the USSR
the former largest state in the world in terms of area, the second in economic and military power and the third in terms of population. The USSR was created on December 30, 1922, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) merged with the Ukrainian and Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republics and the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. All these republics arose after the October Revolution and the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. From 1956 to 1991, the USSR consisted of 15 union republics. In September 1991 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia withdrew from the union. On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus at a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha announced that the USSR had ceased to exist, and agreed to form a free association - the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 21, in Alma-Ata, the leaders of 11 republics signed a protocol on the formation of this community. On December 25, the President of the USSR MS Gorbachev resigned, and the next day the USSR was dissolved.

Geographic location and boundaries. The USSR occupied the eastern half of Europe and the northern third of Asia. Its territory was located north of 35°N. between 20°E and 169°W The Soviet Union was washed in the north by the Arctic Ocean, ice-bound for most of the year; in the east - the Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas, freezing in winter; in the southeast it bordered on land with the DPRK, China and Mongolia; in the south - with Afghanistan and Iran; in the southwest with Turkey; in the west with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Finland and Norway. Occupying a significant part of the coast of the Caspian, Black and Baltic Seas, the USSR, however, did not have direct access to the warm open waters of the oceans.
Square. Since 1945, the area of ​​the USSR has been 22,402.2 thousand square meters. km, including the White Sea (90 thousand sq. km) and the Sea of ​​Azov (37.3 thousand sq. km). As a result of the collapse of the Russian Empire during the First World War and the Civil War of 1914-1920, Finland, central Poland, the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, the southern part of Armenia and the Uryankhai Territory (which in 1921 became nominally independent Tuvan People's Republic) were lost. Republic). At the time of its founding in 1922, the USSR had an area of ​​21,683 thousand square meters. km. In 1926 the Soviet Union annexed the archipelago of Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Ocean. As a result of World War II, the following territories were annexed: the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus (from Poland) in 1939; the Karelian Isthmus (from Finland), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and also Bessarabia with Northern Bukovina (from Romania) in 1940; the region of Pechenga, or Petsamo (since 1940 in Finland), and Tuva (as the Tuva ASSR) in 1944; the northern half of East Prussia (from Germany), southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands (since 1905 in Japan) in 1945.
Population. In 1989 the population of the USSR was 286,717 thousand people; more were only in China and India. During the 20th century it almost doubled, although overall growth lagged behind the global average. The famine years of 1921 and 1933, the First World War and the Civil War slowed down population growth in the USSR, but perhaps main reason lagging behind are the losses suffered by the USSR in World War II. Only direct losses amounted to more than 25 million people. If we take into account indirect losses - a decrease in the birth rate during wartime and an increased death rate from difficult living conditions, then the total figure is likely to exceed 50 million people.
National composition and languages. The USSR was created as a multinational union state, consisting (since 1956, after the transformation of the Karelian-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR, until September 1991) of 15 republics, which included 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions and 10 autonomous districts - all they were formed on a national basis. More than a hundred ethnic groups and peoples were officially recognized in the USSR; more than 70% of the total population were Slavic peoples, mostly Russians, who settled throughout the vast territory of the state within 12-
19th centuries and until 1917 they occupied a dominant position even in those areas where they did not constitute a majority. Non-Russian peoples in this area (Tatars, Mordovians, Komi, Kazakhs, etc.) gradually assimilated in the process of interethnic communication. Although national cultures were encouraged in the republics of the USSR, the Russian language and culture remained a necessary condition for almost any career. The republics of the USSR received their names, as a rule, according to the nationality of the majority of their population, but in the two union republics - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - Kazakhs and Kirghiz made up only 36% and 41% of the total population, and even less in many autonomous entities. The most homogeneous republic in terms of ethnic composition was Armenia, where more than 90% of the population were Armenians. Russians, Belarusians and Azerbaijanis made up more than 80% of the population in their national republics. Changes in the homogeneity of the ethnic composition of the population of the republics occurred as a result of migration and uneven population growth of various national groups. For example, peoples Central Asia, with their high birth rate and low mobility, swallowed up a lot of Russian immigrants, but retained and even increased their quantitative superiority, while approximately the same influx into the Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia, which had a low birth rate of their own, upset the balance not in favor of the indigenous nationality.
Slavs. This language family consists of Russians (Great Russians), Ukrainians and Belarusians. The share of Slavs in the USSR gradually decreased (from 85% in 1922 to 77% in 1959 and to 70% in 1989), mainly due to the low rate of natural growth compared to the peoples of the southern outskirts. Russians made up 51% of the total population in 1989 (65% in 1922, 55% in 1959).
Central Asian peoples. The most numerous non-Slavic group of peoples in the Soviet Union was the group of peoples of Central Asia. Most of these 34 million people (1989) (including Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Turkmens) speak Turkic languages; Tajiks, numbering more than 4 million people, speak a dialect of the Iranian language. These peoples traditionally adhere to the Muslim religion, are engaged in agriculture and live in overpopulated oases and dry steppes. The Central Asian region became part of Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century; before there were competing and often at enmity with each other emirates and khanates. In the Central Asian republics in the middle of the 20th century. there were almost 11 million Russian immigrants, most of whom lived in cities.
Peoples of the Caucasus. The second largest group of non-Slavic peoples in the USSR (15 million people in 1989) were peoples living on both sides of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian Seas up to the borders with Turkey and Iran. The most numerous of them are Georgians and Armenians with their own forms of Christianity and ancient civilizations, and Turkic-speaking Muslims of Azerbaijan, related to Turks and Iranians. These three peoples accounted for almost two-thirds of the non-Russian population in the region. The rest of the non-Russians included a large number of small ethnic groups, including Iranian-speaking Orthodox Ossetians, Mongolian-speaking Buddhist Kalmyks, and Muslim Chechen, Ingush, Avar, and other peoples.
Baltic peoples. Along the coast of the Baltic Sea lives approx. 5.5 million people (1989) of the three main ethnic groups: Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. Estonians speak a language close to Finnish; Lithuanian and Latvian belong to the group of Baltic languages ​​close to Slavic. Lithuanians and Latvians are geographically intermediate between Russians and Germans, who, along with Poles and Swedes, have had a great cultural influence on them. The rate of natural increase in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which seceded from the Russian Empire in 1918, existed as independent states between the world wars and regained independence in September 1991, is about the same as that of the Slavs.
Other nations. The rest of the national groups in 1989 accounted for less than 10% of the population of the USSR; these were diverse peoples who lived inside the main zone of settlement of the Slavs or dispersed among vast and desert spaces Far North. The most numerous among them are the Tatars, after the Uzbeks and Kazakhs - the third largest (6.65 million people in 1989) non-Slavic people of the USSR. The term "Tatar" was applied in the course of Russian history to various ethnic groups. More than half of the Tatars (Turkic-speaking descendants of the northern group of Mongolian tribes) live between the middle reaches of the Volga and the Urals. After the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted from the middle of the 13th to the end of the 15th century, several groups of Tatars caused concern to the Russians for several more centuries, and the significant number of the Tatar people on the Crimean Peninsula was conquered only at the end of the 18th century. Other large national groups in the Volga-Ural region are the Turkic-speaking Chuvash, Bashkirs and Finno-Ugric Mordovians, Mari and Komi. Among them, the process of assimilation, natural in the predominantly Slavic community, continued, partly due to the influence of increasing urbanization. This process was not so fast among the traditional pastoral peoples - Buddhist Buryats living around Lake Baikal, and Yakuts inhabiting the banks of the Lena River and its tributaries. Finally, there are many small northern peoples engaged in hunting and cattle breeding, scattered in the northern part of Siberia and regions of the Far East; there are approx. 150 thousand people.
national question. Late 1980s national question came to the fore in political life. The traditional policy of the CPSU, which sought to eliminate nations and ultimately create a homogeneous "Soviet" people, ended in failure. Ethnic conflicts broke out, for example, between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Ossetians and Ingush. In addition, anti-Russian sentiments were revealed - for example, in the Baltic republics. In the end, the Soviet Union collapsed along the borders of national republics, and many ethnic antagonisms went to the newly formed countries that retained the old national-administrative division.
Urbanization. The pace and scale of urbanization in the Soviet Union since the late 1920s is probably unparalleled in history. In both 1913 and 1926, less than one-fifth of the population lived in cities. However, by 1961 the urban population in the USSR began to exceed the rural population (Great Britain reached this ratio around 1860, the USA - around 1920), and in 1989 66% of the population of the USSR lived in cities. The scale of Soviet urbanization is evidenced by the fact that the urban population of the Soviet Union increased from 63 million people in 1940 to 189 million in 1989. last years The USSR had about the same level of urbanization as in Latin America.
Growth of cities. Before the start of industrial, urbanization and transport revolutions in the second half of the 19th century. most Russian cities had a small population. In 1913, only Moscow and St. Petersburg, founded in the 12th and 18th centuries, respectively, had a population of more than 1 million people. In 1991, there were 24 such cities in the Soviet Union. The first Slavic cities were founded in the 6th-7th centuries; during the Mongol invasion of the middle of the 13th century. most of them were destroyed. These cities, which arose as military-administrative strongholds, had a fortified kremlin, usually on an elevated place by the river, surrounded by craft suburbs (towns). When trade became important view activities of the Slavs, cities such as Kyiv, Chernigov, Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, and later Moscow, which were at the crossroads waterways rapidly increased in size and influence. After being covered by nomads trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks in 1083 and the devastation of Kyiv by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240, Moscow, located in the center of the river system of northeastern Russia, gradually turned into the center of the Russian state. The position of Moscow changed when Peter the Great moved the country's capital to St. Petersburg (1703). In its development, St. Petersburg by the end of the 18th century. overtook Moscow and remained the largest of the Russian cities until the end of the Civil War. Basics of Majority Growth major cities The USSR was founded in the last 50 years of the tsarist regime, during the period of rapid development of industry, the construction of railways and the development of international trade. In 1913, there were 30 cities in Russia with a population of over 100,000 people, including commercial and industrial centers in the Volga region and Novorossiya, such as Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, and Yuzovka (now Donetsk). The rapid growth of cities during the Soviet period can be divided into three stages. During the period between the world wars, the development of heavy industry was the basis for the growth of such cities as Magnitogorsk, Novokuznetsk, Karaganda and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. However, cities in the Moscow region, Siberia and Ukraine grew especially intensively at this time. Between the 1939 and 1959 censuses there was a marked shift in urban settlement. Two-thirds of all cities that had a population of over 50,000, doubling during this time, were located mainly between the Volga and Lake Baikal, mainly along the Trans-Siberian Railway. From the late 1950s to 1990, the growth of Soviet cities slowed down; only the capitals of the union republics were distinguished by faster growth.
Largest cities. In 1991, there were 24 cities in the Soviet Union with more than one million inhabitants. These included Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Nizhny Novgorod, Kharkov, Kuibyshev (now Samara), Minsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kazan, Perm, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Donetsk in the European part; Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) and Chelyabinsk - in the Urals; Novosibirsk and Omsk - in Siberia; Tashkent and Alma-Ata - in Central Asia; Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan are in Transcaucasia. Another 6 cities had a population of 800 thousand to one million inhabitants and 28 cities - more than 500 thousand inhabitants. Moscow, with a population of 8967 thousand people in 1989, is one of the largest cities in the world. It grew up in the center of European Russia and became the main hub of the railroad, highway, airline and pipeline networks of a very centralized country. Moscow is the center of political life, the development of culture, science and new industrial technologies. St. Petersburg (from 1924 to 1991 - Leningrad), in which 5020 thousand people lived in 1989, was built at the mouth of the Neva by Peter the Great and became the capital of the empire and its main port. After the Bolshevik revolution, it became a regional center and gradually fell into decay due to the increased development Soviet industry in the east, a decrease in foreign trade and the transfer of the capital to Moscow. St. Petersburg suffered greatly during the Second World War and reached its pre-war population only in 1962. Kyiv (2587 thousand people in 1989), located on the banks of the Dnieper River, was the main city of Russia until the transfer of the capital to Vladimir (1169). Start it modern growth refers to the last third of the 19th century, when the industrial and agricultural development of Russia proceeded at a rapid pace. Kharkov (with a population of 1,611,000 in 1989) is the second largest city in Ukraine. Until 1934, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed as an industrial city at the end of the 19th century, being an important railway junction connecting Moscow and heavy industry regions in southern Ukraine. Donetsk, founded in 1870 (1110 thousand people in 1989) - was the center of a large industrial agglomeration in the Donetsk coal basin. Dnepropetrovsk (1179 thousand people in 1989), which was founded as the administrative center of Novorossiya in the second half of the 18th century. and was previously called Yekaterinoslav, was the center of a group of industrial cities in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. Odessa, located on the Black Sea coast (population 1,115,000 in 1989), grew rapidly at the end of the 19th century. as the main southern port of the country. It remains an important industrial and cultural center. Nizhny Novgorod (from 1932 to 1990 - Gorky) - the traditional venue for the annual All-Russian Fair, first held in 1817 - is located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. In 1989, 1438 thousand people lived in it, and it was the center of river navigation and the automotive industry. Below the Volga is Samara (from 1935 to 1991 Kuibyshev), with a population of 1257 thousand people (1989), located near largest deposits oil, gas and powerful hydroelectric power plants, in the place where the railway line Moscow - Chelyabinsk crosses the Volga. A powerful impetus to the development of Samara was given by the evacuation of industrial enterprises from the west after the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. 2,400 km young (founded in 1896) among the top ten largest cities in the USSR. It is the transport, industrial and scientific center of Siberia. To the west of it, where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Irtysh River, is Omsk (1148 thousand people in 1989). Having ceded the role of the capital of Siberia in Soviet times to Novosibirsk, it remains the center of an important agricultural region, as well as a major center for aircraft manufacturing and oil refining. To the west of Omsk is Yekaterinburg (from 1924 to 1991 - Sverdlovsk), with a population of 1,367 thousand people (1989), which is the center of the metallurgical industry of the Urals. Chelyabinsk (1143 thousand people in 1989), also located in the Urals, south of Yekaterinburg, became the new "gateway" to Siberia after they began to build from here in 1891 Trans-Siberian Railway. Chelyabinsk, a center of metallurgy and mechanical engineering, with only 20,000 inhabitants in 1897, developed faster than Sverdlovsk during the Soviet period. Baku, with a population of 1,757,000 in 1989, located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, is located near oil fields, which for almost a century were the main source of oil in Russia and the Soviet Union, and at one time in the world. The ancient city of Tbilisi (pop. 1,260,000 in 1989) is also located in Transcaucasia, an important regional center and capital of Georgia. Yerevan (1199 people in 1989) - the capital of Armenia; its rapid growth from 30 thousand people in 1910 testified to the process of the revival of Armenian statehood. In the same way, the growth of Minsk - from 130 thousand inhabitants in 1926 to 1589 thousand in 1989 - is an example of the rapid development of the capitals of the national republics (in 1939 Belarus regained the borders that it had, being part of the Russian Empire). The city of Tashkent (population in 1989 - 2073 thousand people) is the capital of Uzbekistan and the economic center of Central Asia. Ancient city Tashkent was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1865, when the Russian conquest of Central Asia began.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
Background of the question. The Soviet state arose as a result of two coups that took place in Russia in 1917. The first of them, February, replaced the tsarist autocracy with an unstable political structure in which power, in view of the general collapse state power and law and order, was divided between the Provisional Government, which consisted of members of the former legislative assembly (Duma), and the councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies elected at factories and in military units. At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 25 (November 7), representatives of the Bolsheviks announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government as incapable of resolving the crisis situations that arose due to failures at the front, famine in the cities and the expropriation of property by peasants from landowners. The governing bodies of the Soviets overwhelmingly consisted of representatives of the radical wing, and the new government - the Council people's commissars(SNK) - formed by the Bolsheviks and left-wing socialist revolutionaries (SRs). At the head (SNK) stood the leader of the Bolsheviks V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin). This government proclaimed Russia the world's first socialist republic and promised to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly. Having lost the elections, the Bolsheviks dispersed the Constituent Assembly (January 6, 1918), established a dictatorship and unleashed terror, which led to a civil war. Under these circumstances, the soviets lost their real significance in the political life of the country. The Bolshevik Party (RKP (b), VKP (b), later the CPSU) led the punitive and administrative bodies created to manage the country and the nationalized economy, as well as the Red Army. The return to a more democratic order (NEP) in the mid-1920s was replaced by terror campaigns that are associated with the activities of the General Secretary of the CPSU (b) I.V. Stalin and the struggle in the party leadership. The political police (Cheka - OGPU - NKVD) turned into a powerful institution of the political system, containing a huge system of labor camps (GULAG) and spreading the practice of repressions to the entire population, from ordinary citizens to the leaders of the Communist Party, which claimed the lives of many millions of people. After Stalin's death in 1953, the power of the political secret services was weakened for some time; formally, some of the power functions of the soviets were also restored, but in fact the changes turned out to be insignificant. Only in 1989 a series of constitutional amendments made it possible for the first time after 1912 to hold alternative elections and modernize the state system, in which democratic authorities began to play a much greater role. The constitutional amendment of 1990 abolished the monopoly on political power established by the Communist Party in 1918 and established the post of President of the USSR with broad powers. At the end of August 1991, the supreme power in the USSR collapsed following the failed state putsch, organized by a group conservative leaders of the communist party and government. On December 8, 1991, the presidents of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus at a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha announced the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a free interstate association. On December 26, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to dissolve itself, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
State device. From the moment of its creation in December 1922 on the ruins of the Russian Empire, the USSR has been a totalitarian one-party state. The party-state exercised its power, called the "dictatorship of the proletariat", through the Central Committee, the Politburo and the government controlled by them, the system of councils, trade unions and other structures. The monopoly of the party apparatus on power, the total control of the state over the economy, public life and culture led to common mistakes in public policy, the gradual lag and degradation of the country. The Soviet Union, like other totalitarian states of the 20th century, turned out to be unviable and was forced to start reforms in the late 1980s. Under the leadership of the party apparatus, they acquired a purely cosmetic character and could not prevent the collapse of the state. The state structure of the Soviet Union is described below, taking into account the changes that took place in the last years before the collapse of the USSR.
Presidency. The post of president was established by the Supreme Soviet on March 13, 1990, at the suggestion of its chairman, MS Gorbachev, after the Central Committee of the CPSU agreed with this idea a month earlier. Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR by secret ballot at the Congress of People's Deputies after the Supreme Soviet concluded that direct popular elections would take time and could destabilize the situation in the country. The president, by decree of the Supreme Council, is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He assists in organizing the work of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet; has the power to issue administrative decrees, which are binding on the territory of the entire Union, and to appoint a number of senior officials. These include the Committee for Constitutional Supervision (subject to approval by the Congress), the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Chairman of the Supreme Court (subject to approval by the Supreme Council). The President may suspend decisions of the Council of Ministers.
Congress of People's Deputies. The Congress of People's Deputies was defined in the constitution as "the highest body of state power in the USSR." 1,500 deputies of the Congress were elected in accordance with the triple principle of representation: from the population, national formations and from public organizations. All citizens aged 18 and over were eligible to vote; all citizens over the age of 21 had the right to be elected deputies of the Congress. District nominations were open; their number was not limited. The congress, elected for a period of five years, was to meet every year for several days. At its first meeting, the congress elected by secret ballot from among its members the Supreme Council, as well as the chairman and first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council. The congress considered the most important state questions, such as the national economic plan and budget; Amendments to the constitution could be passed by two-thirds of the votes. He could approve (or repeal) the laws passed by the Supreme Council and had the power to overrule any decision of the government by a majority of votes. At each of its annual sessions, the Congress, by voting, was obliged to rotate one fifth of the Supreme Council.
The Supreme Council. 542 deputies elected by the Congress of People's Deputies to the Supreme Soviet constituted the current legislative body of the USSR. It was convened annually for two sessions, each lasting 3-4 months. It had two chambers: the Council of the Union - from among the deputies from national public organizations and from majoritarian territorial districts- and the Council of Nationalities, where the deputies elected from the national-territorial districts and republican public organizations sat. Each chamber elected its own chairman. Decisions were made by a majority of deputies in each chamber, disagreements were resolved with the help of a conciliation commission consisting of members of the chambers, and then at a joint meeting of both chambers; when it was impossible to reach a compromise between the chambers, the decision of the issue was referred to the Congress. The laws adopted by the Supreme Council could be controlled by the Committee of Constitutional Supervision. This Committee consisted of 23 members who were not deputies and did not occupy other government positions. The Committee could act on its own initiative or at the request of legislative and executive power. He had the power to temporarily suspend laws or those administrative regulations that were contrary to the constitution or other laws of the land. The Committee communicated its opinions to the bodies that passed laws or issued decrees, but was not entitled to repeal the law or decree in question. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was a collective body consisting of a chairman, a first deputy and 15 deputies (from each republic), chairmen of both chambers and standing committees of the Supreme Soviet, chairmen of the Supreme Soviets of the Union republics and a chairman of the People's Control Committee. The Presidium organized the work of the Congress and the Supreme Council and its standing committees; he could issue his own decrees and hold nationwide referendums on issues raised by the Congress. He also gave accreditations to foreign diplomats and, in the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Council, had the right to decide questions of war and peace.
Ministries. The executive branch of government consisted of almost 40 ministries and 19 state committees. The ministries were organized according to functional feature- foreign affairs, agriculture, communications, etc. - while state committees carried out cross-functional relations, such as planning, supply, labor and sports. The Council of Ministers included the chairman, several of his deputies, ministers and heads of state committees (all of them were appointed by the chairman of the government and approved by the Supreme Council), as well as the chairmen of the Councils of Ministers of all union republics. The Council of Ministers carried out foreign and domestic policy, ensured the implementation of state national economic plans. In addition to its own resolutions and orders, the Council of Ministers developed legislative drafts and sent them to the Supreme Council. The general part of the work of the Council of Ministers was carried out by a government group, consisting of the chairman, his deputies and several key ministers. The chairman was the only member of the Council of Ministers who was a member of the deputies of the Supreme Council. Individual ministries were organized on the same principle as the Council of Ministers. Each minister was assisted by deputies who supervised the activities of one or more departments (head offices) of the ministry. These officials constituted the collegium, which functioned as the collective governing body of the ministry. Enterprises and institutions subordinate to the ministry carried out their work on the basis of assignments and instructions from the ministry. Some ministries acted at the all-Union level. Others, organized along the union-republican principle, had a structure of dual subordination: the ministry at the republican level was accountable both to the existing union ministry and to the legislative bodies (Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet) of their own republic. Thus, the union ministry carried out general management of the industry, and the republican ministry, together with regional executive and legislative bodies, developed more detailed measures for their implementation in their republic. As a rule, union ministries controlled industries, while union-republican ministries directed the production of consumer goods and services. Union ministries had more powerful resources, better provided their workers with housing and wages, and had more influence in the conduct of general government policy than the union-republican ministries.
Republican and local government. The union republics that made up the USSR had their own state and party bodies and were formally considered sovereign. The constitution gave each of them the right to secede, and some of them even had their own foreign ministries, but in reality their independence was illusory. Therefore, the sovereignty of the republics of the USSR would be more accurately interpreted as a form of administrative government that took into account the specific interests of the party leadership of one or another national group. But during the 1990s, the Supreme Soviets of all the republics, following Lithuania, re-proclaimed their sovereignty and adopted resolutions that republican laws should have priority over all-Union ones. In 1991 the republics became independent states. The management structure of the union republics was similar to the system of government at the union level, but the Supreme Soviets of the republics had one chamber each, and the number of ministries in the republican councils of ministers was less than in the union. The same organizational structure, but with an even smaller number of ministries, was in the autonomous republics. The larger union republics were divided into regions (the RSFSR also had regional units of a less homogeneous national composition, which are called edges). The regional government consisted of a Council of Deputies and an executive committee, which were under the jurisdiction of their republic in much the same way that the republic was connected with the all-Union government. Elections to regional councils were held every five years. City and district councils and executive committees were created in each district. These local authorities were subordinate to the corresponding regional (territorial) authorities.
Communist Party. The ruling and only legitimate political party in the USSR before its monopoly of power was shattered by perestroika and free elections in 1990 was the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU justified its right to power on the basis of the principle of the dictatorship of the proletariat, of which it considered itself the vanguard. Once a small group of revolutionaries (in 1917 it had about 20,000 members), the CPSU eventually became a mass organization with 18 million members. In the late 1980s, approximately 45% of party members were employees, approx. 10% - peasants and 45% - workers. Membership in the CPSU was usually preceded by membership in the youth organization of the party - the Komsomol, whose members in 1988 were 36 million people. aged 14 to 28 years. People usually join the party from the age of 25. To become a member of the party, the applicant had to receive a recommendation from party members with at least five years of experience and demonstrate devotion to the ideas of the CPSU. If the members of the local party organization voted for the admission of the applicant, and the district party committee approved this decision, then the applicant became a candidate for party membership (without the right to vote) with a trial period of one year, after which he successfully received the status of a party member. According to the charter of the CPSU, its members were required to pay membership dues, attend party meetings, be an example for others at work and in their personal lives, and also promote the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and the program of the CPSU. For an omission in any of these areas, a party member was reprimanded, and if the matter turned out to be serious enough, they were expelled from the party. However, the party in power was not a union of sincere like-minded people. Since promotion depended on party membership, many used the party card for career purposes. The CPSU was the so-called. party of a new type, organized on the principles of "democratic centralism", according to which all the highest bodies in the organizational structure were elected by the lower ones, and all lower bodies, in turn, were obliged to comply with the decisions of higher authorities. Until 1989, the CPSU had approx. 420 thousand primary party organizations (PPO). They were formed in all institutions and enterprises where at least 3 or more party members worked. All PPOs elected their leader - the secretary, and those in which the number of members exceeded 150 were headed by secretaries released from their main work and engaged only in party affairs. The released secretary became a representative of the party apparatus. His name appeared in the nomenklatura - one of the lists of positions that party authorities approved for all managerial posts in the Soviet Union. The second category of party members in the PPO was "activists". These people often held positions of responsibility - for example, as members of the party bureau. In total, the party apparatus consisted of approx. 2-3% of the members of the CPSU; activists made up about another 10-12%. All PPOs within a given administrative region elected delegates to the district party conference. On the basis of the nomenklatura list, the district conference elected the district committee (district committee). The district committee consisted of leading district officials (some of them were party apparatchiks, others headed councils, factories, collective farms and state farms, institutions and military units) and party activists who did not hold official posts. The district committee elected, on the basis of recommendations from higher authorities, a bureau and a secretariat of three secretaries: the first was fully responsible for party affairs in the region, the other two supervised one or more areas of party activity. The departments of the district committee - personal accounting, propaganda, industry, agriculture - functioned under the control of secretaries. The secretaries and one or more heads of these departments sat on the bureau of the district committee, along with other senior officials of the district, such as the chairman district council and heads of large enterprises and institutions. The bureau represented the political elite of the respective area. Party bodies above the district level were organized like district committees, but the selection in them was even stricter. The district conferences sent delegates to the regional (in major cities - city) party conference, which elected the regional (city) committee of the party. Each of the 166 elected regional committees, therefore, consisted of the elite of the regional center, the elite of the second echelon and several activists of the regional scale. The regional committee, based on the recommendations of higher bodies, chose the bureau and the secretariat. These bodies supervised the bureaus and secretariats of the district level reporting to them. In each republic, the delegates elected by the party conferences met every five years at the party congresses of the republics. The congress, after hearing and discussing the reports of the leaders of the party, adopted a program outlining the policy of the party for the next five years. Then the governing bodies were re-elected. At the level of the entire country, the CPSU congress (approximately 5,000 delegates) represented the highest organ of power in the party. According to the charter, the congress was convened every five years for sessions lasting about ten days. The reports of the top leaders were followed by short speeches by party workers at all levels and several ordinary delegates. The congress adopted the program, which was prepared by the secretariat, taking into account the changes and additions made by the delegates. However, the most important act was the election of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was entrusted with the management of the party and the state. The Central Committee of the CPSU consisted of 475 members; almost all of them held leading positions in the party, state and public organizations. At its plenary sessions, held twice a year, the Central Committee formulated the party's policy on one or more issues - industry, agriculture, education, the judiciary, foreign relations, and so on. In the event of disagreements among the members of the Central Committee, he had the authority to convene all-Union party conferences. The Central Committee assigned the control and management of the party apparatus to the secretariat, and the responsibility for coordinating policies and solving the most important problems - to the Politburo. The secretariat reported to the general secretary, who directed the activities of the entire party apparatus with the help of several (up to 10) secretaries, each of whom controlled the work of one or more departments (about 20 in total), of which the secretariat consisted. The Secretariat approved the nomenclature of all leading positions at the national, republican and regional levels. Its officials controlled and, if necessary, directly interfered in the affairs of state, economic and public organizations. In addition, the secretariat directed an all-Union network of party schools that trained promising workers for advancement in the party and in the state arena, as well as in the media.
Political modernization. In the second half of the 1980s, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU MS Gorbachev began to implement a new policy known as "perestroika". The main idea of ​​the perestroika policy was to overcome the conservatism of the party-state system through reforms and adapt the Soviet Union to modern realities and problems. Perestroika included three major changes in political life. First, under the slogan of publicity, the boundaries of freedom of speech have expanded. Censorship has weakened, the former atmosphere of fear has almost disappeared. A significant part of the long-hidden history of the USSR was made available. Party and state sources of information began to report more frankly on the state of affairs in the country. Secondly, perestroika revived the idea of ​​grassroots self-government. Self-government involved members of any organization - a factory, a collective farm, a university, etc. - in the process of making key decisions and assumed the manifestation of initiative. The third feature of perestroika, democratization, was linked to the previous two. The idea here was that full information and the free exchange of opinions will help society make decisions in a democratic manner. Democratization broke sharply with the old political practice. After leaders began to be elected on an alternative basis, their responsibility to the electorate increased. This change weakened the dominance of the party apparatus and undermined the cohesion of the nomenklatura. As perestroika moved forward, the struggle intensified between those who preferred the old methods of control and coercion and those who championed the new methods of democratic leadership. This struggle came to a head in August 1991, when a group of party and state leaders attempted to seize power through a coup d'état. The putsch failed on the third day. Shortly thereafter, the CPSU was temporarily banned.
Legal and judicial system. The Soviet Union inherited nothing from the legal culture of the Russian Empire that preceded it. During the years of revolution and civil war, the communist regime regarded the law and the courts as a weapon in the struggle against class enemies. The concept of "revolutionary legality" continued to exist, despite the relaxation of the 1920s, until Stalin's death in 1953. During the years of the Khrushchev "thaw", the authorities tried to revive the idea of ​​"socialist legality" that had arisen in the 1920s. The arbitrariness of the repressive organs was weakened, terror was stopped, and more stringent judicial procedures were introduced. However, from the point of view of law, order and justice, these measures were insufficient. The legal ban on "anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation," for example, was interpreted extremely broadly. On the basis of these pseudo-legal provisions, people were often found guilty in court and sentenced to imprisonment, imprisonment with a stay in a corrective labor institution, or sent to psychiatric hospitals. Persons who were accused of "anti-Soviet activities" were also subjected to extrajudicial punishment. A. I. Solzhenitsyn, the world famous writer, and the famous musician M. L. Rostropovich were among those who were deprived of their citizenship and sent abroad; many were expelled from schools or fired from their jobs. Legal abuses took many forms. First, the activities of the repressive bodies on the basis of party instructions narrowed or even nullified the scope of legality. Secondly, the party actually remained above the law. Mutual responsibility of party officials prevented the investigation of the crimes of high-ranking members of the party. This practice was supplemented by corruption and the protection of those who violated the law under the guise of party bosses. Finally, party organs exerted a strong unofficial influence on the courts. The policy of perestroika proclaimed the rule of law. In accordance with this concept, the law was recognized as the main instrument for regulating social relations - above all other acts or decrees of the party and government. The execution of the law was the prerogative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the State Security Committee (KGB). Both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB were organized according to the Union-Republican principle of dual subordination, with departments from the national to the district level. Both of these organizations included paramilitary units (border guards in the KGB system, internal troops and special police OMON - in the Ministry of Internal Affairs). As a rule, the KGB dealt with problems one way or another related to politics, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs dealt with criminal offenses. The internal functions of the KGB were counterintelligence, protection of state secrets and control over the "subversive" activities of the opposition (dissidents). To carry out its tasks, the KGB worked both through the "special departments" that it organized in large institutions, and through a network of informants. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was organized into departments that corresponded to its main functions: criminal investigation, prisons and correctional labor institutions, passport control and registration, investigation of economic crimes, traffic control and traffic inspection and patrol service. Soviet judicial law was based on the code of laws of the socialist state. At the national level and in each of the republics, there were criminal, civil and criminal procedure codes. The structure of the court was determined by the concept of "people's courts", which operated in every region of the country. District judges were appointed for five years by the regional or city council. "People's assessors", formally equal in rights with the judge, were elected for a period of two and a half years at meetings held at the place of work or residence. Regional courts consisted of judges appointed by the Supreme Soviets of the respective republics. Judges of the Supreme Court of the USSR, the Supreme Courts of the Union and Autonomous Republics and Regions were elected by the Soviets of People's Deputies at their respective levels. Both civil and criminal cases were first heard in the district and city people's courts, the verdicts in which were adopted by a majority vote of the judge and people's assessors. Appeals were sent to higher courts at the regional and republican levels and could go as far as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had significant powers of supervision over lower courts, but had no power to review judgments. The main body of control over the observance of the rule of law was the prosecutor's office, which exercised general legal supervision. The Prosecutor General was appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In turn, the Prosecutor General appointed the heads of his staff at the national level and prosecutors in each of the Union Republics, Autonomous Republics, Territories and Regions. Prosecutors at the city and district levels were appointed by the prosecutor of the corresponding union republic, reporting to him and the Prosecutor General. All prosecutors held office for a five-year term. In criminal cases, the accused had the right to use the services of a defense counsel - his own or appointed for him by the court. In both cases, the legal costs were minimal. Lawyers belonged to semi-state organizations known as "collegia", which existed in all cities and regional centers. In 1989, an independent bar association, the Union of Lawyers, was also organized. The lawyer had the right, on behalf of the client, to check the entire investigative file, but rarely represented his client during the preliminary investigation. Criminal codes in the Soviet Union applied the "public danger" standard to determine the seriousness of offenses and set appropriate penalties. For minor violations, suspended sentences or fines were usually applied. Those found guilty of more serious and socially dangerous offenses could be sentenced to work in a labor camp or imprisonment for up to 10 years. Death sentences were imposed for serious crimes such as premeditated murder, espionage and acts of terrorism. State security and international relations. The goals of Soviet state security have undergone a number of fundamental changes over time. At first, the Soviet state was conceived as the result of a world proletarian revolution, which, as the Bolsheviks hoped, would end the First World War. The Communist (III) International (Comintern), whose founding congress took place in Moscow in March 1919, was supposed to unite socialists all over the world to support revolutionary movements. Initially, the Bolsheviks did not even imagine that it was possible to build a socialist society (which, according to Marxist theory, corresponds to a more advanced stage of social development - more productive, freer, with higher levels of education, culture and social well-being - compared to a developed capitalist society, which should precede it) in a huge peasant Russia. The overthrow of the autocracy opened the way to power for them. When the post-war actions of the left forces in Europe (in Finland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy) collapsed, Soviet Russia was in isolation. The Soviet state was forced to abandon the slogan of world revolution and follow the principle of peaceful coexistence (tactical alliances and economic cooperation) with its capitalist neighbors. Along with the strengthening of the state, the slogan of building socialism in one single country was put forward. As leader of the party after Lenin's death, Stalin took control of the Comintern, purged it of factionalists ("Trotskyists" and "Bukharinites"), and transformed it into an instrument of his policy. Stalin's foreign and domestic policy was the encouragement of German National Socialism and the accusation of the German Social Democrats of "social fascism", which greatly facilitated Hitler's seizure of power in 1933; the dispossession of peasants in 1931-1933 and the extermination of the commanding staff of the Red Army during the "great terror" of 1936-1938; alliance with Nazi Germany in 1939-1941 - they brought the country to the brink of death, although in the end the Soviet Union, at the cost of mass heroism and huge losses, managed to emerge victorious in World War II. After the war, which ended with the establishment of communist regimes in most countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Stalin declared the existence of "two camps" in the world and took over the leadership of the countries of the "socialist camp" to fight the implacably hostile "capitalist camp". The appearance of nuclear weapons in both camps has put humanity before the prospect of total annihilation. The burden of armaments became unbearable, and in the late 1980s the Soviet leadership reformulated the basic principles of its foreign policy, which came to be called "new thinking." The central idea of ​​the "new thinking" was that in the nuclear age the security of any state, and especially countries with nuclear weapons, can only be based on the mutual security of all parties. In accordance with this concept, Soviet policy gradually shifted towards global nuclear disarmament by the year 2000. To this end, the Soviet Union replaced its strategic doctrine of nuclear parity with prospective adversaries with a doctrine of "reasonable sufficiency" in order to prevent attack. Accordingly, he reduced his nuclear arsenal, as well as conventional armed forces, and proceeded to restructure them. The transition to "new thinking" in international relations led to a series of radical political changes in 1990 and 1991. At the UN, the USSR put forward diplomatic initiatives that contributed to the resolution of both regional conflicts and a number of global problems. The USSR changed its relations with former allies in Eastern Europe, abandoned the concept of "sphere of influence" in Asia and Latin America, and stopped intervening in conflicts arising in the Third World.
ECONOMIC HISTORY
Compared to Western Europe, Russia throughout its history has been an economically backward state. In view of the insecurity of its southeastern and western borders, Russia was often subjected to invasions from Asia and Europe. The Mongol-Tatar yoke and the Polish-Lithuanian expansion exhausted the resources of economic development. Despite its backwardness, Russia made attempts to catch up with Western Europe. The most decisive attempt was made by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century. Peter vigorously encouraged modernization and industrialization - mainly to increase the military power of Russia. The policy of external expansion was continued under Catherine the Great. The last spurt of tsarist Russia towards modernization came in the second half of the 19th century, when serfdom was canceled, and the government implemented programs that stimulated the economic development of the country. The state encouraged agricultural exports and attracted foreign capital. A massive program has been launched railway construction funded by both the state and private companies. Tariff protectionism and concessions stimulated the development of domestic industry. Bonds issued to noble landowners as compensation for their loss of serfs were redeemed by "redemption" payments by former serfs, thus forming an important source of domestic capital accumulation. Forcing the peasants to sell most of their produce for cash in order to make these payments, plus the fact that the nobles retained the best land, allowed the state to sell surplus agricultural products on foreign markets.
This resulted in a period of rapid industrial
development, when the average annual increase in industrial output reached 10-12%. Russia's gross national product tripled in 20 years from 1893 to 1913. After 1905, the program of Prime Minister Stolypin began to be implemented, aimed at encouraging large peasant farms that use hired labor. However, by the beginning of the First World War, Russia did not have time to complete the initiated reforms.
October Revolution and Civil War. Russia's participation in the First World War ended with a revolution in February - October (according to the new style - in March - November) 1917. driving force This revolution was the desire of the peasantry to end the war and redistribute the land. The provisional government, which replaced the autocracy after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in February 1917 and consisted mainly of representatives of the bourgeoisie, was overthrown in October 1917. The new government (Council of People's Commissars), headed by left-wing Social Democrats (Bolsheviks) who returned from emigration, proclaimed Russia the world's first socialist republic. The very first decrees of the Council of People's Commissars proclaimed the end of the war and the lifelong and inalienable right of the peasants to use the land taken from the landlords. The most important economic sectors were nationalized - banks, grain trading, transport, military production and the oil industry. Private enterprises outside this "state-capitalist" sector were subject to workers' control through trade unions and factory councils. By the summer of 1918, the Civil War broke out. Most of the country, including Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Siberia, fell into the hands of opponents of the Bolshevik regime, the German occupation army and other foreign interventionists. Not believing in the strength of the position of the Bolsheviks, industrialists and the intelligentsia refused to cooperate with the new government.
War communism. In this critical situation, the communists found it necessary to establish centralized control over the economy. In the second half of 1918, all large and medium enterprises and most of the small enterprises were nationalized. To avoid starvation in the cities, the authorities requisitioned grain from the peasants. The "black market" flourished - food was exchanged for household items and industrial goods, which workers received as payment instead of depreciated rubles. The volume of industrial and agricultural production has declined sharply. The Communist Party in 1919 openly recognized this position in the economy, defining it as "war communism", i.e. "systematic regulation of consumption in a besieged fortress". War communism was seen by the authorities as the first step towards a truly communist economy. War communism enabled the Bolsheviks to mobilize human and production resources and win the Civil War.
New economic policy. By the spring of 1921, the Red Army had largely won a victory over its opponents. However, the economic situation was catastrophic. The volume of industrial production was barely 14% of the pre-war level, most of the country was starving. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of the garrison in Kronstadt rebelled - a key fortress in the defense of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). The most important goal The party's new course, soon called the NEP (New Economic Policy), was to increase labor productivity in all spheres of economic life. The forced seizure of grain ceased - the surplus was replaced by a tax in kind, which was paid as a certain proportion of the output produced by the peasant economy in excess of the consumption rate. Excluding the tax in kind, the surplus food remained the property of the peasants and could be sold on the market. This was followed by the legalization of private trade and private property, as well as the normalization of monetary circulation through a sharp reduction in state spending and the adoption of a balanced budget. In 1922, the State Bank issued a new stable monetary unit, backed by gold and goods, the chervonets. "Commanding heights" of the economy - fuel, metallurgical industry and military production, transport, banks and foreign trade - remained under the direct control of the state and were financed from the state budget. All other large nationalized enterprises were to operate independently on a commercial basis. These latter were allowed to unite in trusts, of which by 1923 there were 478; they worked ok. 75% of all employed in the industrial sector. Trusts were taxed on the same basis as the private economy. The most important heavy industry trusts were supplied by state orders; The main lever of control over the trusts was the State Bank, which had a monopoly on commercial credit. The new economic policy quickly brought successful results. By 1925, industrial production reached 75% of the pre-war level, and agricultural production was almost completely restored. However, the successes of the NEP confronted the Communist Party with new complex economic and social problems.
Discussion about industrialization. The suppression of the revolutionary uprisings of the left forces throughout Central Europe meant that Soviet Russia had to embark on socialist construction in an unfavorable international environment. Russian industry, devastated by world and civil wars, lagged far behind the industry of the then advanced capitalist countries of Europe and America. Lenin defined the social basis of the NEP as a bond between a small (but Communist Party-led) urban working class and a large but dispersed peasantry. In order to advance as far as possible towards socialism, Lenin suggested that the party adhere to three fundamental principles: 1) to encourage in every possible way the creation of production, marketing and purchasing peasant cooperatives; 2) count the electrification of the whole country priority industrialization; 3) maintain the state monopoly on foreign trade in order to protect domestic industry from foreign competition and use export earnings to finance high-priority imports. Political and state power was retained by the Communist Party.
"Price scissors". In the autumn of 1923, the first serious economic problems NEP. Due to the rapid recovery of private agriculture and the lag of state industry, the prices of industrial products rose faster than those of agricultural goods (as represented graphically by divergent lines resembling open scissors in shape). This was bound to lead to a decline in agricultural production and lower prices for manufactured goods. 46 leading party members in Moscow published open letter containing a protest against this line in economic policy. They believed that it was necessary to expand the market in every possible way by stimulating agricultural production.
Bukharin and Preobrazhensky. Statement 46 (soon to become known as the "Moscow Opposition") marked the beginning of a broad intra-party discussion that touched upon the foundations of the Marxist worldview. Its initiators, N.I. Bukharin and E.N. Preobrazhensky, were friends and political associates in the past (they were co-authors of the popular party textbook "The ABC of Communism"). Bukharin, who led the right-wing opposition, advocated a course towards slow and gradual industrialization. Preobrazhensky was one of the leaders of the left ("Trotskyist") opposition, who advocated accelerated industrialization. Bukharin assumed that the capital needed to finance industrial development would be the growing savings of the peasants. However, the vast majority of the peasants were still so poor that they lived mainly by subsistence farming, used all their meager cash income for its needs and had almost no savings. Only the kulaks sold enough meat and grain to afford them large savings. Grain, which was exported, brought money only for a small import of engineering products - especially after expensive consumer goods began to be imported for sale to wealthy townspeople and peasants. In 1925 the government allowed the kulaks to rent land from poor peasants and hire laborers. Bukharin and Stalin argued that if the peasants enriched themselves, both the amount of grain for sale (which would increase exports) and cash deposits in the State Bank would increase. As a result, they believed, the country should industrialize, and the kulak should "grow into socialism." Preobrazhensky stated that a significant increase in industrial production would require large investments in new equipment. In other words, if no action is taken, production will become even more unprofitable due to equipment wear and tear, and overall production will decrease. To get out of the situation, the left opposition proposed to start accelerated industrialization and introduce a long-term state economic plan. The key question remained how to find the capital investment needed for rapid industrial growth. Preobrazhensky's response was a program he called "socialist accumulation." The state had to use its monopoly position (especially in the field of imports) to maximize prices. The progressive system of taxation was supposed to guarantee large cash receipts from the kulaks. Instead of lending preferentially to the richest (and therefore most creditworthy) peasants, the State Bank should give preference to cooperatives and collective farms made up of poor and middle peasants who can purchase agricultural equipment and rapidly increase crops by introducing modern farming methods.
International relationships. The question of the country's relations with the advanced industrial powers of the capitalist world was also of decisive importance. Stalin and Bukharin expected that the economic prosperity of the West, which began in the mid-1920s, would continue for long period- this was the main premise for their theory of industrialization, financed by ever-increasing grain exports. Trotsky and Preobrazhensky, for their part, assumed that in a few years this economic boom would end in a deep economic crisis. This provision formed the basis of their theory of rapid industrialization, financed by the immediate large-scale export of raw materials through favorable prices- so that when the crisis breaks out, there is already an industrial base for the accelerated development of the country. Trotsky spoke in favor of attracting foreign investment ("concessions"), for which Lenin also spoke in his time. He hoped to use the contradictions between the imperialist powers to get out of the regime of international isolation in which the country found itself. The main threat the leadership of the party and the state saw in a probable war with Great Britain and France (as well as with their Eastern European allies - Poland and Romania). In order to protect themselves from such a threat, diplomatic relations with Germany were established even under Lenin (Rapallo, March 1922). Later, under a secret agreement with Germany, preparations were made German officers, and also tested new types of weapons for Germany. In turn, Germany provided the Soviet Union with substantial assistance in the construction of heavy industry enterprises intended for the production of military products.
End of the NEP. By the beginning of 1926, the freezing of wages in production, along with the growing well-being of party and state officials, private traders and wealthy peasants, caused discontent among the workers. The leaders of the Moscow and Leningrad party organizations L.B. Kamenev and G.I. Zinoviev, speaking out against Stalin, formed a united left opposition in a bloc with the Trotskyists. Stalin's bureaucracy easily dealt with the oppositionists, making an alliance with Bukharin and other moderates. The Bukharinites and Stalinists accused the Trotskyists of "excessive industrialization" by "exploiting" the peasantry, of undermining the economy and the union of workers and peasants. In 1927, in the absence of investment, the cost of manufacturing manufactured goods continued to rise and the standard of living declined. The growth of agricultural production was suspended due to the shortage of goods: the peasants were not interested in selling their agricultural products at low prices. In order to accelerate industrial development, the first five-year plan was developed and approved in December 1927 by the 15th Party Congress.
Bread riots. The winter of 1928 was the threshold of an economic crisis. Purchase prices for agricultural products were not increased, and the sale of grain to the state fell sharply. Then the state returned to the direct expropriation of grain. This affected not only the kulaks, but also the middle peasants. In response, the peasants reduced their crops, and grain exports practically ceased.
Turn left. The response of the state was a radical change in economic policy. To secure the resources for rapid growth, the party set about organizing the peasantry into a system of collective farms under state control.
Revolution from above. In May 1929 the party opposition was crushed. Trotsky was deported to Turkey; Bukharin, A.I. Rykov and M.P. Tomsky were removed from leadership positions; Zinoviev, Kamenev and other weaker oppositionists capitulated to Stalin by publicly renouncing their political views. In the autumn of 1929, immediately after the harvest, Stalin gave the order to begin the implementation of complete collectivization.
The collectivization of agriculture. By the beginning of November 1929, approx. 70 thousand collective farms, which included almost only poor or landless peasants, attracted by promises of state assistance. They made up 7% of the total number of all peasant families, and they owned less than 4% of cultivated land. Stalin set the party the task of accelerated collectivization of the entire agricultural sector. By a resolution of the Central Committee at the beginning of 1930, its deadline was set - by the autumn of 1930 in the main grain-producing regions, and by the autumn of 1931 - in the rest. At the same time, through the representatives and in the press, Stalin demanded that this process be accelerated, suppressing any resistance. In many areas, complete collectivization was already carried out by the spring of 1930. During the first two months of 1930, approx. 10 million peasant farms were united into collective farms. The poorest and landless peasants viewed collectivization as a division of the property of their richer countrymen. However, among the middle peasants and kulaks, collectivization caused massive resistance. Began widespread slaughter of livestock. By March, the number of cattle decreased by 14 million heads; large numbers of pigs, goats, sheep and horses were also slaughtered. In March 1930, in view of the threat of failure of the spring sowing campaign, Stalin demanded a temporary suspension of the collectivization process and accused local officials of "excesses." The peasants were even allowed to leave the collective farms, and by 1 July ca. 8 million families left the collective farms. But in the fall, after the harvest, the collectivization campaign resumed and did not stop thereafter. By 1933 more than three-fourths of cultivated land and more than three-fifths of peasant farms had been collectivized. All wealthy peasants were "dispossessed" by confiscating their property and crops. In cooperatives (collective farms), peasants had to supply the state with a fixed volume of products; payment was made depending on the labor contribution of each (the number of "workdays"). The purchase prices set by the state were extremely low, while the required supplies were high, sometimes exceeding the entire crop. However, collective farmers were allowed to have personal plots, 0.25-1.5 hectares in size, depending on the region of the country and the quality of the land, for their own use. These plots, the products from which were allowed to be sold on the collective farm markets, provided a significant part of the food for the city dwellers and fed the peasants themselves. There were far fewer farms of the second type, but they were given the best land and were better provided with agricultural equipment. These state farms were called state farms and functioned as industrial enterprises. Agricultural workers here received a salary in cash and did not have the right to a personal plot. It was obvious that the collectivized peasant farms would require a significant amount of equipment, especially tractors and combines. By organizing machine and tractor stations (MTS), the state created an effective means of control over collective peasant farms. Each MTS served a number of collective farms for contractual basis for payment in cash or (mostly) in kind. In 1933, there were 1,857 MTSs in the RSFSR, which had 133,000 tractors and 18,816 combines, which cultivated 54.8% of the sown area of ​​collective farms.
Consequences of collectivization. The first five-year plan proposed to increase the volume of agricultural production from 1928 to 1933 by 50%. However, the collectivization campaign, which resumed in the autumn of 1930, was accompanied by a decline in production and the slaughter of livestock. By 1933, the total number of cattle in agriculture had fallen from more than 60 million heads to less than 34 million. The number of horses had decreased from 33 million to 17 million; pigs - from 19 million to 10 million; sheep - from 97 to 34 million; goats - from 10 to 3 million. Only in 1935, when tractor factories were built in Kharkov, Stalingrad and Chelyabinsk, the number of tractors became sufficient to restore the level of total draft power that peasant farms had in 1928. The total grain harvest, which in 1928 exceeded the level of 1913 and amounted to 76.5 million tons, by 1933 it decreased to 70 million tons, despite the increase in the area of ​​cultivated land. In general, the volume of agricultural production decreased from 1928 to 1933 by approximately 20%. The consequence of rapid industrialization was a significant increase in the number of citizens, which caused the need for a strictly rationed distribution of food. The situation was aggravated by the world economic crisis that began in 1929. By 1930, grain prices on the world market had fallen sharply - just when a large amount of industrial equipment had to be imported, not to mention the tractors and combines necessary for agriculture (mainly from USA and Germany). To pay for imports, it was necessary to export grain in huge quantities. In 1930, 10% of the collected grain was exported, and in 1931 - 14%. The result of the export of grain and collectivization was famine. The situation was worst in the Volga region and in the Ukraine, where the resistance of the peasants to collectivization was the strongest. In the winter of 1932-1933, more than 5 million people died of starvation, but even more of them were sent into exile. By 1934 violence and famine finally broke the resistance of the peasants. The forced collectivization of agriculture led to fatal consequences. Peasants no longer feel like masters of the land. Significant and irreparable damage to the culture of management was caused by the destruction of the prosperous, i.e. the most skillful and industrious peasantry. Despite the mechanization and expansion of sown areas due to the development of new lands in the virgin lands and in other areas, the increase in purchase prices and the introduction of pensions and other social benefits collective farmers, labor productivity on collective farms and state farms lagged far behind the level that existed on household plots, and even more so in the West, and gross agricultural production more and more lagged behind population growth. Due to the lack of incentives for work, agricultural machinery and equipment of collective farms and state farms were usually kept in poor condition, seeds and fertilizers were used wastefully, and harvest losses were huge. Since the 1970s, despite the fact that approx. 20% of the labor force (less than 4% in the US and Western Europe), the Soviet Union became the world's largest grain importer.
Five year plans. The justification for the costs of collectivization was the construction of a new society in the USSR. This goal undoubtedly aroused the enthusiasm of many millions of people, especially the generation that grew up after the revolution. During the 1920s and 1930s, millions of young people found in education and party work the key to moving up the social ladder. With the help of the mobilization of the masses, an unprecedented rapid growth of industry was achieved just at the time when the West was going through the most acute economic crisis. During the first five-year plan (1928-1933), approx. 1,500 large factories, including metallurgical plants in Magnitogorsk and Novokuznetsk; agricultural engineering and tractor plants in Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk, Stalingrad, Saratov and Kharkov; chemical plants in the Urals and a heavy engineering plant in Kramatorsk. In the Urals and the Volga region, new centers of oil production, metal production and weapons production arose. The construction of new railways and canals began, in which the forced labor of dispossessed peasants played an ever-increasing role. Results of the implementation of the first five-year plan. During the accelerated implementation of the second and third five-year plans (1933-1941), many mistakes made in the implementation of the first plan were taken into account and corrected. During this period of mass repression, the systematic use of forced labor under the control of the NKVD became an important part of the economy, especially in the timber and gold mining industries, as well as in new buildings in Siberia and the Far North. The system of economic planning in the form in which it was created in the 1930s lasted without fundamental changes until the late 1980s. The essence of the system was planning, carried out by the bureaucratic hierarchy using command methods. At the top of the hierarchy were the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which led the highest economic decision-making body - the State Planning Committee (Gosplan). More than 30 ministries were subordinate to the State Planning Commission, subdivided into "main departments" responsible for specific types of production, united in one branch. At the base of this production pyramid were the primary production units - plants and factories, collective and state agricultural enterprises, mines, warehouses, etc. Each of these units was responsible for the implementation of a specific part of the plan, determined (based on the volume and cost of production or turnover) by higher-level authorities, and received its own planned quota of resources. This pattern was repeated at every level of the hierarchy. The central planning agencies set target figures in accordance with a system of so-called "material balances". Each production unit at each level of the hierarchy negotiated with a higher authority about what its plans would be for the coming year. In practice, this meant a shake-up of the plan: all the lower ones wanted to do the minimum and get the maximum, while all the higher authorities wanted to get as much as possible and give as little as possible. From the compromises reached, a "balanced" overall plan was formed.
The role of money. The control figures of the plans were presented in physical units(tons of oil, pairs of shoes, etc.), but money also played an important, albeit subordinate, role in the planning process. With the exception of periods of extreme shortages (1930-1935, 1941-1947), when basic consumer goods were distributed by cards, all goods usually went on sale. Money was also a means for non-cash payments - it was assumed that each enterprise should minimize the cash costs of production so as to be conditionally profitable, and the State Bank should allocate limits for each enterprise. All prices were tightly controlled; Thus, money was assigned an exclusively passive economic role as a means of accounting and a method of rationing consumption.
The victory of socialism. At the 7th Congress of the Comintern in August 1935, Stalin declared that "the complete and final victory of socialism has been achieved in the Soviet Union." This statement - that the Soviet Union has built a socialist society - has become an unshakable dogma of the Soviet ideology.
Great terror. Having dealt with the peasantry, taking control of the working class and educating an obedient intelligentsia, Stalin and his supporters, under the slogan of "aggravating the class struggle," began to purge the party. After December 1, 1934 (on this day, S.M. Kirov, secretary of the Leningrad party organization, was killed by Stalin's agents), political processes and then almost all the old party cadres were destroyed. With the help of documents fabricated by the German secret services, many representatives of the high command of the Red Army were repressed. For 5 years, more than 5 million people were shot or sent to forced labor in the camps of the NKVD.
Post-war recovery. The Second World War led to devastation in the western regions of the Soviet Union, but accelerated the industrial growth of the Ural-Siberian region. The industrial base after the war was quickly restored: this was facilitated by the export of industrial equipment from East Germany and Manchuria, occupied by Soviet troops. In addition, the Gulag camps again received multimillion-dollar replenishment from German prisoners of war and former Soviet prisoners of war accused of treason. Heavy and military industries remained top priorities. Particular attention was paid to the development of nuclear energy, primarily for weapons purposes. The pre-war level of food supplies and consumer goods was already reached in the early 1950s.
Khrushchev's reforms. The death of Stalin in March 1953 put an end to the terror and repressions, which were gaining more and more scope, reminiscent of pre-war times. The softening of party policy during the leadership of N.S. Khrushchev, from 1955 to 1964, was called the "thaw". Millions of political prisoners returned from the Gulag camps; most of them have been rehabilitated. Significantly more attention in the five-year plans began to be given to the production of consumer goods and housing construction. The volume of agricultural production increased; wages rose, compulsory deliveries and taxes decreased. In order to increase profitability, collective farms and state farms were consolidated and subdivided, sometimes without much success. Large large state farms were created during the development of virgin and fallow lands in Altai and Kazakhstan. These lands produced crops only in years with sufficient rainfall, about three out of every five years, but they allowed a significant increase in the average amount of grain harvested. The MTS system was abolished, and the collective farms received their own agricultural machinery. Hydroelectric, oil and gas resources of Siberia were mastered; large scientific and industrial centers arose there. Many young people went to the virgin lands and construction sites of Siberia, where the bureaucratic order was relatively less rigid than in the European part of the country. Khrushchev's attempts to accelerate economic development soon ran into resistance from the administrative apparatus. Khrushchev tried to decentralize ministries by transferring many of their functions to new regional economic councils (sovnarkhozes). There has been a heated discussion among economists about developing a more realistic price system and giving real autonomy to industrial directors. Khrushchev intended to carry out a significant reduction in military spending, which followed from the doctrine of "peaceful coexistence" with the capitalist world. In October 1964, Khrushchev was ousted from his post by a coalition of conservative party bureaucrats, representatives of the central planning apparatus and the Soviet military-industrial complex.
Stagnation period. The new Soviet leader L.I. Brezhnev quickly nullified Khrushchev's reforms. With the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, he destroyed any hope for the countries of Eastern Europe with centralized economies to develop their own models of society. The only area of ​​rapid technological progress was the military industry - the production of submarines, missiles, aircraft, military electronics, and the space program. The production of consumer goods, as before, was not given much attention. Large-scale reclamation has led to catastrophic consequences for the environment and public health. For example, the price of introducing cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan was the deep shallowing of the Aral Sea, which until 1973 was the fourth largest inland water body in the world.
Economic slowdown. During the leadership of Brezhnev and his immediate successors, the development of the Soviet economy slowed down extremely. Yet the bulk of the population could count on small but secure wages, pensions and benefits, price controls on basic consumer goods, free education and health care, and virtually free, though always scarce, housing. To maintain minimum standards of life support from the West, large quantities grain and various consumer goods. Since the main Soviet exports—mainly oil, gas, timber, gold, diamonds, and armaments—provided insufficient hard currency, Soviet external debt reached $6 billion by 1976 and continued to grow rapidly.
The period of collapse. In 1985 MS Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He took this post fully aware of the need for radical economic reforms, which he launched under the slogan of "perestroika and acceleration." To increase labor productivity - i.e. use the most fast way to ensure economic growth, he authorized an increase in wages and limited the sale of vodka in the hope of stopping the general drunkenness of the population. However, the proceeds from the sale of vodka were the main source of state income. The loss of this income and higher wages increased the budget deficit and increased inflation. In addition, the prohibition of the sale of vodka revived the underground trade in moonshine; drug use has skyrocketed. In 1986, the economy experienced a terrible shock after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which led to radioactive contamination of large areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Until 1989-1990, the economy of the Soviet Union was closely linked through the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) with the economies of Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hungary, Romania, Mongolia, Cuba and Vietnam. For all these countries, the USSR was the main source of oil, gas and industrial raw materials, and in return it received from them engineering products, consumer goods and agricultural products. The reunification of Germany in mid-1990 led to the destruction of the CMEA. By August 1990, everyone already understood that radical reforms aimed at encouraging private initiative were inevitable. Gorbachev and his main political opponent, President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, jointly put forward the 500-day structural reform program developed by economists S.S. Shatalin and G.A. Yavlinsky, which involved the release from state control and privatization of most national economy in an organized manner, without reducing the standard of living of the population. However, in order to avoid a confrontation with the apparatus of the central planning system, Gorbachev refused to discuss the program and its implementation in practice. In early 1991, the government tried to contain inflation by limiting the money supply, but the huge budget deficit continued to widen as the union republics refused to transfer taxes to the center. At the end of June 1991, Gorbachev and the presidents of most of the republics agreed to conclude a union treaty in order to preserve the USSR, endowing the republics with new rights and powers. But the economy was already in a hopeless state. The amount of external debt was approaching $70 billion, output was declining by almost 20% a year, and inflation rates exceeded 100% a year. Emigration qualified specialists exceeded 100 thousand people a year. In order to save the economy, the Soviet leadership, in addition to reforms, needed serious financial assistance from the Western powers. At a July meeting of the leaders of the seven leading industrialized countries, Gorbachev appealed to them for help, but did not find a response.
CULTURE
The leadership of the USSR attached great importance to the formation of a new, Soviet culture - "national in form, socialist in content." It was assumed that the ministries of culture at the union and republican levels should subordinate the development of national culture to the same ideological and political guidelines that dominated all sectors of economic and social life. This task was not easy to cope with in a multinational state with more than 100 languages. Having created national-state formations for the majority of the peoples of the country, the party leadership stimulated the development of national cultures in the right direction; in 1977, for example, 2,500 books were published in Georgian with a circulation of 17.7 million copies. and 2,200 books in Uzbek with a circulation of 35.7 million copies. A similar state of affairs was in other union and autonomous republics. Due to lack cultural traditions most of the books were translations from other languages, mainly from Russian. The task of the Soviet regime in the field of culture after October was understood differently by the two rival groups of ideologists. The first, which considered itself the initiators of a general and complete renewal of life, demanded a decisive break with the culture of the "old world" and the creation of a new, proletarian culture. The most prominent herald of ideological and artistic innovation was the futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), one of the leaders of the avant-garde literary group "Left Front" (LEF). Their opponents, who were called "fellow travelers", believed that the ideological renewal did not contradict the continuation of the advanced traditions of Russian and world culture. The inspirer of supporters of proletarian culture and at the same time the mentor of "fellow travelers" was the writer Maxim Gorky (A.M. Peshkov, 1868-1936), who gained fame in pre-revolutionary Russia. In the 1930s, the party and the state strengthened their control over literature and art by creating unified union-wide creative organizations. After Stalin's death in 1953, a cautious and increasingly in-depth analysis began of what had been done under the Soviet regime to strengthen and develop Bolshevik cultural ideas, and the subsequent decade witnessed a ferment in all spheres of Soviet life. The names and works of the victims of ideological and political repressions have come out of total oblivion, and the influence of foreign literature has increased. Soviet culture began to revive during the period, collectively called the "thaw" (1954-1956). Two groups of cultural figures arose - "liberals" and "conservatives" - which were presented in various official publications.
Education. The Soviet leadership paid much attention and funds to education. In a country where more than two-thirds of the population could not read, illiteracy was virtually eradicated by the 1930s through several mass campaigns. In 1966, 80.3 million people, or 34% of the population, had a secondary specialized, incomplete or completed higher education; if in 1914 there were 10.5 million people studying in Russia, then in 1967, when universal compulsory secondary education was introduced, - 73.6 million. In 1989 in the USSR there were 17.2 million pupils of nurseries and kindergartens, 39, 7 million primary and 9.8 million secondary school students. Depending on the decisions of the country's leadership, boys and girls studied in secondary schools either together, or separately, or 10 years, or 11. The team of schoolchildren, almost entirely covered by the pioneer and Komsomol organizations, had to control the progress and behavior of everyone in every possible way. In 1989, there were 5.2 million students in Soviet universities full-time education and several million who studied at the correspondence or evening departments. The first academic degree after graduation was the degree of Candidate of Sciences. To obtain it, it was necessary to have a higher education, acquire some work experience or complete graduate school and defend a dissertation in your specialty. The highest scientific degree, Doctor of Science, was usually achieved only after 15-20 years of professional work and in the presence of a large number of published scientific papers.
Science and academic institutions. Significant progress has been made in the Soviet Union in certain natural sciences and in military technology. This happened despite the ideological pressure of the party bureaucracy, which banned and abolished entire branches of science, such as cybernetics and genetics. After the Second World War, the state sent the best minds to the development of nuclear physics and applied mathematics and their practical applications. Physicists and specialists in rocket and space technology could rely on generous financial support for their work. Russia has traditionally produced excellent theoretical scientists, and this tradition continued in the Soviet Union. Intensive and versatile research activity was provided by a network of research institutes that were part of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academies of the Union Republics, covering all areas of knowledge - both natural sciences and the humanities.
Traditions and holidays. One of the first tasks of the Soviet leadership was the elimination of old holidays, mainly church holidays, and the introduction of revolutionary holidays. At first, even Sunday and New Year's were cancelled. The main Soviet revolutionary holidays were November 7 - a holiday October revolution 1917 and May 1 - the day of international solidarity of workers. Both of them were celebrated for two days. Mass demonstrations were organized in all cities of the country, and military parades were held in large administrative centers; the largest and most impressive was the parade in Moscow on Red Square. See below

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soviet Union/USSR/Union SSR
Motto: "Workers of all countries, unite!"
Largest cities:	Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Minsk, Gorky, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Kuibyshev, Tbilisi, Dnepropetrovsk, Yerevan, Odessa
	Russian (de facto)
Currency unit:	Ruble of the USSR
Time Zones:
	22,402,200 km²
Population:	293 047 571 people
Form of government:	Soviet republic
Internet domain:
Telephone code:
Founding states	States after the collapse of the USSR

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics- a state that existed from 1922 to 1991 in Europe and Asia. The USSR occupied 1/6 of the inhabited land and was the largest country in the world in terms of area on the territory that was previously occupied by the Russian Empire without Finland, part Kingdom of Poland and some other territories, but with Galicia, Transcarpathia, part of Prussia, Northern Bukovina, South Sakhalin and the Kuriles.

According to the Constitution of 1977, the USSR was proclaimed a single union multinational and socialist state.

After World War II, the USSR had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea (since September 9, 1948), Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Czechoslovakia, and only sea borders with the USA, Sweden and Japan.

Consisted of union republics (in different years from 4 to 16), according to the Constitution, they were sovereign states; each Union republic retained the right to freely secede from the Union. 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 international organizations. Among the 50 founding countries of the UN, along with the USSR, were its two union republics: the BSSR and the Ukrainian SSR.

Part of the republics included autonomous Soviet socialist republics (ASSR), territories, regions, autonomous regions (AO) and autonomous (until 1977 - national) districts.

After World War II, the USSR, along with the United States, was a superpower. The Soviet Union dominated the world socialist system and was also a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The collapse of the USSR was characterized by a sharp confrontation between representatives of the central union authorities and the newly elected local authorities (Supreme Soviets, presidents of the union republics). In 1989-1990, all republican councils adopted declarations of state sovereignty, some of them - declarations of independence. On March 17, 1991, in 9 of the 15 republics of the USSR, an All-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held, in which two-thirds of the citizens voted for the preservation of the renewed union. But the central authorities failed to stabilize the situation. Behind the failed coup d'état The GKChP was followed by the official recognition of the independence of the Baltic republics. After the All-Ukrainian referendum on independence, where the majority of the population voted for the independence of Ukraine, the preservation of the USSR as a state entity became virtually impossible, as was announced in Agreement establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, signed on December 8, 1991 heads of three union republics - Yeltsin from the RSFSR (Russian Federation), Kravchuk from Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) and Shushkevich from the Republic of Belarus (BSSR). The USSR officially ceased to exist on December 26, 1991. At the end of 1991, the Russian Federation was recognized as the successor state USSR in international legal relations and took his place in the UN Security Council.

Geography of the USSR

With an area of ​​22,400,000 square kilometers, the Soviet Union was the largest state in the world. It occupied a sixth of the land, and its size was comparable to the size of North America. European part accounted for 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. The length of the Soviet Union was more than 10,000 kilometers from east to west (across 11 time zones), and almost 7,200 kilometers from north to south. There are five climatic zones in the country.

The Soviet Union had the longest border in the world (over 60,000 km). The Soviet Union also bordered the United States, Afghanistan, China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania and Turkey (from 1945 to 1991).

The longest river in the Soviet Union was the Irtysh. Highest mountain: Communism Peak (7495 m, now Ismail Samani Peak) in Tajikistan. Also within the USSR was the world's largest lake - the Caspian and the world's largest and deepest freshwater lake - Baikal.

History of the USSR

Formation of the USSR (1922-1923)

On December 29, 1922, at a conference of delegations from the congresses of Soviets of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the BSSR and the ZSFSR, the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR was signed. This document was approved on December 30, 1922 by the First All-Union Congress of Soviets and signed by the heads of delegations. This date is considered the date of the 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.

Pre-war period (1923-1941)

Since the autumn of 1923, and especially after the death of V. I. Lenin, a sharp political struggle for power unfolded in the country's leadership. The authoritarian methods of leadership used by I. V. Stalin to establish the regime of one-man power were established.

From the mid-1920s, the New Economic Policy (NEP) began to be curtailed, and then the forced industrialization and collectivization began; in 1932-1933 there was also a massive famine.

After a fierce factional struggle, by the end of the 1930s, Stalin's supporters completely subjugated the structures of the ruling party. A totalitarian, strictly centralized social system was created in the country.

In 1939, the Soviet-German treaties of 1939 (including the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) were concluded, dividing the spheres of influence in Europe, according to which a number of territories in Eastern Europe were defined as the sphere of the USSR. The territories designated in the agreements (with the exception of Finland) were changed in the autumn of that year and the following year. At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the USSR joined the Western Republic of Poland at that time.

Ukraine and Western Belarus; this territorial change is regarded in different ways: both as a “return” and as an “annexation”. Already in October 1939, the city of Vilna of the Byelorussian SSR was transferred to Lithuania, and part of Polissya to Ukraine.

In 1940, the USSR included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia (annexed by Romania in 1918 . Bessarabia within Romania) and Northern Bukovina, the Moldavian, Latvian, Lithuanian (including 3 regions of the BSSR, which became part of the Lithuanian SSR in 1940) and the Estonian SSR were created. The accession of the Baltic States to the USSR is regarded by various sources as "voluntary accession" and as "annexation".

In 1939, the USSR offered Finland a non-aggression pact, but Finland refused. The Soviet-Finnish war (November 30, 1939 - March 12, 1940) launched by the USSR after the presentation of an ultimatum dealt a blow to the country's international authority (the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations). Due to the relatively large losses and the unpreparedness of the Red Army, the protracted war was over before the defeat of Finland; following its results, the Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga, Salla with Kuolajärvi and the western part of the Rybachy Peninsula departed from Finland to the USSR. On March 31, 1940, the Karelian-Finnish SSR (with its capital in Petrozavodsk) was formed from the Karelian ASSR and territories transferred from Finland (except for the Rybachy Peninsula, which became part of the Murmansk region).

USSR in World War II (1941-1945)

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, violating the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviet troops managed to stop his invasion by the end of the autumn of 1941 and go on a counteroffensive from December 1941, the Battle of Moscow became the decisive event. However, during the summer-autumn of 1942, the enemy managed to advance to the Volga, capturing a huge part of the country's territory. From December 1942 to 1943 there was a radical turning point in the war, the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk became decisive. In the period from 1944 to May 1945, Soviet troops liberated the entire territory of the USSR occupied by Germany, as well as the countries of Eastern Europe, victoriously ending the war by signing the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender.

The war brought great damage to the entire population of the Soviet Union, led to the death of 26.6 million people, the liquidation of a huge number of the population in the territories occupied by Germany, the destruction of part of the industry - on the one hand; the creation of a significant military-industrial potential in the eastern regions of the country, the revival of church and religious life in the country, the acquisition of significant territories, the victory over fascism - on the other hand.

In 1941-1945 a number of peoples were deported from their places of traditional residence. In 1944-1947. The USSR included:

• the Tuva People's Republic, which received the status of an autonomous region within the RSFSR;
• The northern part of East Prussia, which became part of the RSFSR as the Kaliningrad region;
• Transcarpathia (Transcarpathian region of the Ukrainian SSR);
• Pechenga, which became part of the Murmansk region;
• South Sakhalin and Kurile Islands, which formed the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk region as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR.

At the same time, the Belostok region, parts of the Grodno and Brest regions of the BSSR, as well as parts of the Lvov and Drogobych regions of the Ukrainian SSR became part of Poland.

Post-war period (1945-1953)

After the victory in the war, the demilitarization of the USSR economy was carried out, its restoration in the areas affected by the occupation. By 1950, industrial production had increased by 73% compared to pre-war levels. Agriculture recovered at a slower pace, with enormous difficulties, mistakes and miscalculations. Nevertheless, already in 1947 the food situation stabilized, cards for food and industrial goods were abolished, and a monetary reform was carried out, which made it possible to stabilize the financial situation.

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. In a number of Eastern European countries, the establishment of communist regimes began, as a result of which a military-political bloc was created allied USSR states (socialist camp, Warsaw Pact). Immediately after the end of the World War, a period of global political and ideological confrontation began between the USSR and other socialist countries, on the one hand, and Western countries, on the other, which in 1947 was called cold war accompanied by an arms race.

"Khrushchev thaw" (1953-1964)

At the 20th Congress of the CPSU (1956), N. S. Khrushchev criticized the personality cult of I. V. Stalin. The rehabilitation of the victims of repressions began, more attention was paid to raising the standard of living of the people, developing agriculture, housing construction, and light industry.

The political situation inside the country has become softer. Many members of the intelligentsia took Khrushchev's report as a call for publicity; samizdat appeared, which was only allowed to expose the "cult of personality", criticism of the CPSU and the existing system was still prohibited.

The concentration of scientific and industrial forces, material resources in certain areas of science and technology made it possible to make significant achievements: the world's first nuclear power plant was created (1954), the first artificial satellite of the Earth was launched (1957), the first manned spacecraft with a pilot-cosmonaut (1961), etc.

In the foreign policy of this period, the USSR supported political regimes that were beneficial from the point of view of the country's interests in different countries. In 1956, Soviet troops participated in the suppression of the uprising in Hungary. In 1962, disagreements between the USSR and the USA almost led to a nuclear war.

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

"Stagnation" (1964-1985)

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

During Brezhnev's rule, new cities and towns, plants and factories, palaces of culture and stadiums were built in the country; universities were created, new schools and hospitals were opened. The USSR came to the forefront in space exploration, the development of aviation, nuclear energy, fundamental and applied sciences. Certain achievements were observed in education, medicine, social security system. World-wide fame and recognition was given to the work of famous cultural figures. High results on international arena achieved by Soviet athletes. In 1980, the XXII Summer Olympiad was held in Moscow.

At the same time, there was a decisive turn towards curtailing the remnants of the thaw. With the advent of Brezhnev to power, the state security agencies intensified the fight against dissent - the first sign of this was the process of Sinyavsky - Daniel. In 1968, the USSR army entered Czechoslovakia in order to suppress the trend political reforms. The resignation of A. T. Tvardovsky from the post of editor of the journal Novy Mir in early 1970 was perceived as a sign of the final elimination of the “thaw”.

In 1975, an uprising took place on the Watchtower - an armed manifestation of disobedience on the part of a group of Soviet military sailors on a large anti-submarine ship (BPK) of the USSR Navy Watchtower. The leader of the uprising was the political officer of the ship, captain of the 3rd rank Valery Sablin.

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

In the field of foreign policy, Brezhnev did a lot to achieve political detente in the 1970s. American-Soviet treaties on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons were concluded (although, since 1967, the accelerated installation of intercontinental missiles in underground mines began), which, however, were not supported by adequate measures of confidence and control.

Thanks to some liberalization, a dissident movement appeared, such names as Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn became famous. The ideas of the dissidents did not find the support of the majority of the population of the USSR. Since 1965, the USSR provided military assistance North Vietnam in the fight against the United States and South Vietnam, which lasted until 1973 and ended with the withdrawal US troops and the unification of Vietnam. In 1968, the USSR army entered Czechoslovakia in order to suppress the trend of political reforms. In 1979, the USSR introduced a limited military contingent into the DRA at the request of the Afghan government (see Afghan War (1979-1989)), which led to the end of détente and the resumption of the Cold War. From 1989 to 1994, Soviet troops were withdrawn from all controlled territories.

Perestroika (1985-1991)

In 1985, after the death of K. U. Chernenko, M. S. Gorbachev came to power in the country. In 1985-1986, Gorbachev carried out the so-called policy of accelerating socio-economic development, which consisted in recognizing certain shortcomings of the existing system and trying to correct them with several large administrative campaigns (the so-called "Acceleration") - an anti-alcohol campaign, "the fight against non-working income”, the introduction of state acceptance. After the January 1987 plenum, the country's leadership launched cardinal reforms. In fact, the new state ideology was declared "perestroika" - a set of economic and political reforms. In the course of perestroika (since the second half of 1989, after the first Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR), the political confrontation between the forces advocating the socialist path of development and parties and movements that link the future of the country with the organization of life on the principles of capitalism sharply escalated, as well as confrontation over issues of the future the image of the Soviet Union, the relationship between union and republican bodies of state power and administration. By the early 1990s, perestroika reached a dead end. The authorities could no longer stop the approaching collapse of the USSR.

The USSR officially ceased to exist on December 26, 1991. In its place, a number of independent states have formed (currently 19, 15 of which are UN members, 2 are partially recognized by UN member countries, and 2 are not recognized by any of the UN member countries). As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the territory of Russia (the successor country of the USSR in terms of external assets and liabilities, and in the UN) decreased compared to the territory of the USSR by 24% (from 22.4 to 17 million km²), and the population decreased by 49% (from 290 to 148 million people) (at the same time, the territory of Russia has practically not changed compared to the territory of the RSFSR). The unified armed forces and the ruble zone disintegrated. A number of interethnic conflicts flare up on the territory of the USSR, the most acute of which is the Karabakh conflict, since 1988 there have been mass pogroms of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR announces the accession Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan SSR begins blockade. In April 1991, a war actually begins between the two Soviet republics.

Political system and ideology

Article 2 of the USSR Constitution of 1977 proclaimed: “ All power in the USSR belongs to the people. The people exercise state power through the Soviets of People's Deputies, which constitute the political foundation of the USSR. All others government bodies controlled and accountable to the Councils of People's Deputies.» Candidates from labor collectives, trade unions, youth organizations (VLKSM), amateur creative organizations and from the party (CPSU) were nominated in the elections.

Before the proclamation of socialism in the USSR by the Constitution of 1936, the dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry was officially proclaimed in the USSR. Article 3 of the Constitution of 1936 stated: "All power in the USSR belongs to the working people of town and countryside represented by the Soviets of Working People's Deputies."

The Soviet political system rejected the principle of separation and independence of powers, putting the legislative power above the executive and judicial. Formally, only the decrees of the legislator, that is, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (V.S. USSR), were formally the source of law, although the actual practice was significantly at odds with the constitutional provisions. Day-to-day lawmaking in practice was carried out by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which consisted of the Chairman, 15 Vice-Chairmen, the 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 USSR and appointed the Prosecutor General of the USSR.

Collective head of state in 1922-1937. there was the All-Union Congress of Soviets, in the intervals between congresses - its Presidium. In 1937-1989. the collective head of state was the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in the intervals between sessions - the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1989-1990 the sole head of state was the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in 1990-1991. - President of the USSR.

The actual power in the USSR belonged to the leadership of the CPSU [VKP (b)], which functioned in accordance with its internal charter. Unlike earlier constitutions, the 1977 Constitution for the first time reflected the actual role of the CPSU in government: "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 6th)

In the USSR, no ideology was legally proclaimed state or dominant; but in view of political monopoly The Communist Party, such was the de facto ideology of the CPSU - Marxism-Leninism, which in the late USSR was called "socialist Marxist-Leninist ideology." 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 will replace the bourgeois state as a result of the socialist revolution." However, as Western researchers of Soviet society noted, in the late USSR Marxism in reality transformed into a nationalist and etatic ideology, while classical Marxism proclaimed the withering away of the state under socialism.

The only institutions that legally remained (but were often subjected to persecution) as organized carriers of a fundamentally different ideology hostile to Marxism-Leninism were registered religious associations (religious societies and groups) ( see the Religion in the USSR section below for details).

Legal and judicial systems

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

The “socialist law” (“the highest historical type of law”) that existed in the late (nationwide) USSR was considered the will of the people elevated to law: it “for the first time in history establishes and really guarantees truly democratic freedoms”

Soviet socialist law was considered by some researchers in the West as a kind of Roman law, but Soviet jurists insisted on its independent status, which was recognized by the world community in practice after the Second World War by the election of judges representing it to the International Court of Justice - in accordance with Article 9 of the Charter of the Court , providing 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 number of decrees, the first of which was the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the Court" of November 22, 1917 ( see article Decrees on Judgment). The main element of the judicial system was proclaimed the "people's court" of the city or district (court of general jurisdiction), which was elected directly by citizens. The Constitution of 1977 set out the basic principles of the organization of the judicial system of the USSR in Chapter 20. The higher courts were elected by the respective Councils. The people's courts included a judge and people's assessors who took part in the consideration of civil and criminal cases (Article 154 of the 1977 Constitution).

The function of supreme supervision "over the exact and uniform execution of laws by all ministries, state committees and departments, enterprises, institutions and organizations, executive and administrative bodies of local Soviets of People's Deputies, collective farms, cooperative and other public organizations, officials, as well as citizens” was assigned to the Prosecutor General’s Office (Chapter 21). The Constitution (Article 168) declared the independence of the prosecutor's office from any local authorities, although there is evidence that the prosecutors were under direct control. operational control organs of the NKVD.

Leaders of the USSR and their contribution to the development of the USSR

Legally, the head of state was considered: since 1922 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, since 1938 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, since 1989 - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet 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 usually a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

head of state

Head of the government

Chairmen of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee: L. B. Kamenev (since October 27 (November 9), 1917), Ya. M. Sverdlov (from November 8 (November 21), 1917), M. I. Kalinin (since March 30, 1919). Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (Presidium of the Central Executive Committee) of the USSR: M. I. Kalinin 1938-1946 N. M. Shvernik 1946-1953 K. E. Voroshilov 1953-1960 L. I. Brezhnev 1960-1964, first (general) secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1964-1982 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), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1982-1984 K. U. Chernenko (1984-1985), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU 1984-1985 A. A. Gromyko (1985-1988) M. S. Gorbachev (1985-1991), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1985-1991. USSR President: M. S. Gorbachev March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991.

V. I. Lenin (1922-1924) A. I. Rykov (1924-1930) V. M. Molotov (1930-1941) I. V. Stalin (1941-1953), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (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) Chairman of the KOUNKH of the USSR, IEC of the USSR: I. S. Silaev (1991)

There were eight actual leaders of the USSR in the entire history of its existence (including Georgy Malenkov): 4 chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars / Council of Ministers (Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov, Khrushchev) and 4 chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Council (Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev). Gorbachev was also the only president of the USSR.

Beginning with N. S. Khrushchev, the General (First) Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (VKP (b)) was the actual head of state, usually also the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Under Lenin, the treaty on the formation of the USSR laid the foundations for the state structure, enshrined in the first Constitution of the USSR. The founder of the USSR ruled the Soviet Union for a little over a year - from December 1922 to January 1924, during a period of sharp deterioration in health.

During the reign of I.V. Stalin, collectivization and industrialization were carried out, the Stakhanov movement began, and the result of intra-factional struggle in the CPSU (b) in the 1930s was Stalin's repressions (their peak came in 1937-1938). In 1936, a new Constitution of the USSR was adopted, which increased the number of union republics. The Great Patriotic War was won, new territories were annexed, and the world socialist system was formed. After the joint defeat of Japan by the allies, a sharp aggravation of relations between the USSR and its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition began - the Cold War, the formal beginning of which is often associated with the Fulton speech of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on March 5, 1946. At the same time, a treaty of eternal friendship was signed with Finland. In 1949, the USSR became a nuclear power. He was the first in the world to test the hydrogen bomb.

Under G. M. Malenkov, who, after Stalin's death, took over his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, an amnesty was held for prisoners for minor violations, the Doctors' Case was closed, and the first rehabilitations were carried out for victims of political repression. In the field of agriculture: increasing purchase prices, reducing the tax burden. Under the personal supervision of Malenkov, the first industrial nuclear power plant in the world was launched in the USSR. In the field of economics, he proposed to remove the emphasis on heavy industry and move on to the production of consumer goods, but after his resignation, this idea was rejected.

N. S. Khrushchev condemned the personality cult of Stalin and carried out some democratization, which was called the Khrushchev thaw. The slogan "catch up and overtake" was put forward, calling for the shortest possible time to get ahead of the capitalist countries (in particular the United States) in terms of economic development. The development of virgin lands was continued. The USSR launched the first artificial satellite and put a man into space, the first to launch spacecraft towards the Moon, Venus and Mars, built a nuclear power plant and a peaceful ship with a nuclear reactor - the Lenin icebreaker. During the reign of Khrushchev, the peak of the Cold War came - the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1961, the building of communism until 1980 was announced. In agriculture, Khrushchev's policy (sowing corn, division of regional committees, struggle against farms) gave negative results. In 1964, Khrushchev was removed from office and retired.

The time of L. I. Brezhnev's leadership in the USSR was generally peaceful and, according to the conclusion of Soviet theorists, culminated in the construction of developed socialism, the formation of a nationwide state and the formation of a new historical community - the Soviet people. These provisions were enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR in 1977. In 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. In 1980, the Moscow Olympics took place. The second half of the reign of L. I. Brezhnev is called a period of stagnation.

Yu. V. Andropov during his short leadership of the party and the state was remembered, first of all, as a fighter for labor discipline; K. U. Chernenko, who replaced him, was seriously ill, and the leadership of the country under him was actually concentrated in the hands of his entourage, who sought to return to the "Brezhnev" order. A significant drop in world oil prices in 1986 caused a deterioration in the economic situation of the USSR. The leadership of the CPSU (Gorbachev, Yakovlev and others) decided to start reforming the Soviet system, which went down in history as "Perestroika". In 1989, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. The reforms of MS Gorbachev were an attempt to change the political system of the USSR within the framework of the economic theory of Marxism. Gorbachev somewhat eased the oppression of censorship (the policy of glasnost), allowed alternative elections, introduced a permanent Supreme Soviet, and took the first steps towards a market economy. In 1990 he became the first president of the Soviet Union. In 1991 he retired.

Economy of the USSR

By the early 1930s, most of the economy, the entire industry and 99.9% of agriculture was state-owned or cooperative, which made it possible to use resources more rationally, distribute them fairly and significantly improve working conditions compared to pre-Soviet ones. The development of the economy required a transition to a five-year form of economic planning. The industrialization of the USSR was carried out over several years. Turksib, the Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Works, and new machine-building enterprises in the Urals were built.

By the beginning of the war, a significant part of the production was in Siberia, Central Asia, this made it possible to effectively switch to the wartime mobilization regime. After the Great Patriotic War, the restoration of the USSR began, new sectors of the economy appeared: the rocket industry, electrical engineering, and new power plants appeared. A significant volume of the economy of the USSR was military production.

The industry was dominated by heavy industry. In 1986, in the total volume of industrial output, group "A" (production of means of production) accounted for 75.3%, for group "B" (production of consumer goods) - 24.7%. Industries that ensure scientific and technological progress developed at an accelerated pace. Between 1940 and 1986, the output of the electric power industry increased 41 times, that of mechanical engineering and metalworking, 105 times, and that of the chemical and petrochemical industries, 79 times.

About 64% of the foreign trade turnover was accounted for by the socialist countries, including 60% by the CMEA member countries; over 22% - to the developed capitalist countries (Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, etc.); over 14% - to developing countries.

Compound economic regions The USSR was changing in accordance with the tasks of improving the management and planning of the national economy in order to accelerate the pace and increase the efficiency of social production. Plans for the 1st five-year plan (1929-1932) were drawn up for 24 districts, the 2nd five-year plan (1933-1937) for 32 districts and the zone of the North, the 3rd (1938-1942) for 9 districts and 10 union republics, at the same time, the regions and territories were grouped into 13 main economic regions, according to which the planning of the development of the national economy in the territorial context was carried out. In 1963, a taxonomic grid was approved, refined in 1966, including 19 large economic regions and the Moldavian SSR.

Armed Forces of the USSR

Until February 1946, the USSR Armed Forces consisted of the Red Army (RKKA) and the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet. By May 1945, the number was 11,300,000 people. From February 25, 1946 until the beginning of 1992, the USSR Armed Forces were called the Soviet Army. The Soviet army included the Strategic Missile Forces, SV, Air Defense Forces, Air Force and other formations, except for the Navy, the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR, and the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Throughout the history of the USSR Armed Forces, the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief 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: Strategic Missile Forces (1960), Ground Waxes (1946), Air Defense Forces (1948), Navy and Air Force (1946), and also included the rear of the USSR Armed Forces, the headquarters and troops of the Civil Defense (GO) of the USSR, the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the USSR, the border troops of the State Security Committee (KGB) of the USSR.

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 administration of the USSR, guided by the policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), directing the work of the entire state apparatus in such a way that, when solving any issues of governing the country, the interests of strengthening its defense capability must be taken into account : - Council of Defense of the USSR (Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense of the RSFSR), Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Article (Art.) 73 and 108, Constitution of the USSR), Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Art. 121, Constitution of the USSR), Council of Ministers of the USSR (Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR) (Article 131, Constitution of the USSR).

The USSR Defense Council coordinated the activities of the bodies of the Soviet state in the field of strengthening defense, approving the main directions for the development of the USSR Armed Forces. The USSR Defense Council was headed by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

The penitentiary system and special services

1917—1954

In 1917, in connection with the threat of an anti-Bolshevik strike, the All-Russian extraordinary commission(VChK), 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 Directorate (GPU) under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the RSFSR. The troops of the Cheka were transformed into GPU troops. Thus, the management of the police and state security was in front of one department. After the formation of the USSR, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on November 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 bodies." Prior to this, the GPUs of the union republics (where they were created) existed as independent structures, with a single union executive power. 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 USSR adopted a resolution on the expansion of the rights of the OGPU in order to combat banditry, which provided for the operational subordination of the OGPU of the USSR and its local subdivisions of the police and criminal investigation departments. On July 10, 1934, the Central Executive Committee 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 organs 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. From 1936 to 1938, the NKVD was headed by N.I. Yezhov, from November 1938 to 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 and the People's Commissariat for 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 for State Security was V. N. Merkulov. In April 1943, the NKGB of the USSR was again separated 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 Ministry of State Security (MGB) of the USSR. In 1947, the Committee of Information (CI) was established under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in February 1949 it was transformed into the CI under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Then intelligence was again returned to the system of state security organs - in January 1952, the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the USSR Ministry of State Security was organized. On March 7, 1953, a decision was made to merge the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the USSR and the Ministry of State Security of the USSR into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

Heads of the Cheka-GPU-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB

• F. E. Dzerzhinsky
• V. R. Menzhinsky
• G. G. Yagoda
• N. I. Ezhov
• L. P. Beria
• V. N. Merkulov
• V. S. Abakumov
• S. D. Ignatiev
• S. N. Kruglov

1954—1992

On March 13, 1954, the State Security Committee (KGB) was established under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (since 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 establishments and research institutions. In 1978, Yu. V. Andropov, as Chairman, achieved an increase in the status of the State Security bodies and the withdrawal from the direct subordination of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. March 20, 1991 received the status of the central body government controlled USSR, headed by the Minister of the USSR. Abolished December 3, 1991.

Territorial division of the USSR

The total area of ​​the territory 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 - the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus, SSRB),
• Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.

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

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

On December 5, 1936, the Azerbaijan, Armenian and Georgian SSR, which left the Transcaucasian SFSR, entered the USSR. At the same time, the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR, which left the RSFSR, entered the USSR.

In 1940, the Karelian-Finnish, Moldavian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian SSRs entered the USSR.

In 1956, the Karelian-Finnish Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the RSFSR.

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

On December 25, 1991, the President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev resigned. State structures of the USSR self-liquidated.

Administrative-territorial division of the USSR
	Territory, thousand km?	Population, thousand people (1966)	Population, thousand people (1989)	Number of cities	Number of towns	Administrative center
Uzbek SSR
Kazakh SSR
Georgian SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
Lithuanian SSR
Moldavian SSR
Latvian SSR
Kirghiz SSR
Tajik SSR
Armenian SSR
Turkmen SSR
Estonian SSR

Large republics, in turn, were divided into regions, ASSR and AO. Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian SSR (before 1952 and after 1953); Turkmen SSR (from 1963 to 1970) The Moldavian and Armenian SSRs were divided only into districts.

The RSFSR also included krais, and the krais included autonomous regions (there were exceptions, for example, Tuva Autonomous Okrug until 1961). The composition of the regions and territories of the RSFSR also included national districts (later called autonomous districts). There were also cities of republican subordination, the status of which was not specified in the constitutions (until 1977): in fact, they were separate entities, since their Councils had the appropriate powers.

Some union republics (RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Uzbek SSR, Tajik SSR) included Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSR) and autonomous regions.

All the above administrative-territorial units were divided into districts and cities of regional, regional and republican subordination.

It hasn't been for over a quarter of a century. How has life changed since the collapse of the country? Which countries of the former USSR are thriving today? We will briefly try to answer this question. We will also list: which countries of the former USSR are on the world map today, which blocs and unions they belong to.

union state

Two countries that wanted to maintain economic and political ties were Belarus and Russia. After the collapse of the USSR, the presidents of the two countries signed an agreement on the creation of a union state.

Initially, it included full integration into a kind of confederation with broad autonomy within each. They even created a project for a single flag, coat of arms and anthem. However, the project stalled. The reason is different economic views on internal transformations. The Russian side accused Belarus of total state control over the economy, refusal to privatize many facilities.

President Lukashenko did not want "thieves' privatization." He believes that selling the public sector for a penny is a crime against the state. Both countries are currently integrating into new economic association- the Customs Union (CU), and the Eurasian Union (EAEU).

Eurasian Union (EAEU)

After the collapse of the USSR, an understanding came about the fallacy of destroying all economic ties between countries. This thought led to the creation of the EAEU. In addition to Russia and Belarus, it includes Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan.

Not only the countries of the former USSR can enter it, but others as well. There was information in the media that Turkey would join him, but then all talk about this stopped. Today Tajikistan is the candidate from the former USSR.

Baltic countries

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia - three Baltic countries that traditionally stretched to the West. Today they are all members of the European Union. After the collapse of the USSR, they had one of the most developed economies: electrical engineering, perfumery, the maritime industry, mechanical engineering, shipping, etc. produced colossal production volumes.

In the Russian media, one of the favorite topics is to discuss how "bad" it has become in these countries. However, if we look at the level of GDP per capita, we will see that after the collapse of the USSR, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are among the top three leaders among all participating countries. Until 1996, Russia still kept the lead, after that the Baltic countries did not concede it.

However, there is still a trend of population decline in these countries. The reason is that the rest of the EU members live better, much more developed. This leads to the migration of young people from the Baltic states to Western Europe.

The countries of the former USSR that aspire to the EU and NATO

Other countries that want to join the EU and NATO are Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova. There is also Azerbaijan. But he is not drawn to the EU literally of this word, since geographically it is unlikely to be able to do this. However, Azerbaijan is a reliable friend and ally of Turkey, which, in turn, is a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership.

As for Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, they all want to join the EU, but the level of their socio-economic development does not yet allow it. The issue of NATO is even more difficult: all countries have territorial disputes, directly or indirectly connected with Russia. Ukraine makes claims over Crimea and Donbass, which our country, in their opinion, has occupied. Georgia has lost South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Moldova has no control in Transnistria, which is also supported by Russia.

Countries that aspire to join the EAEU and the CU

There are also countries of the former USSR that want to become members of the EAEU and the CU, but so far they are not. Among them are Tajikistan (the official candidate), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Territory of the former USSR

The territory of the former USSR was about 22,400,000 square kilometers in area.

In total, it included 15 republics:

1. RSFSR.
2. Ukrainian SSR.
3. Uzbek SSR.
4. Kazakh SSR.
5. Byelorussian SSR.
6. Lithuanian SSR.
7. Latvian SSR.
8. Estonian SSR.
9. Armenian SSR.
10. Georgian SSR.
11. Turkmen SSR.
12. Tajik SSR.
13. Azerbaijan SSR.
14. Moldavian SSR.
15. Kirghiz SSR.

In addition to them, the Union included 20 autonomous republics, 18 autonomous regions and districts.

A similar division of the state with internal national autonomies inevitably had to lead to numerous conflicts after the collapse of the USSR. This is what happened in the end. Until now, we hear echoes in Ukraine, in Georgia, in Moldova, in Armenia.

Formally, the Soviet Union was a confederation. Let's explain. Confederation - a special form of government in which individual independent states are united into a single entity, while retaining a significant part of the powers and the right to secede from the confederation. Shortly before the formation of the united Soviet state, there were disputes about the basis on which to unite the union republics: whether to grant them some kind of autonomy (I.V. Stalin) or to give them the opportunity to freely secede from the state (V.I. Lenin). The first idea was called autonomization, the second - federalization. The Leninist concept won, the right to secede from the USSR was clearly spelled out in the Constitution. What republics were included at the time of its formation, that is, on November 12, 1922? The agreement was signed by the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the BSSR and the ZSFSR on December 27 of the same year, and approved three days later. It is clear that the first three union republics are Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. And what is hidden under the fourth abbreviation? ZSFSR stands for the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic, which consisted of the following states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia.

The Bolsheviks were internationalists, they took into account the national specifics of the regions of the former Russian Empire in order to take power and keep it. Whereas A.I. Denikin, A.V. Kolchak and other White Guard figures proclaimed the concept of "One and indivisible Russia", that is, they did not even accept the existence of autonomous state entities within a united Russia, the Bolsheviks to a certain extent supported nationalism for reasons of political conjuncture. Example: in 1919, Anton Ivanovich Denikin led a large-scale offensive against Moscow, the Bolsheviks were even preparing to go underground. An important reason for the failure of A.I. Denikin - refusal to recognize the sovereignty, or at least the autonomy of the Ukrainian People's Republic, headed by Symon Petlyura.

The communists took into account what largely ruined the white movement, and listened to the identity of each individual people that make up a single Soviet state. But do not forget the main thing: the Bolsheviks are internationalists by nature, the goal of their activity is to build a classless communist society. "Dictatorship of the proletariat" (power relations in which the working class sets the vector social movement) was a temporary measure, in the end, the state had to wither away, and the eternal era of communism would begin.

But the reality turned out to be somewhat different. The revolutionary fire did not break out in the neighboring states. M.N. Tukhachevsky, who promised "on bayonets to bring happiness and peace to working mankind," could not overcome the resistance of the Polish state. The Bavarian, Slovak, and Hungarian Soviet republics in Europe fell because the Red Army soldiers could not come to the aid of the Soviet governments. The Bolsheviks had to put up with the fact that the flames of the conflagration of the world revolution could not embrace the entire capitalist and imperialist world.

In 1924, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR became part of the Soviet state. In 1929, the Tajik SSR was formed.

In 1936, the Soviet government made a reasonable decision to divide the TSFSR into three separate state entities: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This action can be considered correct. Armenians and Georgians are Christians, and each state has its own Orthodox Church, while Azerbaijanis are Muslims. Also, the peoples are by no means united ethnically: Armenians are an original and unique ethnic group, Georgians belong to the Kartvelian language family, while Azerbaijanis are Turks. We should not forget that conflicts have repeatedly occurred between these peoples, which, unfortunately, are still ongoing (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In the same year, the autonomous Kazakh and Kyrgyz republics acquire the status of union states. Subsequently, they were transformed into union republics from the RSFSR. Adding up the above figures, it turns out that by 1936 the USSR already included 11 states that de jure had the right to withdraw from there.

flared up in 1939 winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland. In the occupied Finnish territories, the Karelian-Finnish SSR was created, which existed for 16 years (1940-1956).

The subsequent territorial expansion of the USSR led on the eve of the Second World War. September 1, 1939 - the day that marked the beginning of the Second World War, the bloodiest action in the history of mankind, which claimed tens of millions of lives. The war will end, almost 6 years later, on September 2, 1945.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between the USSR and the Third Reich. Debates about whether this treaty was a defense own interests or whether it was a "deal with the devil", are still ongoing. On the one hand, the USSR significantly secured its own western borders, and on the other hand, it nevertheless agreed to cooperate with the Nazis. By concluding the pact, the USSR expanded the territory of Ukraine and Belarus to the west, and also created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940.

In the same year, the Soviet state increased by three more union republics due to the accession of the three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Soviet governments "came to power" in them through "democratic elections." It is possible that the de facto forced incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union gave rise to the negative that periodically manifests itself between modern independent Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia.

The maximum number of union republics that were part of a single Soviet state is 16. But in 1956, the Karelian-Finnish SSR was disbanded, liquidated, and a “classic” number of Soviet republics was formed, equal to 15.

After coming to power, Mikhail Gorbachev announced a policy of glasnost. After years of political vacuum, it became possible to express one's opinion. This and the aggravated economic crisis led to the growth of separatist sentiments in the union republics. Centrifugal forces began to act intensively, the process of disintegration could no longer be stopped. Perhaps the federalization proposed by V.I. Lenin back in the early 20s, benefited. The Soviet republics were able to become independent states without shedding so much blood. Conflicts on post-Soviet space are still being carried out, but who knows what scope they would take if the republics had to get their independence from the center with in their hands?

Back in 1990, Lithuania gained its independence, the rest of the states withdrew from the Soviet Union later, in 1991. The Belovezhskaya agreement finally formalized the end of the Soviet period in the history of many states. Recall which republics were part of the USSR:

• Azerbaijan SSR.
• Armenian SSR.
• Byelorussian SSR.
• Georgian SSR.
• Kazakh SSR.
• Kirghiz SSR.
• Latvian SSR.
• Lithuanian SSR.
• Moldavian SSR.
• RSFSR.
• Tajik SSR.
• Turkmen SSR.
• Uzbek SSR.
• Ukrainian SSR.
• Estonian SSR.

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union for short) - a former state that existed on the territory of Eastern Europe and Asia.
The USSR was a superpower-empire (in a figurative sense), a stronghold of socialism in the world.
The country existed from 1922 to 1991.
The Soviet Union occupied one sixth of the total surface area of ​​the Earth. It was the largest country in the world.
The capital of the USSR was the city of Moscow.
There were many large cities in the USSR: Moscow, Leningrad (modern St. Petersburg), Sverdlovsk (modern Yekaterinburg), Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Ufa, Kuibyshev (modern Samara), Gorky (modern Nizhny Novgorod), Omsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, Saratov, Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Minsk, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Baku, Alma-Ata.
The population of the USSR before its collapse was about 250 million people.
The Soviet Union had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, and Czechoslovakia.
The length of the land borders of the Soviet Union was 62,710 kilometers.
By sea, the USSR bordered on the United States, Sweden and Japan.
The dimensions of the former empire of socialism were impressive:
a) length - more than 10,000 km from the extreme geographic points(from the Curonian Spit in the Kaliningrad region to Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait);
b) width - more than 7,200 km from the extreme geographical points (from Cape Chelyuskin, Taimyr Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Territory to the city of Kushka, Mary Region, Turkmen SSR).
The shores of the USSR were washed by twelve seas: Kara, Barents, Baltic, Laptev, East Siberian, Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, Black, Caspian, Azov, Aral.
There were many mountain ranges and systems in the USSR: the Carpathians, the Crimean Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, the Pamir Range, the Tien Shan Range, the Sayan Range, the Sikhote-Alin Range, the Ural Mountains.
The Soviet Union had the largest and deepest lakes in the world: Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, Lake Baikal (the deepest in the world).
On the territory of the Soviet Union there were as many as five climatic zones.
On the territory of the USSR there were areas where there was a polar day and a polar night for four months a year and only polar moss grew in summer, and areas where there was never snow all year round and where palm trees and citrus trees grew.
The Soviet Union had eleven time zones. The first zone differed from universal time by two hours, and the last by as much as thirteen hours.
The administrative-territorial division of the USSR competed in its complexity only with the modern administrative-territorial division of Great Britain. The administrative units of the first level were the union republics: Russia (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), Belarus (Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic), Ukraine (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), Kazakhstan (Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic), Moldova (Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic), Georgia (Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic), Armenia (Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic), Azerbaijan (Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic), Turkmenistan (Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic), Tajikistan (Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic), Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic), Uzbekistan (Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic), Lithuania (Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic), Latvia (Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic), Estonia (Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic ).
The republics were divided into administrative units of the second level - autonomous republics, autonomous districts, autonomous regions, territories and regions. In turn, autonomous republics, autonomous okrugs, autonomous regions, territories and regions were divided into administrative units of the third level - into districts, and those, in turn, were divided into administrative units of the fourth level - city, village and settlement councils. Some republics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Moldova) were immediately divided into second-level administrative units - into districts.
Russia (RSFSR) had the most complex administrative-territorial division. It included:
a) cities of union subordination - Moscow, Leningrad, Sevastopol;
b) autonomous Soviet socialist republics - the Bashkir ASSR, the Buryat ASSR, the Dagestan ASSR, the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR, the Kalmyk ASSR, the Karelian ASSR, the Komi ASSR, the Mari ASSR, the Mordovian ASSR, the North Ossetian ASSR, the Tatar ASSR, the Tuva ASSR, the Udmurt ASSR, Chechen-Ingush ASSR, Chuvash ASSR, Yakut ASSR;
c) autonomous regions - Adygei Autonomous District, Gorno-Altai Autonomous District, Jewish Autonomous District, Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous District, Khakass Autonomous District;
d) regions - Amur, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kalinin, Kaluga, Kamchatka, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kuibyshev, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Perm, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan Saratov, Sakhalin, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Yaroslavl:
e) Autonomous Okrugs: Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug, Komi-Permyatskiy Autonomous Okrug, Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug, Ust-Ordynskiy Buryat Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Chukotskiy Autonomous Okrug, Evenki Autonomous Okrug, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
f) territories - Altai, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky, Stavropol, Khabarovsk.
Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) included only regions. It included: Vinnitsa. Volyn, Voroshilovgrad (modern Luhansk), Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Transcarpathian, Zaporozhye, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovograd, Crimean (until 1954 was part of the RSFSR), Lvov, Nikolaev, Odessa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil , Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regions.
Belarus (BSSR) consisted of regions. It included: Brest, Minsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk regions.
Kazakhstan (KazSSR) consisted of regions. It included: Aktobe, Alma-Ata, East Kazakhstan, Guryev, Dzhambul, Dzhezkazgan, Karaganda, Kzyl-Orda, Kokchetav, Kustanai, Mangyshlak, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Semipalatinsk, Taldy-Kurgan, Turgay, Ural, Tselinograd , Chimkent region.
Turkmenistan (TurSSR) included five regions: Chardzhous, Ashgabat, Krasnovodsk, Mary, Tashauz;
Uzbekistan (UzSSR) included one autonomous republic (Karakalpak ASSR), the city of republican subordination Tashkent and regions: Tashkent, Fergana, Andijan, Namangan, Syrdarya, Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorezm.
Georgia (GrSSR) consisted of the city of republican subordination of Tbilisi, two autonomous republics (Abkhaz ASSR and Adjara ASSR) and one autonomous region (South Ossetian Autonomous Region).
Kyrgyzstan (KyrSSR) consisted of only two regions (Osh and Naryn) and the city of republican subordination Frunze.
Tajikistan (Tad SSR) consisted of one autonomous region (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Okrug), three regions (Kulyab, Kurgan-Tyubinsk, Leninabad) and the city of republican subordination - Dushanbe.
Azerbaijan (AzSSR) consisted of one autonomous republic (Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), one autonomous region (Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region) and the city of republican subordination Baku.
Armenia (Armenian SSR) was divided only into regions and the city of republican subordination - Yerevan.
Moldova (MSSR) was divided only into regions and the city of republican subordination - Chisinau.
Lithuania (Lithuanian SSR) was divided only into regions and the city of republican subordination - Vilnius.
Latvia (LatSSR) was divided only into regions and the city of republican subordination - Riga.
Estonia (ESSR) was divided only into regions and the city of republican subordination - Tallinn.
The USSR has gone through a difficult historical path.
The history of the empire of socialism begins with the period when autocracy collapsed in tsarist Russia. It happened in February 1917, when the Provisional Government was formed in place of the defeated monarchy.
The interim government failed to restore order in the former empire, and the ongoing World War I and the failures of the Russian army only contributed to the further escalation of unrest.
Taking advantage of the weakness of the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik Party, headed by V.I. Lenin, organized an armed uprising in Petrograd at the end of October 1917, which led to the liquidation of the power of the Provisional Government and the establishment of Soviet power in Petrograd.
The October Revolution led to an escalation of violence in a number of regions of the former Russian Empire. A bloody Civil War began. The fire of the war covered the whole of Ukraine, the western regions of Belarus, the Urals, Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus and Turkestan. For about four years, Bolshevik Russia waged a bloody war against the supporters of the restoration of the old regime. Part of the territories of the former Russian Empire were lost, and some countries (Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) declared their sovereignty and unwillingness to accept the new Soviet power.
Lenin pursued the single goal of creating the USSR - the creation of a powerful state capable of resisting any manifestation of counter-revolution. And such a power was created on December 29, 1922 - Lenin's Decree on the formation of the USSR was signed.
Immediately after the formation of the new state, it initially included only four republics: Russia (RSFSR), Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR), Belarus (BSSR) and Transcaucasia (Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (ZSFSR)).
All organs of state power in the USSR came under the strict control of the Communist Party. Any decision on the spot was not made without the approval of the party leadership.
The Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was the highest authority in the USSR during Lenin's time.
After the death of Lenin, a struggle for power in the country flared up in the highest echelons of power. With equal success, I.V. Stalin, L.D. Trotsky,
G.I. Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev, A.I. Rykov. The most cunning of all was the future dictator-tyrant of the totalitarian USSR - I. V. Stalin. Initially, in order to destroy some of his competitors in the struggle for power, Stalin teamed up with Zinoviev and Kamenev in the so-called "troika".
At the XIII Congress, the question was decided who would become the leaders of the Bolshevik Party and the country after the death of Lenin. Zinoviev and Kamenev managed to rally around themselves the majority of the Communists and most of them voted for I.V. Stalin. So the country has a new leader.
Having headed the USSR, Stalin first of all began to strengthen his power and get rid of his recent supporters. This practice was soon adopted by the entire Stalinist environment. Now, after the elimination of Trotsky, Stalin took Bukharin and Rykov as his allies in order to jointly oppose Zinoviev and Kamenev.
This struggle of the new dictator continued until 1929. This year, all of Stalin's strong competitors were exterminated; there were no more competitors to him in the struggle for power in the country.
In parallel with the inner-party struggle, until 1929, Lenin's NEP (New Economic Policy) was carried out in the country. During these years, private entrepreneurship was not yet completely banned in the country.
In 1924, a new Soviet ruble was put into circulation in the USSR.
In 1925, at the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a course was set for the collectivization and industrialization of the entire country. The first five-year plan is being developed. The dispossession of lands began, millions of kulaks (wealthy landowners) were exiled to Siberia and the Far East, or were driven from good fertile lands and received in return junk lands that were not suitable for agriculture.
Forced collectivization and dispossession caused an unprecedented famine in 1932-1933. Ukraine, the Volga region, Kuban, and other regions of the country were starving. Cases of theft in the fields have become more frequent. The notorious law was adopted (popularly called " Law of three spikelets"), according to which those caught even with a handful of grain were assigned long terms of imprisonment and a long exile in the regions of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East.
1937 was marked by a year of mass repressions. The repressions primarily affected the leadership of the Red Army, which seriously weakened the country's defense in the future and allowed the army of fascist Germany to reach almost unhindered almost to Moscow itself.
The mistakes of Stalin and his leadership cost the country dearly. However, there were also positive moments. As a result of industrialization, the country has taken the second place in the world in terms of industrial production.
In August 1939, just before the start of World War II, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact and the division of Eastern Europe (the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact).
After the Second World War began, the USSR and Germany divided the territory of Poland between them. The USSR included Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, and later Bessarabia (became part of the Moldavian SSR). A year later, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were included in the USSR, which were also turned into union republics.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany, violating the non-aggression pact, began to bomb Soviet cities from the air. Hitler's Wehrmacht crossed the border. The Great Patriotic War began. The main production facilities were evacuated to the Far East, Siberia and the Urals, and the population was being evacuated. At the same time, the full mobilization of the male population into the active army was carried out.
On the initial stage The war was affected by the strategic mistakes made by the Stalinist leadership in previous years. There were few new weapons in the army, and what
there was, inferior in its characteristics to the German one. The Red Army retreated, many people were taken prisoner. The headquarters threw more and more new units into battle, but this did not have much success - the Germans stubbornly advanced towards Moscow. In some sectors of the front, the distance to the Kremlin was no more than 20 kilometers, and on Red Square, according to eyewitnesses of those times, artillery cannonade and the rumble of tanks and aircraft were already heard. German generals could observe the center of Moscow through their binoculars.
Only in December 1941, the Red Army went on the offensive and pushed the Germans back 200-300 kilometers to the west. However, by spring Hitler's command managed to recover from the defeat and changed the direction of the main blow. Now Hitler's main goal was Stalingrad, which opened up a further advance to the Caucasus, to the oil fields in the region of Baku and Grozny.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans came close to Stalingrad. And by the end of autumn, fighting was already going on in the city itself. However, the German Wehrmacht failed to advance further than Stalingrad. In the middle of winter, a powerful offensive of the Red Army began, a 100,000-strong group of Germans under the command of Field Marshal Paulus was captured, Paulus himself was captured. The German offensive failed, moreover, it ended in complete defeat.
Hitler planned to take the last revenge in the summer of 1943 in the Kursk region. The famous tank battle, which was attended by a thousand tanks on each side. The Battle of Kursk was again lost, and from that moment the Red Army began a rapid advance to the west, freeing more and more new territories.
In 1944, all of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Belarus were liberated. The Red Army reached the state border of the USSR and rushed to Europe, to Berlin.
In 1945, the Red Army liberated most of the countries of Eastern Europe from the Nazis and in May 1945 entered Berlin. The war ended with the complete victory of the USSR and its allies.
In 1945 Transcarpathia became part of the USSR. A new Transcarpathian region was formed.
After the war, the country was again gripped by famine. Factories and plants did not work, schools and hospitals were destroyed. first five post-war years the country was given very hard and only in the early fifties the situation in the country of the Soviets began to improve.
In 1949, the USSR invented atomic bomb as a symmetrical response to US nuclear domination of the world. Relations with the United States worsen, the Cold War begins.
In March 1953, I.V. Stalin dies. The era of Stalinism in the country ends. The so-called "Khrushchev thaw" is coming. At the next party congress, Khrushchev sharply criticized the former Stalinist regime. Tens of thousands of political prisoners are released from numerous camps. The mass rehabilitation of the repressed begins.
In 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched in the USSR.
In 1961, the world's first manned spacecraft was launched in the USSR with the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.
During the time of Khrushchev, in opposition to the NATO bloc created by Western countries, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created - a military alliance of Eastern European countries that embarked on a socialist path of development.
After Brezhnev came to power in the USSR, the first signs of stagnation began to appear. The growth of industrial production slowed down. The first signs of party corruption began to appear in the country. The Brezhnev leadership and Brezhnev himself did not realize that the country was facing the need for fundamental changes both in politics and in ideology, and in the economy.
With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, the so-called "perestroika" began. A course was taken for the wholesale eradication of domestic drunkenness, for the development of private
entrepreneurship. However, all the measures taken did not give positive results - in the late eighties it became clear that the huge empire of socialism had cracked and was beginning to fall apart, and the final collapse was only a matter of time. In the union republics, especially in the Baltic states and Ukraine, a massive increase in nationalist sentiment began, associated with the declaration of independence and separation from the USSR.
The first impetus for the collapse of the USSR was the bloody events in Lithuania. This republic was the first of all the Union republics to declare its withdrawal from the USSR. Then Lithuania was supported by Latvia and Estonia, which also declared their sovereignty. Events in these two Baltic republics developed in a more peaceful way.
Then Transcaucasia began to seethe. Another hot spot has emerged - Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia announced the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan started a blockade in response. A war began that lasted for five years, now the conflict is frozen, but tensions between the two countries remain.
Around the same time, Georgia separated from the USSR. A new conflict begins on the territory of this country - with Abkhazia, which wished to secede from Georgia and become a sovereign country.
In August 1991, a putsch begins in Moscow. The so-called State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was created. It was the last attempt to save the dying USSR. The coup failed, Gorbachev was actually removed from power by Yeltsin. Immediately after the failure of the coup, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the republics of Central Asia and Moldova declare their independence and are proclaimed sovereign states. Belarus and Russia are the latest to declare their sovereignty.
In December 1991, a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, held in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus, stated that the USSR as a state no longer exists and annulled Lenin's decree on the formation of the USSR. An agreement was signed to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.
So the empire of socialism ceased to exist, not having lived only one year before its 70th anniversary.