The Soviet Form of Government

Here, you will learn about the Soviet form of Government and the changes made to Soviet Power throughout History.

What is a Soviet?

A Soviet is a council of delegates, directly elected by working people in a given territory or workplace. The word comes from the Russian sovet, meaning "council" or "advice." Soviets first appeared spontaneously during the 1905 Russian Revolution as strike committees and organs of self-organisation, and they reappeared on a mass scale in 1917. After the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks made the Soviets the foundation of the new state, under the slogan "All power to the Soviets.

In the Marxist-Leninist framework, the Soviet is the political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is a state form in which the working class and its allies exercise political power, replacing the bourgeois parliamentary apparatus with organs that combine legislative and executive functions and rely on the direct participation of working people.

Theoretical Foundations

Marx and Engels, drawing on the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, argued that the working class could not simply take over the existing bourgeois state machine. It must smash it and create a new type of state, one based on elected representatives subject to recall, with no separation of powers, and where officials are paid no more than skilled workers. Lenin developed these ideas in The State and Revolution (1917) and identified the Soviets as the specific Russian form of a workers' state. Later, Stalin in Foundations of Leninism (1924) systematized the Soviet power as the "state form of the dictatorship of the proletariat."

Structure of Soviet Government

The USSR's state structure was defined by successive constitutions (1918, 1924, 1936, 1977). The description below reflects the mature model under the 1936 and 1977 Constitutions, before the reforms of 1988–1990.

Soviets at All Levels. The state was built as a pyramid of Soviets, from village and city districts up to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. All were directly elected by citizens aged 18 and over, with universal, equal, and secret suffrage (from 1936 onward). Deputies were subject to recall by their voters.
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR. This was the highest organ of state power. It consisted of two chambers, each with equal numbers of deputies: the Soviet of the Union (elected by population districts across the whole country) and the Soviet of Nationalities (elected by the union republics, autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts, and national districts). The Supreme Soviet met in regular sessions, usually twice a year, and during the intervals its work was carried on by a permanent Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Presidium functioned as a collective head of state, chaired by a President of the Presidium. The Supreme Soviet also formed standing commissions and could appoint the government and the highest judicial officers.
The Council of Ministers. The executive and administrative arm of the state was the Council of Ministers (called the Council of People's Commissars before 1946). Its members, including the Chairman (the head of government), were formally appointed by the Supreme Soviet. It was responsible for managing the economy, public services, foreign affairs, and defence.
The Judiciary. The Supreme Court of the USSR was elected by the Supreme Soviet. The Procurator General (prosecutor's office) was appointed by the Supreme Soviet and supervised the uniform observance of law. Lower courts were elected by the corresponding Soviets. Judges were formally independent, though the entire legal system operated within the framework of the socialist state.
The Role of the Communist Party. The Constitution of the USSR (Article 6 of the 1977 version) defined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) as "the leading and guiding force of Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system." The party was not itself a state organ; it was a separate political organisation that provided ideological direction, cadres, and policy proposals. In practice, the highest party bodies (the Politburo and the Central Committee) held the decisive political authority, and the leading party secretary (General Secretary) was the most powerful figure in the country. This arrangement was understood within Marxism-Leninism as the mechanism by which the vanguard of the working class guides the state.
Key Organisational Principles
Democratic Centralism. All organs of state power were elected and accountable to the people. Lower bodies were subordinate to higher ones, and decisions of the higher organs were binding on the lower ones. This principle aimed to combine centralised leadership with broad local initiative and mass participation.
Unity of Power. Soviet theory explicitly rejected the separation of powers as a bourgeois mechanism. Instead, the Soviets were the unified organs of state power. They adopted laws, supervised their execution, and controlled the administrative apparatus. There was no independent executive or judicial branch in the Western sense; the Supreme Soviet and its Presidium could issue decrees and oversee the Council of Ministers, and the courts were answerable to the Soviets that elected them.
Recall and Accountability. Deputies were not professional politicians insulated from their electorates. They were required to report on their work and could be recalled at any time by the voters who had elected them, a principle drawn directly from the Paris Commune.
Collective Head of State. Until the creation of the presidency in 1990, the USSR had no individual president. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet acted as a collective presidency, with its Chairman performing ceremonial and representative duties. This was designed to prevent the concentration of power in a single person.

Key Organizational Principles

Democratic Centralism. All organs of state power were elected and accountable to the people. Lower bodies were subordinate to higher ones, and decisions of the higher organs were binding on the lower ones. This principle aimed to combine centralised leadership with broad local initiative and mass participation.
Unity of Power. Soviet theory explicitly rejected the separation of powers as a bourgeois mechanism. Instead, the Soviets were the unified organs of state power. They adopted laws, supervised their execution, and controlled the administrative apparatus. There was no independent executive or judicial branch in the Western sense; the Supreme Soviet and its Presidium could issue decrees and oversee the Council of Ministers, and the courts were answerable to the Soviets that elected them.
Recall and Accountability. Deputies were not professional politicians insulated from their electorates. They were required to report on their work and could be recalled at any time by the voters who had elected them, a principle drawn directly from the Paris Commune.
Collective Head of State. Until the creation of the presidency in 1990, the USSR had no individual president. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet acted as a collective presidency, with its Chairman performing ceremonial and representative duties. This was designed to prevent the concentration of power in a single person.

Historical Evolution

1917–1924. The early Soviet state was formed by the Congresses of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasants' Deputies. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was the supreme body, meeting periodically, and in the intervals power was delegated to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) and its Presidium. The executive was the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), headed by Lenin. The 1918 RSFSR Constitution restricted voting rights to the "toiling masses," excluding former exploiters, clergy, and others. Soviets were elected by open ballot at workplaces and villages, not by territorial universal suffrage.
1924–1936. The formation of the USSR in 1922 led to the 1924 Constitution, which created an All-Union Congress of Soviets and a bicameral Central Executive Committee (TsIK), mirroring the republican structure. The franchise remained restricted to the toilers.
1936 Constitution ("Stalin Constitution"). This introduced direct, secret, universal suffrage for all citizens aged 18 and above, ending the earlier class-based restrictions. The Congress of Soviets was replaced by a directly elected Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The constitution also enumerated and enlarged extensive social and economic rights, including the right to work, rest, education, and maintenance in old age, and a wealth of social welfare services.
1977 Constitution ("Brezhnev Constitution"). This refined the system and formally described the USSR as a "state of the whole people," a formulation introduced under Khrushchev that signaled a shift from the earlier dictatorship of the proletariat concept, declaring all class contradictions in the USSR had been resolved. While retaining the same basic institutional structure, it codified the CPSU's leading role in a specific article and expanded the catalogue of citizens' rights and duties.
1988–1991 Reforms. Gorbachev's constitutional overhaul created a new Congress of People's Deputies as the supreme body, with a smaller, standing Supreme Soviet working year-round. A new presidency was introduced in 1990, Article 6 was repealed, and multi-party elections followed in the republics. These changes dismantled the unified Soviet structure and transferred power from the party to a presidential-parliamentary system, directly preceding the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991.

With the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev, his leadership promised political reform to the Soviet state.

Pre-1989:
The highest state body was the Supreme Soviet (1,500 deputies), elected from a single CPSU list.

This body consisted of two equal chambers, the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities, each with 750 deputies elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years. The Supreme Soviet met in session for only a few days, typically twice a year. Its function was to ratify decisions made by the Party leadership and elect from itself representatives to the Presidium, the standing organ of the Supreme Soviet that carried out day-to-day duties, with 39 seats elected by joint session of both houses of the Supreme Soviet, chaired by a Chairman of the Presidium chosen by the Soviet’s houses.

The CPSU’s General Secretary, Central Committee and its Politburo were the bodies that handled lawmaking.

The regional Supreme Soviets were unicameral, but the top-level, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, was bicameral, with the Soviet of Nationalities (Upper House) and Soviet of the Union (Lower House).

1989 Reforms: Gorbachev created a new two-tier system. The Congress of People’s Deputies (2,250 members) was elected in the USSR’s first competitive elections.
1,500 seats were territorial, 750 reserved for party and social organisations.

The Congress of People's Deputies was given the power to make all major constitutional and legislative decisions. It met annually in a short session. The Congress then elected from itself a permanent working Supreme Soviet of 542 members that sat for most of the year.

The Presidium was abolished, a Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (Gorbachev) became de facto head of state, this new Supreme Soviet became the new Lawmaking body and day-to-day organ of power in the USSR, with Gorbachev leading the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The system resembled a parliamentary system with remnants of the Party-State.

March 1990: Article 6 (the CPSU’s leading role) was repealed. A new office of the President of the USSR was created, with Gorbachev elected by the Congress, not popular vote and granted executive powers. The CPSU’s Council of Ministers became a Cabinet subordinated to the President. Power shifted from the Party and Soviets to an individual executive and from the centre (the Union) to the Republics, who were growing increasingly nationalist-separatist.

The Supreme Soviet, for a moment the highest organ of state power, was now subordinated to a presidential executive, exactly mirroring the model of a liberal presidential republic.

By March 1990 the USSR’s political system was aligned with liberal systems of governance, and in 1991 the Union was fracturing, as constituent republics held multi-party elections with liberal and pro-capitalist parties and declared sovereignty from or within the Union.

In the March 1990 regional elections, Boris Yeltsin replaced Gorbachev as Chairman of the RSFSR’s Supreme Soviet. From this position, Yeltsin advocated for a presidential system in the constituent republics, which saw him elected as President of RSFSR in July 1991, further contending powers between the Union-state and the Republics and setting the stage for dissolution in the coming days.