was ratified by the Supreme Council of Tajikistan ^[103] .

On December 26, 1991, the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (formed by the Law of the USSR of 09.09.1991 No. 2392-1, but not stipulated by the Constitution of the USSR) adopted a declaration on the termination of the USSR in connection with the formation of the CIS ^[104] , thereby officially dissolving the USSR and his institutions of power.

State symbols

The Soviet symbolism  is a layer of state and revolutionary distinctive signs and images that embody the Soviet state and the October Revolution ^[105] , which were used by the Communists ^[105] and the left in demonstrations, in military operations of the Red Army , and also played the role of state symbols of the Soviet Union.

Political system and ideology

The actual power in the USSR belonged to the leadership of the Communist Party (CPSU (b), CPSU ), which functioned in accordance with its internal charter .

Formally, the Declaration on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which is the first section of the 1924 Constitution , proclaimed the dictatorship of the proletariat .

The Soviet political system rejected the principle of separation and independence of powers, putting legislative power over the executive and the judiciary. The highest organ of state power in the 1922 - 1937  biennium. was the All-Union Congress of Soviets ; the supreme legislative, administrative and control body is the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Councils , consisting of two chambers - the Council of Nationalities and the Union Council, between its sessions - the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Councils. The Union Council was elected by a congress of representatives of the Union republics in proportion to the population of each ^[25]. The Council of Nationalities consisted of five members from each union and autonomous republic, and one representative from each autonomous region of the RSFSR ^[25] . One delegate was represented by autonomous republics and regions included in the ZSFSR ^[25] . Both chambers had equal rights, and the bill received the force of law only if each of the chambers passed it ^[25] . The CEC was the legislative and executive body ^[25] . As the supreme authority, he possessed the competence identical to that of the Congress of Soviets of the USSR, with the exception of issues referred to the exclusive conduct of the Congress ^[25] . According to the Constitution, the CEC was to be convened three times a year, but sessions were convened less frequently ^[25] .

Article 3 of the Constitution of 1936 read: "All power in the USSR belongs to the working people of the city and village, represented by the Soviets of Workers' Deputies."

In 1937 - 1989  years. the supreme body of state power was the Supreme Council of the USSR ( USSR Supreme Council ), consisting of the Council of Nationalities and the Council of the Union, in between sessions - the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR . Formally, the source of law was only the decisions of the legislator, that is, the Supreme Council of the USSR, although real practice was significantly different from constitutional provisions. Daily lawmaking in practice was carried out by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, consisting of a chairman, 15 deputy chairmen, a secretary, and 20 other members. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR, elected for 4 years, elected the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, formed the Council of Ministers of the USSR , elected judges of the Supreme Court of the USSRand appointed the Prosecutor General of the USSR .

Article 2 of the 1977 Constitution of the USSR proclaimed: “ All power in the USSR belongs to the people. The people exercise state power through the Soviets of People's Deputies , which make up the political basis of the USSR. All other state bodies are controlled and accountable to the Soviets of People’s Deputies . ” Candidates from labor collectives, trade unions, youth organizations ( Komsomol ), amateur creative organizations, and from the party ( CPSU ) were nominated . This Constitution, unlike the previous ones, for the first time reflected the actual role of the CPSU in state administration: “The guiding and guiding force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ”( Article 6 ).

In 1989 - 1991, the supreme body of state power was the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, the permanent legislative, administrative (until 1990) and control body - the Supreme Council of the USSR, consisting of the Council of Nationalities and the Council of the Union.

From 1989 to 1990, the highest official of the USSR was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ^[106] . In 1990 - 1991  years. The head of the Soviet state was the President of the USSR .

In the USSR, no ideology was proclaimed state or dominant by law ; but, in view of the political monopoly of the Communist Party, such was the de facto ideology of the CPSU - Marxism-Leninism , which in the late USSR was called the "socialist Marxist-Leninist ideology" ^[107] . The political system of the USSR was seen as a “socialist state,” that is, as the “political part of the superstructure over the economic basis of socialism, a new type of state that is replacing the bourgeois state as a result of the socialist revolution ” ^[108] . However, according to some Western scholars of Soviet society ^[109], in the late USSR, Marxism in reality was transformed into a nationalist and statist ideology, while classical Marxism proclaimed the gradual withering away of the state in the transition from socialism to communism . Some researchers characterize the Soviet system as state capitalism ^{[110] [111] [112] [113] [114]} .

The only institutions that legally remained (but were often subjected to persecution) organized by bearers of an ideology hostile to Marxism-Leninism were registered religious associations (religious societies and groups) ^[115] ( for more details see the Religion in the USSR section below ).

	The system of government of the USSR [116] [117] [118] [119]
	According to the constitution of 1924	According to the constitutions of 1936 and 1977	According to the 1977 Constitution (as amended on 12/01/1988)	According to the 1977 Constitution (as amended on March 14, 1990)	According to the 1977 constitution (as amended 12/26/1990)
The supreme body of state power	All-Union Congress of Soviets (Congress of Soviets of the USSR)	Supreme Council of the USSR Union Council Council of Nationalities	Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
The supreme legislative, administrative and regulatory body of state power	USSR Central Executive Committee Union Council Council of Nationalities	Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR	The Supreme Soviet of the USSR (since 1990 - only legislative and control body, not administrative) Union Council Council of Nationalities
Provisional legislative, administrative and regulatory body of state power	Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR
The supreme executive and administrative body	Council of People's Commissars of the USSR	Council of People's Commissars of the USSR , since 1946. Council of Ministers of the USSR			Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR

Political system assessment

Researchers' assessment of the political system of the USSR is diametrically opposed: in the framework of Western historiography, and also partially by Russian researchers, the USSR is regarded as a colonial empire , for example, Doctor of Political Sciences Vladimir Pastukhov believes that the USSR was a colonial empire, “where bureaucracy with unlimited power was the main, and possibly and the only supporting construction of statehood and political community ” ^[120] .

Another group of researchers believes that the USSR did not fit into the colonial model, including in the form of relations between the center and the periphery : the national policy in the USSR was officially based on the Leninist principles of equal rights and friendship of peoples , but also included elements of discrimination based on nationality in various stages of its history featured ( Deportations of peoples to the USSR , Repressions along national lines in 1937-38 , Fifth Count , Case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee , which led to its polar assessments by researchers ( Prison of Peoples , Internationalism , Multiculturalism) At the same time, approximately the same standard of living and equal chances of social advancement ^[121] , equally low level of social inequality and high level of social protection ^{[122] [123]} in all national republics, including the RSFSR, intensive development of national cultures ^[124] on the basis of a common international ideology, the formation for the first time in the history of these nationalities of national scientific centers (each Union Republic had its own Academy of Sciences), based on a wide network of newly created national universities and institutes; creation of a network of national libraries, theaters and literature; merciless struggle ^{[125] [126]}with all forms of nationalism , a common national economic mechanism based on the growth of the industrial potential of all national republics - all this contributed to the formation in the USSR of a common civic identity ^[127] , built on the idea of ​​the friendship of peoples ^{[128] [129]} .

Social structure

Since the 1930s, the existence of two classes and a social stratum in the USSR was constitutionally fixed: the working class, the peasantry and the social stratum: intelligentsia, while the presence of various differentiated social groups within them was allowed ^[130] . If an influential point of view on the social structure of Soviet society among Western sociologists and political scientists (B. Rizzi, D. Burnham, M. Djilas ) is the provision on a two-class structure: dependent, deprived workers and the dominant nomenclature , (Prof. T. Zaslavskayaadds a class serving the “nomenclature” to this scheme), - among Russian researchers, the model of A. A. Terentyev, which distinguishes the following social groups: the state-party nomenclature, the generals of the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other power structures, the director’s corps of enterprises, has spread. , Research institutes, figures in show business, sports, the media and the like - the so-called upper class, which made up no more than 5-6% of the population of the USSR; the middle class, which ensures the stability of the social structure, made up the majority of the population of the USSR: intellectual workers, middle-level bureaucracy and skilled workers, which makes up about 60% or 2/3 of the country's population; the lower class: low-skilled workers, residents of rural areas and citizens with very low incomes ^[131] .

The differentiation of income between different social groups in the USSR, thanks to the state policy of containing social inequality and stratification of society ^[132] , was significantly lower than in the post-Soviet period, and also several times lower than in developed Western countries: if in 1989 USSR wages of higher and lower social groups differed 4 times, then in modern Russia this indicator is 13, in Norway and Sweden - about 6, in the USA - 15 ^[133] .

According to the data of T. Novoseltsev ^[134] , the social system of the USSR had a high level of democracy and openness, providing social advancement to people from lower social groups. She had great opportunities ( social elevator , equality of opportunity ) to advance citizens along the social ladder: from her lower strata to the country's elite ^[135], which significantly refutes the concept of Western political scientists that Soviet society consisted of a bureaucracy and a mass of disenfranchised citizens who have no prospects: according to 1983, 88.3% of respondents aged 60 years and older had a social and professional status higher than their parents; in the group of 50–59 years old - 82.1%; among 40−49 year olds - 75.4%; among 30–39 year olds - 67% ^[136] ; The USSR was the only country in the world where over the course of its history the overwhelming majority of members of the highest governing body: the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU , as well as all the top leaders of the state, except for Lenin, were from poor families and were of working and peasant origin ^{[137] [138]} .

In the USSR, the level of vertical social mobility , opportunities for advancement into the country's elite for immigrants from working-peasant families, and socially weak strata of the population were not only higher than in post-Soviet Russia ^[139] , but also significantly exceeded the United States, where there is a tendency to reduce the opportunities for representatives lower social groups to achieve higher status positions, and also reduced the ability of the middle class to maintain their status ^[140] . ( Capital in the 21st century ).

Legal and judicial systems

Marxist-Leninist ideology in the USSR considered the state and law in general as the political part of the superstructure over the economic basis of society ^[141] and emphasized the class nature of law ^[142] , which was defined as “the will of the ruling class elevated into law” ^[143] . A later modification of this interpretation of law read: “Law is a state will elevated to law” ^[142] .

The “ socialist law ” (the “highest historical type of law” ^[142] ) that existed in the late (popular ^[144] ) USSR was considered to be the will of the people elevated into law: it “establishes and really guarantees truly democratic freedoms for the first time in history” ^[145]

Soviet socialist law was considered by some scholars ^[146] in the West as a kind of Roman , but Soviet jurists ^{[147] [148] [149] [150]} insisted on its independent status, which was recognized ^{[146] by the} world community in practice after World War II the election of the judges representing him to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations  - in accordance with Article 9 of the Statute of the Court , which provides for the representation of the main forms of civilization and legal systems.

The foundations of the judicial system of the USSR were laid before its establishment — in the RSFSR — by a series of decrees, the first of which was the Decree of the Council of People 's Commissars On the Court of November 22, 1917 ( see the article Decrees on the Court ). The main link in the judicial system was the “ people's court ” of a city or district (court of general jurisdiction), which was elected directly by citizens. The 1977 Constitution of the USSR set forth the basic principles for the organization of the judicial system of the USSR in Chapter 20 . Higher courts were elected by the respective Councils. The composition of the people's courts consisted of a judge and lay assessors, who took part in the consideration of civil and criminal cases (Article 154 of the 1977 Constitution).

The function of supreme oversight “over the accurate and uniform execution of laws by all ministries, state committees and departments, enterprises, institutions and organizations, executive and administrative bodies of local Councils of People’s Deputies, collective farms, cooperative and other public organizations, officials, and citizens” was entrusted to The Prosecutor General of the USSR ( Chapter 21 ). The Constitution (Article 168) declared the independence of the prosecutor's office from any local authorities, although there is evidence that prosecutors were under the direct operational control of the NKVD ^[151] .

Land legislation

The norms of land legislation of the USSR secure the exclusive right of the state to land ^[152] . According to the USSR Law of December 13, 1968 No. 3401 VII on approving the fundamentals of the land legislation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Union Republics, Article 8, Free use of land: collective farms, state farms, other state, cooperative, public enterprises, organizations, institutions and citizens of the USSR land is provided free of charge use ^[153]. The state donated land to organizations and enterprises near cities and towns for their free transfer to employees. The Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers "On collective and individual gardening and horticulture of workers and employees" adopted in February 1949 marked the beginning of mass gratuitous transfer of land to citizens and the widespread development of collective and home gardening, in Russia about 50% of the citizens had their own personal plots ^{[ 154]} , which led to the formation of a kind of suburban culture, combining both production and restoration functions and allowing workers both to engage in agricultural production and to fully relax ^[155] .

Leaders of the USSR

Formally, the head of state (the highest official) was considered: since 1922  - Chairman of the Presidium of the CEC of the USSR , since 1938  - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR , since 1989  - Chairman of the Supreme Council of the USSR , since 1990  - President of the USSR . The head of government was the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, since 1946 - the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, who was ex officio a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee .

Head of state

Head of the government

Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR M. I. Kalinin (1922-1938) (from the RSFSR ) G.I. Petrovsky (1922-1938) (from the Ukrainian SSR ) N. Narimanov (1922-1925), G. Musabekov (1925-1937) (from the ZSFSR ) A. G. Chervyakov (1922-1937) (from the Byelorussian SSR ) N. Aitakov (1925-1937) (from the Turkmen SSR ) F. Khojaev (1925-1937) (from the Uzbek SSR ) N. Maksum (1931-1934), A.R. Rakhimbayev (1934-1937) (from the Tajik SSR ) Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M. I. Kalinin (1938-1946) N. M. Shvernik (1946-1953) K.E. Voroshilov (1953-1960) L.I. Brezhnev (1960-1964) A.I. Mikoyan (1964-1965) N.V. Podgorny (1965-1977) L. I. Brezhnev (1977-1982), first (general) Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1964 - 1982 Yu. V. Andropov (1983-1984), Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee in 1982 - 1984 K. U. Chernenko (1984-1985), Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee 1984 - 1985 A.A. Gromyko (1985-1988) M.S. Gorbachev (1988-1990), Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1985-1991. USSR President M.S. Gorbachev March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991.

Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars (from March 15, 1946 - Council of Ministers) of the USSR V.I. Lenin (1922-1924) A.I. Rykov (1924-1930) V.M. Molotov (1930-1941) Stalin (1941-1953), Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) (CPSU) in 1922- 1934 G. M. Malenkov (March 1953—1955) N. A. Bulganin (1955-1958) N. S. Khrushchev (1958-1964), First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1953-1964 A.N. Kosygin (1964-1980) N.A. Tikhonov (1980-1985) N. I. Ryzhkov (1985-1991) Prime Minister of the USSR V. S. Pavlov (1991) Head of the KOUNH of the USSR , Chairman of the IEC IEC I. S. Silaev (1991)

• Leaders of the USSR from 1953 to 1991
• 

  G. M. Malenkov

• 

  N. S. Khrushchev

• 

  L. I. Brezhnev

• 

  Yu. V. Andropov

• 

  K. U. Chernenko

• 

  M. S. Gorbachev

Economy

NEP

By 1921, Russia was in ruins. The territories of Poland , Finland , Latvia , Estonia , Lithuania , Western Belarus , Western Ukraine , the Kara region of Armenia and Bessarabia departed from the former Russian Empire . During the war, the Donbass , the Baku oil district , the Urals and Siberia were particularly affected , many mines and mines were destroyed . Due to lack of fuel and raw materials, the plants stopped. Workers were forced to leave the city and leave for the village. Significantly reduced the volume of industrial production, and as a result - agricultural production.

As a result, the main task of the internal policy of the RCP (b) and the Soviet state was to restore the destroyed economy, create the material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building the socialism promised to the people by the Bolsheviks .

In July 1921, a procedure was established for the opening of trading establishments. State monopolies on various types of products and goods were gradually canceled. A simplified registration procedure was established for small industrial enterprises. Denationalization of small and handicraft enterprises was carried out ^[156] .

In connection with the introduction of the NEP, certain legal guarantees were introduced for private property. So, on May 22, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree “On Basic Private Property Rights Recognized by the RSFSR, Protected by its Laws and Protected by the Courts of the RSFSR” ^[157] . Then, by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from 11.11.1922 on January 1 of the following year, the Civil Code of the RSFSR was enacted , which, in particular, provided that every citizen had the right to organize industrial and commercial enterprises ^[158] .

However, in the second half of the 1920s, the first attempts to curtail the NEP began . In October 1928, the implementation of the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy began ; the country's leadership took a course towards forced industrialization and collectivization. Although the NEP was not officially abolished, by that time it had actually been phased out.

Legally, the policy of the New Economic Policy was terminated only on October 11, 1931, when a decision was adopted to completely ban private trade in the USSR ^[159] .

NEP Results

Significant economic growth rates, however, were achieved only due to the return of pre-war capacities, because Russia only reached the economic indicators of the pre-war years by 1926/1927. The potential for further economic growth was extremely low. The private sector was not allowed to “command the heights in the economy”, foreign investment was not welcomed, and investors themselves were not particularly in a hurry to Russia because of the continuing instability and the threat of nationalization of capital. The state, however, was unable to make long-term capital-intensive investments out of its own funds.

Industrialization

After the final folding of the NEP , a policy was announced for the collectivization of agriculture and the industrialization of industry. The beginning was laid by the introduction of the so-called “ five-year plans ”. The main task of the introduced planned economy was to build up the economic and military power of the state as quickly as possible. At the initial stage, this came down to the redistribution of the maximum possible amount of resources to the needs of industrialization.

First of all, using propaganda , the party leadership ensured the mobilization of the population in support of industrialization ^[160] . Komsomol members in particular took it with enthusiasm. There was no shortage of cheap labor, because after collectivization from rural areas to cities from poverty, hunger and the arbitrariness of the authorities, a large number of yesterday's rural residents moved ^[161] . Millions of people selflessly ^[162] , almost by hand, built hundreds of factories , power plants , laid railways , subways. Often had to work in three shifts. In 1930, the construction of about 1,500 facilities was launched, of which 50 absorbed almost half of all investments. A number of gigantic industrial structures were erected: DneproGES , metallurgical plants in Magnitogorsk , Lipetsk and Chelyabinsk , Novokuznetsk , Norilsk , as well as Uralmash , tractor plants in Stalingrad , Chelyabinsk , Kharkov , Uralvagonzavod , GAZ , ZIS (modern ZIL) and others. The first phase opened in 1935Moscow Metro with a total length of 11.2 km.

In parallel, the state switched to a centralized distribution of its means of production and consumer goods, the introduction of command-administrative methods of management and the nationalization of private property. A political system has emerged based on the leading role of the CPSU (b), state ownership of the means of production and a minimum of private initiative. Also began the widespread use of forced labor by Gulag prisoners , special settlers and rear militias .

The official position for a long time was the lack of an alternative to the chosen approach to industrialization:

Consumer goods are actually produced less than necessary, and this creates well-known difficulties. But then you need to know and need to be aware of what a similar policy would lead us to relegate to the background of the tasks of industrialization. Of course, we could defer half of the import of cotton, leather, wool, rubber, etc. from the one and a half billion rubles spent during this period on the equipment of our heavy industry. We would then have more chintz, shoes, clothes. But then we would have neither the tractor nor the automobile industry, there would be no serious ferrous metallurgy, there would be no metal for the manufacture of machinery, and we would be unarmed in the face of a capitalist armed environment equipped with new technology.

... In a word, we would have in this case military intervention, not non-aggression pacts, but war, a dangerous and deadly war, a bloody and unequal war, because in this war we would be almost unarmed before the enemies that have at their disposal all modern means attacks.

- Stalin I.V. Results of the First Five-Year Plan: Report at the Joint Plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission of the CPSU (B.) January 7, 1933 ^[163]

Nevertheless, there are doubts about the effectiveness of the approach chosen in the USSR to industrialization and collectivization. In the framework of research, or the so-called “virtual scenarios”, a number of authors suggested that if the NEP were preserved, industrialization and rapid economic growth would also be possible, including the development of the defense industry ^{[164] [165] [166] [167]} .

During the Great Patriotic War

The economy of the USSR during the war was focused on the military industry. Many enterprises have switched from manufacturing, for example, agricultural machinery to military production.

In 1943, military spending amounted to 44 percent of national income, the consumption fund - 49 and the accumulation fund - 7 percent, in 1944 - 35, 50 and 15 percent, respectively ^[168] .

The post-war state of the country

In general, in the 1950s, the economy and industry of the USSR firmly entrenched in second place in the world, second only to the United States .

By the 1960s, the USSR economy was in first place ^[169] in the world in: coal mining , iron ore , coke and cement , diesel locomotives , lumber, wool, sand sugar and animal oil, etc. etc., and 2nd place in the world in terms of production of all industrial products, electricity , oil and gas production , production of steel and cast iron , chemical products, mineral fertilizers, engineering products, cotton fabrics, etc. In the future, the USSR overtook its world competitors in the production of steel, cast iron, oil production, the production of mineral fertilizers, reinforced concrete products , shoes, etc.

1960s and 1970s

The rapid economic growth rates characteristic of the 1930s and 1950s gave way to a period of gradual deceleration in productivity growth as the gap between living standards and developed capital markets narrowed. This was due to the exhaustion of potential for growth and a decrease in marginal returns on the national economy as a result of the accumulation of fixed assets. The accelerated development was hindered by a hypertrophied military-industrial complex (military expenditures in the 1980s fluctuated around 12% of GDP) and an inefficient agricultural complex (producing approximately the same volume of output, agricultural output was 4-5 times lower than in the USA ^[170] , and thus prevented the flow of labor into industry and services), which, despite the high costs, continued to be supportedvarious programs and resolutions until the end of the 80s ^[171] . The potential for growth was also negatively affected by the low degree of openness of the domestic economy, although foreign trade turnover was growing rapidly.

During the 8th Five-Year Plan 1965 - 1970  years. Under the direction of A.N. Kosygin , a large-scale reform was carried out aimed at decentralization of economic management . The bodies of territorial economic management and planning (Sovnarkhozes) were liquidated, the economic independence of enterprises was significantly expanded, the number of policy targets was reduced from 30 to 9, profit and profitability were recorded as the main indicators, and the pricing policy was changed. By the autumn of 1967  , 5.5 thousand enterprises worked under the new system (1/3 of industrial production, 45% of the profit), by April 1969 32 thousand enterprises (77% of production). Over the five-year period, record-breaking rates of economic growth were recorded. In 1966 - 1979  years. the average annual growth rate of national income in the USSR was 6.1%. A number of major business projects were implemented (the creation of the Unified Energy System , the introduction of automated control systems (ACS), the development of civilian automotive industry , etc.). The growth rates in housing construction and the development of the social sphere, financed at the expense of enterprises, were high. The eighth five-year plan has received the figurative name "golden".

Despite successes, the reform program was curtailed in the early 1970s. Among the reasons for the “choking” of the reform are usually the resistance of the conservative part of the Politburo of the Central Committee ( N. Podgorny took a negative position in relation to the reform ), as well as the tightening of the domestic political course under the influence of the Prague Spring of 1968. An unfavorable “anti-stimulus” for the development of reform efforts could be the growth of oil export earnings, which allowed the conservative wing of the Soviet leadership to mask the economic problems of the USSR, in particular, to cover the food shortage due to import supplies: purchases of feed grain in Canada and frozen beef and whale meat in Australia.

1980s

From 1913 to 1986, Russia and the Union republics increased their national wealth by more than 50 times, national income by 94 times ^{[~ 13]} . The number of students of higher educational institutions increased by 40 times, doctors  - by 48 times. In 1986, the national income of the USSR was 66% of that in the United States , industrial products  - 80%, and agriculture  - 85% ^[172] .^{[ specify ]}

During the years of Perestroika , negative trends in the economy intensified ^[173] . The inability of the country's political leadership to adequately respond to negative external manifestations ^[173] ( oil price fall in 1986 ^[173] , budget revenues as a result of the anti-alcohol campaign ^[173] , huge expenses for the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident ^[173] , military expenses in Afghanistan ^[173] and others) and commitment to populist measures led to an imbalance of the budget and monetary systems ^[173] , which resulted in an aggravation of the general economic situation.

GNP growth rates decreased in the years of the XII five-year plan (1986-1990) to 2.4% per year (against 4.8% in the years of the Xth and 3.7% in the years of the XIth five-year period ), and in 1990 they became negative ^[174] . At the turn of the 1980-1990s, the situation in the Soviet economy became critical. Even essential goods and foodstuffs disappeared from the shelves; In the fall of 1989, for the first time after the war, sugar coupons were introduced in Moscow, and by the beginning of 1991 a real threat of a full-blown hunger hung over the country. From abroad in the USSR began to receive food humanitarian aid ^[173] . By this time, the Soviet Government had already lost control over the state’s economy, as a result of a number of reasons ^[173]that turned out for the country to accelerate the collapse of the Soviet Union ^[173] .

Gosplan of the USSR

Pricing in the USSR

The internal content of planned pricing in the USSR was stable state regulation, planning and forecasting of prices, based on the economic, political and social problems facing the country; in 1969, planned pricing was allocated to an independent area of ​​government ^[175] . Researchers distinguish the following features of planned price regulation: a high degree of centralization of management and the use of exclusively direct methods of price regulation for all types of products, goods and services ^[176]. Despite the fact that in the USSR there was a gradual evolution of pricing regulation processes from exclusively administrative directive methods to the development of a certain economic freedom, empowerment of enterprises with the right to independently set contract prices for certain types of products, the administrative pricing principle dominated in the USSR, which directively determines prices for enterprises manufactured products based on the socio-political priorities of the state, in the USSR there was also no single federal law defining the principles of pricing and the degree of state regulation of pricing, this law is also absent in modern Russia ^[177]. In order to provide the population with a decent standard of living, in the USSR the government subsidized (by raising the price of luxury goods ) prices ^{[178] [179]} for essential goods , which were sold below their cost, which, on the one hand, led to a shortage of goods , on the other hand, the population has become much better at eating, dressing, and having much more opportunities for good rest and more complete satisfaction of material and cultural needs. However, in the early 1970s. the standard of living of the population, despite its marked increase in the second half of the 1960s, still remained relatively low ^[180]. With the transition of Russia to a market economy, essential goods experienced a landslide price increase ^[181] .

Human rights in the USSR

Healthcare

In the USSR, a network of research institutions in the field of medicine, medical and preventive institutions for adults and children, resorts, sanatoriums and rest homes has become widespread. Medical assistance in the USSR was provided free of charge, which ensured its accessibility for the entire population of the country ^[182] . By the mid-1970s, the highest life expectancy in Russian history was achieved in the RSFSR: 64.9 for men and 74.5 years for women ^[183] .

Social Security

The main types of support and services for social security and social insurance in the USSR were benefits for temporary disability, maternity, childbirth, old-age pensions, disabilities and the like, as well as the provision of permits (free or for a partial fee) in a sanatorium , rest houses, health-improving dispensaries and so on. A feature of the social insurance fund in the USSR was that it was formed from the state budget and enterprise funds without deductions from the employee’s wages ^[184] . In the USSR there were years of a high level of suicide, for example, 1984, but there were years of a low level, for example, 1965 ^[185] . There was a problem of alcoholism, so anti-alcohol campaigns were carried out^[186] .

The level of social inequality throughout Soviet history was many times lower, not only in relation to tsarist Russia, but also in comparison with developed Western countries ^{[187] [188]} .

Pensions in the USSR

The pension system in force in the USSR covered absolutely all categories of citizens and included not only the payment of pensions and benefits, but also various forms of sanatorium and resort services, the maintenance and servicing of the elderly and the disabled ^[189]. Pension contributions were paid by the company without any deduction from the employee's salary. The absence of such contributions did not deprive the employee of the right to retirement. Retirement age: men - 60 years old, women - 55 years old. Moreover, there was a significant list of categories of persons eligible for early retirement. According to the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated 03.08.1972 No. 590, the minimum pension was 50 rubles, and the maximum old-age pension on general grounds was 120 rubles, for continuous work experience, pension increases of 10 to 20% were determined depending on the length of service ^[190] . According to other sources, the average monthly pension in the RSFSR was: in 1965 - 37.8 rubles, in 1970 - 44.3 rubles, in 1980 - 64.9 rubles, in 1985 - 80.9 rubles ^[191]. According to the text of the “Model Charter of the Agricultural Cartel” of 1935 (Art. 11), the elderly collective farmers were exempted from any taxes to the state, the collective farm was obliged to create a special fund in the amount of 2% of the total gross product to pay benefits to pensioners and disabled collective farmers, in addition, the collective farm could to allocate in-kind products to pensioners, to accrue workdays and cash payments, the size and procedure for pension provision were determined at the general meeting of the collective farm; since 1964, according to the "Law on Pensions and Benefits to Members of Collective Farms" (1964), the state took upon itself the payment of pensions to collective farmers, while in a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR it was emphasized that collective farms, at their discretion, could keep paying additional pensions to collective farmers from their means ^[192]. Taking into account public consumption funds, including free health care, benefits for sanatorium treatment and payment for medicines, utilities, transportation, cultural events and so on, ^{[193] the} real pension in monetary terms was 20% -30% higher than the amount paid by the state directly to the pensioner ^{[194] [195]} . According to A. V. Pudovkin, an analysis of key statistics showed that the Soviet pension system had a high level of efficiency, for example, it guaranteed a high enough standard of living for the USSR ^[196] .

Standard of living

In 1988, in terms of purchasing power parity, the USSR, slightly inferior to Italy , was one of the ten most developed countries in the world, ranking second in the world in terms of basic economic indicators ^[197] . In 1990, according to the human development index , which includes the standard of living, literacy, education and longevity, the USSR ranked 26th in the world, according to some reports, in the 1970s, the USSR was one of the ten most developed countries in the world in terms of human development index.

Dynamics of living standards in the USSR

According to researchers, there was a positive dynamics in the standard of living in the USSR: 88.3% of respondents aged 60 and older had a social and professional status higher than their parents; in the group of 50-59 years old - 82.1%; among 40-49 year olds - 75.4%; 30-39 year olds - 67% ^[198] .

In order to understand the dynamics of living standards in countries such as the USSR, researchers often use not economic, but anthropometric data - for example, data on the growth of children of a certain age, on child mortality and life expectancy. Such statistics more accurately reflect the volume and quality of nutrition and the level of development of health care. An analysis of these data by Elizabeth Brainerd, professor of economics at Williams College, unequivocally indicates that an increase in living standards in the USSR did occur, but ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After that, the standard of living not only stopped growing, but also began to decline - until the end of the 1980s. ^[199] .

Transport, infrastructure, communications

Railway transport

After the October Revolution, all private railways were nationalized. The management of the railway network was entrusted to the People's Commissariat of Railways, which was later transformed into the Ministry of Railways . Among the largest railway constructions of the Soviet period, Turksib , the Transpolar Railway , BAM , and Small BAM can be distinguished . In addition, all the largest roads were double-tracked, many (where economically feasible) were electrified.

City electric transport

Subway

In Russia, the first metro line was inaugurated in Moscow on May 15, 1935 . In the USSR, the subway was also opened in Leningrad ( 1955 ), Kiev ( 1960 ), Tbilisi ( 1966 ), Baku ( 1967 ), Kharkov ( 1975 ), Tashkent ( 1977 ), Yerevan ( 1981 ), Minsk ( 1984 ), Gorky ( 1985 )Novosibirsk ( 1986 ), Kuibyshev ( 1987 ) and Sverdlovsk ( 1991 ).

Trolley bus

In the USSR, more than ten billion passengers were transported by trolleybuses annually in 178 cities ^[201] , in 122 of which freight trolleybuses were used in intercity freight transportation ^[202] .

The first trolleybus line in the USSR was built in 1933 in Moscow . The first trolleybuses were LK-1 cars , named after Lazar Kaganovich . July 12, 1966 ^[200] in the Soviet Union for the first time in world practice ^{[203] [204]} Kiev inventor Vladimir Veklich ^{[205] [206]} created a trolleybus train ^[207] . In total, about six hundred such trains were operated in more than twenty cities of the country ^[208] . In 1982, 25 014 trolley buses were operated in the USSR ^[209] .

Tram

In 1982, the Soviet Union operated 21,174 tram cars in 110 cities ^[209] .

The first light rail line in the USSR ^[210] was opened in Kiev on December 30, 1978 at the initiative of Vladimir Veklich ^{[205] [211]} and Vasily Dyakonov ^[212] . Later, a light rail appeared in Volgograd , Izhevsk and Krivoy Rog .

Astronautics

The USSR was a pioneer in space exploration, launching the world's first artificial Earth satellite ( Sputnik-1 , October 4, 1957 ), the world's first launch into a near-earth orbit of a living creature ( Laika , Sputnik-2 , November 3, 1957 ), the world's first manned space flight ( Yu. A. Gagarin , Vostok-1 , April 12, 1961 ), the world's first manned spacewalk ( A. A. Leonov , Voskhod-2 , 18 March 1965 ), launches of automatic interplanetary stationswho first made soft landings on the Moon ( Luna-9 , February 3, 1966 ), Mars ( Mars-3 , December 2, 1971 ) and Venus ( Venus-7 , August 17, 1970 ), and also for the first time in the world, the permanent space orbital station was launched ( Salyut-1 , April 19, 1971 ), major achievements of the late USSR - the creation of the Mir orbital station , the study of the Halley comet AMS Vega , the flight Burana". In the USSR, a large number of spacecraft of various types were created: artificial Earth satellites (AES), manned spacecraft (PAC), orbital stations (OS), automatic interplanetary stations (AMS) ^[213] .

Nuclear power

The world's first industrial nuclear power plant (with a capacity of 5000 kW ) was launched on June 27, 1954 in the USSR in the city of Obninsk , located in the Kaluga Region . In total, by the beginning of 1992, 15 nuclear power plants and 45 power units were built on the territory of the USSR; in 1980, the industrial unit for the first time in the world was built on an industrial scale with a fast neutron reactor BN-600 , which remains to date the largest such reactor in the world. The USSR was a pioneer in the production of atomic icebreakers , creating the world's first atomic icebreaker ( Lenin , December 5, 1957 ), nuclear-class icebreakers of the Arctic class.

Armed forces of the USSR

Until February 1946, the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army and the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet existed separately. By May 1945, the number of the Red Army was 11.3 million people . February 25, 1946 the Red Army and the Red Army were combined into the Armed Forces of the USSR. From February 25, 1946 until the beginning of 1992, the Red Army was called the Soviet Army. The Soviet army included the Strategic Missile Forces , SV , Air Defense Forces , Air Forceand other formations, except the Navy, the Border troops of the KGB of the USSR, the Internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Throughout the history of the USSR, the post of Supreme Commander was introduced twice. The first time Joseph Stalin was appointed to it , the second time - Mikhail Gorbachev .

The USSR Armed Forces consisted of five types of troops : Strategic Missile Forces (1960), Ground Forces (1946), Air Defense Forces (1948), Navy and Air Force (1946), and also included the rear of the USSR Armed Forces , the headquarters and Civil Defense Forces of the USSR, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR , the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR .

On May 14, 1955, the Soviet Union and a number of socialist European states established an agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance to the Warsaw Treaty Organization (ATS). The organization was created in opposition to the NATO bloc .

The highest state leadership in the field of defense of the country on the basis of laws was carried out by the highest bodies of state power and government of the USSR, guided by the policies of the CPSU , directing the work of the entire state apparatus in such a way that, when resolving any issues of government, the interests of strengthening its defense capability should be taken into account: - USSR Defense Council ( Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defense of the RSFSR), Supreme Council of the USSR (Articles (Art.) 73 and 108, Constitution of the USSR), Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR (Art. 121, Constitution of the USSR), Council of Ministers of the USSR (Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR) (Art. 131, USSR Constitution).

The USSR Defense Council coordinated the activities of the organs of the Soviet state in the field of strengthening defense, approving the main directions of development of the USSR Armed Forces. The USSR Defense Council was headed by the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Criminal Executive System and Special Services

1917-1954

In 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ^[214] (Cheka) was formed, headed by F. E. Dzerzhinsky . On February 6, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR adopted a resolution on the abolition of the Cheka and the formation of the State Political Administration (GPU) under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the RSFSR. The troops of the Cheka are transformed into GPU troops. Thus, the management of the police and state security agencies was transferred to one agency. After the formation of the USSR, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSRNovember 15, 1923 adopted a resolution on the creation of the United State Political Administration (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and approves the "Regulations on the OGPU of the USSR and its organs." Prior to this, the GPU of the union republics (where they were created) existed as independent structures, with a single union executive power. The people's commissariats of internal affairs of the Union republics were exempted from the functions of ensuring state security.

On May 9, 1924, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adopted a resolution on expanding the rights of the OGPU to combat banditry, which provided for the operational subordination of the OGPU of the USSR and its units in the field of police and criminal investigations. On July 10, 1934, the CEC of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the formation of the All-Union People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR”, which included the OGPU of the USSR, renamed the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB). The bodies of the NKVD of the USSR carried out the Great Terror, the victims of which were hundreds of thousands of people. From 1934 to 1936 The NKVD was led by G. G. Yagoda ^[215] . From 1936 to 1938 the NKVD was headed by N. I. Ezhov , from November 1938 until December 1945, L.P. Beria was the head of the NKVD .

On February 3, 1941, the NKVD of the USSR was divided into two independent bodies: the NKVD of the USSR ^[216]and the People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB) of the USSR. In July 1941, the NKGB of the USSR and the NKVD of the USSR were again merged into a single People’s Commissariat - the NKVD of the USSR. The People's Commissar of State Security was V.N. Merkulov. In April 1943, the NKGB of the USSR was again allocated from the NKVD. Most likely, the SMERSH GUKR was created on April 19, 1943. On March 15, 1946, the NKGB of the USSR was renamed the USSR Ministry of State Security (MGB). In 1947, the Committee of Information (CI) was created under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in February 1949 it was transformed into a CI under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Then, intelligence was returned to the state security system - in January 1952, the First Main Directorate (PSU) of the USSR Ministry of State Security was organized. On March 7, 1953, it was decided to merge the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the USSR Ministry of State Security into a single USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

1954-1992

On March 13, 1954, the State Security Committee ^[217] (KGB) was created under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (from July 5, 1978 - the KGB of the USSR). The KGB system included state security agencies, border troops and government communications troops, military counterintelligence agencies, educational institutions and research institutions. In 1978, Yu. V. Andropov , as Chairman, achieved an increase in the status of the organs of the State Security and withdrawal from direct subordination of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. April 1, 1991 received the status of the central government body of the USSR, headed by the Minister of the USSR.

On October 22, 1991, as a result of the separation of the KGB of the USSR on the basis of Decree of the State Council of the USSR No. GS-8, the Inter-Republican Security Service of the USSR was established . This document established that the main function of the service is to coordinate the work of the republican security services and conduct counter-intelligence activities coordinated with them. Along with SMEs, the USSR Central Intelligence Service and the USSR State Border Protection Committee were also created ^[218] . On December 3, 1991, the elimination of the KGB and the creation of SMEs were enshrined in law ^[219] .

On December 19, 1991, by an order of the Government of the RSFSR, the activities of SMEs in the republic were discontinued ^[220] .

On January 15, 1992, the head of the SME of the USSR, Vadim Bakatin, who had already ceased to exercise his powers in accordance with the aforementioned resolution of the Russian government, was officially dismissed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin ^[221] . Deputy heads of SMEs, as well as some other heads of the service, were not officially relieved of their posts, they terminated their duties at the end of December 1991 - January 1992.

The liquidation process of the SME of the USSR was completed on July 1, 1992 ^[222]

Administrative division of the USSR

The total area of ​​the Soviet Union as of August 1991 was 22.4 million km².

Initially, according to the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR (December 30, 1922), the USSR included:

• Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic
• Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic
• Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic (until 1922 - Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus, SSRB)
• Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic

On October 27, 1924, the Turkmen SSR , separated from the RSFSR and the Bukhara SSR, entered the USSR .

On May 13, 1925, the Uzbek SSR entered the USSR , allocated on October 27, 1924 from the RSFSR , the Bukhara SSR and the Khorezm NDS .

On December 5, 1929, the Tajik SSR entered the USSR , allocated on October 16, 1929 from the Uzbek SSR .

On December 5, 1936, the Azerbaijan , Armenian, and Georgian SSRs that left the Transcaucasian SFSR entered the USSR . At the same time, the Kazakh and Kyrgyz SSRs that left the RSFSR were included in the USSR .

In 1940, the Karelian-Finnish , Moldavian , Lithuanian , Latvian and Estonian SSRs were included in the USSR .

In 1956, the Karelian-Finnish SSR was transformed into the Karelian ASSR as part of the RSFSR .

On September 6, 1991, the USSR State Council recognized the secession of Lithuania , Latvia, and Estonia from the USSR .

On December 25, 1991, President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev resigned, and the next day, the Council of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the termination of the USSR. State structures of the USSR were eliminated.

Administrative division of the USSR

republic	area , thousand km²	population , thousand people ( 1966 )	population , thousand people ( 1989 )	number of cities	number of town	adm. center
RSFSR	17,075.4	126 561	147 386	932	1786	Moscow
Ukrainian SSR	601.0	45 516	51,704	370	829	Kiev
Belorussian SSR	207.6	8633	10,200	74	126	Minsk
Uzbek SSR	449.6	10 581	19 906	37	78	Tashkent
Kazakh SSR	2715.1	12 129	16 538	62	165	Alma-ata
Georgian SSR	69.7	4548	5449	45	54	Tbilisi
Azerbaijan SSR	86.6	4660	7029	45	116	Baku
Lithuanian SSR	65,2	2986	3690	91	23	Vilnius
Moldavian SSR	33.7	3368	4341	20	29th	Kishinev
Latvian SSR	63.7	2262	2681	54	35	Riga
Kyrgyz SSR	198.5	2652	4291	15	32	Frunze
Tajik SSR	143.1	2579	5112	17	thirty	Dushanbe
Armenian SSR	29.8	2194	3283	23	27	Yerevan
Turkmen SSR	488.1	1914	3534	fourteen	64	Ashgabat
Estonian SSR	45.1	1285	1573	33	24	Tallinn
the USSR	22,402.2	231,868	286 717	1832	3418	Moscow

A number of union republics included autonomous Soviet socialist republics (ASSR). The Union republics were divided into cities of republican subordination, autonomous regions (after the abolition of the provincial division, they were included in the territories and regions, maintaining an autonomous status), regions and territories. The difference between the region and the region was that the region could include a national (autonomous) district, and the region could include an autonomous region and an autonomous region. A number of union republics did not have regional division.

Regions (including autonomous ones), territories and union republics without regional divisions were divided into districts and cities of regional subordination, districts were divided into village councils, workers 'settlements (usually they were not members of village councils, but rarely, several workers' villages formed a common village council) and cities of regional subordination, cities of republican and regional subordination to districts in cities. Village councils united several rural settlements called differently - villages, villages, hamlets, villages. Cities that did not have a district division were divided into house administrations and street committees, large street committees into quarterly committees, large village councils into village committees, but the bodies of these units did not make binding decisions. ASSR also divided into regions and cities of republican subordination; in 1950-1953some ASSR had regional division.

In 1928-1930 there was an intermediate between the region and the district there was an intermediate unit - a district and, accordingly, cities of district subordination, after 1930 only national districts were preserved, transformed in 1977 into autonomous districts.

See also:

• Administrative division of the USSR
• List of abolished and renamed regions of the USSR
• Administrative division of the RSFSR
• Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
• The history of the administrative-territorial division of Russia
• Administrative division of Ukraine
• Administrative division of Belarus
• List of republics of the USSR

The population of the USSR

Change in the population of the republics of the USSR (thousand people) ^{[223] [224]}

republic	1913	1926	1939	1941	1950	1959	1966	1970	1973	1979	1987	1989	1991
Russian SFSR	89 902	92 737	108 379	111,708.0	101 438	117 534	126 561	130 079	132 151	137 410	145,311	147 386	148 548
Ukrainian SSR	35 210	29 515	40,469	41,389.6	36 906	41,869	45 516	47 127	48,243	49,609	51 201	51,704	51 944
Belorussian SSR	6899	4983	8910	10 425.1	7745	8055	8633	9002	9202	9533	10 078	10,200	10 260
Uzbek SSR	4366	4660	6440	6639.9	6314	8261	10 581	11 960	12 902	15 389	19,026	19 906	20,708
Kazakh SSR	5565	6037	5990	6338.1	6703	9154	12 129	12 849	13,705	14,684	16,244	16 538	16 793
Georgian SSR	2601	2677	3540	3695,4	3528	4044	4548	4686	4838	4993	5266	5449	5464
Azerbaijan SSR	2339	2314	3205	3318.5	2896	3698	4660	5117	5420	6027	6811	7029	7137
Lithuanian SSR	2028	~	2880	3033,4	2573	2711	2986	3128	3234	3392	3641	3690	3728
Moldavian SSR	2056	~	2452	2540.1	2290	2885	3368	3569	3721	3950	4185	4341	4366
Latvian SSR	2493	1857	1885	1960.8	1943	2093	2262	2364	2430	2503	2647	2681	2681
Kyrgyz SSR	864	1002	1458	1594.3	1740	2066	2652	2933	3145	3523	4143	4291	4422
Tajik SSR	1034	1032	1484	1566.0	1532	1981	2579	2900	3194	3806	4807	5112	5358
Armenian SSR	1000	881	1282	1363.4	1354	1763	2194	2492	2672	3037	3412	3283	3376
Turkmen SSR	1042	998	1252	1322.8	1211	1516	1914	2159	2364	2765	3361	3534	3576
Estonian SSR	954	1117	1052	1122.0	1101	1197	1285	1356	1405	1465	1556	1573	1582
Total	156,297	147 028	190 678	198,712.7	179 274	208 827	231,868	241 720	248 626	262,085	281 689	286 717	289 943

The 1977 Constitution of the USSR proclaimed the formation of a "new historical community - the Soviet people ." Russians were the most numerous nationalities (140 million people), Ukrainians (40 million) and Belarusians were close to them . A large group consisted of Turkic peoples - Uzbeks , Kazakhs , Turkmens , Kyrgyz , living in the southern Asian republics. Tajiks also lived in Central Asia . In Transcaucasia - Georgians , Armenians , Azerbaijanis . With the accession of the new republics, Lithuanians entered the list of peoples of the USSR, Latvians , Estonians and Moldavians . The Tatars , Chuvashs , Bashkirs , Mordovians , as well as Germans , Jews and Poles were quite numerous in the USSR .

The population of the USSR is 284 million people. ( 1989 ^[225] )

• The national composition of the USSR according to the 1989 census (peoples, numbering over 1 million people):
• Total population: 285 million 742 thousand 511 people.

1. Russians  - 145 million 155 thousand 489 people. (50.8%)
2. Ukrainians  - 44 million 186 thousand 006 people. (15.46%)
3. Uzbeks  - 16 million 697 thousand 825 people (5.84%)
4. Belarusians  - 10 million 036 thousand 251 people. (3.51%)
5. Kazakhs  - 8 million 135 thousand 818 people. (2.85%)
6. Azerbaijanis  - 6 million 770 thousand 403 people. (2.37%)
7. Tatars  - 6 million 648 thousand 760 people. (2.33%)
8. Armenians  - 4 million 623 thousand 232 people. (1.62%)
9. Tajiks  - 4 million 215 thousand 372 people. (1.48%)
10. Georgians  - 3 million 981 thousand 045 people. (1.39%)
11. Moldavians  - 3 million 352 thousand 352 people. (1.17%)
12. Lithuanians  - 3 million 067 thousand 390 people (1.07%)
13. Turkmens  - 2 million 728 thousand 965 people. (0.96%)
14. Kyrgyzstan  - 2 million 528 thousand 946 people. (0.89%)
15. The Germans  - 2 million 038 thousand 603 people. (0.71%)
16. Chuvash  - 1 million 842 thousand 347 people. (0.64%)
17. Latvians  - 1 million 458 thousand 986 people. (0.51%)
18. Bashkirs  - 1 million 449 thousand 157 people. (0.51%)
19. Jews  - 1 million 378 thousand 344 people. (0.48%)
20. Mordva  - 1 million 153 thousand 987 people. (0.4%)
21. Poles  - 1 million 126 thousand 334 people. (0.39%)
22. Estonians  - 1 million 026 thousand 649 people (0.36%)

See more details:

• about censuses in the USSR
• on the ethnic composition of the USSR (as of 1989)
• on the largest ethnic groups in the republics of the USSR (as of 1979)
• on language families and groups (as of 1979)

Culture and Society

The first eleven years after the revolution (1918-1929), cultural figures were in search of distinctive features of the Soviet style of art. In 1923, V.I. Lenin proclaimed the implementation of the Cultural Revolution in the USSR . The culture of this decade was distinguished by artistic pluralism: on the one hand, it was rooted in the “Silver Age”, and on the other, it took from the revolution the renunciation of the old aesthetic canons, to thematic and plot novelty. Many cultural figures saw their duty in serving the ideals of the revolution. This was manifested in the politicization of the poetic work of V.V. Mayakovsky , the creation of the Theater October Revolution by Meyerhold , the formation of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR), etc. ^[226]

Collectivism began to be promoted as the main value system of Soviet people .

Culture and art

After the Bolsheviks came to power, in 1918 the Lenin Plan of Monumental Propaganda was adopted , in the framework of which the mass destruction of monuments to “tsars and their servants”, such as the monuments to Alexander II and Alexander III, a monument to General Skobelev and many others. Instead, they erected monuments to revolutionaries (including foreign ones) and revolutionary thinkers.

In the early years, the government encouraged various trends in art and literature. Especially popular then were the writers Vladimir Mayakovsky and Maxim Gorky . In the 1920s, the first Soviet films appeared.

During the reign of Stalin, socialist realism , which was closely connected with Soviet ideology and propaganda, became (and remained in the future) the main style of art . Many figures in other areas of art were subjected to repression. Censorship controlled the content and dissemination of information, including printed matter, musical and stage works, works of art, cinematographic and photographic works, radio and television broadcasts, with the aim of restricting or preventing the dissemination of ideas and information that the authorities considered harmful or undesirable.

A significant place in Soviet art culture was occupied by historical and revolutionary themes: the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "The Quiet Don " (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1965), A. N. Tolstoy's " Walking the Hardships ", I.E. Babel's “ Conarmia ”, etc .; outstanding successes in portraiture and landscape painting were achieved by M.V. Nesterov , P.D. Korin , P.P. Konchalovsky ; Soviet cinema took leading positions in world art, some of the films became classics of world cinema: films by S. M. Eisenstein “ Battleship Potemkin ”, “Alexander Nevsky ", the comedies of G. V. Alexandrov" Jolly Fellows "," Volga, Volga "and others ^[227] .

After the Khrushchev thaw in the late 50s and early 60s, censorship weakened its control. Once again, art became acceptable experimentation. In architecture, the main focus was modernism , which replaced constructivism and the monumental Stalinist neoclassicism . A turning point in architecture has become one of the black pages for a number of prominent architects, such as I.V. Zholtovsky , A.N. Dushkin , B.M. Iofan and others, who have been prominent architects since the early 1930s. The result of the Khrushchev’s “struggle against excesses” was a massive and not always high-quality architecture, devoid of individual features of the author’s intention ^[228] .

In the second half of the 80s, the policy of Perestroika and publicity significantly expanded the freedom of expression in the media and, in particular, in the press . The USSR Law of June 12, 1990 “On the Press and Other Mass Media”, which entered into force on August 1, 1990 ^[229] , abolished state censorship ^[230]

Cinema

The largest producers of feature films are Mosfilm ^[231] , Lenfilm ^[232] , A. Dovzhenko Film Studio, Central Studio of Children and Youth Films named after Gorky, part of the feature films were produced by local film studios - Belarusfilm, Odessa Film Studio, Georgia-Film, Sverdlovsk Film Studio, Riga Film Studio, etc. ^[233] . The largest producers of animated films are the Soyuzmultfilm studio ^[234] , the Kiev studio of popular science films, Belarusfilm, and some of the animated films were produced by local film studios such as the Armenfilm, Uzbekfilm, etc. ^[235]Until the 1950s mainly hand-drawn cartoons were produced, since the 1950s, both hand-drawn and puppet ones.

The largest producers of feature television films are Mosfilm, Lenfilm, Belarusfilm, and the Film Studio named after A. Dovzhenko, Creative Association “Screen” ^[236] , since the 1980s. Odessa film studio began to produce more and more art television films. The main editors of the literary and dramatic programs of the Central Television and the main editors of the children's and youth programs of the Central Television produced television films on magnetic tape ^[237] . Some of the feature films were produced by the Central Film Studio for Children and Youth Films. Gorky, local film studios (Sverdlovsk film studio, Riga film studio, film studio Georgia-Film, film studio Tajikfilm, etc.) and local television studios (Leningrad, Ordzhonikidze and Kiev). The largest producer of animated television films^{[238] [239]}  - The Ekran creative association, some of the animated television films were produced by local cinema (Sverdlovsk film studio, Kiev studio of popular science films, Belarusfilm, Armenfilm and Uzbekfilm) and television studios (Kuibyshev, Saratov, Volgograd, Sverdlovsk and Perm ^{[240] [241]} ).

The science

Science in the USSR was one of the branches of the national economy ^{[242] [243]} . 0.3% of the USSR population (1 million people) worked in scientific organizations^{[ when? ]} .

The most developed technical sciences and natural sciences ^[244] , there were significant achievements in the humanities . Researchers worked both at the USSR Academy of Sciences , and at branch and republican academies in various enterprises of the Ministries. Thanks to highly developed science (6th-7th place in the world according to Nobel laureates , 25% of all scientific workers of the world ^{[245] [246]} ), education ^{[242] [246]} and health care ^{[247] [248] [249} were at a rather high level ^{] [250]}, built for the first time in the world on a scientific basis ^[251] , which has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness ^[251] and was considered almost the best in the world in many respects ^[252] .

High-tech industries developed in the USSR: nuclear power , aviation , space , computer technology .

7 Soviet scientists became Nobel Prize winners in physics , 1 in chemistry and 1 in economics ^[253] .

Printing, broadcasting and television

Print

In the USSR there was a system of both All-Union newspapers and magazines, as well as local / republican publications.
NomenclatureShe tried to cover publications of all ages (children's / youth / youth publications), strata (workers / peasants / intelligentsia), and areas of interest (literature, cinema / theater, sports, science and technology). Translated and original foreign editions were sold in insignificant quantities. The largest national newspaper, Izvestia, was greatly influenced by the official newspaper of the CPSU - Pravda, the official newspaper of the Komsomol - Komsomolskaya Pravda, and the official newspaper of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions - Trud. In each of the Union republics there was a newspaper published by the Council of Ministers and the central committee of the Communist Party of the Union Republic, in each of the regions there was a newspaper published by the regional executive committee and the regional organization of the CPSU, in each of the regions there was a newspaper published by the district executive committee and the district organization of the CPSU. The largest central newspapers are Pravda,Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Pioneer Truth, Rural Life, Labor, Red Star and Soviet Russia^[255]

Broadcasting and television

The management of all television and radio broadcasting in the USSR was carried out by the USSR State Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

Broadcasting

Radio broadcasting has been conducted since 1924 ^[256] . All-Union Radio broadcast 12 programs, 8 of which were intended for remote parts of the country: The first program - all-Union, informational, socio-political and artistic, had 4 takes for remote parts of the country; “Mayak” - an all-union, informational and musical (since 1964 ^{[257] [258]} .) Broadcast since 1929; The third program - the All-Union (since 1982), literary and musical, had 4 takes intended for remote parts of the country, broadcast since 1947 ^[259] ; The fourth program is musical, broadcast since 1960 ^[260] .

The preparation of the All-Union Radio programs was carried out by the State House of Radio Broadcasting and Sound Recording and the thematic main editions of the All-Union Radio (information, propaganda, literary and dramatic broadcasting, music broadcasting, radio broadcasting for children, youth broadcasting, radio broadcasts for Moscow, radio broadcasts for the Moscow Region, sports programs), coordination and release of broadcasts on the programs of the All-Union Radio - General Directorate of Programs of the All-Union Radio. Local radio broadcasts were provided by local radio houses or radio telecentres and local television and radio committees. Transmissions to foreign countries have been conducted since 1929 ^[261], preparation of transmissions to foreign countries was carried out by the State House of Broadcasting and Sound Recordings and thematic main editions of the Central Broadcasting to Foreign Countries ^[262] , coordination and release of transmissions to foreign countries - the Main Directorate of Central Broadcasting Programs to Foreign Countries ^{[263] [264] [265] [266] [267] [268]} .

In 1990, the first commercial broadcasting services arose - almost on the same day, on April 30, 1990, the broadcasting of Radio Nostalgie and Europe Plus began, with the Youth in the last summer of 1989 ^{[269] [270]} . On August 22, 1990, the Ekho Moskvy radio station opened ^[271] .

The television

Television broadcasts have been conducted since 1931 ^[272] . Central television broadcast 12 programs, 8 of which were intended for remote parts of the country: I Program - all-Union, informational, socio-political and art; II Program (until 1982 - IV Program) - All-Union (since 1982) art, had 4 doubles (since 1982) for remote parts of the country, broadcast since 1967 ^[273] ; The Moscow program is an information and journalistic program that has been broadcasting since 1956 ^[274] ; The educational program is popular science and educational, broadcast since 1965 ^[275] .

The preparation of the Central Television programs was carried out by the Television Technical Center. The 50th anniversary of the October Revolution and the thematic main editions of the Central Television (information, propaganda, literary and drama programs, film programs, film programs, folk art, programs for children, youth programs, programs for Moscow and the Moscow Region, popular science and educational programs, sports programs), the production of television films of the Central Television - the Creative Association “Ekran”, local television and film studios commissioned by the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Agency, and the coordination and broadcasting of programs on the Central Television — the Central Directorate of Central Television Programs, the latter also coordinated the thematic main editions of Central Television.Local television broadcasting was provided by local television centers or radio television centers and local television studios^{[268] [276] [277] [278]} .

On November 6, 1989, the first commercial broadcasting service, BIZ-TV, appeared.

Censorship

The system of universal political censorship included various forms and methods of ideological and political control - along with direct ones (prohibition of publication, censorship, rejection of manuscripts), a variety of indirect methods were applied related to personnel, publishing, and honorarium policies ^[279] .

The functions of censorship control were assigned to special state institutions ^[280] . Censorship controlled all internal official channels of disseminating information: books, periodicals, radio , television , cinema , theater , etc. ^[281] , information coming from outside (jamming of foreign radio stations broadcasting in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, meticulous control of printed materials of foreign Media on the subject of "anti-Soviet"). Self-censorship was also widespread .

The main objects of censorship were the so-called “ anti-Soviet propaganda ” (which included everything that did not correspond to current ideological ideas), military and economic secrets (for example, information about places of detention and geographical maps), negative information about the state of affairs in the country (disasters, economic problems, ethnic conflicts, negative social phenomena, etc.), any information that could potentially become a cause for unrest and uncomfortable allusions .

Censorship in the USSR wore primarily ideological in nature ^{[282] [283]} , but other researchers have noted that throughout the period of the Soviet media stories did not exist such problems as the negative effect of images of violence in broadcasting ^{[284] [285]} .

Religion in the USSR

The USSR was a secular state where the principle of separation of the church from the state was constitutionally proclaimed ^[286] , originally proclaimed on January 20 (according to the art.) Of 1918 by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR “ On the Separation of the Church from the State and the School from the Church ” ^[287] , which the church It was separated from the state and from the public school, deprived of the rights of a legal entity and property, religion was declared a private affair of citizens.

The Communist Party of the USSR since 1919 openly proclaimed as its task to promote the withering away of “religious prejudices” ^[288] . Until 1939, the policy of eliminating organized religious life was carried out in the administrative procedure by state authorities, in particular the NKVD ^[289] ; subsequently, religious politics became more differentiated.

In the first decades of Soviet power, many Orthodox churches were destroyed, in particular the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, several 14th-century monasteries in the Moscow Kremlin, as well as dozens of churches throughout the country. From 1925 to 1947 in the USSR there was a mass public organization " Union of Militant Atheists " (until June 1929  - the "Union of Atheists"); the publishing house “Atheist” functioned, later the “State Publishing House of Anti-Religious Literature” (GAIZ).

The atheistic worldview was supported and promoted by party and state institutions; at universities the discipline " scientific atheism " was taught .

In 1943, the patriarchate was restored in the USSR, under the patronage of the Soviet government, Sergius became the patriarch . Since that time, all legal religious activity was under the direct public control of two government bodies, in December 1965 united in the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR .

The final rehabilitation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USSR took place during the years of Perestroika, when in 1988 the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus was celebrated at the state level .

Sport in the USSR

Sport in the USSR was massive, which was ensured by the work of youth sports schools , schools of higher sports excellence and voluntary sports societies that created physical education teams and sports clubs. In 1976, 50.1 million people were engaged in them. The standards were established in the complex of the TRP and the Unified All-Union Sports Classification. Signs skills of athletes served as sports titles: Master of Sports of the USSR , the master of sports of international class . Mass national competitions were held: All-Union Spartakiads. The Soviet Union had its own formula classification of racing cars, car racing championships were held, including the national Formula 1 . Many sports magazines and newspapers, sports books, in particular, the publishing house " Physical Culture and Sports ", were published. Every year, up to 40 sports films were released on the screens of the country.

The USSR has participated in the Summer Olympic Games since 1952 and in the Winter Olympic Games since 1956, often taking first place in the unofficial team standings ^[290] . The 1980 Summer Olympics was held in the USSR. The USSR national ice hockey team , Soviet gymnasts , Soviet figure skating masters and representatives of other sports achieved outstanding successes in the international arena - in the Olympic Games, at the world and European championships . Sambo wrestling was born in the USSR , which later received international status.

During the 41 years of its existence, the NOC of the USSR took part in the 18 Winter and Summer Olympic Games and at all played a leading role in the overall standings, never falling below second place.

Education

The right of citizens of the USSR to free education at all levels, from primary to higher, was enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR, article 45 of which (1977) read:

Citizens of the USSR have the right to education. This right is ensured by free of charge all types of education, the implementation of universal compulsory secondary education of youth, the broad development of vocational, secondary specialized and higher education on the basis of the connection between education and life, with production: development of correspondence and evening education; the provision of state scholarships and benefits to pupils and students; free issuance of school books; the possibility of studying at school in their native language; creating conditions for self-education

- 1977 Constitution of the USSR

In the USSR, all graduates of secondary specialized and higher educational institutions through the existing distribution system were guaranteed employment in the specialty.

In 1973, in the USSR, expenditures from the state budget (without capital investments) for higher educational institutions amounted to 2.97 billion rubles, for technical schools, colleges and schools for the training of secondary qualifications - 1.79 billion rubles, for vocational education - 2, 09 billion rubles. In 1975, there were 856 universities in the USSR (including 65 universities), in which more than 4.9 million students studied. By the number of students per 10 thousand people, the USSR population significantly exceeded such countries as Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan and others.

As of January 1, 1976, there were 6,272 vocational schools in the USSR, in which 3.08 million students were enrolled.

At the beginning of the 1975/1976 school year, 167 thousand comprehensive schools operated in the USSR, in which 48.8 million people studied. According to the data for 1975, the training of teachers and educators was carried out in 65 universities, 200 pedagogical institutes and 404 pedagogical schools.

In the Soviet Union, in order to ensure access to education for all categories of citizens, for the first time in the world, a system of distance education was implemented, including all educational levels ^[291]

The Soviet educational system, especially in the field of mathematics, physics and engineering specialties, in spite of some of its shortcomings, occupied a leading position in the world, including the estimates of political opponents of the USSR ^[292] . In the United States, some officials recognized the superiority of the Soviet educational system over the American educational model ^[293] .

Youth in the Soviet Union

The Soviet state, paid special attention to its children and youth. In schools, at the state level, there was an all- Union pioneer organization for children , admission to which was carried out from the age of 9. Prior to the pioneer organization, children from the age of 7 were adopted by pioneers in October . In secondary educational institutions, a pioneer organization established the correspondence: school - squad, class - detachment . As a rule, pioneer squads bore the names of heroes. The pioneer organization provided mass free Soviet children with extracurricular activities with the help of all kinds of thematic circles, clubs and pioneer palaces .

Particular attention was paid to the health of children, there were classrooms and dentists in schools , which were assigned to each individual school, in parallel there was a medical center. In summer, schoolchildren went to the suburban pioneer camps , created as a sanatorium-summer resort. Pioneers took patronage over the young October people.

From the age of 14, pioneers were admitted to the Komsomol . After leaving school and entering a secondary vocational, special, technical or higher educational institution ( school , lyceum , technical school , university , academy , institute ), a person was fixed in the local Komsomol cell of his educational institution and participated in social and cultural activities.

In schools , Komsomol members took patronage over the pioneers, the Komsomol members formed a leader team in summer pioneer camps, student construction detachments . After graduation, the Komsomol members were obliged by distribution — a Komsomol ticket  — to go to work throughout the Soviet Union in their specialty. Upon arrival at the place of work, a person was also assigned to the local Komsomol cell of an enterprise or organization and received a hostel, subsequently, in the prescribed manner, he received a free apartment from his enterprise or organization or, according to the Komsomol state housing program, a youth residential complex (MZHK), created in 1971 year.

Opinions on the possibility of preserving the USSR

There are opinions according to which there was a possibility of preserving the USSR up to the present. ^[294]

Oleg Baklanov , the former head of the space and defense industry of the USSR, the minister of general engineering of the USSR, now chairman of the board of directors of the corporation Rosobachemash, believes that if the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee was a member of the Politburo, G. V. Romanov , who was considered a real candidate for this post - the Soviet Union would have been preserved, albeit in a reformed and updated form ^[295] .

USSR is a superpower

Since 1945, after winning the Second World War, the USSR, along with the United States, became one of two superpowers. This was expressed in the creation of a pro-Soviet bloc of countries in Eastern and Central Europe (de facto satellite of the USSR). The USSR had a significant influence on a large number of countries around the world, actively intervened in domestic and international conflicts (the Civil War in China , the Korean War , the Vietnam War , the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, the entry of troops into Czechoslovakia , the Afghan War ), and provided military and economic support for its allies around the world ( Vietnam , Angola , Ethiopia ,Egypt , Cuba ), deployed its armed forces in other countries ( groups of Soviet troops in the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia), possessed the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons and a wide range of delivery vehicles, a large fleet deployed in different parts of the oceans ( Mediterranean and Indian naval squadrons), had priority in space exploration , the 2nd largest economy in the world .

Assessment of the role of the USSR

Estimates of the role of the USSR are polarized.

In the republics of the former USSR

On April 25, 2005, Russian President Putin V.V. in a message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation stated:

First of all, it should be recognized that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. For the Russian people, it has become a real drama. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and compatriots found themselves outside of Russian territory. The decay epidemic also spread to Russia itself [296] .

On May 12, 2005, the Latvian Seimas adopted the “Declaration on the Condemnation of the Totalitarian Communist Occupation Regime of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Latvia,” which, in particular, reads:

... Considering that the crimes of the totalitarian communist occupation regime of the USSR in Latvia are part of the inhuman crimes committed by totalitarian regimes of the 20th century that do not and cannot have a statute of limitations ... noting that the crimes of the German National Socialist regimeinvestigated and convicted at the international level, perpetrators brought to justice, while similar crimes of the totalitarian communist regime of the USSR were not investigated and did not receive international condemnation ... The Saeima of the Republic of Latvia declares: the State of Latvia condemns the USSR totalitarian communist occupation regime; The state of Latvia also condemns the actions of all those persons who participated in the implementation of the crimes of this regime ...

- ^[297]

In 2008, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko assessed the collapse of the USSR as a “geopolitical catastrophe” ^[298] .

On November 22, 2008, Ukrainian President V. Yushchenko , blaming the “imperial, communist, Soviet regime” ^{[299] [300]} for the mass famine in the early 1930s , called on the “Russian Federation <...> to condemn the crimes of Stalinism and totalitarian Soviet Union ” ^{[299] [300]} , in particular, saying ^{[299] [300]} :

We reject the blatant, blasphemous lie that we are blaming some people for our tragedy. This is not true. The culprit is one. This is the imperial, communist, Soviet regime.

In other countries

Starting with the encyclical of Pope Benedict XV in 1920 Bonum Sana ^[301] and ending with the official documents of Pope Pius XII (in particular, the encyclical Orientales Omnes published by him in December 1945 ), communism in general and Soviet communism in particular were repeatedly condemned by the heads of the Holy See ^{[ 302] [303] [304] [305]} .

On January 25, 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (an organ of the Council of Europe ), in its resolution “The need for international condemnation of the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes ” ( Council of Europe Resolution 1481 ^[306] ), adopted in the development of its previous Resolution No. 1096 ( 1996 ) ^[307] , condemned the "massive violations of human rights " ^[306] in totalitarian communist regimes and, in particular, stated:

Crimes were justified by the name of the theory of class struggle and the principle of the dictatorship of the proletariat . Interpretation of both principles legitimized the “liquidation” of people who were considered harmful for building a new society and, as such, enemies of totalitarian communist regimes. A significant number of victims in each affected country were its own citizens. This is especially true for the peoples of the former USSR, which are significantly superior to other peoples in terms of the number of victims ^[306] .

Original text  (English) [show]

The crimes were justified in the name of the class struggle theory and the principle of dictatorship of the proletariat. The interpretation of both principles legitimized the “elimination” of people who were considered harmful to the construction of a new society and, as such, enemies of the totalitarian communist regimes. A vast number of victims in every country concerned were its own nationals. It was the case particularly of the peoples of the former USSR who by far outnumbered other peoples in terms of the number of victims.

Positive rating

In 1959, the successes of the USSR in all spheres of economic and social life were noted as unprecedented in world history in the framework of the NATO Council ^[308] :

When the Soviet Union was formed a little less than 40 years ago, the state had to face enormous difficulties. The state lagged behind in education and other social spheres, illiteracy was widespread. Forty years ago, there was hopelessly not enough trained personnel to lead the Soviet people out of a difficult situation, and today the USSR disputes the right of the United States to world domination. This is an achievement that has no equal in world history.

Original text  (English) [show]

When the Soviet Union came into being just over 40 years ago the country had to face enormous difficulties. In education and other social services the country was backward. The supply forty years ago of trained personnel to lead the Soviet people out of their difficulties was apparently hopelessly inadeguate, yet today the USSR challenges the USA for world supremacy. This achievement is one that beare comparison with any of modern times.

Nostalgia for the USSR

Nostalgia for the Soviet Union ^[309] , which has formed its actual spread against the backdrop of problems in most of the former Soviet republics at the turn of the XX – XXI centuries, has become a powerful social movement and to this day is the ideological theory prevailing among the masses, uniting, according to the VTsIOM center, 56% of Russians ^[310] and 47% of Ukrainians ^[311] . At the same time, considering the period from 1991 to 2013, the leading sociological centers in Russia and the CIS countries revealed a trend towards a decrease in the percentage of respondents and a corresponding increase in respondents negatively inclined towards the USSR ^[310] .

This trend has changed in 2014. In December 2018, according to the Levada Center , the number of Russians regretting the collapse of the Soviet Union peaked in the last decade and amounted to 66% of the respondents; in 2017, there were 58% of such respondents ^[312] .

According to researchers (2016), in 9 out of 11 states of the former USSR, the majority of the population over 35 years of age (who made life in the USSR) believes that life in the USSR was better than in the subsequent period after its collapse. Only residents of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan positively assess life after the collapse of the USSR ^[313] .

Nostalgia for the USSR causes a polar attitude among the civilian masses. Most of the positively-minded elements are middle-aged and older people (over 35 years old) who have caused the era of either the Khrushchev thaw or socialist stagnation. Among this age category, those who consider life in the USSR make up 65% better. Among young people (under 30), the majority (63%) believe that life in modern Russia is better than in the USSR ^[313] .

In 1996, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the Decree of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation dated March 15 , 1996 No. 156-II of the State Duma "On deepening the integration of peoples united in the USSR, and the repeal of the Decree of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of December 12, 1991" On the denunciation of the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR “” And adopted the Decree of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation dated March 15, 1996 No. 157-II of the State Duma “On the legal force for the Russian Federation - Russia of the results of the referendum of the USSR on March 17, 1991 on the issue of maintaining the USSR”

At the end of 2004, the Russian-language satellite channel “ Nostalgia ” began broadcasting from Russia , the subject of which is the video archives of the Central Television of the USSR Radio and Television and its own programs, the subject of which is devoted to the USSR.

Attempts to challenge the dissolution of the USSR in court

In September 1992, a group of people's deputies of the RSFSR headed by Sergey Baburin sent a request to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to verify the constitutionality of the decisions of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of December 12, 1991 “On ratification of the Agreement on the Creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States” and “On the denunciation of the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR " ^{[314] [315]} . This appeal was never considered ^[316] due to the forceful dispersal of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) in October 1993 ^[315] (on the eve of these events, the court was preparing to consider this petition ^{[317] [318]} .

In 2014, on the initiative of Dmitry Tretiakov, a resident of Togliatti, born in 1981, attempts were made through the courts to declare the dissolution of the USSR unconstitutional with the requirement to oblige the Government of the Russian Federation to apply to the former Soviet republics for a referendum ^{[319] [320] [321]} .

On January 10, 2014, the Supreme Court of Russia judicially refused to consider the statement of claim, citing Art. 134 p. 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation “(the contested acts do not affect the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of the applicant)” ^{[322] [323]} . On April 8, 2014, the appellate board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the decision of the first instance ^{[320] [321]} .

On May 29, 2014, the Constitutional Court of Russia , composed of 18 judges of the constitutional court, chaired by V. D. Zorkin , issued a ruling on the refusal to consider the complaint, the decision of which is final and not subject to appeal ^{[324] [325]} .

On November 27, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights , chaired by Judge Eleanor Steiner, refused to consider the Russian complaint, saying that the decision of the Court was final and could not be appealed to the Court (including the Grand Chamber) or to any other body. In accordance with the instructions of the Court, the dossier of this complaint was destroyed after one year ^[326] .

Notes

Comments

Sources

• Open Directory Project (dmoz)
•  (.)
•  : :   
• Impressions of Soviet Russia, by John Dewey (.)
• A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former) (.)
• Majority in former Soviet states believe breakup was harmful mistake — poll. RT, 21 December 2013 (.)