Soviet Union (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik) abbreviated to USSR (Russian: СССР SSSR) or the Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз Sovetsky Soyuz), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed between 1922 and 1991, ruled as a single-party state by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. A union of 14 subnational Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized.

The last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, ruled the Russian Empire until his abdication in March 1917 in the aftermath of the February Revolution, due in part to the strain of fighting in World War I which lacked public support. A short-lived Russian Provisional Government took power, to be overthrown in the October Revolution (N.S. 7 November 1917) by revolutionaries led by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin.

The Soviet Union was officially established in December 1922 with the union of the Russian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics- each ruled by local Bolshevik parties. Despite the foundation of the Soviet state as a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities, the term "Soviet Russia" was often applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers and politicians.

Revolution and foundation
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. Although serfdom was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavourable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament—the State Duma—was established in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but the Tsar resisted attempts to move from absolute to constitutional monarchy. Social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.

A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the February Revolution and the toppling of the imperial government in March 1917. The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government, which intended to conduct elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and to continue fighting on the side of the Entente in World War I.

At the same time, workers' councils, known in Russian as "Soviets", sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for socialist revolution in the Soviets and on the streets. On 7 November 1917, the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd, ending the rule of the Provisional Government and leaving all political power to the Soviets. This event would later be known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice with the Central Powers, though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets ended involvement in the war for good and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

A long and bloody Civil War ensued between the Reds and the Whites, starting in 1917 and ending in 1923 with the Reds' victory. It included foreign intervention, the execution of Nicholas II and his family, and the famine of 1921, which killed about five million. In August 1920, during a related conflict with Poland and Ukraine, the Peace of Lviv was signed, recognising the sovereignty of the Ukrainian Republic. The Soviet Union had to resolve similar conflicts with the newly independent Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Unification of republics
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were confirmed by the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by the heads of the delegations Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze, and Aleksandr Chervyakov, on 30 December 1922.

On 1 February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the British Empire. The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union. An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The plan was developed in 1920 and covered a 10-to 15-year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional power plants, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises. The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by 1931.

Kirov era
From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). After the economic policy of "War Communism" during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing socialism in the country, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax.

The stated purpose of the one-party state was to ensure that capitalist exploitation would not return to the Soviet Union and that the principles of Democratic Centralism would be most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Lenin was replaced by a "troika" consisting of Grigory Zinoviev as the Chairman of the Comintern Executive Committee, Lev Kamenev as the Premier of the Government, and Alexei Rykov as the General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party.

The strongest candidate for being Lenin successor, Leon Trotsky, ousted from the Central Committee by the ruling troika and forced into exile in 1928. Majority of the Party leaders sided with the troika and one among them was Sergei Kirov, the Bolshevik leader in Azerbaijan. Kamenev had appointed Kirov as the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate in 1925 which paved a way for Kirov to rise in power.

In 1928, the Kamenev government introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. While encompassing the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the Revolution, it also aimed to build socialism in one country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization. In agriculture, rather than adhering to the "lead by example" policy advocated by Lenin, forced collectivisation of farms was implemented all over the country. Famines ensued, causing millions of deaths; surviving kulaks were persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labour. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s.

Chaotical condition followed after the implementation of Kamenev policy led to a new power struggle between Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, and Sergei Kirov. Bukharin allied with Lenin's widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and Georgy Pyatakov while Kirov allied with Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Mikhail Tomsky.

Kirov was unlikely to be win during the struggle until Rykov and Mikhail Kalinin, the Chairman of the Soviet Central Executive Committee, betrayed Kamenev and Zinoviev and supported Kirov, instead of Bukharin, at the last minute during the 1934 Party Congress. Kirov was elected to the Central Committee and the Orgburo. As result, Kamenev and Zinoviev disposed from the positions aftermath and replaced by Rykov and Tomsky respectively.

The functions of the Orgburo and the Politburo were often interconnected, but the latter was initially the final decision-maker. While the Politburo was mostly concerned with strategic planning and monitoring of the people and status of the country, the Orgburo was tasked with overseeing the party cadre and its assignment to various positions and duties, presumably in furtherance of the government's strategic agenda. However, under Kirov, this mechanism reverted and gave the Orgburo a significant influence over the Soviet politics.

An opposition against Kirov grew significantly in mid-1930s and led to mass expulsion of the oppositionists from the Party and the government and mass terror that swept the country while Kirov started to consolidate his hegemony on the government matters. Yet despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II.

1930s.
The early 1930s saw closer cooperation between the West and the USSR. From 1932 to 1934, the Soviet Union participated in the World Disarmament Conference. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR were established when in November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt chose to formally recognize the Soviet government and negotiated a new trade agreement between the two nations. In September 1934, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations. After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the Republican forces against the Nationalists, who were supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

In December 1936, a new Soviet Constitution introduced. The constitution was seen as a personal triumph for Kirov for being an undisputed leader of the Bolsheviks, where the Constitution emphasized the role of Bolshevik Party and the Comintern.