Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Союз Советских Социалистических Республик Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik
1922–1991
Flag State emblem
Motto Workers of the world, unite! Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes'! Literally: Proletarians of all countries, unite!)
Anthem "The Internationale" (1922–1944) "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" (1944–1991)
The Soviet Union after World War II
Capital		Moscow
Languages		Russian (de facto official) Other languages Ukrainian Belarusian Uzbek Kazakh Georgian Azerbaijani Lithuanian Moldovan Latvian Kyrgyz Tajik Armenian Turkmen Estonian
Demonym		Soviet, Russian
Government		Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state (1922–1990) Federal semi-presidential republic (1990–1991)
General Secretary
•	1922–1952	Joseph Stalin (first)
•	1991	Vladimir Ivashko (last)
Head of state
•	1922–1938	Mikhail Kalinin (first)
•	1988–1991	Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
Head of government
•	1922–1924	Vladimir Lenin (first)
•	1991	Ivan Silayev (last)
Legislature		Supreme Soviet
•	Upper house	Soviet of the Union
•	Lower house	Soviet of Nationalities
Historical era		20th century
•	Treaty of Creation	30 December 1922
•	Admitted to the United Nations	25 October 1945
•	Constitution adopted	9 October 1977
•	Union dissolved	26 December 1991
Area
•	1991	22,402,200 km2 (8,649,500 sq mi)
Population
•	1991 est.	293,047,571
Density		13/km2 (34/sq mi)
Currency		Soviet ruble (руб) (SUR)
Internet TLD		.su
Calling code		+7
Preceded by Succeeded by Russian SFSR Transcaucasian SFSR Ukrainian SSR Byelorussian SSR Bukharan People's Soviet Republic Khorezm People's Soviet Republic Estonia Latvia Lithuania Kingdom of Romania Tuvan People's Republic Russian Federation Ukraine Belarus Armenia Azerbaijan Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
Notes ^ of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, formally establishing the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a state and subject of international law. (in Russian) ^ Original lyrics used from 1944 to 1956. No lyrics from 1956 to 1977. Revised lyrics from 1977 to 1991. ^ All-union official since 1990, constituent republics had the right to declare their own official languages. ^ Assigned on 19 September 1990, existing onwards.

The Soviet Union (Russian: Сове́тский Сою́з, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz, IPA: [sɐˈvʲɛt͡skʲɪj sɐˈjus] ( listen)), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪsˈtʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪˈspublʲɪk] ( listen)), abbreviated as USSR (Russian: СССР, tr. SSSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Russian nation had constitutionally equal status among the many nations of the union but exerted de facto dominance in various respects. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata and Novosibirsk. The Soviet Union was one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. It was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) and the Warsaw Pact.