The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union in two periods, from 1917 to 1936 and from 1989 to 1993. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow (last) Chairman of the Supreme Council Boris Yeltsin Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 December 30, 1922 December 12, 1991 Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 1st in former Soviet Union 17,075,200... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Congress of Soviets, 1917–1936

The initial full name was Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. It is also known as Congress of People's Deputies.

The Congress of Soviets was an assembly of representatives of local councils. All members were chosen by the local communist leaders, and then "approved" in single-party, single-candidate "elections". In theory, it was the supreme power of the Soviet State, an organ of the dictatorship of the proletariat. No bourgeois, no noble, no aristocrat, no priest could vote – only working people. Officially, the Congress of Soviets created laws and elected the Council of People's Commissars, which was the government. In reality, the Central Committee of the Communist Party had complete control. The dictatorship of the proletariat is a term employed by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program that refers to a transition period between capitalist and communist society in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. The term refers to a... Sovnarkom (Russian language СовНарКом, the abbreviation of the phrase Совет Народных Комиссаров, Sovet Narodnykh Komissarov, the Council of Peoples Commissars, sometimes Russian СНК, the SNK), was the name of administrative arm of the Soviet governments until 1946. ...

In the interim its functions were performed by designated executive bodies, see Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet (Russian: , Verhovniy Sovet, literally the Supreme Council) comprised the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments. ...

Under Joseph Stalin's leadership, the Congress of Soviets effectively only rubber-stamped the decisions of the CPSU and served as a propaganda tribune. The 1936 Soviet Constitution eliminated the Congress of Soviets, making the Supreme Soviet the USSR's governing body. (help· info) (Russian, in full: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин (Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin), né: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили (Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი (Ioseb Jughashvili); (December 18 [O.S. December 6 (although the date on his death certificate is December 21, 1879)] 1878) – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in... Rubber stamp, is a political metaphor referring to an institution that has little power and rarely disagrees with more powerful organs. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when... U.S. propaganda poster, depicting a Nazi stabbing a Bible. ... The 1936 Soviet constitution, adopted on December 5, 1936, and also known as the Stalin constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union. ...

Congress of Soviets, 1989–1993

The Congress of Soviets was recreated as part of Gorbachev's reforms, via a 1988 amendment to the 1977 Soviet Constitution. The official name of the re-created Congress was the Congress of People's Deputies. The Congress consisted of 2,250 deputies elected in three different ways: (help· info) (Russian: ), IPA: (commonly anglicized as Gorbachev), born March 2, 1931, was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... At the Seventh (Special) Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the Brezhnev Constitution, was unanimously adopted. ...

• 750 deputies were elected according to the system used in Soviet of the Union elections in the 1936–1989 period.
• 750 deputies were elected according to the system used in Soviet of Nationalities elections in the 1936–1989 period.
• 750 deputies representing "public organizations", such as the Communist Party, Komsomol and the labor unions. The election law would allocate a fixed number of seats to organizations – for example, 100 to the Communist Party and 100 to Komsomol – and the organizations would appoint deputies to those seats.

The congress would gather twice a year and would then elect the Supreme Soviet consisting of a smaller number of deputies. The Supreme Soviet would then serve as a permanent legislature, deciding all but the most important issues, such as amendments to the Soviet constitution, which were left to the full Congress only. The Soviet of Nationalities (Совет Национальностей in Russian), was one of the two chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot in accordance with the principles of Soviet democracy. ... In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical philosophy based on Marxism. ... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist Union of Youth. The organisation served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical philosophy based on Marxism. ... Komsomol (Комсомол) is a syllabic abbreviation word, from the Russian Kommunisticheski Soyuz Molodiozhi (Коммунистический союз молодёжи), or Communist Union of Youth. The organisation served as the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU), the youngest members being fourteen years old, the upper limit for an age...

Only one Congress was elected, in March 1989. The fundamental difference from previous elections in Soviet Union was that elections were actually competitive. Instead of one Communist Party-approved candidate for each seat, multiple candidates were allowed. A variety of different political positions, from Communist to pro-Western, were represented in the Congress, and lively debates took place with different viewpoints expressed. The Congress existed until the end of Soviet Union in 1991.

During the same period, a similar two-level structure, with a Congress of Soviets meeting twice a year and Supreme Soviet meeting all year, was established in the Russian SFSR. One Congress was elected, in March 1990. It existed until it was dissolved by President Boris Yeltsin during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. No Congress structure was established in the other republics of the Soviet Union during this period. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow (last) Chairman of the Supreme Council Boris Yeltsin Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 December 30, 1922 December 12, 1991 Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 1st in former Soviet Union 17,075,200... Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Борис Николаевич Ельцин; (help· info)) (born February 1, 1931) was President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. ... Boris Yeltsin was President of the Russian Federation at the time of the crisis. ...

See also

• 1918 Soviet Constitution
• 1924 Soviet Constitution
• 1936 Soviet Constitution
• 1977 Soviet Constitution