The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), at some points known as the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet Communist Party (SCP), was the founding and ruling political party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU was the sole governing party of the Soviet Union until 1990 when the Congress of People's Deputies modified Article 6 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, which had previously granted the CPSU a monopoly over the political system. The party's main ideology was Marxism–Leninism.
The politics of Russia take place in the framework of the federal semi-presidential republic of Russia. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-party system with executive power exercised by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President with the parliament's approval. Legislative power is vested in the two houses of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, while the President and the government issue numerous legally binding by-laws. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia has seen serious challenges in its efforts to forge a political system to follow nearly seventy-five years of Soviet governance. For instance, leading figures in the legislative and executive branches have put forth opposing views of Russia's political direction and the governmental instruments that should be used to follow it. That conflict reached a climax in September and October 1993, when President Boris Yeltsin used military force to dissolve the parliament and called for new legislative elections. This event marked the end of Russia's first constitutional period, which was defined by the much-amended constitution adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1978. A new constitution, creating a strong presidency, was approved by referendum in December 1993.
Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko was a Soviet Ukrainian politician, briefly acting as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the period from 24 to 29 August 1991. On 24 August Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from the post, and on 29 August the CPSU was suspended by the Supreme Soviet. Before becoming General Secretary he had been voted Gorbachev's Deputy General Secretary within the Party on 12 July 1990, a newly created position as a result of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party.
Yegor Kuzmich Ligachyov was a Soviet and Russian politician who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and who continued an active political career in post-Soviet Russia. Originally an ally of Mikhail Gorbachev, Ligachyov became a challenger to his leadership.
Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov was a Russian politician. He served as the last chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and was succeeded by Valentin Pavlov as prime minister. The same year, he lost his seat on the Presidential Council, going on to become Boris Yeltsin's leading opponent in the 1991 presidential election of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He was the last surviving premier of the Soviet Union following the death of Ivan Silayev on 8 February 2023.
The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the Constitution.
Demokratizatsiya was a slogan introduced by CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in January 1987 calling for the infusion of "democratic" elements into the Soviet Union's single-party government. Gorbachev's Demokratizatsiya meant the introduction of multi-candidate—though not multi-party—elections for local Communist Party (CPSU) officials and Soviets. In this way, he hoped to rejuvenate the party with reform-minded personnel who would carry out his institutional and policy reforms. The CPSU would retain sole custody of the ballot box.
The 28th Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow. It was held a year ahead of the traditional schedule and turned out to be the last Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in the history of the party. Notably, this congress displayed open factionalism: opposing views were championed by the centrist "CPSU Central Committee platform", the liberal "Democratic Platform" and the conservative "Marxist Platform".
Presidential elections were held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on 12 June 1991. This was the first Russian presidential election in the country's history. The election was held roughly three months after Russians voted in favor of establishing a presidency and holding direct elections in a referendum held in March that year. The result was a victory for Boris Yeltsin, who received 58.6% of the vote.
The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR and since 1992 Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation was the supreme government institution in the Russian SFSR and in the Russian Federation from 16 May 1990 to 21 September 1993. Elected on 4 March 1990 for a period of five years, it was dissolved by presidential decree during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 and ended de facto when the Russian White House was attacked on 4 October 1993. The Congress played an important role in some of the most important events in the history of Russia during this period, such as the declaration of state sovereignty of Russia within the USSR, the rise of Boris Yeltsin, and economic reforms.
Legislative elections were held in the Russian SFSR in March 1990 as part of the regional elections across the Soviet Union. The first round was held on 4 March, and the second round on 14, 17 and 18 March. Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) won 920 of the 1,068 seats, although several were supporters of the Democratic Russia movement.
Supreme Soviet elections were held in the Lithuanian SSR on 24 February with run-off elections on 4, 7, 8 and 10 March 1990 to elect the 141 members of the Supreme Soviet. In six constituencies, voter turnout was below the required minimum and a third round was held on 17 and 21 April. For the first time since 1940 elections to the People's Seimas, non-communist candidates were allowed to run. The elections were the first free nationwide elections since 1926, and only the fifth free elections in all of Lithuanian history.
The electoral system of the Soviet Union was varying over time, being based upon Chapter XIII of the provisional Fundamental Law of 1922, articles 9 and 10 of the 1924 Constitution and Chapter XI of the 1936 Constitution, with the electoral laws enacted in conformity with those. The Constitution and laws applied to elections in all Soviets, from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the Union republics and autonomous republics, through to regions, districts and towns. Voting was claimed to be secret and direct with universal suffrage. However, in practice, between 1936 and 1989, voters could vote against candidates preselected by the Communist Party only by spoiling their ballots, or by voting against the only candidate, whereas votes for the party candidates could be cast simply by submitting a blank ballot. A person would be given a ballot by a clerk, and could immediately walk to the ballot box, and while there were booths in which one could strike the candidates they voted against off the ballot, this was easy to record and was not commonly done by voters.
The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was a communist political party in the Russian SFSR. The Communist Party of the Russian SFSR was founded in 1990. At this point, the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR being the republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, organized around 58% of the total Communist Party membership. Politically, it became a centre for communist opponents of Gorbachev's leadership.
Democratic Russia was the generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule. In 1991–1993, the Democratic Russia Movement was the largest political organization in the country and Boris Yeltsin's base of political support.
Elections to the eleventh Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 4 March 1984. They were the last in the Soviet Union to be held before Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and demokratizatsiya resulted in partially free elections in 1989. They were also the last direct elections to the Supreme Soviet, as in 1989 deputies were elected to the Congress of People's Deputies, who then elected the Supreme Soviet.
The Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. It also brought an end to the Soviet Union's federal government and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to stop a period of political stalemate and economic backslide. The Soviet Union had experienced internal stagnation and ethnic separatism. Although highly centralized until its final years, the country was made up of 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. By late 1991, amid a catastrophic political crisis, with several republics already departing the Union and Gorbachev continuing the waning of centralized power, the leaders of three of its founding members, the Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian SSRs, declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. Eight more republics joined their declaration shortly thereafter. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December 1991 and what was left of the Soviet parliament voted to dissolve the union.
The Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was in session from 1986 until 1990. Its 1st Plenary Session elected the Politburo, the Secretariat and the Party Control Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The 1990 Soviet Union presidential election was held in the Soviet Union on 14 March 1990 to elect a president for a five-year term. This was the first and only presidential election to be held in the Soviet Union. This was due to the office of president being established in 1990, a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The elections were uncontested, with Mikhail Gorbachev, then-General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as the only candidate.
