The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It was the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with twelve countries. An overall successor state to the Russian Empire, the country was nominally organized as a federal union of fifteen national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was the world's third-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was a flagship communist state. Its capital as well as its largest city was Moscow. Other highly urbanized centers included Leningrad, Kiev, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, and Minsk.
The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Leninism, as influenced by their respective geopolitics during the Cold War of 1947–1991. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sino-Soviet debates about the interpretation of orthodox Marxism became specific disputes about the Soviet Union's policies of national de-Stalinization and international peaceful coexistence with the Western Bloc, which Chinese leader Mao Zedong decried as revisionism. Against that ideological background, China took a belligerent stance towards the Western world, and publicly rejected the Soviet Union's policy of peaceful coexistence between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc. In addition, Beijing resented the Soviet Union's growing ties with India due to factors such as the Sino-Indian border dispute, and Moscow feared that Mao was too nonchalant about the horrors of nuclear warfare.
The "Era of Stagnation" is a term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev in order to describe the negative way in which he viewed the economic, political, and social policies of the Soviet Union that began during the rule of Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982) and continued under Yuri Andropov (1982–1984) and Konstantin Chernenko (1984–1985). It is sometimes called the "Brezhnevian Stagnation" in English.
Ivan Stepanovich Silayev was a Soviet and Russian politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union through the offices of chairman of the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet economy and chairman of the Inter-republican Economic Committee. Responsible for overseeing the economy of the Soviet Union during the late Gorbachev era, he was the last head of government of the Soviet Union, succeeding Valentin Pavlov.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia, and later the Soviet Union, became a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism.
Censorship in Finland refers to government policies in controlling and regulating certain information.
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, previously known as the Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia, was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous constituent republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991, the last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group. The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Gorky and Kuybyshev. It was the first socialist state in the world.
The former government of Nikita Khrushchev was dissolved following his removal from the post of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Alexei Kosygin was elected Premier by the Politburo and the Central Committee following the removal of Khrushchev. His first government would last for two years, until the 1966 Soviet election held in June. Kosygin's first government saw the re-creation of many ministries that were removed under Khrushchev's previous government.
Alexei Kosygin's second government lasted four years, until the 1970 Soviet election held on 14 June. Many new ministries were created under it.
The former government of Alexei Kosygin was dissolved following the Soviet legislative election of 1970. Kosygin was once again elected Premier by the Politburo and the Central Committee following the election. His third government would last for four years, until the 1974 Soviet election.
Following the August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, the State Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: Государственный Совет СССР), but also known as the State Soviet, was formed on 5 September 1991 and was designed to be one of the most important government offices in Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union. The members of the council consisted of the President of the Soviet Union, and highest officials (which typically was presidents of their republics) from the Soviet Union's republics. During the period of transition it was the highest organ of state power, having the power to elect a prime minister, or a person who would take Gorbachev's place if absent; the office of Vice President of the Soviet Union had been abolished following the failed August Coup that very same year.
The former government of Alexei Kosygin was dissolved following the Soviet legislative election of 1974. Kosygin was once again elected premier by the Politburo and the Central Committee following the election. His fourth government lasted for nearly five years, until the 1979 Soviet election.
The former government of Alexei Kosygin was dissolved following the Soviet legislative election of 1979. Kosygin was once again elected Premier by the Politburo and the Central Committee following the election. His fourth government lasted a little over one year due to bad health which led him to resign.
The government of the Soviet Union under Alexei Kosygin was dissolved following Kosygin's resignation in October 1980, with Nikolai Tikhonov taking over the office of Premier. This government was dissolved following the nationwide 1984 legislative election.
The former government of Nikolai Tikhonov was dissolved following the Soviet legislative election of 1984 which gave a clear majority in favour of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Tikhonov's government was dissolved in 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev replaced him with Nikolai Ryzhkov as Premier.
Committee for operative management of national economy of the Soviet Union was the official name for the provisional office of state administration of the Soviet Union with government functions following dismissal of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Soviet Union on 28 August 1991.
Stalin's first government was created on 7 May 1941 and was dissolved on 15 March 1946, with the creation of Stalin's second government. It was the government throughout the Great Patriotic War.
Malenkov's first government was created on 6 March 1953 and was dissolved on 27 April 1954, with the creation of Malenkov's second government.
Malenkov's second government was created on 27 April 1954 and was dissolved on 8 February 1955, with the creation of Bulganin's government.
The former government of Georgy Malenkov was dissolved on February 8, 1955, and Bulganin succeeded Malenkov as premier of the Soviet Union that day. He was generally seen as a supporter of Khrushchev's reforms and destalinisation. In July 1955, he attended the Geneva Summit, with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, French Prime Minister Edgar Faure, and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. He and Khrushchev travelled together to India, Yugoslavia and in April 1956 to Britain, where they were known in the press as "the B and K show" or "Bulge and Crush". In his memoirs, however, Khrushchev recounted that he believed that he "couldn't rely on [Bulganin] fully."
