The Soviets

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 (1977–1991)
The Soviet Union after World War II
Capital		Moscow
Languages		Russian (all-union official since 1990)
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 Tuvan People's Republic Russian Federation Ukraine Belarus Armenia Azerbaijan Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
Notes ^ Assigned on 19 September 1990, existing onwards. ^ Constituent republics had right to declare their own official languages

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and also known unofficially as Russia, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a political union of multiple equal national Soviet republics and thus comparable to today's concept of a supranational union, the state had in reality many strong unitary aspects. Although each republic had its own communist party, the union was a one-party state governed by the All-Union Communist Party. Moscow was the capital of both the union and 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.

The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government which had replaced Tsar Nicholas II. In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924 and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin committed the state's ideology to Marxism–Leninism (which he created), and initiated a centrally planned economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization. Political paranoia was also fomented around Stalin, and the Great Purge was carried out to remove his opponents from the Communist Party through arbitrary arrests, prosecutions & executions on hundreds of thousands of people.